Big Pigeon in Southwest Iowa
  • Home
    • Usage Hints
    • Acknowledgments
    • Resources >
      • Free Sites
      • Pay Sites
      • Print Resources
      • Search Engines
      • Land Records
      • Resources - Denmark >
        • Finding Danish Ancestors
    • Project Mgt - Public >
      • Website Overview
      • Website Log
      • Project Overview
      • Mac Computer Use
      • Weebly Use
      • Reunion Use
      • Project History
      • Image Provenance
    • Project Mgt - Private >
      • Site Management
      • Site Plan
      • Contact List
      • Backup Info & Log
      • System Info & Log
      • Image Storage
      • E-Mail Log
      • Asset Organization
      • History Index
      • Binders & Photos
      • Upon My Death
      • Donations & Dispersal
  • Family
    • Photos - Recent
    • Christiansen
    • Rasmussen
    • Christiansen/Rasmussen News
    • Larsen/Larson
    • Hansen
    • Larsen/Hansen News
    • Allied Families
    • Wall of Honor
  • St. Paul's
    • Early Families >
      • Early Families Help
      • Early Families More Lists
    • St. Paul's Roots
    • St. Paul's Timeline
    • St. Paul's Resources
  • History
    • Iowa History >
      • The Missouri River
      • The Native Americans
      • The Colonial Period
      • The Louisiana Purchase
      • Iowa Land Cessions
    • SW Iowa History >
      • The Corps of Discovery
      • Middle Missouri Fur Trade
      • Yellowstone Expedition
      • The Potawatomi Years
      • The Mormon Years
      • Political Organization
      • Population Data
      • Transportation Maps
    • Pott. Co. History
    • Big Pigeon Area >
      • Nearby Towns >
        • Beebeetown
        • Crescent
        • Honey Creeek
        • Loveland
        • Neola
        • Persia
        • Underwood
        • Weston
        • Lost Locales
      • Danes from Dronninglund
      • Maps & Plats
      • Big Pigeon Galleries >
        • Gallery 1 - Area Historic Structures
        • Gallery 2 - Grange Sunday School
    • Avoca >
      • Gold Star Avoca
      • Cuppy's Grove
    • LDS History >
      • LDS Links
      • Gallery 1 - Mormon Maps
    • A House Divided >
      • Endnotes
      • Niels Peder Pedersen
      • Ane Katrine Pedersen
      • Kirsten Pedersen
      • Kirsten's Story >
        • Kirsten's LDS Daughters
        • Kirsten's Daughter, Karen Bondo
        • Kirsten's Son, Anders Johnson
        • Kirsten's Niece, Christine Mortensen
        • Kirsten's Niece, Anne Marie Larsen
    • More History >
      • Pott. Co. Addendum
      • American History
  • WWII Dead
    • Roster Hub >
      • Roster Aa-Am
      • Roster An-Az
      • Roster Ba-Be
      • Roster Bf-Bq
      • Roster Br
      • Roster Bs-Bz
      • Roster Ca
      • Roster Cb-Cm
      • Roster Cn-Co
      • Roster Cp-Cz
      • Roster Da-De
      • Roster Df-Dz
      • Roster E
      • Roster F
      • Roster G
      • Roster Ha
      • Roster Hb-He
      • Roster Hf-Hz
      • Roster I
      • Roster Ja-Je
      • Roster Jf-Jz
      • Roster Ka-Ki
      • Roster Kj-Kz
      • Roster La-Le
      • Roster Lf-Lz
      • Roster Ma-Mb
      • Roster Mc
      • Roster Md-Mm
      • Roster Mn-Mz
      • Roster N
      • Roster O
      • Roster Pa-Pe
      • Roster Pf-Pz
      • Roster Q-Rh
      • Roster Ri-Rz
      • Roster Sa-Sh
      • Roster Si-Ss
      • Roster St
      • Roster Su-Sz
      • Roster Ta-Th
      • Roster Ti-Tz
      • Roster U-V
      • Roster Wa-We
      • Roster Wf-Wi
      • Roster Wj-Wz
      • Roster X-Y-Z
