Updated 30/10/2025
In the other stories “The War in the Pacific – The Attack on Pearl Harbor” and the sequel in “The Battle of the Coral Sea, Midway and the Philippines Sea” an important part of the war in the Pacific is described.
These two stories mainly explain how the Japanese’s attack on Pearl Harbor began, how the Americans rebounded with the attack on Tokyo and how the eventual demise of the Japanese took place through the various naval battles.
All of these warfares were mainly carried out by the Navy with the U.S. fleet versus the Japanese fleet, including the large numbers of aerial battles that took place from the aircraft carriers.
There is of course also a fight on land and therefore it is useful to take a look at the composition of the Japanese empire at the beginning of the Second World War and what the Japanese Empire would look like at the surrender on 2 September 1945.
Situation of the Japanese Empire in 1939
Japan was many times bigger than today’s Japan in 1939. It included:
Japan itself, the Kurils, the southern half of Sachalin, Okinawa, Iwo Jima, Formosa (current Taiwan), Korea.
Add to this the mandate areas that Japan had acquired after the First World War:
the Marshall Islands, the Mariana Islands (except Guam, American), the Gilbert Islands, Micronesia, the Palau Islands.
And the occupied territories in China, Manchukow and Nanking, Japanese-China.
After the fall of France in Europe, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Thailand were handed over to Japan.
The Great Asian Empire
The ultimate goal was to establish a Great Asian Empire. For this, the following areas had to be conquered:
Dutch East Indies, the British colonies on Borneo, Malacca, Burma (current Myanmar), British India (current India, Bangladesh and Pakistan), China, Mongolia, the Soviet territory east of Lake Baku, the American possessions in the Pacific (Philippines, Wake, Guam, Midway and Hawaii), Australia, New Zealand, the free French possessions.
In 1941 and 1942 Hong Kong was conquered on the British/Canadians, the Philippines on the Americans, Malacca and Singapore on the British, Burma (Myanmar) on the British and the Chinese and finally the Dutch East Indies on the Netherlands and Australia.
The turning point
After the declaration of war from Japan to America, an alliance was made between the Americans and the other Allies. The American tactic was to conquer Micronesia, the Mariana Islands, Okinawa and finally Japan itself. The other Allies preferred to liberate South-East Asia first. In the end, no choice was made but both tactics were implemented.
Island Hopping
General Douglas McArthur and Admiral Chester Nimitz chose to defeat the Japanese by the system of “Island Hopping”. The plan involved conquering island for island in the Pacific, establishing military bases there to get closer and closer to Japan. This strategy would take three years and the Americans almost made a complete circle. The Battle of Midway in June 1942 was the first action when the plan was put into effect. It was a hard-fought victory that was achieved mainly between the Navy and the Air Force. From August 1942 to February 1943, the first offensive took place on land, the Guadalcanal Campaign.
Guadalcanal
Guadalcanal was the first U.S. offensive on land in the Pacific. On August 7, 11,000 Marines under the command of General Vandegrift landed on the north coast of Guadalcanal. There was no shot, the 2200 Japanese were completely surprised and could just flee into the jungle. The next day, the Americans took the airport. This clearing in the jungle on an island of 160 by 80 kilometers would become a place that both the Americans and the Japanese did not want to give up. On August 20, 500 Japanese arrived and another 1,000 the next day. This was the beginning of a constant stream of Japanese soldiers. The Americans soon spoke of the “Tokyo Express”.
Although the Americans won every battle, the influx of Japanese soldiers to the Guadalcanal pandemonium continued. The Americans also participated in the pandemonium. Even President Roosevelt ordered all available people and resources to be sent to Guadalcanal as a matter of urgency.
The battle also took place at sea and in the air. For the Japanese, Guadalcanal was a necessary evil, a bump on the way to the decisive confrontation between the Japanese and American fleets.
