Pacific War: Difference between revisions

{{Short description|Theater of World War II}}

|image1= Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima, larger - edit1.jpg

|image2= Carrier shokaku.jpg

| date              = 7 December 1941 – 2 September 1945<br/>(3 years, 8 months, 3 weeks and 5 days){{efn|Although Japan had been [[Second Sino-Japanese war|invading and occupying China]] since 1937, war was not officially declared. Japan would later [[attack on Pearl Harbor|attack Pearl Harbor]] on 7 December 1941, which brought the contained war in China into the wider global conflict.<ref name="Hsi-sheng1992"/>}}<ref name=":0">{{cite book |first= Youli |last=Sun |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=0Iq5ypmhKxUC&pg=PA185 |title=China and the Origins of the Pacific War, 1931–41 |date=15 September 1996 |publisher=Palgrave MacMillan |page= 11 |isbn=978-0-31216454-6 }}</ref>

* Removal of Japanese troops occupying parts of [[Republic of China (1912–1949)|China]] and the [[Retrocession Day|retrocession]] of [[Taiwan under Japanese rule|Taiwan]] to China

| combatant1        = '''Main [[Allies of World War II|Allies]]''':{{ubl|{{flagcountry|Republic of China (1912–49)}}{{efn|[[Second Sino-Japanese War|Fighting an undeclared war against Japan since 7 July 1937]], declared war on 9 December 1941.<ref name= Hsi-sheng1992/>|name="since 1937"}}|{{flag|United States|1912}}|{{flag|United Kingdom}}}}See section ''[[#Participants|Participants]]'' for further details.

| combatant2        = '''Main [[Axis powers|Axis]]''':{{ubl|{{flagcountry|Empire of Japan}}}}See section ''[[#Participants|Participants]]'' for further details.

| commander1        = '''Main [[Allied leaders of World War II|Allied leaders]]'''{{ubl|{{flagdeco|Republic of China (1912–1949)}} [[Chiang Kai-shek]]|{{flagdeco|United States|1912}} [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]]{{efn|Until April 1945|name="Franklin"}}| {{flagdeco|UK}} [[Winston Churchill]]{{efn|Until July 1945|name="Winston"}}}}

| commander2        = '''Main [[Axis leaders of World War II|Axis leaders]]'''{{ubl|{{flagdeco|Empire of Japan}} [[Hirohito]]}}

| strength1        = {{ubl|{{flagicon|Republic of China (1912–49)}} 14,000,000<ref>Hastings pg. 205</ref> | {{flagicon|USA|1912}} 3,621,383+ (1945){{#tag:ref |Strength of the US Military in Asia and the Pacific as of war's end: Army: 1,770,036,<ref>Coakley and Leighton (1989). ''Global Logistics and Strategy 1943–1945'' p. 836</ref> Navy (excluding Coast Guard and Marines): 1,366,716,<ref>[http://www.history.navy.mil/research/library/online-reading-room/title-list-alphabetically/u/us-navy-personnel-in-world-war-ii-service-and-casualty-statistics.html US Navy Personnel in World War II Service and Casualty Statistics], Naval History and Heritage Command, Table 9.</ref> and Marine Corps: 484,631.<ref>King, Ernest J. (1945). ''Third Report to the Secretary of the Navy'' p. 221</ref> These figures do not include the Coast Guard or naval personnel in the China-Burma-India theater.<ref>[http://www.history.navy.mil/research/library/online-reading-room/title-list-alphabetically/u/us-navy-personnel-in-world-war-ii-service-and-casualty-statistics.html "US Navy Personnel in World War II Service and Casualty Statistics"], Naval History and Heritage Command, Footnote 2.</ref>|group=nb}} | {{flagicon|United Kingdom}} 400,000<ref name="Hastings pg. 10">Hastings p. 10</ref> <br /> {{flagicon|British Raj}} 2,000,000<ref name="Hastings pg. 10"/>|{{flagicon|Dutch East Indies}} 140,000<ref name= chapter10>{{cite web|url= http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/AAF/I/AAF-I-10.html |title=Chapter 10: Loss of the Netherlands East Indies |access-date=31 August 2010|work=The Army Air Forces in World War II | volume = 1 – Plans & Early Operations |publisher=HyperWar}}</ref>{{#tag:ref |These numbers do not include the Royal Netherlands Navy.|group=nb}} |{{flagicon|Soviet Union|1936}} 1,747,465 (1945)<ref>Cherevko, "Hammer and Sickle against Samurai Sword" ch. 7 table 7. Combined ground, air, anti-air, and naval personnel.</ref>}}