      • Roster Record Structure
      • Roster Storage
    • Ancillary Records >
      • Veterans A-F
      • Veterans G-M
      • Veterans N-Z
      • Other WWII Era Dead
    • Residences >
      • Monona Co.
      • Crawford Co.
      • Carroll Co.
      • Harrison Co.
      • Shelby Co.
      • Audubon Co.
      • Council Bluffs
      • Rural Pott. Co.
      • Cass Co.
      • Mills Co.
      • Montgomery Co.
      • Fremont Co.
      • Page Co.
      • Other SW Iowa Counties
      • Other Iowa Counties
      • StatesBorderingIowa
      • Other States
    • Land, Air, Sea Dead >
      • Land Dead >
        • Division Dead - Japan
        • Division Dead - Germany
        • Other Land Dead
      • Air Dead
      • Sea Dead
    • Death Locations >
      • Pearl Harbor to Midway
      • Guadalcanal to Peleliu
      • Philippines to Okinawa
      • Other War w/ Japan Dead
      • The Battle of the Atlantic
      • The MTO - North Africa
      • The MTO - Italy
      • The MTO - Air, Sea, CommZ
      • The ETO - France
      • The ETO - Border Areas
      • The ETO - Germany
      • The ETO - Air, Sea, CommZ
      • Stateside
    • Roster Addenda >
      • Awards for Valor
      • Members Not in St. Paul's
      • Aggregate Roster Data
    • Roster Sources >
      • 1946 War Dept. Report
      • 1946 Navy Dept. Report
      • Pott. Area >
        • 1945 Pott. Co. Dead List
    • Roster Photos >
      • Roster Photos - Contents
      • Photos of Individuals
      • Land War with Japan
      • Air War with Japan
      • Sea War with Japan
      • Land War with Germany
      • Air War with Germany
      • Sea War with Germany
      • Stateside
      • Memorials
      • Cemeteries
    • Roster Outliers >
      • County Assignment
      • Navy Dept. Omissions
      • Multiple Names
      • Miscellaneous Exclusions
      • Pott. Co. Discrepancies
    • Roster Additions >
      • 2025 Additions Log
      • 2024 Additions Log
      • 2022-2023 Additions Log
      • 2020-2022 Additions Log
    • About the Roster >
      • Roster Planning
  • WWII Hub
    • WWII News
    • Big Pigeon & WWII
  • WWII US
    • WWII Overview
    • WWII Organization
    • Sources >
      • WWII Personnel
      • WWII Japan
      • WWII Germany
    • WWII Personnel >
      • Service Numbers
    • Casualties >
      • About Casualties
      • Army Casualties
      • Navy Casualties
      • Marine Corps Casualties
      • Dead
      • War Dept. Dead
      • Navy Dept. Dead
      • Prisoners of War
      • Burials
      • Missing
      • About Iowa Casualties
    • Ground Forces >
      • Army Campaigns
      • High Level Structure
      • Infantry Structure >
        • Infantry Equipment
      • Ground Forces - War with Japan
    • WWII in the Air
    • WWII at Sea
    • WWII at Home
    • Civilian Victims
    • Strategic Bombing
    • The Cold War
    • World War I >
      • Iowa In World War I
  • Japan
    • WWII Japan - Overview
    • Japan Ascendant
    • Japan Lashes Out >
      • Pearl Harbor, 1941
      • Guam & Wake Island
      • Malaya & Singapore Lost
      • The Netherlands Indies Lost
      • The Philippines Lost
      • Northern Melanesia, 1942
    • Japan Overreaches >
      • 1942 Carrier Raids
      • Coral Sea
      • Midway
    • South & SW Pacific >
      • Securing Australia
      • Isolating Rabaul
    • Solomon Islands >
      • Guadalcanal, Solomon Is.
      • Guadalcanal Naval War
      • New Georgia, Solomon Is.
      • New Georgia Naval War
      • Bougainville, Solomon Is.
      • Bougainville Naval War