The fighting in those last months of 1942 was disastrous for Japanese strategy. All requests to send reinforcements to other battlefields were rejected by the Imperial Supreme Command. Guadalcanal was the top priority. On Papua-New Guinea, the land offensive was officially called off. The Australians took out the last Japanese in January 1943. That put a definitive end to Japanese efforts to isolate Australia and secure the southern flank of the territories they have conquered.
Also the planned cooperation alliance of Berlin and Tokyo, who had wanted to join forces, came to a halt. Hitler had urged his ally to attack the Russians and push them to Central Asia. But by the end of 1942, that was absolutely no longer an option. The Japanese had to put in all the power at Guadalcanal.
Eventually, the industrial capacity to replace the lost aircraft and ships would be the deciding factor. Japan was not up to the United States in this respect. It took four more months for the Japanese to reach this conclusion. On December 31, the Japanese High Command came up with the statement: “that it is regrettable to withdraw us from Guadalcanal”. In January and February, the “Tokyo Express” picked up the exhausted Japanese. 20,000 Japanese soldiers had been killed, succumbing to hunger and tropical diseases. The Americans had 7,000 deaths and 8,000 injuries to regret. On December 9, Vandergrift spoke the prophetic words to his men: “It was a modest operation, which has lasted four months, but the megalomaniacal plans of our enemy thanks to you probably for good has foiled”.
In 1943 and 1944, Tarawa, the Philippines, and Guam were further pushed through.
The Liberation of the Philippines at the Battle of Leyte 23 October – 26 October 1944
The Philippines was conquered by the Japanese in 1942 and was strategically and vital for controlling the sea routes from Sumatra and Borneo for the transport of rubber and petroleum. For the Americans, the conquest of the Philippines was important for isolating Japan and blocking the supply of the raw materials. For General MacArthur, it was also a personal matter. Roosevelt had commissioned MacArthur in 1942 to leave the Philippines. Roosevelt wanted to prevent MacArthur from being captured by the Japanese. On his departure, MacArthur had vowed that he would come back to liberate the Philippines. During the naval battle at Leyte, the largest ever, most of the already weakened Japanese fleet was destroyed. The Japanese navy was no longer a strategic weapon and could not prevent the liberation of the Philippines.
Still the attack on Iwo Jima and Okinawa was left. The Battle of Iwo Jima lasted 36 days in February and March 1945. The number of Japanese casualties was enormous. Nearly 20,000 victims. The number of American casualties was also severe, more than 6,000 Marines lost their lives. The battle of Okinawa lasted from April to June 1945. The battle was nicknamed Typhoon of Steel. In total despair, more than 100,000 Japanese people fell victim to the use of the suicide kamikaze technique. The planning was to use Okinawa as a base for the jump to the mainland of Japan, but that was no longer necessary.
The Island Hopping campaign in the Pacific covered the following route(s): 1942 – Guadalcanal (Salomon Islands), Papua/New Guinea, 1943 – Tarawa (Gilbert Islands), Kwajalein and Eniwetok (Marshall Islands), 1944 – Saipan, Tinian and Guam (Marians), Luzon (Philippines), 1945 – Iwo Jima and Okinawa.
The Soviet Union declares war on Japan
Through the cooperation of the Soviet Union with the Allies In Europe, it was decided that the Soviet Union would terminate the non-aggression treaty with Japan. On August 8, 1945, the Soviet Union declared war on Japan. During the Auguststorm operation, Soviets Manchuria, Inner Mongolia, South Sakhalin, North Korea and the Kurils were conquered. The Americans were ready to take the plunge to mainland Japan after conquering Okinawa. The army leadership realized that the fighting on the mainland would lead to many casualties, especially given the unwavering urge of destruction by the Japanese to pay tribute to the Emperor. Therefore, it was decided for a different tactic. Stalin now knew that the Americans had an atomic bomb and insisted on using it.
