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.

Japanese pilots smile as they listen to a comrade recount his experiences of aerial combat over Wake Island.

Pacific Theater

Wake Island Survivor

By Eric Niderost

The siege of Wake Island lasted a relatively short time, from December 8 to December 23, 1941, yet it looms large in the annals of the Second World War. Read more

Covered with oil and soaking wet, these men head for shore. The Coolidge can be seen in the background (left).

Pacific Theater

The Coolidge Goes Down

By Kevin Hymel

It was supposed to be a routine delivery of soldiers to the battlefields of Guadalcanal—but nothing in war is ever routine. Read more

Marines land on “Orange One” beach at Peleliu. Minutes later, the relative calm would be broken and the Marines would meet fanatical Japanese resistance.

Pacific Theater

The Battle of Peleliu: Shocked Beyond Imagination

By Al Hemingway

As he watched the preliminary bombardment from the railing of his ship, Colonel Lewis B. “Chesty” Puller had deep reservations. Read more

Pacific Theater

The USCGC Taney: Pearl Harbor and Beyond

by Paul B. Cora

Built in the mid-1930s as one of the famed Treasury class of large U.S. Coast Guard cutters, USCGC Taney had a distinguished career spanning five decades of continuous service. Read more

Under the relentless onslaught of Japanese Mitsubishi A6 Zero fighter planes, the Douglas TBD Devastator torpedo bombers of the USS Hornet’s Torpedo Squadron 8 are massacred as they attempt to attack Japanese aircraft carriers during the Battle of Midway in this dramatic painting by artist John Hamilton titled “Destruction of a Torpedo Bomber.”

Pacific Theater

Remembering Torpedo 8 of Midway

By Mark Carlson

In 1982, Captain Bert Earnest and Commander Harry Ferrier were present at an event to commemorate the 40th Anniversary of the Battle of Midway. Read more

Using a machine gun and carbine rifles, infantrymen sight up enemy positions during an attack on Cape Gloucester.

Pacific Theater

Operation Cartwheel: Seizing the Solomons and Beyond

by Douglas Sterling

On the island of New Britain, at the north end of the Solomon chain, lay a major base that provided Japanese forces with the naval power, supplies, and reinforcements to control the sea lanes of the Southwest Pacific. Read more

The Boeing B-29 Superfortress Enola Gay streaks through the clouds on August 6, 1945 in artist William S. Phillips’s The Beginning of the End.

Pacific Theater

Paul Tibbets: The Man Who Piloted the Enola Gay

By Bill Van Orman

Today, in his nineties, Paul Tibbets is still a handsome man. He has a full head of silver hair. Read more

A pair of Douglas SBD Dauntless dive-bombers depart a carrier in the Pacific as they embark on a mission in late July 1944.

Pacific Theater

Scout Squadron 6 During the Pearl Harbor Attack

By Richard L. Hayes

Many people have heard of the six American Curtiss P-40 Tomahawk fighters that actually got off the ground and contested the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941. Read more

Several American pilots pose at Clark Field in August 1941. Standing left to right are: Carl Gies, Max Louk, Erwin Crellin, and Varian Kieler.

Pacific Theater

U.S. Heavy Bombers in WWII: Caught on the Ground

By Sam McGowan

In the popular history of World War II, the assertion that the United States was caught unprepared in Hawaii and the Philippines has become widely accepted as fact. Read more

The Vestal assists a U.S. Navy destroyer.

Pacific Theater

The USS Vestal: The Pearl Harbor Attack & Beyond

by Glenn Barnett

On Saturday, December 6, 1941, the repair ship USS Vestal eased alongside the USS Arizona at her berth at Pearl Harbor. Read more

Pacific Theater

The “George Medal” and Guadalcanal

by R.D. Camp Jr.

In the long and distinguished history of the U.S. Marine Corps, thousands of marines have been awarded medals for meritorious service on the battlefield. Read more

Pacific Theater

Marauding Wahoo

By Kelly Bell

On the night of September 14, 1942, the men aboard the U.S. Navy submarine Wahoo spotted smoke rising from the funnel of a vessel emerging from Truk’s north pass. Read more

U.S. Marines make their way across a low stone wall as they seek out hidden Japanese positions on bloody Okinawa.

Pacific Theater

Sugar Loaf Hill Survival: U.S. Marines in the Okinawa Campaign

By John Wukovits

The grimy, weary Marines heard with little emotion the instructions shouted by their officer. He wanted them to mount yet another charge to the top of the nondescript hill blocking their way, another collection of rock housing an enemy that tried to halt their advance. Read more

Pacific Theater

Pete Ellis: Father of Amphibious Warfare

by Al Hemingway

He suffered from acute alcoholism and severe bouts of depression. As a result of his heavy drinking, he would wander about for days yelling incoherently. Read more

Pacific Theater

Operation Matterhorn

by John Kennedy Ohl

Most writings about World War II tend to attribute the success or failure of military operations to the skill with which generals and admirals handled their forces in battle and to the fighting abilities of soldiers, sailors, and airmen. Read more

Pacific Theater

Battle of Rennell Island: A Fiery End for the USS Chicago

by John Domagalski

With bond clerk Marge Henning standing by as a witness, Colonel Frank Eldridge removed the first piece of the puzzle. Read more

Pacific Theater

The OSS’ Operation Cardinal: Locating General Jonathan Wainwright

By John Mancini

On May 6, 1942, in the Malinta Tunnel, Corregidor Island, General Jonathan Wainwright waited for the Japanese to respond to his surrender offer with a cease-fire. Read more

Pacific Theater

Franklin Roosevelt’s Pre-Pearl Harbor Intervention Plans

By Donald J. Young

This is a story of what might have been. If Japan had chosen to attack far-off British Malaya on December 7, 1941, instead of Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, President Franklin Roosevelt was prepared to go before Congress and ask—for the first time in American history—for a declaration of war against a nation that had not fired the first shot against us. Read more

Australian Corporal G.E. Burns welcomes a trio of American sailors to Brisbane in a photo that has obviously been staged.

Pacific Theater

Culture Clash: Americans in World War II’s South Pacific

by Ken Wright

In 1942, Brisbane was the third largest city in Australia and the state capital of Queensland. To many, however, it was more like a big country town than a city, its 340,000 inhabitants living in a quiet, conservative, and isolated atmosphere. Read more

Pacific Theater

Charlie Mott: Flying Tiger Caged

By Bob Bergin

Charles D. Mott was a U.S. Navy dive-bomber pilot when he joined the American Volunteer Group (AVG), the small band of Americans who flew under the leadership of General Claire Lee Chennault and became known to history as the Flying Tigers. Read more

Pacific Theater

From Around the Network

Hell Hath No Fury Like Nathan Bedford Forrest

Crushing Counterattack at Salerno

A struggle for the planet and for the soul of humankind.

A World War I Retrospective from York University’s History Department