The Pacific War - week by week

- 7 - Pacific War -Battle of Slim River January 4-11, 1942

For the Japanese, the war was marching exceedingly well in these first few weeks. Poor preparations on behalf of the Allies had left their Pacific possessions in a very precarious state, with the Japanese rapidly capitalizing on this advantage to spread their rule across East Asia. The British in particular, focused on their front against Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy, demonstrated that they were hardly prepared to fight in these conditions and that not even their impressive fortress at Singapore could save them from the might of the Japanese firepower. The Malayan Campaign up to this point had been characterized by an ineffective command and a strain of poor strategic decisions that ended up giving the upper hand to the Japanese invaders; and today, we are going to see one of the biggest blunders in British history, as the Japanese decide to attack Malayan positions on the Slim River.

- 6 - Pacific War -Battle of Kampar December 28 - January 4, 1941-1942

In the previous week, we covered the fall of two of the first places the Japanese had attacked, Hong Kong and Wake Island, and we also watched General MacArthur’s forces start their catastrophic withdrawal into Bataan, where they would resist until reinforcements could arrive to save them. In Malaya, the British defenders were also in a difficult position, nearly thrown off the center of the peninsula. Today, we are going to continue our coverage over the events unfolding in the Malay Peninsula and in the Philippines, but first, we are going to take a quick detour to China, where major combat resumed for the first time since the attack on Pearl Harbor.

- 5 - Pacific War - Fall of Wake Island and Hong Kong December 21-28, 1941

For the last two weeks, the war had raged on in the Pacific after the unexpected Japanese attack against British and American possessions in the East. The Japanese soldiers had already achieved victory after victory, pushing their enemy back on Malaya, Hong Kong, the Philippines, and the Pacific islands. But this week would be one of Japan’s finest hours in the course of the war, as they finally overcame their enemy in Hong Kong, launched their main offensive on the Philippines, and struck an incredible victory against the only place in the Pacific that had managed to thwart their expansionist aims so far.

- 4 - Pacific War - Invasion of Borneo December 14-21, 1941

On December 7, 1941, the war had reached the Pacific to the surprise of the Allied nations, drastically changing the course of history forever. After its first week, smoke darkened the horizons of Pearl Harbor, hundreds of British soldiers laid dead on the battlefields of Malaya and Hong Kong, the Philippines and Wake Island had tasted their first blood, and Guam and the Gilbert Islands had already fallen into Japanese hands. The situation looked grim for the Allies, and this week would do nothing but confirm that the Rising Sun was really on the rise. So today, we are going to cover the continuation of the Japanese expansion across the Pacific and the start of the Battle of Borneo.

- 3 - Pacific War - The Blunder of the Philippines December 10, 1941

As the Rising Sun expanded across East Asia, the United States Pacific Fleet laid broken in the shallow waters of Pearl Harbor. The British colonies had also been invaded, suffering defeat after defeat both in Hong Kong and in the Malayan Peninsula. But this would not be the end of the Japanese aggression, as the strategic American possessions in the Pacific were now up for grabs. Today, we are going to cover the initial landings in the Philippines, as well as the attacks against Guam and Wake Island.

- 2 - Pacific War - Invasion of Malaya December 8, 1941

After the attack on Pearl Harbor, December 7 would always be remembered as the day of infamy in which the Japanese started the Pacific War. But at the same time, the Empire of Japan also began simultaneous offensives against British, Dutch, and American possessions in Southeast Asia and the Pacific. Today we are going to cover some of these attacks in mainland Southeast Asia, primarily focusing on the invasion of Malaya and the British response against the Japanese aggression.

- 1 - Pacific War - Attack on Pearl Harbor December 7, 1941

As we’ve seen in the previous episodes, the Japanese Empire had decided on war with the West since the embargo enacted by the US in July, 1941. The plans to simultaneously execute invasions on the Dutch East Indies, the Philippines and Malaya, as well as a preemptive attack on Pearl Harbor to destroy the American Pacific Fleet, had all been drafted back in September, with preparations carried out successfully by late November.

- 0.7 - The Pacific War - Tensions in the Pacific

With war raging both in Europe and in China, prying eyes around the world eagerly followed the events that were unfolding in front of them. In the US in particular, many still advocated for anti-war sentiment, but President Franklin Delano Roosevelt had decided that he was not going to tolerate anymore the aggressions of the Japanese or the Germans. In 1941, he would finally draw a line to stop Japan that would surely risk war. And although FDR didn’t want to fight against the Japanese, or at least not yet, this was a risk worth taking for the preservation of democracy around the world; a risk that would inevitably ignite war in the Pacific. Welcome to our final prelude of the Pacific War, as the growing tensions between the US and Japan eventually ended in another act of aggression

- 0.6 - The Pacific War - Hitler‘s war in Europe

For four long years, Europe had been devastated during the First World War, leaving almost 30 million casualties along with many more dying of famines and disease. As such, the world had suffered enough, so another major conflict like that one was strictly avoided by the main Western powers. But in the 30s, all of this would change with the rise of fascism and nazism in Italy and Germany. While the war between Japan and China intensifies and reaches a stalemate in 1939, a new conflict is brewing in Europe; a conflict that is destined to change the course of history. Join us as we take a look at the start of the Second World War and the effects it had on the Japanese Empire and the United States.

- 0.5 - The Pacific War - The Second Sino Japanese War

China is a huge country, full of important resources and extensive farmlands, a huge population, and an important strategic and commercial position. This made it a desirable objective for expansion to European colonial powers, but also, to the rising Japanese Empire. Within China itself, revolutions, civil wars and warlordism plagued the nation as different factions fought to become the ultimate ruler of the country. So today, we return to East Asia to cover the divided state of the Chinese people and the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War.