Pacific Ocean theater of World War II

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v • d • e Pacific Ocean theater Pearl Harbor – Midway – Solomons – Aleutians – Gilberts & Marshalls – Marianas & Palau – Volcano Is & Ryukyu Is

v • d • e Pacific War China – Pacific Ocean – South-East Asia – South West Pacific – Japan – Manchuria (1945)

The Pacific Ocean theater was one of four major naval theatres of war of the Second World War that pitted forces of the Japan against those of the United States, Commonwealth of Nations, the Netherlands and France.

The theater included most of the Pacific Ocean and its islands, excluding the Philippines, Australia, the Netherlands East Indies, the Territory of New Guinea (including the Bismarck Archipelago) and the western part of the Solomon Islands (which were part of the Southwest Pacific Area. The Pacific Ocean theater also excluded China and mainland South East Asia. It takes its name from 24 March 1942 when it became the major Allied command in the theater, known simply as "Pacific Ocean Areas".

[edit] Leaders

The Japanese Combined Fleet was led by Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, until he was killed in an attack by U.S. fighter planes in April 1943. Yamamoto was succeeded by Admiral Mineichi Koga (1943–44) and Admiral Soemu Toyoda (1944–45).

Admiral, later Fleet Admiral, Chester Nimitz commanded the vast majority of Allied naval forces in the Pacific Ocean during the period 1941–45. The Allied Pacific Ocean Areas (POA) command was formed in March 1942. The POA was further divided into the North, Central, and South Pacific Areas, with subordinate commanders. Nimitz retained direct control of the Central Pacific Area (CENPAC).

[edit] Major campaigns and battles

• Central Pacific Theater
  • Attack on Pearl Harbor 1941
  • Battle of Wake Island 1941
  • Battle of Coral Sea 1942
  • Battle of Midway 1942
  • Gilbert and Marshall Islands campaign 1943–44
  • Battle of Tarawa 1943
  • Battle of Saipan 1944
• South West Pacific ocean Theater 1942–45
  • Guadalcanal campaign 1942–43
  • Battle of the Eastern Solomons 1942
• North Pacific Theater
  • Aleutian Islands campaign 1942–43
• West Pacific Theater
  • Battle of the Philippine Sea 1944
  • Mariana and Palau Islands campaign 1944
  • Battle of Peleliu 1944
• East China sea Theater
  • Volcano and Ryukyu Islands campaign 1945
  • Battle of Iwo Jima 1945
  • Battle of Okinawa 1945

[edit] References

• Drea, Edward J. (1998). In the Service of the Emperor: Essays on the Imperial Japanese Army. Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press. ISBN 0-8032-1708-0. 
• Miller, Edward S. (2007). War Plan Orange: The U.S. Strategy to Defeat Japan, 1897–1945. US Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1591145007. 
• Hakim, Joy (1995). A History of Us: War, Peace and all that Jazz. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-509514-6.