Pacific Theater WWII

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.

U.S. troops storm ashore during an amphibious landing on Japanese-held Saipan. Navy combat artist William Draper painted the image and titled it The Landing.

Pacific Theater

The Battle of Saipan

By Al Hemingway

Peering through his binoculars, Vice Adm. Chuichi Nagumo was in awe of the nearly 800 ships from Vice Adm. Read more

Pacific Theater

U.S. Marine legend Lewis ‘Chesty’ Puller

By Michael D. Hull

Crouched in their foxholes along Edson’s Ridge on Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands, the Marines formed a critical but thin defense line between strategic Henderson Field and seasoned Japanese infantry lurking in the jungle. Read more

Chinese children are being subjected to trials intended to limit the spread of the plague. Many of the terrible experiments conducted by Unit 731 involved the spread of infectious disease.

Pacific Theater

Military Intelligence: Japan’s BW Group

By Charles N. Tallesen

Confronted with war, some men seem capable of assuming almost any evil. Such were the actions of General Shiro Ishii and the men of his Manchuko Unit 731, which developed means of biological warfare in the 1930s and ’40s. Read more

Carlson’s Marine Raiders participate in rigorous training with rubber boats along a Hawaiian beach. A month later, the Raiders were in action on the Japaese-held island of Makin.

Pacific Theater

Evans Carlson Forms Carlson’s Raiders

By Michael D. Hull

One of America’s earliest heroes in World War II was the tall, soft-spoken son of a Connecticut Congregational minister who distinguished himself in some of the fiercest fighting in the South Pacific. Read more

A twin-boomed P-38 Lightning flies over snow-capped mountain peaks. With its tremendous range and firepower, the P-38 saw service in every major theater of World War II.

Pacific Theater

What Made the Lockheed P-38 Lightning So Special?

By Sam McGowan

Due largely to their use in the postwar U.S. Army Air Forces and present proliferation among the air show community, the North American P-51 Mustang is thought of by many as the most important American fighter of World War II. Read more

A rescuer's memories shed light on the USS Indianapolis (CA-35), and the shark-infested nightmare the crew endured.

Pacific Theater

Memories from the USS Indianapolis (CA-35)

By A.B. Feuer

The story of the sinking of the USS Indianapolis minutes after midnight on August 30, 1945, by torpedoes fired from the Japanese submarine I-58, remains one of the most publicized tragedies of World War II. Read more

Pacific Theater

Survival: The Story of the USS Franklin

By Chuck Lyons

The USS Franklin was not a lucky ship. In March 1945, off the Japanese mainland, the Essex-class aircraft carrier was hit by two 550-pound bombs that struck her flight deck and penetrated into the hangar deck. Read more

Pacific Theater

Literally Cutting Down Your Enemy in a Vought F4U Corsair

By Christopher Miskimon

The Battle of Okinawa raged not only on the island itself but in the skies overhead. Japanese aircraft attacked the invading Americans not only through conventional bombing attacks but also by using the dreaded Kamikaze—suicide pilots who turned their planes into guided missiles to inflict more damage. Read more