Hiroshima
On August 6, 1945, Hiroshima was destroyed. In fact was Kyoto at the top of the list as a target for the bombing. Kyoto is the intellectual center of Japan and is therefore optimally suited to understand the meaning of an atomic weapon. However, War Minister Henry Stimson is convinced that the bombing of Kyoto will result in a bitter Japan with the result that new negotiations after the war will be almost impossible. Harry S. Truman eventually agrees to the view of Stimson and Kyoto is removed as a goal. The next target on the list is Hiroshima, an important army depot in a densely populated industrial region. The B-29 Enola Gay releases its atomic bomb Little Boy over Hiroshima.
Nagasaki
On August 9, 1945, the second bomb fell on Nagasaki. Actually, not Nagasaki is the goal but the Kokura Arsenal. But due to a thick cloud cover, the bomb cannot be dropped above the Kokura Arsenal. After three attempts, the goal is finally adjusted; Nagasaki. The B-29 Bockscar has to deal with a failure in the fuel system and must still be able to return to Okinawa. Also above Nagasaki the situation is not ideal, but the plutonium bomb Fat Man is thrown off.
The combination of the bombing on 6 August and the declaration of war by the Russians towards Japan on 8 August led the Japanese Emperor to decide to stop the battle. The number of victims of the bombing of Hiroshima at the end of 1945 was around 140,000, on Nagasaki about 109,000. The pursuit of the Great Asian Empire has killed just over 2,000,000 military personnel and 580,000 civilians. In comparison to Hitler’s Millennium, 5,533,000 military personnel and 1,810,000 civilians.
On September 2, the Japanese surrender was a fact. Fifty years after the surrender, Prime-minister Tomiichi Murayama appologised for the role of Japan in WWII.
The division
The German Pacific islands became independent, southern Sakhalin and the Kurils went to the Soviet Union, Taiwan (Formosa), along with the South Manchuria railway to China.
What were the main consequences of the end of the war with Japan and the resulting division of the areas that we still have to deal with on a daily basis?
In 1949, a civil war arose in China and the People’s Republic of China was founded and the Republic of China, present-day Taiwan.
On December 27, 1949, after a fierce battle with the Dutch army, the Republic of Indonesia was proclaimed.
Korea was divided into North and South Korea, the North with the support of the Soviets, the South with the support of the Americans. In 1953, China intervened and a ceasefire is signed that continues unti today.
In 1949, Vietnam became independent. In 1950, Vietnam was split into North and South Vietnam and the Americans became involved in the Vietnam War. The North is supported by the Soviets and China, the South by America. Together with the Korean War (1950-1953), the Vietnam War (1955–1975) is known as a war where it came to a military strike between communist regimes and capitalist-democratic regimes on the other. On April 30, 1975, the Vietnam War came to an official end and South Vietnam was taken by the Communists and united with the north. Infamous is the defoliant Agent Orange, which was used by the Americans, which defoliated the jungles. This drug has caused a lot of misery to this day. Consequences: many deformed children, disabled people, miscarriages and cancer. The total number of victims of this drug is unknown.
Cambodia
In Cambodia, the Khmer Rouge reign of terror of Pol Pot was established. This website describes special events and although Pol Pot and his Khmer Rouge do not belong in the Second World War, this is such a special story that I have to mention this here.
In a village north of Phnom Penh, a boy was born in 1925 who was given the name Saloth Sar. It became a gentle, funny and sensitive child. His family was wealthy and maintained contacts with the royal family. As a student he did not exactly excel and also with his hobbies he did not really have a lot of succes. Still, Saloth managed to get a scholarship in Paris. His stay in France would be of great importance to Cambodia.
Saloth was not interested in politics until he went up with students who admired Soviet leader Stalin. In 1952, Saloth became a member of the French Communist Party. That same year, Saloth went back to Cambodia with a dream to establish a classless and independent Cambodia.
In 1953 Cambodia gained independence from France and King Sihanouk was given all the power, with the task of fighting the Communists. Saloth became a member of the illegal Communist Party of Indochina and Saloth had to operate in secret. He forged plans for an armed revolution. At the same time, he was a teacher of French, history and geography at a French private school, where he was loved by the pupils. In 1963, Saloth became secretary-general of the Communist Party. In that same period, King Sihanouk really started to work on the persecution of communists. Saloth fled into the jungle where he spent seven years hiding.