| strength2        = {{ubl|{{flagicon|Empire of Japan}} 7,800,000–7,900,000 (1945)<ref>{{cite book|last1=Cook|title=Japan at War: an Oral History|date=1992|publisher=New Press|isbn= 978-1-56584-039-3}} p. 403. Japanese strength is given at 4,335,500 in the Home Islands and 3,527,000 abroad.</ref><ref>[https://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/economics/staff/mharrison/public/ww2overview1998.pdf Harrison p. 29] Retrieved 10 March 2016</ref><ref>[http://ajrp.awm.gov.au/ajrp/AJRP2.nsf/530e35f7e2ae7707ca2571e3001a112d/e7daa03b9084ad56ca257209000a85f7?OpenDocument Australia-Japan Research Project, "Dispositions and Deaths"] Retrieved 10 March 2016</ref>|{{flag icon|Thailand}} 126,500<ref>{{cite book|last=Meyer|first=Milton Walter |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=VEoy7AL0PaYC&pg=PA309|title=Asia: A Concise History|year=1997|publisher= Rowman & Littlefield|location= Lanham|page=309|isbn= 978-0-84768063-4}}</ref>|{{Flag|Manchukuo|size=23px}}, [[File:Flag of the Republic of China-Nanjing (Peace, Anti-Communism, National Construction).svg|23px|link=Wang Jingwei regime]] [[Wang Jingwei regime|Wang Jingwei's regime]], {{flag|Azad Hind}} and other [[Puppet state|puppets]]: c. 1,000,000+ (1945)<ref>Jowett, p. 72</ref>}}