    • New Guinea >
      • Papua, SE New Guinea,
      • Lae to Madang
      • Toward the Philippines
      • Western New Guinea
    • The Bismarck Archipelago
    • North Pacific >
      • Alaska
      • Attu & Kiska
      • Pacific Lend-Lease Routes
    • Central Pacific >
      • Gilbert Islands
      • Marshall Islands
      • Mariana Islands
      • Mariana Naval War
      • Palau Islands
    • Philippines Liberated >
      • Leyte
      • Battle of Leyte Gulf
      • Philippines Naval War
      • Luzon
      • Southern Philippines
    • Iwo Jima & Okinawa >
      • Iwo Jima
      • The Okinawa Land Battle
      • The Okinawa Naval War
    • Japan Overpowered >
      • Japan Under Attack
      • Japan Vanquished
    • The Pacific Base Areas
    • Naval War with Japan >
      • US Submarine Force
      • Third & Fifth Fleets
      • Order of Battle >
        • OOB - Armies & Corps
        • OOB - Divisions
        • OOB - South Pacific
        • OOB - Southwest Pacific
        • OOB - Central Pacific
        • OOB - Philippines Liberated
        • OOB - Iwo Jima & Okinawa
    • Air Force War with Japan >
      • Fifth Air Force
      • Seventh Air Force
      • Thirteenth Air Force
      • Twentieth Air Force
    • CBI Theater >
      • China, 1941-45
      • India, 1942-45
      • Burma, 1941-45
      • Crossing the Hump
  • Germany
    • WWII Germany Overview
    • Battle of the Atlantic
    • The MTO >
      • MTO Background
      • MTO Overview
      • North Africa >
        • North Africa - Order of Battle
        • Operation Torch
        • The Race to Tunis
        • Tunisia
      • Italy >
        • Italy - Order of Battle
        • Italy - Sources
        • Sicily
        • Italy Leaves the Axis
        • Salerno-Naples-Foggia
        • Naples to Rome
        • The Volturno Line
        • The Bernhardt Line
        • Battle of Anzio
        • The Gustav Line/Cassino #1
        • Cassino #2 & #3
        • Cassino to Rome
        • Rome To Florence
        • Northern Apennines
        • North Apennines - 1944
        • North Apennines - 1945
        • The Po Valley
        • + April 1945 Breakthrough
        • + Advance to the Po
        • + Beyond the Po
      • MTO Air War
      • MTO Sea War
      • MTO Comm. Zone
    • The ETO >
      • ETO Overview >
        • ETO Background
      • ETO Orders of Battle >
        • ETO Unit Subordination
      • Normandy Campaign >
        • D-Day
        • ETO, 6 June 1944
        • Normandy, June 1944
        • ETO, 30 June 1944
        • Normandy, July 1944
        • After D-Day
      • Liberation >
        • Operation Cobra
        • ETO, 1 August 1944
        • Brittany
        • Normandy
        • Northern France & Belgium
        • ETO, 25 August 1944
        • Southern France
      • War of Attrition, 1944 >
        • ETO, September 1944
        • Netherlands, 1944
        • Rhineland, 1944
        • V Corps at the West Wall
        • Aachen
        • Hürtgen Forest
        • Operation Queen
        • Queen/Hürtgen
        • Last 1944 Offensives
        • Lorraine/Alsace, 1944
        • Lorraine/Third Army
        • Lorraine/Seventh Army
        • Alsace/Seventh Army
        • ETO, December 1944
      • Ardennes/The Bulge >
        • Before the Bulge
        • The Bulge Begins
        • The Bulge Grows
        • Ardennes, 25 December 1944
        • The Bulge Contained
        • The Bulge Eliminated
        • Ardennes/Bulge Details
        • Ardennes/Bulge Overview
      • Alsace-Lorraine, 1945 >
        • Nordwind Counterattack
