Here is some info to read up on about WWII Pacific Campaign. Add your own to help keep a reference library here.
First off the Battle of Wake Island.
Wake Island
sample...
In the Army Airways Communications Service radio van set up by Captain Wilson near the air strip, an operator was coming up on frequency with the base at Hickam Field on Oahu, when, at 0650, a frantic uncoded, procedureless transmission cut through from Hickam: Oahu was under enemy air attack.
Captain Wilson made for Major Devereux's tent, and delivered it to the defense commander. major Devereux, after attempting unsuccessfully to reach Commander Cunningham by telephone, called the base communication shack, and learned that a coded priority[2] transmission just in from Pearl was now being broken down. Without hesitating further, Major Devereux dropped the telephone, called for the field music on watch and ordered him to sound "call to Arms".[3]
Marines piled into the trucks which rolled to the battery areas in Camp 1 as gunnery sergeants broke out their men and checked to see that they had their rifles and ball ammunition. By 0735, all positions had reported manned and ready, a defense battalion officers' conference had been briefly held, and a watch had been established as previously planned atop the water tank OP in Camp 1.
Aviation, which already had the dawn patrol airborne prior to arrival of the news from Pearl, was initiating measures for the safety of the 12 new Wildcats as the Philippine Clipper, recalled only 10 minutes out of Wake, circled and let down into the lagoon. At the air strip something close to consternation existed. VMF-211, which had been on Wake but four days, one a holiday, could hardly be said to have gotten established. Although dispersed aircraft revetments were being dozed up and would be ready by 1400 that day, the equally necessary net of access roads which, for the sake of the airplanes, had to be smoothly surfaced, was also uncompleted. The small size of the existing parking area prohibited dispersal beyond rather narrow limits. Major Putnam was thus confronted with a dilemma which he described as follows:
The Squadron Commander was faced with a choice between two major decisions, and inevitably he chose the wrong one. Work was progressing simultaneously on six of the protective bunkers for the airplanes, and while none was available for immediate occupancy, all would be ready not later than by 1400. Protection and camouflage for facilities were not available but could be made ready within 24 hours. Fox holes or other prepared positions for personnel did not exist but would be completed not later than 1400. To move the airplanes out of the regular parking area entailed grave risk of damage, and any damage meant the complete loss of an airplane because of the complete absence of spare parts. * * * The Squadron Commander decided to avoid certain damage to his airplanes by moving them across the rough ground, to delay movements of material until some place could be prepared to receive it, and to trust his personnel to take natural cover if attacked.
Now the US MArines......... Sample
Pearl Harbor to Guadalcanal
History of U.S. Marine Corps Operations in World War II
Volume I
Marines
Guam was a fueling station for naval vessels making the long run to and from the Orient, a relay point for the trans-Pacific cable, the site of a naval radio station, and a stop for Pan American clippers. Assigned to protect its 20,000 natives and its 228 square miles of rugged, jungled terrain was a token force of 153
Marines. Backing them up was a Guamanian infantry unit, the 80-man Insular Force Guard, and a volunteer native naval militia with 246 ill-armed and ill-trained members.9 The island's government departments and naval station activities were manned by 271 regular Navy personnel. A naval officer, Captain George J. McMillin, was both island governor and garrison commander.
The war threat was so real by October 1941 that all women and children of U.S. citizenship were evacuated from Guam. On 6 December the garrison destroyed all its classified papers and like other Pacific outposts awaited the outcome of the U.S.-Japanese negotiations in Washington. The word came at 0545 on 8 December (7 December, Pearl Harbor time). Captain McMillin was informed of the enemy attack by the Commander in Chief of the Asiatic Fleet. In less than three hours Saipan-based Japanese bombers were over the island.
The initial enemy target was the mine sweeper USS Penguin in Apra Harbor; this small ship's 3-inch and .50 caliber guns were the only weapons larger than .30 caliber machine guns available to the Guam garrison. Under repeated attacks, the Penguin went to the bottom, and her survivors joined the forces ashore. The attack continued throughout the daylight hours with flights of bombers hitting the various naval installations and strafing roads and villages. The island capital, Agana, was cleared of civilians, and the few local Japanese were rounded up and interned.