   | '''Military'''{{ubl|12 aircraft carriers|4 battleships|25 cruisers|84 destroyers and destroyer escorts|63 submarines<ref>[http://www.navsource.org/Naval/losses.htm#dd "Losses"], Nav source. Retrieved 25 July 2015. [http://www.uboat.net/allies/warships/  Allies’ warships], Uboat. Retrieved 25 July 2015; [http://www.naval-history.net/WW2aBritishLosses01BB.htm "Major British Warship Losses in World War II"]. Retrieved 25 July 2015; [http://www.worldnavalships.com/chinese_navy.htm Chinese Navy] Retrieved 26 July 2015.</ref>|21,555<ref>Hara, Tameichi, with Fred Saito and Roger Pineau. ''Japanese Destroyer Captain'' (Annapolis:  Naval Institute Press, 2011), p. 299.<!--Impossible to confirm on Google Books.--> Figure is for US losses only. China, the British Commonwealth, the USSR and other nations collectively add several thousand more to this total.</ref>–27,000+ aircraft<ref>[https://www.airuniversity.af.edu/Portals/10/AUPress/Books/B_0020_SPANGRUD_STRATEGIC_BOMBING_SURVEYS.pdf USSBS Summary Report, p. 68.] Retrieved 26 May 2023. US aircraft losses only. Includes 8,700 in combat and the rest operational.</ref>|4,000,000+ dead&nbsp;(1937–1945){{#tag:ref |3.8 million Chinese military deaths (1937–1945; 3.2 million Nationalist/allied and 580,000 Communist),<ref name="Chinese People Contribute to WWII">{{cite web |title=Chinese People Contribute to WWII |url = http://www.china.org.cn/english/features/celebrations/128172.htm |access-date=23 April 2009}}</ref> 301,237 United States military battle casualties, with 92,904 killed and 208,333 wounded in battle<ref name="Clodfelter2017">{{cite book |last1=Clodfelter |first1=Micheal |title=Warfare and Armed Conflicts: A Statistical Encyclopedia of Casualty and Other Figures, 1492–2015 |date=2017 |page=527 |edition=4}}</ref> 52,000 British casualties including 12,000 deaths in captivity,{{Citation needed |date=July 2009}} 87,028 British Indian soldiers killed<ref>[http://www.cwgc.org/learning-and-resources/publications/annual-report.aspx "Commonwealth War Graves Commission Annual Report 2013–2014"], page 44. Figures include identified burials and those commemorated by name on memorials.</ref><ref name=dower>Dower, John William (1987), ''War Without Mercy: Race and Power in the Pacific War''. Pantheon</ref>{{Page needed|date= September 2010}} 17,501 Australians killed<ref>{{cite book |editor1-last= Dear |editor1-first= I. C. B. |editor2-last= Foot |editor2-first=M. R. D. |title=The Oxford Companion to World War II |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |year=2005 |page=66 |chapter=Australia |isbn= 978-0-19-280670-3}}</ref> 27,000 killed (including POWs who died in captivity), 70,000+ captured (not including those who died), unknown wounded from the [[Philippine Commonwealth]] (not including guerrilla forces),<ref>{{cite book |last=Gruhl|first=Werner|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ow5Wlmu9MPQC&q=27%2C000%7C1|title=Imperial Japan's World War Two|year=2007|publisher=Transaction Publishers|location=New Brunswick|page=65|isbn=978-0-76580352-8}}</ref> around 9,400 Dutch killed including 8,500 who died in captivity (likely not including colonial forces),{{Citation needed|date=July 2009}} 578 New Zealander casualties,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.beehive.govt.nz/speech/honouring+nz039s+pacific+war+dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120525094608/http://www.beehive.govt.nz/speech/honouring+nz039s+pacific+war+dead |url-status=dead |archive-date=25 May 2012 |title=Honouring NZ's Pacific War dead |publisher=Beehive |date=15 August 2005 |access-date=31 October 2010 }}</ref> 63,225 Soviet casualties (12,031 killed and missing, 42,428 wounded and sick; does not count the 1938–1939 [[Soviet-Japanese Border Wars]]), 5000 French military casualties in Indochina, 300 Mongolian casualties<ref name=":3">{{cite web |title=Russia and USSR in Wars of the 20th Century |url = http://www.soldat.ru/doc/casualties/book/chapter5_10_1.html#5_10_51 |access-date=11 July 2008 |publisher=И. И. Ивлев |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080505031426/http://www.soldat.ru/doc/casualties/book/chapter5_10_1.html#5_10_51 <!--Bot retrieved archive--> |archive-date=5 May 2008}}</ref> and 5 Mexican deaths<ref>{{cite web |url = http://www.avalanchepress.com/MexicanAirForce.php |title=Leyte Gulf: The Mexican Air Force|work= Avalanche Press|access-date=1 December 2015}}</ref> [[Malaria]] was the most important health hazard encountered by US troops in the South Pacific during World War II, where about 500,000 men were infected.<ref>''[https://books.google.com/books?id=XhNYUkgX0rQC&pg=PA51 Science and the Pacific War: Science and Survival in the Pacific, 1939–1945]''. Roy M. MacLeod (2000). p. 51. {{ISBN|0-7923-5851-1}}</ref> |group=nb}}}}

   | '''Civilian deaths'''<br/>26,000,000+&nbsp;(1937–1945){{#tag:ref |Estimates of 1 to 6 million Chinese civilian deaths (1937–1945);<ref name= "Chinese People Contribute to WWII"/> around 4 million civilian deaths from the Dutch East Indies;<ref name= dower/>{{Page needed|date= September 2010}}, 1–2 million Indochinese civilians;<ref>{{cite web |url= http://mailman.anu.edu.au/pipermail/hepr-vn/2008-August/000188.html |title= Vietnam needs to remember famine of 1945 |publisher= Anu |access-date= 31 October 2010 |archive-date= 19 October 2017 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20171019142402/http://mailman.anu.edu.au/pipermail/hepr-vn/2008-August/000188.html |url-status= dead }}</ref> around 3 million<ref>{{cite book|last1=Amartya Sen|title=Poverty and Famines: An Essay on Entitlement and Deprivation|date=1981|publisher= Oxford University Press|location= London|isbn=978-0-19564954-3|page= 203|ref=bf431}}</ref> Indian civilian deaths in the [[Bengal famine of 1943]]; 0.5 to 1 million<ref>Werner Gruhl, Imperial Japan's World War Two, 1931–1945 Transaction 2007 {{ISBN|978-0-7658-0352-8}} pp. 143–44</ref> Filipino civilian deaths; 91,000<ref name="Clodfelter2017" /> to 1,000,000<ref name= McLynn>McLynn, ''The Burma Campaign: Disaster into Triumph, 1942–1945'', p. 1.</ref> Burmese civilian deaths; 50,000<ref>Ruas, Óscar Vasconcelos, "Relatório 1946–47", AHU</ref> [[Portuguese Timor|East Timorese]] civilian deaths; and hundreds of thousands of Malayan, Pacific and other civilian deaths.<ref name= dower />{{Page needed|date= September 2010}} |group=nb}}