        • Colmar Pocket
        • Seventh Army in Stasis
      • Siegfried Line, 1945 >
        • ETO, 26 January 1945
        • Operation Blackcock
        • First US Effort
        • Roer River Dams
        • VIII Corps to Prüm
        • XII Corps to Bitburg
        • XX Corps to Trier
      • To the Rhine >
        • ETO, 1 March 1945
        • Ops. Veritable & Grenade
        • Operation Lumberjack
        • Operation Undertone
        • Mid-Rhineland February 1945
        • Ninth & First Armies
        • Third & Seventh Armies
      • Central Europe >
        • Crossing the Rhine
        • Beyond the Rhine
        • ETO, 4 April 1945
        • Central Germany
        • Southern Germany
        • Germany Surrenders
      • ETO Air War >
        • Eighth Air Force
        • Ninth Air Force
      • ETO Sea War
      • ETO Comm. Zone
    • The Eastern Front
Picture
Picture
USS Panay
USS Panay
WWII Hub
WWII Japan
bigpigeon.us webpage WWII Japan > Japan Ascendant, © 2024 by Robert A. Christiansen, updated by RAC 16 Feb 2024.
​
This historical webpage provides context for the 1941-1945 War with Japan.
  • Part 1 - The Growth of the Japanese Empire to 1936.
  • Part 2 - The Second Sino-Japanese War.
  • Part 3 - The Pacific Islands.
  • Part 4 - Southeast Asia in 1941.
  • Part 5 - Prelude to the War with Japan, 1939 - 1941.
Part 1 - The Growth of the Japanese Empire to 1936
Well into the 1800s, the island nation of Japan had remained aloof from Western influences. Until 1854, Japan allowed foreign trade only through the port city of Nagasaki on the west coast of the south Japanese island of Kyushu. In 1853-54, gunboat diplomacy by Commodore Matthew C. Perry of the United States Navy led Japan to relax trading regulations. Japan soon began adopting with vigor both western technology and expansionist territorial views.
Japan and Surrounding Nations
Japan and Surrounding Nations Today
Japanese Expansion to 1936:
  • 1875 - In an exchange meant to resolve conflicting land claims, Japan receives the Kurile Islands east of the island of Sakhalin and Russia receives all of Sakhalin. 
  • 1875 - Japan annexes the Bonin Islands south of the home islands.
  • 1879 - Japan annexes the Ryukyu Island kingdom (including Okinawa) between Formosa and Japan.
  • 1891 - Japan annexes the Volcano Islands (including Iwo Jima) south of the Bonin Islands.
  • 1894-1895 - First Sino-Japanese War: Japan receives Formosa (now Taiwan) and Chinese influence in Korea is weakened.
  • 1904-1905 - Russo-Japanese War: Japan receives southern Sakhalin Island and Russian influence in Korea is weakened.
  • 1910 - Japan formally annexes Korea.
  • 1914-1918 - Japan participates in World War I on the side of the western allies.
  • 1920 - Japan receives many of the German Empire's Pacific Ocean colonies to govern. 
  • 1931 - Japan occupies Manchuria, earlier part of the Chinese Empire, and renamed as Manchukuo.
The Japanese Empire - 1936
The Japanese Empire - 1936
Part 2 - The Second Sino-Japanese War
In 1937, the Japanese Empire fabricated a pretext for invading China. This was the beginning of the Second Sino-Japanese War, which after Pearl Harbor sequed into the China-Burma-India Theater of the War with Japan. ​
By the end of 1938, Chiang Kai-shek's Republic of China government had been forced to flee the capital of Nanjing/Nanking in central China  and retreat to Chongqing (known in WWII as Chungking) in mountainous southwestern China. There the Republic of China government remained until World War II ended.

