The Tulagi Raid
The Japanese, having completed their conquest of the Netherlands East Indies and Malaya, began to look at activating second-stage operations that would help to secure the perimeter of their new possessions. In April 1942 the […]
South West Pacific
In Defence of Port Moresby
After Rabaul had been captured by the Japanese, Australian forces attempted to consolidate positions on the south coast of New Guinea, particularly at the capital of Port Moresby. With the most skilled and experienced Australian […]
The Royce Mission
On the 9th of April, American and Filipino soldiers on Bataan peninsula surrendered. For the last few weeks the troops had subsisted on starvation rations, despite attempt by blockade runners and submarines to bring supplies […]
The Lae-Salamaua Raid
After the attempted raid on Rabaul by Task Force 11 was turned back when the Lexington was spotted by Japanese patrol aircraft, Admiral Wilson Brown retired and considered his next move. He radioed Admiral Nimitz […]
The Fall and Surrender of Java
What has become known as the Japanese ‘Centrifugal Offensive’ had delivered the Empire’s troops to the shores of Java, which was the ultimate objective of the entire strategy. Major facilities in the Philippines and at […]
The Pincer Grip on Java
With Sumatra having fallen, British squadrons regrouped in western Java. The collection of fighter squadrons that had seen action in Malaya and Sumatra were re-organised – most were disbanded, and all remaining pilots and aircraft […]
Target Java
By the beginning of February 1942 the position of Java, the most important island in the Netherlands East Indies, was looking extremely precarious. Borneo and Celebes were already in Japanese hands, and Singapore and Sumatra […]
The Bombing of Darwin
The port town of Darwin, in Australia’s Northern Territory, had become the main staging base for ships and aircraft heading towards Java. Darwin’s airfields had played host to many units and replacement aircraft bound for Java and the Philippines, along what was an increasingly tenuous […]
In Defence of Sumatra
Even before the fall of Singapore in mid-February 1942, British air forces had been concentrating on the Dutch island of Sumatra in the knowledge that the airfields there were safer than those on the fortress […]
Into the Makassar Strait
By January 1942, the Allied air forces had suffered a series of setbacks that forced them to retreat south in the face of the Japanese offensive. The American Far East Air Force withdrew its remaining […]