   | '''Military'''{{ubl|25 aircraft carriers|11 battleships|39 cruisers|135 destroyers|131 submarines<ref>Hara, p. 297.</ref>|43,125<ref>Hara, p. 299. Figure is for Japanese aircraft only.</ref>-50,000+ aircraft<ref>[https://www.airuniversity.af.edu/Portals/10/AUPress/Books/B_0020_SPANGRUD_STRATEGIC_BOMBING_SURVEYS.pdf USSBS Summary Report, p. 67.] Retrieved 5/26/23. Approximately 20,000 in combat and 30,000 operational.</ref>|2,500,000+ dead (1937–1945){{#tag:ref |2,133,915 Japanese military deaths 1937–1945,<ref>Bren, John (3 June 2005) [http://japanfocus.org/-John-Breen/2060 "Yasukuni Shrine: Ritual and Memory"] ''Japan Focus''. Retrieved on 5 June 2009.</ref> 1.18 million Chinese collaborator casualties 1937–1945 (432,000 dead),<ref>[[R. J. Rummel]]. ''China's Bloody Century''. Transaction 1991 {{ISBN|0-88738-417-X}}. Table 5A</ref> 22,000 Burmese casualties,{{Citation needed|date=July 2009}} 5,600 Thai troops killed,<ref name="Eiji Murashima 2006">Eiji Murashima, "The Commemorative Character of Thai Historiography: The 1942–43 Thai Military Campaign in the Shan States Depicted as a Story of National Salvation and the Restoration of Thai Independence" ''Modern Asian Studies'', v40, n4 (2006) pp. 1053–96, p1057n:</ref> and 2,615 Indian National Army ([[Azad Hind]]) killed/missing.<ref>Micheal Clodfelter. ''Warfare and Armed Conflicts – A Statistical Reference to Casualty and Other Figures'', 1500–2000. 2nd ed. 2002 {{ISBN|0-7864-1204-6}}. p 556</ref> |group=nb}}}}

   | '''Civilian deaths'''{{ubl|1,000,000+{{#tag:ref |460,000 Japanese civilian deaths (338,000 in the bombings of Japan,<ref>[https://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/SOD.CHAP13.HTM Statistics of democide]: Chapter 13: Death By American Bombing, [[RJ Rummel]], University of Hawaii.</ref> 100,000 in the [[Battle of Okinawa]], 22,000 in the [[Battle of Saipan]]), 543,000 Korean civilian deaths (mostly due to Japanese forced labor projects),<ref>Werner Gruhl, Imperial Japan's World War Two, 1931–1945 Transaction 2007 {{ISBN |978-0-7658-0352-8}} p. 19</ref> 2,000–8,000 Thai civilian deaths<ref>E. Bruce Reynolds, "Aftermath of Alliance: The Wartime Legacy in Thai-Japanese Relations", ''Journal of Southeast Asian Studies'', v21, n1, March 1990, pp. 66–87. "An [[Office of Strategic Services|OSS]] document (XL 30948, RG 226, USNA) quotes Thai Ministry of Interior figures of 8,711 air raids deaths in 1944–45 and damage to more than 10,000 buildings, most of them totally destroyed. However, an account by [[Seni Pramoj|M. R. Seni Pramoj]] (a typescript entitled 'The Negotiations Leading to the Cessation of a State of War with Great Britain' and filed under ''Papers on World War II'', at the Thailand Information Center, Chulalongkorn University, p. 12) indicates that only about 2,000 Thai died in air raids."</ref>|group=nb}}}}