Early in the Second Sino-Japanese War, the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) had also occupied portions of  north China, including  today's capital of Beijing, and the other major port cities south of Shanghai.
The War in Central China 1937-38
The War in Central China 1937-38
I end this section with a descriptive quote from a writer far more skilled than me:
​
"The Second Sino-Japanese War (1937-45) is often relegated to the status of ‘sideshow’, only mentioned to better set the stage for the daring exploits of the British Army in Burma or provide context for the brutal struggles that faced Allied forces in the Pacific during WW2.
"In reality the war for mainland China was so much more: Battles raged from the Great Wall in the north to the humid subtropics of the South China Sea, fought by millions of soldiers of the Imperial Japanese Army, Chiang Kai-Shek’s Nationalists, Mao Zedong’s Communists, and an eclectic assortment of regional Warlords. It was here that the majority of Japan’s war materiel and active divisions were stationed, here where the hardened veterans that devastated Allied forces in the Pacific first saw combat, and here where the fate of modern China was decided."
-- Joe Fonseca, 10 Sep 2018, ​https://www.wargamer.com/articles/war-games-second-sino-japanese-war/

Part 3 - The Pacific Islands

I understood better the War with Japan in the Pacific once I knew the political history of the Pacific Islands shown in the following map, islands on which so many Americans died between 1941 and 1945.
For geographical and cultural considerations, these central and south Pacific islands are often divided into three regions as shown here. 

For over two years starting in May 1942, most of the the War with Japan in the Pacific was fought first in the regions of Melanesia and then Micronesia. The Pacific War then shifted to the Philippines in October 1944 and to islands south of Japan in February 1945.

To the west of these three regions, from south to north, lie the island nations of Australia, Indonesia (formerly the Dutch Indies), The Philippines, Taiwan (formerly Formosa), and Japan. 
Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia
Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia
Historical Overview of the Pacific Islands:

One hundred years ago, most Pacific islands were politically subordinate to a so-called colonial power. (Sometimes words such as protectorate, territory, or commonwealth were used instead of the word colony.)

The inital European colonial powers, Portugal and Spain, began establishing colonies outside of Europe around 1500. Except for Brazil, Portugal's colonies remained relatively small. Spain, however, soon amassed a massive colonial empire, which included the Philippine Islands and most of Micronesia.

Later England and France also acquired colonial possessions in the Pacific Islands.

In 1871, most German-speaking states of Europe came together as the German Empire, known informally as Germany. Germany soon began acquiring Pacific colonies, especially in northern Melanesia. After the United States defeated Spain in the 1898 Spanish-American War, Germany bought most of Spain's remaining Pacific colonies, including most of Micronesia, while the United States acquired Guam in the Mariana Islands.
When WWI began in 1914, Japan joined the Allied cause. After the German defeat in 1918, the League of Nations parcelled out portions of the former German colonial empire as so-called mandates among various nations. Japan received the German colonies in Micronesia and Australia received those in northern Melanesia as shown on the accompanying French map.

The League of Nations specified that mandated colonies be demilitarized. However, Japan built infrastructure suitable for military use and brought in thousands of Japanese settlers in its mandates.

When Japan launched its multi-pronged attacks in December 1941, some of the attacks came from its mandated territory.
Division of the German Empire's Pacific Islands after WW I
Division of the German Empires Pacific Islands after WW I
New Guinea in 1941

The large island of New Guinea north of Australia figures prominently in the War with Japan. Today New Guinea has two political parts, with the eastern part appearing on the accompanying map.

Back in 1941, New Guinea consisted of three colonial sections as shown on the above map:
  • The northeastern portion was formed from former Germany colonies, mandated after WW I to Australian control. It included the Bismarck Archipelago and Bougainville in the northern Solomon  Islands. Its capital was at Rabaul on New Britain Island.
  • Southeastern New Guinea was the Australian Territory of Papua,  with capital in Port Moresby. It was accquired in 1883 by Queensland, then a British colony and since 1901 part of Australia.
  • Western New Guinea, with Hollandia as capital, was part of the Dutch Indies and is now part of Indonesia. Today Hollandia is named Jayapura. 
The Nation of Papua New Guinea Today
The Nation of Papua New Guinea Today
The Pacific Islands Today:

Today most of Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia is broken up into independent countries. Some, like Hawaii and western New Guinea are part of larger nations.  Some colonies remain.