That night a native dugout landed near Ritidian Point on the northern cape of the island, and the three men in it were captured. They claimed to be Saipan natives sent over to be on hand as interpreters when the Japanese landed. These natives insisted that the Japanese intended to land the next morning (9 December) on beaches near Agana. Captain McMillin suspected a trick. He believed that by this ruse the Japanese sought to draw the Marines out of their prepared positions in the butts of the rifle range at Sumay on Orote Peninsula. He decided not to allow this information to cause a shift of his major defensive force from a position which guarded important Apra Harbor.
By guess or knowledge the Saipan natives had one of the landing sites located accurately, but they were off on their time. The 9th brought no landing, but the bombers came back to give Guam another pounding. The Insular Force Guard was posted to protect government buildings in Agana, but the rest of the island's garrison remained at their assigned posts. Lieutenant Colonel William K. McNulty's 122 Marines of the Sumay barracks continued to improve their rifle range defenses, and the 28 Marines who were assigned to the Insular Patrol, the island's police force, kept their stations in villages throughout Guam.
After the Japanese bombers finished for the day all was quiet until about 0400 on 10 December. At that time flares burst over Dungcas Beach north of Agana, and some 400 Japanese sailors of the 5th Defense Force from Saipan came ashore. While the naval landing party moved into Agana where it clashed with the Insular Force Guard, elements of the Japanese South Seas Detached Force (approximately 5,500 men)10 made separate landings at Tumon Bay in the north, on the southwest coast near Merizo, and on the eastern shore of the island at Talafofo Bay.
At Agana's plaza the lightly-armed Guamanians, commanded by Marine First Lieutenant Charles S. Todd, stood off the early Japanese attacks, but their rifles and machine guns did not provide enough firepower to hold against a coordinated attack by the Dungcas Beach landing force. Captain McMillin, aware of the overwhelming superiority of the enemy, decided not to endanger the lives of the thousands of civilians in his charge by further and fruitless resistance. "The situation was simply hopeless," he later related.11 He surrendered the island to the Japanese naval commander shortly after 0600, and sent orders to the Marines at Sumay not to resist. The word did not reach all defenders, however, and scattered fighting continued throughout the day as the enemy spread out to complete occupation of the island. But this amounted to only token resistance. There was no chance that the determined Japanese might be driven off by a force so small, even if the defenders could have regrouped. Guam had fallen, and it would be two and a half years before the United States was in a position to win it back.
During the two days of bombing and in the fighting on 10 December, the total garrison losses were 19 killed and 42 wounded including four Marines killed and 12 wounded.12 The civilian population suffered comparable but undetermined casualties. The Japanese evacuated American members of the garrison to prison camps in Japan on 10 January 1942, and the enemy naval force that had been present at the surrender settled down to duty as occupation troops.
A cronology of Pacific War...
Pacific War cronology
December 7, 1941 - Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor, Hawaii; also attack the Philippines, Wake Island, Guam, Malaya, Thailand, Shanghai and Midway.
December 8, 1941 - U.S. and Britain declare war on Japan. Japanese land near Singapore and enter Thailand.
December 9, 1941 - China declares war on Japan.
December 10, 1941 - Japanese invade the Philippines and also seize Guam.
December 11, 1941 - Japanese invade Burma.
December 15, 1941 - First Japanese merchant ship sunk by a U.S. submarine.
December 16, 1941 - Japanese invade British Borneo.
December 18, 1941 - Japanese invade Hong Kong.
December 22, 1941 - Japanese invade Luzon in the Philippines.
December 23, 1941 - General Douglas MacArthur begins a withdrawal from Manila to Bataan; Japanese take Wake Island.
December 25, 1941 - British surrender at Hong Kong.
December 26, 1941 - Manila declared an open city.
December 27, 1941 - Japanese bomb Manila.
January 2, 1942 - Manila and U.S. Naval base at Cavite captured by the Japanese.
January 7, 1942 - Japanese attack Bataan in the Philippines.
January 11, 1942 - Japanese invade Dutch East Indies and Dutch Borneo.
January 16, 1942 - Japanese begin an advance into Burma.
January 18, 1942 - German-Japanese-Italian military agreement signed in Berlin.
January 19, 1942 - Japanese take North Borneo.
