World War and the Growth of Global Power 257destroyers, 63 submarines, and 3000 planes—and also struck Guam, Wake
Island, and Hong Kong. Americans expected to be more successful in the
Philippines, its colony, but Japan destroyed most U.S. planes there and began
a land campaign that lasted from December 1941 until FDR ordered his com-
mander, General MacArthur, to withdraw in April 1942. MacArthur, who had
investments in land, mining, and industry in the Philippines, famously pledged
“I shall return.” As for the Japanese, they took over Indochina [Vietnam,
Cambodia, and Laos], Malaya, the Dutch East Indies for its oil, and Burma
[now Myanmar]. By mid-1942 Japan was at the height of its power, dominat-
ing the western Pacific Ocean and Southeast Asia and looking for more gains
in the Indian Ocean, Australia, and the Central Pacific.
In late spring-early summer of 1942, the Japanese and Americans had their
first significant encounters, in the Battles of Coral Sea and Midway. The Coral
Sea was near Australia, a key prize for the Japanese. Both sides had carriers
in the water and caused significant damage, and though suffering greater
losses the U.S. did turn back the Japanese threat to western Australia. Barely
a month later, in July 1942, Japan tried to extend its “sphere” to Midway, at
the western end of the Hawai’ian Island chain. It sent a major fleet com-
manded by Yamamoto to Midway to fight against a smaller American group
of ships. U.S. planes flying from carriers destroyed 4 Japanese carriers and,
for the first time, America was a clear-cut victor over Tokyo’s Imperial Navy
and had ended Japan’s hopes for a short war. The U.S. from that point on had
the strategic initiative in the Pacific, in large measure because American indus-
try was now producing ships at full capacity and sending out a fleet that
would be much larger than Japan’s.
Immediately after Midway, both sides headed for the Solomon Islands, to
Guadalcanal, where they would have a brutal battle from August 1942-February
- The Japanese wanted a base at Guadalcanal to harass and deny supply
and communication lanes between the U.S., Australia, and Britain, while the
Americans wanted to use it and nearby Tulagi to go after a major Japanese
base at Rabaul on nearby New Britain. Through 1942, Japanese ships
attacked the U.S. fleet and Japanese forces on land dug in and fought rug-
gedly, but by February of the next year, Japan had absorbed too many losses
and abandoned the area, losing its reputation for being invincible. From then
on, 1943-45, the war in the Pacific steadily turned against Japan as America
sent more ships and sailors to the region and wore down the enemy.