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Main articles: Attack on Pearl Harbor and Pacific War The Pacific front saw major action during the Second World War, mainly between the belligerents Japan and the United States. The attack on Pearl Harbor[note 3] was a surprise military strike conducted by the Imperial Japanese Navy against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on the morning of December 7, 1941 (December 8 in Japan). The attack led to the United States' entry into World War II. The attack was intended as a preventive action in order to keep the U.S. Pacific Fleet from interfering with military actions the Empire of Japan was planning in Southeast Asia against overseas territories of the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and the United States. There were simultaneous Japanese attacks on the U.S.-held Philippines and on the British Empire in Malaya, Singapore, and Hong Kong. The Japanese subsequently invaded New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and other Pacific islands. The Japanese were turned back at the Battle of the Coral Sea and the Kokoda Track campaign before they were finally defeated in 1945. Some of the most prominent Oceanic battlegrounds were the Solomon Islands campaign, the Air raids on Darwin, the Kokada Track, and the Borneo campaign. In 1940 the administration of French Polynesia recognised the Free French Forces and many Polynesians served in World War II. Unknown at the time to French and Polynesians, the Konoe Cabinet in Imperial Japan on 16 September 1940 included French Polynesia among the many territories which were to become Japanese possessions in the post-war world – though in the course of the war in the Pacific the Japanese were not able to launch an actual invasion of the French islands. New Zealand troops land on Vella Lavella, in the Solomon Islands. The aircraft carrier USS Enterprise (CV-6) under aerial attack during the Battle of the Eastern Solomons. Solomon Islands campaign Main articles: Solomon Islands campaign and Battle of Guadalcanal Some of the most intense fighting of the Second World War occurred in the Solomons. The most significant of the Allied Forces' operations against the Japanese Imperial Forces was launched on 7 August 1942, with simultaneous naval bombardments and amphibious landings on the Florida Islands at Tulagi[98] and Red Beach on Guadalcanal. The Battle of Guadalcanal became an important and bloody campaign fought in the Pacific War as the Allies began to repulse Japanese expansion. Of strategic importance during the war were the coastwatchers operating in remote locations, often on Japanese held islands, providing early warning and intelligence of Japanese naval, army and aircraft movements during the campaign.[99] "The Slot" was a name for New Georgia Sound, when it was used by the Tokyo Express to supply the Japanese garrison on Guadalcanal. Of more than 36,000 Japanese on Guadalcanal, about 26,000 were killed or missing, 9,000 died of disease, and 1,000 were captured.[100] Papuan men in native dress carry a wounded soldier on a stretcher up a steep track surrounded by dense jungle Papuan carriers evacuate Australian casualties on 30 August 1942 Kokoda Track campaign The Kokoda Track campaign was a campaign consisting of a series of battles fought between July and November 1942 between Japanese and Allied—primarily Australian—forces in what was then the Australian territory of Papua. Following a landing near Gona, on the north coast of New Guinea, Japanese forces attempted to advance south overland through the mountains of the Owen Stanley Range to seize Port Moresby as part of a strategy of isolating Australia from the United States. Initially only limited Australian forces were available to oppose them, and after making rapid progress the Japanese South Seas Force clashed with under strength Australian forces at Awala, forcing them back to Kokoda. A number of Japanese attacks were subsequently fought off by the Australian Militia, yet they began to withdraw over the Owen Stanley Range, down the Kokoda Track. In sight of Port Moresby itself, the Japanese began to run out of momentum against the Australians who began to receive further reinforcements. Having outrun their supply lines and following the reverses suffered by the Japanese at Guadalcanal, the Japanese were now on the defensive, marking the limit of the Japanese advance southwards. The Japanese subsequently withdrew to establish a defensive position on the north coast, but they were followed by the Australians who recaptured Kokoda on 2 November. Further fighting continued into November and December as the Australian and United States forces assaulted the Japanese beachheads, in what later became known as the Battle of Buna–Gona. |
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