Pacific War Photo Timeline

Japan
1942-1945

See also: Timeline of Events

Selected Battle Photos

US propaganda machine "...we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain... Remember Dec. 7th!" US Armed Forces recruiting poster from 1942.

Allied POWs with hands tied behind their back pause during the Bataan Death March. About 76,000 prisoners including 12,000 Americans were forced on the 60-mile march toward a new POW camp in the Philippines. A smaller Japanese force is bewildered as to what to due with so many Americans surrendering en mass. April 1942

The Bataan Death March continues with Americans receiving litters by Japanese guards to carry comrades who have collapsed along the road from lack of food and water. Over 5,000 Americans died on the march, which began April 10 and lasted six days for some and up to twelve days for others. Such a larger US force surrendered so quickly to a smaller force as to create dire logistical problems for the Japanese Army.

With 450 feet of 'runway,' one of sixteen Army B-25 Mitchell bombers takes off from the deck of the USS HORNET on its way to take part in the Doolittle Raid, the first US bombing raid on Japan. The all volunteer strike force, trained and led by Lt. Col. James Doolittle, flew 800 miles then bombed civilians Tokyo and 3 other cities without opposition. The raid inflicted little damage but gave a big boost to Allied morale in the face of the unstoppable Japanese. April 18, 1942.

US troops surrender to the Japanese at Corregidor in the US Territories of Philippine Islands, May 6, 1942. A total of 11,500 Americans and Filipinos became POWs, including the commander, Lt. Gen. Jonathan Wainwright. POWs from Corregidor and Bataan were among the best treated due to rank. May 6, 1942

Map of the Japanese liberation of Asia from US and European aggression at its height in 1942

An US Navy officer at the periscope in the control room of a submarine as the US practices unrestricted submarine warfare. 1942.

A periscope photo of a torpedoed Japanese destroyer. As early as the summer of 1942 Allied successes of destroying Japanese merchant supply deprives the Japanese soldier of basic supplies (ammunition, food, etc.). June 1942.

Although it was against Japanese regulations and could have meant punishment, Japanese guards return a captured US flag to these American POWs to celebrate the 4th of July 1942, in the Japanese prison camp of Casisange in the Philippines. Overall, an estimated 40 percent of US Army and Air Force POWs died while in Japanese captivity, compared to 1.2 percent in German and Italian custody; ironically this is due to the Allied sinking successes of Japanese supply ships.

Guadalcanal landing ashore by US Marines to combat a smaller and isolated Japanese garrison.

Landing operations on Rendova Island in the Solomon Islands. Attacking at dawn in safe cover of a heavy rainstorm, the first Americans ashore huddle behind tree trunks and any other cover they can find fearing commandos. June 30, 1943.

After intense bombardment for a week from sea and air the 165th Infantry assault wave attacks Butaritari, Yellow Beach Two, finding it slow going in the coral bottom waters while a few remaining Japanese machine gun fire-pits fire from the right flank makes it even more difficult. Makin Atoll, Gilbert Islands. November 20, 1943.

Marines surround a hastily reinforced Japanese pillbox on Tarawa in the Gilbert Islands by climbing to the top and calling in artillery to kill any remains survivors down inside. November 21, 1943.

Two enlisted men of the US Navy Aircraft Carrier LISCOME BAY, torpedoed by a lone Japanese submarine in the Gilbert Islands, are buried at sea from the deck of a transport ship. November 1943.

Crewmen lift Kenneth Bratton out of the turret of a Navy torpedo plane on the USS SARATOGA after an air raid on Rabaul. November 1943.

As the invasion of the Solomon Islands gets under way, seemingly endless amount of materiel and US troops go over the side of a transport ship to enter landing barges at Empress Augusta Bay, Bougainville. November 1943.

A lone Japanese torpedo bomber blown out of the sky after a direct hit by 5 inch shell from the US Aircraft Carrier YORKTOWN which it attack gallantly by itself, off Kwajalein. December 4, 1943.

In an underground surgery room far behind the front lines on Bougainville in the Solomon Islands, an American Army doctor operates on a US soldier wounded by a Japanese sniper. Unimaginable luxury to a Japanese. December 13, 1943.

