​​🔗=============================> The World War II Japan Module <===​================​==​========​🔗
subpages:  Overview     Japan Ascendant     Japan Lashes Out     Japan Overreaches     South & Southwest Pacific​
                    North Pacific    Central Pacific    Philippines Liberated​​     Iwo Jima & Okinawa    Japan Overpowered
                    Pacific Base Areas     Navy War     Ground War     Air Force War     China-Burma-India Theater
🔗====================>> The WWII Japan > Japan Lashes Out Submodule <<======================​🔗
Subpages:  Pearl Harbor   Guam & Wake   Malaya & Singapore   Netherlands Indies   Philippines   Melanesia 
Other Links:  Naval War with Japan
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Pearl Harbor - US Battleship Fleet
Pearl Harbor, US Battleships
 bigpigeon.us webpage WWII Japan > Japan Lashes Out, © 2025 by Robert A. Christiansen, updated by RAC 8 Jun 2025​
​Some webpages are incomplete.

Major Japanese advances during the first six months of the War with Japan​
In December 1941, Japan launched a coordinated series of suprise attacks in the Central Pacific and in eastern and southeastern Asia. For the next five months, the Japanese military was successful beyond their expectations in portions of the central, south, and southwestern Pacific and in southeast Asia, the Philippines, and the Netherlands Indies. ​
  • 7 Dec: Japanese air attack on United States military bases on the Hawaiian island of Oahu, especially Pearl Harbor.
  • 8 Dec: First Japanese bombing of Wake Island in the mid-Pacific. Wake defenders repelled the first landing on 11 Dec. Wake fell on 23 Dec.
  • 8 Dec: Japanese attacked Guam, a US territory in the Mariana Islands. Guam fell on 10 Dec.
  • 8 Dec: Hong Kong, then a British colony, invaded. Hong Kong fell on 25 Dec.
  • 8 Dec: Japanese landings began in Malaya, then a British colony. Japanese then advanced down the Malay Peninsula to the strait opposite Singapore, then a British colony.
  • 8 Dec: Half of Philippines Air Force destroyed in air raids eight hours after the Pearl Harbor attack.
  • 15 Dec: Japanese landings began the Dutch East Indies, now Indonesia. Resistance ended on 9 Mar 1942.
  • 22 Dec: Japanese major landings in the Philippines begin on Luzon Gulf north of Manila. 
  • 8 Feb 1942: Japanese launched an offensive on the island fortress of Singapore. Singapore fell on 15 Feb.
  • ​3 Apr: Japanese launched their final offensive against American and Filipino troops on the Bataan Peninsula. Bataan fell six days later. Survivors walked into captivity under extremely brutal conditions.
  • 6 May: Organized resistance in the Philippines ended with the surrender of the island of Corregidor Island.
  • by June 1942: Japanese overran most of Burma.
The Japanese Empire - Mid 1942
Japanese Empire - Mid 1942
The First American Carrier Raids
When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor in December 1941, the American aircraft carriers based at Pearl were at sea, and thus survived. In Februrary and March of 1942, US carrier and cruiser forces made a series of attacks on Japanese positions in the central and southwest Pacific. Although these air raids and shore bombardments failed to inflict major damage, they did not incur major losses and served as valuable training exercises.
  • 1 Feb '42 - Marshall & Gilbert Islands, USS Enterprise & USS Yorktown
  • 20 Feb '42 - off Rabaul
  • 24 Feb & 4 Mar '42 - Wake & Marcus Islands
  • 10 Mar '42 - Lae & Salamaua, New Guinea - USS Lexington & USS Yorktown
Preserving the Australian Lifeline
In early 1942 it became apparent that neither the Philippines or the Dutch Indies could be held. Thus attention turned to protecting access to the giant island nation of Australia, most of whose combat troops were away fighting with England against German and Italian forces.

The sea links to Australia from the west coast of the United States and from the Panama Canal were in jeopardy. Thus, as the first ground troops were dispatched from the United States west across the Pacific, priority was given to protecting these sea links.

About the accompanying map:
  • Triangles denote bases developed to provide support and security for shipping.
  • Until the later part of 1944, Brisbane, Australia and the French colony of New Caledonia were major rear-area American bases.
WW II Sea Route to Australia
The arrows denote the WWII sea route from Hawaii to Australia.
Sources for Big Pigeon's WWII Japan > Japan Lashes Out webpage:
  • The webpage header photo Pearl Harbor - US Battleships is courtesy of dailymaverick.co.za.
  • Early Raids in the Pacific Ocean (https://www.history.navy.mil/research/library/online-reading-room/title-list-alphabetically/e/early-raids-pacific-ocean.html)
  • The WWII Australia sea route map is taken from https://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/AAF/IV/AAF-IV-1.html.