January 23, 1942 - Japanese take Rabaul on New Britain in the Solomon Islands and also invade Bougainville, the largest island.
January 27, 1942 - First Japanese warship sunk by a U.S. submarine.
January 30/31 - The British withdraw into Singapore. The siege of Singapore then begins.
February 1, 1942 - First U.S. aircraft carrier offensive of the war as YORKTOWN and ENTERPRISE conduct air raids on Japanese bases in the Gilbert and Marshall Islands.
February 2, 1942 - Japanese invade Java in the Dutch East Indies.
February 8/9 - Japanese invade Singapore.
February 14, 1942 - Japanese invade Sumatra in the Dutch East Indies.
February 15, 1942 - British surrender at Singapore.
February 19, 1942 - Largest Japanese air raid since Pearl Harbor occurs against Darwin, Australia; Japanese invade Bali.
February 20, 1942 - First U.S. fighter ace of the war, Lt. Edward O'Hare from the LEXINGTON in action off Rabaul.
February 22, 1942 - President Franklin D. Roosevelt orders General MacArthur out of the Philippines.
February 23, 1942 - First Japanese attack on the U.S. mainland as a submarine shells an oil refinery near Santa Barbara, California.
February 24, 1942 - ENTERPRISE attacks Japanese on Wake Island.
February 26, 1942 - First U.S. carrier, the LANGLEY, is sunk by Japanese bombers.
February 27- March 1 - Japanese naval victory in the Battle of the Java Sea as the largest U.S. warship in the Far East, the HOUSTON, is sunk.
March 4, 1942 - Two Japanese flying boats bomb Pearl Harbor; ENTERPRISE attacks Marcus Island, just 1000 miles from Japan.
March 7, 1942 - British evacuate Rangoon in Burma; Japanese invade Salamaua and Lae on New Guinea.
March 8, 1942 - The Dutch on Java surrender to Japanese.
March 11, 1942 - Gen. MacArthur leaves Corregidor and is flown to Australia. Gen. Jonathan Wainwright becomes the new U.S. commander.
March 18, 1942 - Gen. MacArthur appointed commander of the Southwest Pacific Theater by President Roosevelt.
March 18, 1942 - War Relocation Authority established in the U.S. which eventually will round up 120,000 Japanese-Americans and transport them to barb-wired relocation centers. Despite the internment, over 17,000 Japanese-Americans sign up and fight for the U.S. in World War II in Europe, including the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, the most decorated unit in U.S. history.
March 23, 1942 - Japanese invade the Andaman Islands in the Bay of Bengal.
March 24, 1942 - Admiral Chester Nimitz appointed as Commander in Chief of the U.S. Pacific theater.
April 3, 1942 - Japanese attack U.S. and Filipino troops at Bataan.
April 6, 1942 - First U.S. troops arrive in Australia.
April 9, 1942 - U.S. forces on Bataan surrender unconditionally to the Japanese.
April 10, 1942 - Bataan Death March begins as 76,000 Allied POWs including 12,000 Americans are forced to walk 60 miles under a blazing sun without food or water toward a new POW camp, resulting in over 5,000 American deaths.
April 18, 1942 - Surprise U.S. 'Doolittle' B-25 air raid from the HORNET against Tokyo boosts Allied morale.
A cronology of US Navy operations day by Day WWII.
US Navy
12/07 Sun. Japanese carrier-based horizontal bombers, dive bombers,
torpedo bombers, and fighters totaling 360 aircraft from
naval Striking Force (Vice Adm. c. Nagumo) heavily attack
ships of the United States Pacific Fleet and military
installations at Pearl harbor and other places on Oahu, T. H.
Four battleships, 1 minelayer, and 1 target ship are sunk; 4
battleships, 3 cruisers, 3 destroyers, 1 seaplane tender, and
1 repair ship are damaged. Navy Yard and Naval Base, Pearl
Harbor; Naval Air Station, Ford Island; Naval Patrol Plane
Station, Kaneohe; Marine Corps airfield, Ewa; Army airfields
Hickam, Wheeler, and Bellows are damaged; 188 Naval and Army
aircraft are destroyed.