General Lon Nol, the prime minister, committed a nonviolent coup in March 1970. Lon Nol entered into a partnership with the Americans and the U.S. was now allowed to operate against Vietnam from Cambodia. A civil war broke out that lasted five years. Saloth Sar and Sihanouk were now found to have a common enemy: Lon Nol and his regime. The Khmer Rouge was born and Saloth began a battle against the reign of Lon Nol. The countryside was frequently bombed by the Americans to break the supply lines of the Vietnamese army, but most of the victims were Cambodian farmers. The Americans left Vietnam in 1975 and also left Cambodia. The support of the population for the Communists grew larger and greater and Lon Nol had lost his patron. After fierce fighting, the Khmer Rouge emerged victorious from the battle. Lon Nol fled with his supporters. The people of Phnom Pen welcomed the rebels as freedom heroes, but it was not long before they were given a taste of the suffering she was facing.
The Democratic Kampuchea was born. Money was abolished, religion forbidden and everyone had to be equal and work for the same cause as brothers and sisters. Two million people of Phnom Penh had to leave the city and were housed in communities where they had to grow rice. The weak and elderly who could not join were murdered. This pattern was copied all over the country and within a week all cities were empty. Saloth Sar feared resistance from the elite and therefore they were massacred by the Khmer Rouge. Saloth had no enemies for the first time in twenty years and the way was clear for his ideal society. Saloth broke ties with his family and henceforth called himself Pol Pot.
The goal Pol Pot envisioned was not feasible. Agriculture did not get off the ground because of a lack of knowledge, fertilizer and agricultural machinery. There was starvation everywhere. But that didn’t matter to Pol Pot. His goal was to make money from the export of rice and half of the harvest was transported outside Cambodja while Cambodians succumbed en masse to hunger, disease and exhaustion.
Pol Pot then interfered with religion. Buddhism was banned from one moment to the next. Pagodas, temples and monasteries were destroyed. Only a few of the monks managed to escape. All private possessions were taken away because no one was allowed to own more than anyone else.
The Khmer Rouge killed 200,000 former soldiers of the Lon Nol regime in one year from 1975. Despite all this, according to Pol Pot, the enemy was present everywhere, even in the party. The Santebal security service was extremely busy. Killing ten innocents was better than letting one guilty person go. People with glasses were labeled as intellectual, foreigners and Cambodians with a foreign partner were suspect. The Khmer Rouge slaughtered 400,000 people because they had a “Vietnamese spirit”. Also during torture in the party summit, blood was shed. Complete families of suspected party members were murdered, even if they had actually done nothing wrong. Across the country came thousands of mass graves, the so-called Killing Fields. Choeung Ek was one of the famous Killing Fields, near Phnom Penh. Between 17,000 and 20,000 people were killed. The victims had to dig their own graves, but were too exhausted and the bodies were barely covered. At first the victims were shot, but later, to save bullets, they were also killed with sticks, knives and other sharp materials. The Killing Fields also had their Killing Tree for killing children. They were thrown against the tree until they died.
The situation in the country did not get any better and Pol Pot entrenched himself in high-security buildings in Phnom Penh. But help came from outside. The strong Vietnamese army drove out the Khmer Rouge in January 1979 and the world became aware of the suffering of the Cambodians, who told of the mass graves, torture, famine and political terror. Pol Pot disappeared by helicopter to safe Thailand. Pol Pot was never convicted of his crimes against humanity. April 15, 1998, Pol Pot took its last breath. Total number of victims of Pol Pot and his Khmer Rouge: between 1.5 and 2 million people, 25% of the entire population.
Source:
Various Wikipedia articles
Historianet.nl
1942, Turning Point in World War II – Cyril Azouvi and Julien Peltier