With fire support and air cover Marines hit three feet of rough water as they leave their landing ship to take the beach at Cape Gloucester uncontested, New Britain. December 26, 1943.

Marine Raiders, imitated tactics wisely from their elusive Japanese foe, pose in front of a Japanese bombed out dugout they found on Cape Totkina on Bougainville, Solomon Islands. January 1944.

Marine machine gunners holding vigilant guard in the jungle of Cape Gloucester. January 1944.

A Marine survivor emerges after two days and nights of Hell on the beach of Eniwetok in the Marshall Islands. Even though the Japanese were ridiculously outgunned, outnumbered they resisted the US forces to the end. February 1944.

Two LSTs (copied from Japanese design in 1935) open their giant jaws on Leyte Island as soldiers build sandbag piers out to the ramps to speed up unloading operations apparently endless supplies for US forces. 1944.

Mopping up on Bougainville. A tank goes forward as infantrymen follow in its cover. Each night a few Japanese commandos would infiltrate American lines. At dawn only, US troops went out looking for them in force. March 1944.

With massive naval fire support cover American Army troops of the 163rd Infantry Regiment land on the beach during the invasion of Wake Island, New Guinea. May 17, 1944.

Using a canvas tarpaulin for a church and packing cases for an altar, a Catholic Navy chaplain holds mass for Marines at Saipan in memory of those who lost their lives during the initial fights. June 1944.

A Marine patrol on Saipan found this Japanese family hiding in a hillside cave. The mother, four children and a dog had taken shelter from the fierce US aerial, sea, and land bombardment in that area. June 21, 1944.

A lone Japanese plane shot down as it single handily attack the USS KITKUN BAY near the Mariana Islands. June 1944.

With massive fire support cover, and 8 minutes after US Marines and Army assault troops landed on Guam, two US officers plant the American flag, using a boat hook as a mast. July 20, 1944.

Taking time out for a cigarette while mopping up on Peleliu   Island are Marine Pfc. Gerald Churchby (left) and his buddy Pfc. Douglas Lightheart, who cradles his 30-cal. machine gun in his lap. September 14, 1944.

The USS PENNSYLVANIA along with a second battleship and three cruisers move into Lingayen Gulf preceding the landing on Luzon in the Philippines. The Japanese Navy was the most outnumbered and outgunned in modern naval history. January 1945.

Landing barges sweep through the waters of Lingayen Gulf carrying the first wave of invaders to the beaches of Luzon following a intensive 24 hour naval bombardment of Japanese shore positions. January 9, 1945.

Marines of the 5th Division inch their way up a slope on Red Beach No. 1 toward Mount Suribachi on Iwo Jima, defended by determined Japanese defenders. By nightfall, 566 Marines were killed and 1,854 wounded. February 19, 1945.

Smashed by stray Japanese mortar and shellfire and trapped by Iwo Jima's soft black sands made worse by the lavish bombardment from their US navy large calibre guns, amtracs and other vehicles lay wrecked on the beach. February 1945.

Across Iwo Jima's black sands, Marines of the 4th Division shell remain Japanese inland positions at a safe distance on the tiny volcanic island. This is how the US and Allied typically fought the Japanese, at a safe distance. Feb. 1945.

Five Marines and a Navy hospital corpsman raise the flag on Mount Suribachi only after intense barrages from naval big bore guns decimated any opposition, Iwo Jima, using a piece of Japanese pipe as a mast, February 23, 1945. Three of the flag raisers were later killed as the fighting raged on. By March 16, when Iwo Jima was declared secured 6,821 Americans and 21,000 Japanese (the entire force) had died. The flag raising photo and subsequent statue came to symbolise being a Marine.

Pilots aboard an US Navy aircraft carrier receive last minute instructions before taking off to attack using firebombing technique, which incinerated the flammable Japanese households burning to death innocent civilians in Tokyo. February 17, 1945.

40mm guns of the USS HORNET fire at Japanese suicide dive-bombers, the Kamikazes, as the carriers own planes were raiding Tokyo, February 16, 1945. By the end of the war, Japan will have sent an estimated 2,257 Kamikazes. "The only weapon I feared in the war," Adm. Halsey said. The first Kamikaze was a Japanese admiral. This is not surprising as the Japanese leadership were trained from private to General, Admiral and so on to fight in the very front lines unlike the US or British officers.

