AMERICAN SOLDIERS IN THE PACIFIC: WW2

The true mettle of an American soldier was thoroughly tested by the formidable Japanese soldier during WW2. He emerged with flying colors. It established the image of an American soldier as of a tough, easy-going but very mean fighting machine.

U.S. Marines in the jungles of Vella Lavella, Solomon Islands. September 13, 1943

SOLOMON ISLANDS CAMPAIGN

The Solomon Islands campaign was a major campaign of the Pacific War of World War II.

 The campaign began with Japanese landings and occupation of several areas in the British Solomon Islands and Bougainville, in the Territory of New Guinea, during the first six months of 1942. The Japanese occupied these locations and began the construction of several naval and air bases with the goals of protecting the flank of the Japanese offensive in New Guinea, establishing a security barrier for the major Japanese base at Rabaul on New Britain, and providing bases for interdicting supply lines between the Allied powers of the United States and Australia and New Zealand. 

The Allies, in order to defend their communication and supply lines in the South Pacific, supported a counteroffensive in New Guinea, isolated the Japanese base at Rabaul, and counterattacked the Japanese in the Solomons with landings on Guadalcanal (see Guadalcanal Campaign) and small neighboring islands on 8 August 1942. These landings initiated a series of combined-arms battles between the two adversaries, beginning with the Guadalcanal landing and continuing with several battles in the central and northern Solomons, on and around New Georgia Island, and Bougainville Island.

 In a campaign of attrition fought on land, on sea, and in the air, the Allies wore the Japanese down, inflicting irreplaceable losses on Japanese military assets. The Allies retook some of the Solomon Islands (although resistance continued until the end of the war), and they also isolated and neutralized some Japanese positions, which were then bypassed. The Solomon Islands campaign then converged with the New Guinea campaign.

American amphibious tracked vehicle LVT-1 in the jungle.

American and Canadian troops on Kiska (Aleutian Islands). 1943.

THE ALEUTIAN ISLANDS CAMPAIGN

The Aleutian Islands Campaign was a struggle over the Aleutian Islands, part of Alaska, in the Pacific campaign of World War II starting on 3 June 1942. A small Japanese force occupied the islands of Attu and Kiska, but the remoteness of the islands and the difficulties of weather and terrain meant that it took nearly a year for a far larger U.S. force to eject them. The islands′ strategic value was their ability to control Pacific Great Circle routes. This control of the Pacific transportation routes is why U.S. General Billy Mitchell stated to the U.S. Congress in 1935, "I believe that in the future, whoever holds Alaska will hold the world. I think it is the most important strategic place in the world." The Japanese reasoned that control of the Aleutians would prevent a possible U.S. attack across the Northern Pacific. Similarly, the U.S. feared that the islands would be used as bases from which to launch aerial assaults against the West Coast.

American flamethrower in action. The Battle of Tarawa. 1943

The American gunners in New Guinea. May 17, 1943.

NEW GUINEA CAMPAIGN

The New Guinea campaign (1942–1945) was one of the major military campaigns of World War II. Before the war, the island of New Guinea was split between: 

• Territory of New Guinea, the north-eastern part of the island of New Guinea and surrounding islands, controlled by Australia under a League of Nations Mandate; 
• Territory of Papua the south-eastern part of the island of New Guinea, an Australian colony and; 
• Dutch New Guinea, the western part of the island (later known as West Papua). 

New Guinea was strategically important because it was a major landmass to the immediate north of Australia. Its large land area provided locations for large land, air and naval bases. 

Fighting between Allied and Japanese forces commenced with the Japanese assault on Rabaul on 23 January 1942. Rabaul became the forward base for the Japanese campaigns in mainland New Guinea, including the pivotal Kokoda Track campaign of July 1942–January 1943, and the Battle of Buna-Gona. Fighting in some parts of New Guinea continued until the war ended in August 1945. 

General Douglas MacArthur as Supreme Commander in the South West Pacific Area, led the Allied forces. MacArthur was based in Melbourne, Brisbane and Manila. 

The Japanese 8th Area Army, under General Hitoshi Imamura, was responsible for both the New Guinea and Solomon Islands campaigns. Imamura was based at Rabaul. The Japanese 18th Army, under Lieutenant General Hatazō Adachi, was responsible for Japanese operations on mainland New Guinea.

American marines with the body of their colleague. Peleliu Islands.