The '''Pacific War''', sometimes called the '''Asia–Pacific War''',<ref>{{cite book |first1= Williamson |last1=Murray |first2= Allan R. |last2=Millett |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=tdYkMPfUSUAC&pg=PT159 |title=A War to be Won: Fighting the Second World War |publisher=Harvard University Press |year=2001 |page=143 |isbn= 978-0-67404130-1 |access-date=27 June 2015 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20150928054345/https://books.google.com/books?id=tdYkMPfUSUAC&pg=PT159 |archive-date=28 September 2015 |url-status=live }}</ref> was the [[Theater (warfare)|theater]] of [[World War II]] that was fought in eastern Asia, the [[Pacific Ocean]], the [[Indian Ocean]], and [[Oceania]]. It was geographically the largest theater of the war, including the vast [[Pacific Ocean theatre of World War II|Pacific Ocean theater]], the [[South West Pacific theatre of World War II|South West Pacific theater]], the [[Second Sino-Japanese War]], and the [[Soviet–Japanese War]].

The Second Sino-Japanese War between the [[Empire of Japan]] and the [[Republic of China (1912–49)|Republic of China]] had been in progress since 7 July 1937, with hostilities dating back as far as 19 September 1931 with the [[Japanese invasion of Manchuria]].<ref>{{cite book |first=Roy M. |last=MacLeod |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XhNYUkgX0rQC&pg=PA1 |title= Science and the Pacific War: Science and Survival in the Pacific, 1939–1945 |publisher=Kluwer Academic Publishing |page=1 |year=1999 |isbn= 978-0-79235851-0 |access-date=27 June 2015 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20150928063718/https://books.google.com/books?id=XhNYUkgX0rQC&pg=PA1 |archive-date=28 September 2015 |url-status=live }}</ref> However, it is more widely accepted{{efn|"For fifty-three long months, beginning in July 1937, China stood alone, single-handedly fighting an undeclared war against Japan. On 9 December 1941, after Japan's surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, what had been for so long a war between two countries now became part of a much wider Pacific conflict."<ref name= Hsi-sheng1992>Hsi-sheng Ch'i, in James C. Hsiung and Steven I. Levine, ''China's Bitter Victory: The War with Japan 1937–1945'', M.E. Sharpe, 1992, p. 157.</ref>}}<ref name=":0" /> that the Pacific War itself began on 7 December (8 December Japanese time) 1941, when the Japanese simultaneously attacked American military bases in [[Attack on Pearl Harbor|Hawaii]], [[Battle of Wake Island|Wake Island]], [[Battle of Guam (1941)|Guam]], and [[Philippines campaign (1941–1942)|the Philippines]] and [[Japanese invasion of Thailand|invaded Thailand]] and the British colonies of [[Malayan Campaign|Malaya]], [[Battle of Singapore|Singapore]], and [[Battle of Hong Kong|Hong Kong]].{{sfn|Drea|1998|p=26}}<ref>John Costello, ''The Pacific War: 1941–1945'', Harper Perennial, 1982</ref><ref>Japan Economic Foundation, ''Journal of Japanese Trade & Industry, Volume 16'', 1997</ref>

The Pacific War saw the [[Allies of World War II|Allies]] pitted against Japan, the latter aided by [[History of Thailand (1932–1973)|Thailand]] and to a lesser extent by the [[Axis powers]], [[Nazi Germany|Germany]] and [[Fascist Italy (1922-1943)|Italy]]. The Japanese achieved great success in the initial phase of the campaign, but were gradually driven back using an [[Leapfrogging (strategy)|island hopping]] strategy. The Allies adopted a [[Europe first]] stance, giving first priority to defeating Nazi Germany, but still managed to bring to bear the vast industrial might of the United States. The Japanese had great difficulty replacing their losses in ships and aircraft, while American factories and shipyards produced ever increasing numbers of both. Fighting included some of the [[Largest naval battle in history|largest naval battles in history]] and massive Allied [[Air raids on Japan|air raids over Japan]], the latter resulting in great loss of life. The [[atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki]] forced the [[Surrender of Japan|unconditional surrender of Japan]] on 15 August 1945. The formal surrender ceremony took place aboard the battleship {{USS|Missouri|BB-63|6}} in [[Tokyo Bay]] on 2 September 1945.  