​The following map shows today's political organization of Melanesia. The northern part was a major area of US combat in the South and Southwest Pacific theater areas for two years starting in May 1942.
  • ​Western New Guinea is part of the vast island nation of Indonesia. 
  • Papua New Guinea, with capital Port Moresby, includes eastern New Guinea, the Bismarck Archipelago, Bougainville (as of 2021), and nearby islands..
  • The capital of the Solomon Islands is Honiara, on the island of Guadalcanal.
  • Vanuatu, formerly the New Hebrides, is a former French and British colony.
  • Fiji is a former British colony.
  • New Caledonia is still a French colony.
All of the above figure into the War with Japan story.
Melanesia Today
Melanesia Today
This map shows today's political organization of Micronesia, which was a major area of US combat in the Central Pacific theater area for a year beginnning in November 1943.
  • Except for Guam, Wake, Nauru and the Gilbert Islands, before WWII Micronesia was occupied by Japan as a League of Nations mandate.
  • The Federated states of Micronesia was formerly known as the Caroline Islands.
  • Today the Gilbert Islands are the western part of the island nation of Kiribati.
Micronesia Today
Micronesia Today
Except for the Battles of Pearl Harbor and Midway early in the War with Japan, Polynesia did not experience combat.
Part 4 - Southeast Asia
The accompanying maps show the greater Southeast Asia in 1941 and today.

In 1941, Japan coveted access to the natural resources of what is sometimes called the Southern Resources Area, the core of which was the Dutch East Indies and the British colonies in Malaya and on the island of Borneo.

Unfortunately, the Philippine Islands, then a United States commonwealth, lay between the Southern Resources Area and the Japanese home islands. 
Southeast Asia in 1941
Southeast Asia in 1941
Southeast Asia Today
Southeast Asia Today
Part 5 - Prelude to the War with Japan - 1939 - 1941
Japan on 1 September 1939

The red areas of the accompanying map shows the extent of Japanese power when The German War, World War II in Europe, broke out with the German invasion of Poland on 1 September 1939.

Between that date and the Japanese attacks of December 1941, the following events transpired:
  • Japan received permission from the Vichy French government to occupy portions of French IndoChina.
  • Australia sent most of its army away to assist England in its war with Germany; other Australian units were in Malaya.
The Japanese Empire
The Japanese Empire - 1939
Sources for Big Pigeon's WWII Japan > Japan Ascendant webpage:
  • The webpage header photo shows the USS Panay, an American gunboat, before it was attacked and sunk in the Yangtze River near Nanking by Japanese aircraft on 12 Dec 1937. This incident, and subsequent Japanese atrocities in Nanking, helped turn American public opinion against Japan.
  • The Japan and Surrounding Nations map is courtesy of maps.com.
  • The Japanese Empire - 1936 map first appeared in the 16 Apr 1945 issue of Life magazine and is courtesy of atlanticsentinel.com.
  • The Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia map is courtesy of en.wikipedia.org.
  • The Melanesia Today map is courtesy of saylor.org.
  • The War in Central China 1937-38 is courtesy of wargamers.com. I don't 
  • The Japanese Empire - mid 1942 source is currently unknown.
  • The The Japanese Empire - 1939 map is courtesy of commons.wikimedia.org.
  • The The Japanese War map is courtesy of maps.com.
  • The Southeast Asia in 1941 map is courtesy of omniatlas.com and was found at https://omniatlas.com/maps/asia-pacific/19411206/.
  • The Southeast Asia Today map is courtesy of the University of Texas Libraries, at https://legacy.lib.utexas.edu/maps/asia.html
Proudly powered by Weebly