BATTLE OF PELELIU

The Battle of Peleliu, codenamed Operation Stalemate II, was fought between the United States and the Empire of Japan in the Pacific Theater of World War II, from September–November 1944 on the island of Peleliu, present-day Palau. U.S. forces (originally consisting of only the 1st Marine Division, but later relieved by the Army's 81st Infantry Division), fought to capture an airstrip on the small coral island. 

Major General William Rupertus—commander of 1st Marine Division—predicted the island would be secured within four days. However, due to Japan's well-crafted fortifications and stiff resistance, the battle lasted over two months. In the United States, it was a controversial command decision because of the island's questionable strategic value and the high casualty rate, which was the highest for U.S. soldiers of any battle in the Pacific War.

 The National Museum of the Marine Corps called it "the bitterest battle of the war for the Marines"

U.S. Marines camp at Guadalcanal, flooded with rain water.

American soldiers firing the 37mm gun

U.S. Marines shelling Japanese soldiers from the 37-mm anti-tank gun from the position at the top of Mount Tapochau, Saipan, Mariana Islands

MOUNT TAPOCHAU

Mount Tapochau is the highest point on the island of Saipan in the Northern Mariana Islands. It is located in the centre of the island, north of San Vicente village and northwest of Magicienne Bay, and rises to a height of 474 m (1554 ft). The mountain offers a 360 degree view of the island. Mount Tapochau was vital in World War II as a result of this.

U.S. Marines in the jungles of Bougainville Island (Solomon Islands). In January 1944

U.S. Marines are close to Japanese positions on Okinawa.

American troops landing at Guadalcanal: U.S. soldiers from the 160th Infantry Regiment, prepare to disembark from landing craft in preparation for landing on Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands, in March 1942.

GUADALCANAL CAMPAIGN

The Guadalcanal Campaign, also known as the Battle of Guadalcanal and codenamed Operation Watchtower by Allied forces, was a military campaign fought between August 7, 1942 and February 9, 1943 on and around the island of Guadalcanal in the South Pacific of World War II. 

The Allied campaign was launched about the same time in late July as the Australian defenders set out to block the Japanese advance over the mountains from Buna in the Battle for the Kokoda Track and both had the same purpose: prevent the Japanese from adding new strategically important air fields to their vast networked base system in defense of the Sea lines of communication (SLOC)— so as to protect Australia from being cut off from the Americas, from India, and from invasion by the enemy. 

While organized (and manned) by different Theatre commands —both were Allied actions to check expansion of the Japanese, when the Japanese were still unaware they'd already won their last victory of expansion on 21 July—their landings at Gona and Buna on the northcoast Papua peninsula. 

The landings at Guadalcanal was the first major offensive launched by Allied forces against the Empire of Japan.On August 7, 1942, Allied forces, predominantly American, landed on the islands of Guadalcanal, Tulagi, and Florida in the southern Solomon Islands with the objective of denying their use by the Japanese to threaten the supply and communication routes between the U.S., Australia, and New Zealand. 

The Allies also intended to use Guadalcanal and Tulagi as bases to support a campaign to eventually capture or neutralize the major Japanese base at Rabaul on New Britain. The Allies overwhelmed the outnumbered Japanese defenders, who had occupied the islands since May 1942, and captured Tulagi and Florida, as well as an airfield (later named Henderson Field) that was under construction on Guadalcanal. Powerful U.S. naval forces supported the landings. 

Surprised by the Allied offensive, the Japanese made several attempts between August and November 1942 to retake Henderson Field. Three major land battles, seven large naval battles (five nighttime surface actions and two carrier battles), and continual, almost daily aerial battles culminated in the decisive Naval Battle of Guadalcanal in early November 1942, in which the last Japanese attempt to bombard Henderson Field from the sea and land with enough troops to retake it was defeated. 

In December 1942, the Japanese abandoned further efforts to retake Guadalcanal and evacuated their remaining forces by February 7, 1943 in the face of an offensive by the U.S. Army's XIV Corps, conceding the island to the Allies. The Guadalcanal campaign was a significant strategic combined arms victory by Allied forces over the Japanese in the Pacific theatre. 

The Japanese had reached the high-water mark of their conquests in the Pacific, and Guadalcanal marked the transition by the Allies from defensive operations to the strategic offensive in that theatre and the beginning of offensive operations, including the Solomon Islands, New Guinea, and Central Pacific campaigns, that resulted in Japan's eventual surrender and the end of World War II.