After the war, [[Occupation of Japan|Japan was occupied]] by the Allies, lost its former [[Japanese colonial empire|possessions]] in Asia and the Pacific to the United States, China, and the European Allies, and had its sovereignty limited to the four main home islands and other minor islands as determined by the Allies.{{sfn|Takemae|2003|p=516}} Japan's [[State Shinto|Shinto]] Emperor relinquished much of his authority and his divine status through the [[Shinto Directive]] in order to pave the way for extensive cultural and political reforms.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/macarthur-orders-end-of-shinto-as-japanese-state-religion |title=MacArthur orders end of Shinto as Japanese state religion |work= History |access-date=1 December 2015 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20151208114003/http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/macarthur-orders-end-of-shinto-as-japanese-state-religion |archive-date=8 December 2015 |url-status=live}}</ref> The [[Chinese Civil War]] continued until the [[Chinese Communist Party]] victory in 1949.

[[Mexico]] provided some air support in the form of the [[201st Fighter Squadron (Mexico)|201st Fighter Squadron]] and [[Free French Forces|Free France]] sent naval support in the form of {{ship|French destroyer|Le Triomphant||2}} and later the {{ship|French battleship|Richelieu||2}}. Most Latin American countries however had little to no involvement, including ones with an island presence in the Pacific, such as Chile, who administer [[Easter Island]] and several other Pacific islands, and Ecuador, who administer the [[Galápagos Islands]].<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Ecuador/Modern-history |title=Ecuador – Modern history |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |edition=Online |access-date=5 April 2022}}</ref> All these islands were unaffected by the war.{{Citation needed|date=July 2023}}

The [[Axis powers|Axis]]-aligned states which assisted [[Empire of Japan|Japan]] included the authoritarian government of [[Thailand in World War II|Thailand]], which formed a cautious alliance with the Japanese in 1941, when Japanese forces issued the government with an ultimatum following the [[Japanese invasion of Thailand]]. The leader of Thailand, [[Plaek Phibunsongkhram]], became greatly enthusiastic about the alliance after decisive Japanese victories in the [[Malayan campaign]] and in 1942 sent the [[Phayap Army]] to assist the [[Burma Campaign#Thai army enters Burma|invasion of Burma]], where former Thai territories that had been annexed by Britain [[Saharat Thai Doem|were reoccupied]] ([[Si Rat Malai|occupied Malayan regions]] were similarly reintegrated into Thailand in 1943). The Allies supported and organized an underground anti-Japanese resistance group, known as the [[Free Thai Movement]], after the Thai ambassador to the United States had refused to hand over the declaration of war. Because of this, after the surrender in 1945, the stance of the United States was that Thailand should be treated as a puppet of Japan and be considered an occupied nation rather than as an ally. This was done in contrast to the British stance towards Thailand, who had faced them in combat as they invaded British territory, and the United States had to block British efforts to impose a punitive peace.<ref>I. C. B Dear, ed. ''The Oxford Companion to World War II'' (1995) p. 1107</ref>

Also involved were members of the [[Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere]], which included the [[Manchukuo Imperial Army]] and [[Collaborationist Chinese Army]] of the Japanese [[puppet state]]s of [[Manchukuo]] (consisting of most of [[Manchuria]]), and the collaborationist [[Wang Jingwei regime]] (which controlled the coastal regions of [[Republic of China (1912–1949)|China]]), respectively. In the [[Burma campaign]], other members, such as the anti-British [[Indian National Army]] of [[Azad Hind|Free India]] and the [[Burma National Army]] of the [[State of Burma]], were active and fighting alongside their Japanese allies.{{citation needed|date=April 2020}}

