Pacific Theater
Australian Raiders & The Assault On Singapore Harbor
By John BrownHours after Japanese planes bombed Pearl Harbor in December 1941, Japanese troops landed in northern Malaya and began moving south toward Singapore. Read more
Pacific Theater
The Pacific Theater during World War II is generally regarded as the area of military confrontation between the Allied powers and Imperial Japan. The Pacific Theater consists of the entire operational expanse of the war from the Aleutian Islands in the north to Australia in the south, including island chains such as the Solomons, Gilberts, Marshalls, and Marianas. The China-Burma-India (CBI) Theater is also considered a major component of the Pacific Theater.
Pacific Theater
Queen of the Desert: The Infantry ‘Matilda’ Tank
By Jon DiamondThe origins of the Matilda Tank or “I” Tank date back to 1934, when Maj. Gen. Percy C.S. Read more
Pacific Theater
Comparing Admiral Chester Nimitz and Isoroku Yamamoto
by Michael Haskew“Japan cannot defeat America; therefore, Japan should not go to war with America.” Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, Commander-in-Chief of the Combined Fleet of the Imperial Japanese Navy, spoke those words to a group of school children as his government contemplated just that. Read more
Pacific Theater
Marine Stand on Guadalcanal
By David Alan JohnsonAt about 2:30 on the morning of August 21, 1942, U.S. Marine units east of Henderson Field on the embattled island of Guadalcanal were awakened by several bursts of machinegun fire. Read more
Pacific Theater
American Athletes and Spectator Sports During World War II
By Flint WhitlockIn the 1940s, war disrupted the lives of millions of people around the globe: fuel rationing, food rationing, shortages of all kinds, and, of course, the death and destruction that was visited on cities, nations, and whole populations. Read more
Pacific Theater
Hero to the End: Airman William “Ed” Dyess on the Philippines
By Sam McGowanLieutenant Colonel William Edwin Dyess, a U.S. Army Air Corps pilot and squadron commander, was considered a hero by men who served under him in the Philippines and who felt they owed their own lives to Ed’s sacrifice. Read more
Pacific Theater
The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress, or the Consolidated B-24 Liberator?
By Sam McGowanOne of the most frequently discussed arguments to come out of World War II is which was the “better” bomber, the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress or the Consolidated B-24 Liberator? Read more
Pacific Theater
Bloody Encounter at Hell’s Point: The Story of Al Schmid
By Al HemingwayAs the light of a sickly green flare shot skyward, three Marines from the 11th Machine Gun Squad, H Company, 2nd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment crouched in the hole awaiting the Japanese onslaught on Guadalcanal. Read more
Pacific Theater
The USS Houston and the Battle of Sunda Strait
By A.B. FeuerThe heavy cruiser USS Houston ventured into the Sunda Strait off the coast of Java on the dark night of February 28, 1942, and was never heard from again. Read more
Pacific Theater
Desmond Doss: The Hero of Hacksaw Ridge
By Nicholas Varangis“One of the greatest heroes in American history never fired a bullet.” That is the tagline of Director Mel Gibson’s 2016 film, Hacksaw Ridge. Read more
Pacific Theater
A Newspaper Headline Nearly Exposed the U.S. Navy’s Codebreaking Success Against Japan
By Colonel James W. Hammond, Jr.Stanley Johnston, a reporter for the Chicago Tribune accredited to the Navy as a correspondent, had made two forays into the South Pacific aboard the aircraft carrier Lexington. Read more
Pacific Theater
Torpedo Squadron 8: Their Heroic Flight at the Battle of Midway
By John DomagalskiThe pilots of Bombing Squadron 6 could not believe what they were seeing on the morning of June 4, 1942. Read more
Pacific Theater
Richard Bong (1920-1945)
By Sam McGowanWithout dispute, the P-38 was the airplane of the aces. While other fighter types had their share of aces, the P-38 was flown by most of the top scorers, of whom Major Richard Ira Bong was at the top of the heap. Read more
Pacific Theater
The M2 4.2-Inch Chemical Mortar
By Christopher MiskimonIn the last days of March 1945, a soldier named Carl Getzel sat on a hill outside the city of Aschaffenburg and watched as it was slowly destroyed. Read more
Pacific Theater
How the Men of the USS West Virginia Died During Pearl Harbor
By Don HainesWhen Nathan and Jane Olds of Stanton, ND; Ralph and Vera Endicott of Aberdeen, Wash.; and Effie Costin of Henryville, Ind., Read more
Pacific Theater
Donald R. Lobaugh: From Delinquent to Medal of Honor Recipient
By Richard A. BerantyDonald R. Lobaugh was a juvenile delinquent, a kid sent to reform school when he was 16 years old. Read more
Pacific Theater
The Chance-Vought F4U Corsair: Whistling Death in the South Pacific
by Sam McGowanThanks to the rather far-fetched mid-1970s TV series Black Sheep Squadron, the bent-wing image of the Chance-Vought F4U Corsair is no doubt one of the most vivid of the World War II fighters in the minds of most Americans. Read more
Pacific Theater
Famous Navy Ships: The Triumph of the USS Batfish
By Robert Barr SmithShe was a sleek, efficient, deadly killer, a home to six officers and 60 enlisted men, and a holy terror to the enemy. Read more
Pacific Theater
Kamikazes Caught on the Ground: Raid on Clark Field
By Robert F. McEniry, Lt. Col. USAF (ret.)General Douglas MacArthur, Supreme Allied Commander Southwest Pacific Area, kept his promise to return to the Philippine Islands when his Sixth Army under the command of Lt. Read more
Pacific Theater
Hiro Onoda’s Surrender: Fighting World War II Until 1974
By Glenn BarnettThe Japanese empire was a fine place for young Hiro Onoda. In 1939, at age 17, he hired on with a lacquerware company that posted him to Hankow (Wuhan) in Japanese-occupied China. Read more