Killed or missing:
Navy............2,004
Marine Corps......108
Army..............222
Wounded:
Navy..............912
Marine Corps.......75
Army..............360
[Personnel casualty statistics for the Pearl Harbor attack
have been revised several times after evaluation of new data.
The figures presented here were compiled in 1955 from
official sources.]
Japanese lose 5 midget submarines, 28
aircraft, and fewer than 100men.
Midway Island is bombarded by two Japanese destroyers.
President orders mobilization.
Japanese declaration of war reaches Washington, D. C.
United States naval vessels sunk by air attack, Pearl
Harbor:
[All ships sunk, except ARIZONA, OKLAHOMA, and UTAH, were
raised, repaired, and subsequently returned to service.]
Battleship OKLAHOMA (BB-37).
Battleship ARIZONA (BB-39).
Battleship CALIFORNIA (BB-44).
Battleship WEST VIRGINA (BB-48).
Minelayer OGALA (CM-4).
Target ship UTAH (AG-16).
United States naval vessels damaged, Pearl Harbor:
Battleship NEVADA (BB-36).
Battleship PENNSYLVANIA (BB-38).
Battleship TENNESSEE (BB-43).
Battleship MARYLAND (BB-46).
Light cruiser RALEIGH (CL-7).
Light cruiser HONOLULU (CL-48).
Light cruiser HELENA (CL-50).
Destroyer CASSIN (DD-372).
Destroyer SHAW (DD-373).
Destroyer DOWNES (DD-375).
Seaplane tender CURTISS (AV-4).
Repair ship VESTAL (AR-4).
Japanese naval vessels lost, Pearl Harbor attack:
5 midget submarines.
12/08 Mon. United States declares war on Japan.
Striking Force, Asiatic Fleet (Rear Adm. W. A. Glassford)
departs Iloilo, P. I., for Makassar Strait, Netherlands East
Indies.
River gunboat WAKE (PR-3), surrenders to Japanese at Shanghai
after attempt to scuttle fails. [WAKE is the only United
States ship to surrender during the war.]
Potomac River Naval Command with headquarters at Washington, D. C., and Severn River Naval Command with headquarters at Annapolis, Md., are established.
S.S. PRESIDENT HARRISON, en route to evacuate Marines from
Chingwangtao, China, runs aground at Sha Wai Shan, China, and
is captured by the Japanese.
Japanese aircraft in widely scattered operations bomb Guam,
Wake, Hong Kong, Singapore, and the Philippine Islands.
Extensive damage is inflicted on United States Army aircraft
at Clark Field, Luzon, P. I.
Japanese forces land on Batan Island, north of Luzon, P. I.,
and on east coast of Malay Peninsula.
Japan interns United States Marines and nationals at Shanghai
and Tientsin, China.
United States naval vessel sunk:
Minesweeper PENGUIN (AM-33), by horizontal bomber, Guam,
Marianas Islands.
12/09 Tue. Japanese occupy Bangkok, Thailand.
Japanese land on Tarawa and Makin, Gilbert Islands.
China declares war on Japan, Germany, and Italy.
12/10 Wed. Cavite Navy Yard, P. I., is heavily damaged by enemy air
attack.
Guam surrenders to Japanese landing force.
Japanese land on Camiguin Island and at Gonzaga and Aparri,
Luzon, P. I.
British battleship PRINCE OF WALES and battlecruiser REPULSE
are sunk by Japanese naval air attack near Kuantan, Malaya.
United States naval vessels damaged at Cavite, P. I.:
Destroyer PEARY (DD-226), by horizontal bomber.
Submarine SEADRAGON (SS-194), by horizontal bomber.
Submarine SEALION (SS-195), by horizontal bomber.
Minesweeper BITTERN (AM-36), by horizontal bomber.
Japanese naval vessels sunk:
Submarine I-170, by carrier-based aircraft, Hawaiian
Islands area,
23 d. 45' N., 155 d. 35' W.
Minesweeper No. 10, by Army aircraft, Philippine Islands
area,
17 d. 32' N., 120 d. 22' E.
Minesweeper No. 19, damaged by Army aircraft and grounded
by own forces (total loss), Philippine Islands area,
18 d. 22, N., 121 d. 38'. E.
12/11 Thu. Germany and Italy declare war on the United States.