Moreover, Japan conscripted many soldiers from [[Japanese colonial empire|its colonies]] of [[Korea under Japanese rule|Korea]] and [[Taiwan under Japanese rule|Taiwan]]. Collaborationist security units were also formed in [[Japanese occupation of Hong Kong|Hong Kong]] (reformed ex-colonial [[police]]), [[Japanese occupation of Singapore|Singapore]], the [[Second Philippine Republic|Philippines]] (also a member of the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere), the [[Japanese occupation of the Dutch East Indies|Dutch East Indies]] (the [[Defenders of the Homeland|PETA]]), [[Japanese occupation of Malaya|British Malaya]], [[Japanese occupation of British Borneo|British Borneo]], former [[French Indochina]] (after [[Japanese coup d'état in French Indochina|the overthrow of the French regime in 1945]]; the [[Vichy France|Vichy French]] had previously allowed the Japanese to use bases in French Indochina beginning in 1941, [[Japanese invasion of French Indochina|following an invasion]]), as well as [[Portuguese Timor#Twentieth century|Timorese militia]]. These units assisted the Japanese war effort in their respective territories.{{citation needed|date=April 2020}}

[[Nazi Germany|Germany]] and [[Kingdom of Italy|Italy]] both had limited involvement in the Pacific War. The [[Kriegsmarine|German]] and the [[Regia Marina|Italian]] navies operated submarines and [[Armed merchantmen|raiding ships]] in the Indian and Pacific Oceans, notably the {{lang|la|italic=no|[[Monsun Gruppe]]}}. The Italians had access to [[Italian concession of Tientsin|concession territory]] naval bases in China which they utilized (and which was later ceded to [[Wang Jingwei regime|collaborationist China]] by the [[Italian Social Republic]] in late 1943). After Japan's [[attack on Pearl Harbor]] and the subsequent declarations of war, both navies had access to Japanese naval facilities.{{citation needed|date=April 2020}}

In the Pacific, the Allies divided operational control of their forces between two supreme commands, known as [[Pacific Ocean Areas (command)|Pacific Ocean Areas]] and [[South West Pacific Area (command)|Southwest Pacific Area]].<ref>{{cite web |url = http://www.dean.usma.edu/history/web03/atlases/ww2%20pacific/ww2%20pacific%20%20maps/ww2%20asia%20map%2016.jpg |title = Map of the Pacific Theater |access-date = 31 October 2010 |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090109223834/http://www.dean.usma.edu/history/web03/atlases/ww2%20pacific/ww2%20pacific%20%20maps/ww2%20asia%20map%2016.jpg |archive-date = 9 January 2009 |df = dmy-all }}</ref> In 1945, for a brief period just before the [[Japanese surrender]], the [[Military history of the Soviet Union#World War II|Soviet Union]] and [[Mongolian People's Republic#World War II (1939–1945)|Mongolia]] [[Soviet invasion of Manchuria|engaged]] Japanese forces in [[Manchuria]] and [[northeast China]].

In 1939, Japanese forces tried to push into the [[Russian Far East|Soviet Far East]] from [[Manchuria]]. They were soundly defeated in the [[Battles of Khalkhin Gol|Battle of Khalkhin Gol]] by a mixed Soviet and Mongolian force led by [[Georgy Zhukov]]. This stopped Japanese [[Hokushin-ron|expansion to the north]], and Soviet aid to China ended as a result of the signing of the [[Soviet–Japanese Neutrality Pact]] at the beginning of [[Eastern Front (World War II)|its war against Germany]].<ref>Edward J. Drea, ''Nomonhan: Japanese-Soviet Tactical Combat, 1939'' (2005)</ref>

By 1941 the conflict had become a stalemate. Although Japan had occupied much of northern, central, and coastal China, the [[Nationalist Government]] had retreated to the interior with a provisional capital set up at [[Chongqing|Chungking]] while the Chinese communists remained in control of base areas in [[Shaanxi]]. In addition, Japanese control of northern and central China was somewhat tenuous, in that Japan was usually able to control railroads and the major cities ("points and lines"), but did not have a major military or administrative presence in the vast Chinese countryside. The Japanese found its aggression against the retreating and regrouping Chinese army was stalled by the mountainous terrain in southwestern China while the Communists organised widespread [[guerrilla warfare|guerrilla]] and saboteur activities in northern and eastern China behind the Japanese front line.{{Citation needed|date=July 2023}}