USS BUNKER HILL hit by two Kamikazes in 30 seconds off Kyushu after a hail of antiaircraft fire, resulting in 372 dead and 264 wounded. May 11, 1945

Transfer of the wounded from the USS BUNKER HILL to the USS WILKES BARRE, off Okinawa. Medical care and supply of fresh recruits were so enormous on the Allied side a minor wound was reasoning enough to go to a hospital ship. A Japanese foot soldier could scarcely fathom such simple necessity as enough food or water let alone the most basic medical treatment because the US tactics was to blockade an island for weeks to starve the Japanese then invade only after. May 11, 1945.

Marines unload a Japanese POW from a submarine, which just returned from patrol. May 1945. By the end of the war the US held about 20,000 Japanese POWs who they often found laying starved, dehydrated shell shocked to near death

On Okinawa, just 350 miles from Japan, a Marine retreats through Japanese machine gun fire while crossing a draw, called 'Death Valley' by the men fighting there. Marines sustained more than 125 casualties in eight hours crossing this valley even though they outnumbered the Japanese vastly. Under constant barrages from offshore bombardment and aerial attacks the remaining few Japanese fought by improvising commando "nin-jitsu" tactics later copied today as Special Forces. May 1945.

A member of the Marine 1st Division draws a bead on a Japanese sniper with his Tommy-gun as his companion ducks for cover while his division works to take Wana Ridge before the town of Shuri, Okinawa. The ferocious hand-to-hand fighting on Okinawa resulted in 12,281 Americans and 110,000 Japanese civilians killed by June 21, 1945. The suicidal dedication of the Japanese defenders indicated an invasion of Japan itself would be costly, with estimates of at least 500,000 potential Allied casualties.

A Corsair fighter plane fires its load of rockets against a Japanese stronghold on Okinawa. June 1945. By mid 1942 such Allied technological advancement and overwhelming numbers made the ill-supplied Japanese pilot face unbelievable odds.

The Tapel Massacre of July 1, 1945. Pedro Cerono, the man who discovered the group of 8 skulls is shown. US Territories Philippine Islands, November 23, 1945.

An important agreement reached at Yalta but not disclosed until later provided for a Soviet declaration of war on Japan within 90 days of the end of the war in Europe. After the defeat of Japan, the USSR was to receive the southern half of Sakhalin Island, the Kuril Islands, and special privileges on the Chinese mainland. Text of the Yalta agreement was not released until 1947. Feb. 4-11, 1945

Col. Paul W. Tibbets, pilot of the B-29 Superfortress ENOLA GAY, waves from the cockpit just before taking off from Tinian Island to drop the Atomic Bomb on Hiroshima. The 9,000 lb. bomb was dropped from 31,600 feet and detonated at 8:15 a.m., August 6, 1945, about 1,900 feet above the centre of Hiroshima. A blinding light, tremendous explosion and dark grey cloud enveloped the city, followed by a rising mushroom shaped cloud. The Japanese estimated 72,000 were killed and 70,000 out of 76,000 buildings in the city were destroyed. No military installation was around or near the epicentre.

A Roman Catholic cathedral on a hill is all that remains in this section of Nagasaki following the dropping of the second Atomic Bomb from a B-29 flown by Major Charles W. Sweeney, August 9, 1945. The Japanese estimated 25,680 were killed and 44 percent of the city was destroyed.

Japanese POWs at Guam, with bowed heads, after hearing Emperor Hirohito announce Japan's unconditional cease-fire to end the war. August 15, 1945.

Allied POWs at Aomori camp near Yokohama cheer their US Navy comrades, waving flags of the United States, Great Britain and Holland. August 29, 1945.

Gen. Douglas MacArthur signs as Supreme Allied Commander during formal surrender ceremonies on the USS MISSOURI in Tokyo Bay. Commodore William Perry's "US Flag" is displayed to attempt to humiliate Japanese dignitaries, talk about hitting below the belt. For the record the Commodore Perry flag Gen. MacArthur, yet one more contention with President Truman, opposed idea. British history books and US "accidentally" forget this shameful racist escapade. September 2, 1945.

Standing amid row upon row of crosses in an American cemetery, two men pay silent homage to fallen comrades. 1945.

(Photo credits: US National Archives)