United States declare war on Germany and Italy.
Marines on Wake Island repulse Japanese landing attempt and
sink two enemy destroyers.
Japanese make landings at Legaspi, Luzon, P. I.
Japanese naval vessels sunk at Wake Island:
Destroyer HAYATE, by Marine shore batteries.
Destroyer KISARAGI, by Marine aircraft.
12/12 Fri. Naval Air Transport Service (NATS) is established.
12/13 Sat. Japanese planes attack Subic Bay area and airfield in
Philippine Islands.
12/14 Sun. Wake Island Relief Expedition (Read Adm. F. J. Fletcher)
leaves Pearl Harbor, Oahu, T. H.
12/15 Mon. Patrol Wing 10 departs Philippine Islands for Netherlands
East Indies.
Kahului, Maui, T. H., is shelled by Japanese submarine.
United States naval vessels sunk:
PT-33, damaged by grounding and sunk by United States
forces, Philippine Islands area,
13 d. 46' N., 120 d. 40' E.
12/16 Tue. Johnston Island is shelled by Japanese submarine.
12/17 Wed. Rear Adm. C. W. Nimitz is ordered to relieve Adm. H. E.
Kimmel as Commander in Chief Pacific Fleet, with rank of
Admiral; Vice Adm. W. S. Pye becomes acting Commander in
Chief Pacific Fleet, pending arrival of Admiral Nimitz.
Japanese land at Miri, Sarawak, Borneo.
12/18 Thu. State Department announces that Rear Adm. F. J. Horne and
French High Commissioner at Martinique, French West Indies,
Admiral Robert, have reached an agreement neutralizing French
Caribbean possessions.
Congress passes First War Powers Act.
Japanese naval vessel sunk:
Destroyer SHINONOME, by mine, Miri, Borneo.
12/20 Sat. Adm. E. J. King is designated Commander in Chief United
States Fleet with headquarters in the Navy Department,
Washington, D. C.
Japanese troops land at Davao, Mindanao, P. I.
12/21 Sun. Naval local defense forces in Philippine Islands (Rear Adm.
F. W. Rockwell) move headquarters to Corregidor.
12/22 Mon. American troops (Brig. Gen. J. F. Barnes) arrive at Brisbane,
Australia.
President and British Prime Minister open discussions in
Washington leading to establishment of Combined Chiefs of
Staff.
Japanese make landings in Lingayen Gulf area, P. I.
Japanese naval vessels destroyed:
Patrol boats Nos. 32 and 33 (old destroyers) deliberately
run ashore, destroyed by Marine gunfire, Wake Island.
12/23 Tue. Wake Island, which had been subjected to prolonged enemy
bombing, surrenders to Japanese invasion force. United
States Relief Expedition is recalled while still 425 miles
from Wake.
United States-British War Council composed of the President,
British Prime Minister, and naval, military, and civilian
advisers meets for the first time.
Palmyra Island is shelled by Japanese submarine.
Japanese make landings at Kuching, Sarawak, Borneo.
12/24 Wed. Japanese land at Lamon Bay, Luzon, P. I.
12/25 Thu. Adm. T. C. Hart turns over all remaining naval forces in the
Philippine Islands to Rear Adm. F. W. Rockwell; Admiral Hart
departs in submarine for Java to establish new headquarters
of Asiatic Fleet.
British surrender Hong Kong.
Japanese land at Jolo, P. I.
United States naval vessels sunk:
Submarine SEALION (SS-195), damaged 10 December 1941,
Cavite, P. I., is sunk by United States forces.
12/26 Fri. Manila, P. I., is declared an open city but enemy bombing
continues.
12/29 Mon. Corregidor, P. I., is bombed for first time by Japanese
aircraft.
United States naval vessels damaged:
Submarine tender CANOPUS (AS-9), by horizontal bomber,
Philippine Islands area,
14 d. 25' N., 120 d. 20' e.
12/30 Tue. Adm. E. J. King assumes duties as Commander in Chief United States Fleet. (See 20 December 1941.)
12/31 Wed. Adm. C. W. Nimitz assumes command of Pacific Fleet.
Japanese submarines shell Kauai, Maui, and Hawaii, T. H.