{{blockquote|The Australian Government&nbsp;... regards the Pacific struggle as primarily one in which the United States and Australia must have the fullest say in the direction of the democracies' fighting plan. Without inhibitions of any kind, I make it clear that Australia looks to America, free of any pangs as to our traditional links or kinship with the United Kingdom.|Prime Minister [[John Curtin]]}}

At the same time as major battles raged in New Guinea, Allied forces became aware through [[coastwatchers]] of a Japanese airfield under construction at Guadalcanal.{{sfn|Willmott|2002|p=96}} On 7 August 1942, 16,000 [[United States Marine Corps|US Marines]] landed on the islands of [[Guadalcanal campaign|Guadalcanal]] and [[Battle of Tulagi and Gavutu–Tanambogo|Tulagi]] in the Solomons. Vice Admiral [[Gunichi Mikawa]], commander of the newly formed [[8th Fleet (Imperial Japanese Navy)|Eighth Fleet]] at Rabaul, reacted quickly. Gathering five heavy cruisers, two light cruisers, and a destroyer, he sailed to engage the Allied force off the coast of Guadalcanal. On the night of 8–9 August, Mikawa's quick response resulted in the [[Battle of Savo Island]], a brilliant Japanese victory during which four Allied heavy cruisers were sunk,{{sfn|Stille|2014|p=38}} while no Japanese ships were lost. It was one of the worst Allied naval defeats of the war.{{sfn|Stille|2014|p=38}} The victory was mitigated only by the failure of the Japanese to attack the vulnerable transports. Had they done so, the first American counterattack in the Pacific could have been stopped. The Japanese originally perceived the American landings as nothing more than a reconnaissance in force.{{sfn|Willmott|2002|p=109}}

The Japanese military claimed its defenses sank 468 Allied submarines during the war.<ref>Prange ''et al.'' ''Pearl Harbor Papers''</ref> In reality, only 42 American submarines were sunk in the Pacific due to hostile action, with 10 others lost in accidents or as the result of [[friendly fire]].<ref name=pigboats>Roscoe, Theodore. ''Pig Boats'' (Bantam Books, 1958); Blair, ''Silent Victory'', pp. 991–992.</ref> The Dutch lost five submarines due to Japanese attack or minefields,<ref>{{cite web |title=Boats |url=http://www.dutchsubmarines.com |website=dutchsubmarines.com |archive-url=http://webarchive.loc.gov/all/20020915040344/http://www.dutchsubmarines.com/ |archive-date=15 September 2002}}{{unreliable source?|date=April 2022}}</ref> and the British lost three.

The Japanese launched a long-planned offensive of their own into India in the middle of March, across the mountainous and densely forested frontier. This attack, codenamed [[Operation U-Go]], was advocated by Lieutenant General [[Renya Mutaguchi]], the recently promoted commander of the [[Fifteenth Army (Japan)|Japanese Fifteenth Army]]. [[Imperial General Headquarters]] endorsed the plan, despite misgivings by Mutaguchi's subordinates and staffs at [[Japanese Burma Area Army]] and [[Southern Expeditionary Army Group]].{{sfn|Allen|1984|pp=157–167}} Lieutenant General Slim, commanding the [[British Fourteenth Army]] and his forward commander, Lieutenant General [[Geoffry Scoones]], planned to withdraw into the [[Imphal]] plain in [[Manipur]] state and force the Japanese to fight with their communications stretching over scores of miles of jungle trails. However, they were slow to respond when the attack was launched and did not foresee some Japanese objectives.<ref>{{cite book| last=Slim| first=William| author-link=William Slim| year=1956| title=Defeat into Victory| publisher= Cassell| pages=289, 299| isbn=0-552-08757-2}}</ref> Some British and Indian units had to fight their way out of encirclement, but by early April they had concentrated around Imphal. Several units were flown from the Arakan to reinforce them. A Japanese division which had advanced to [[Kohima]] in [[Nagaland]] cut the main road to Imphal and isolated a small British garrison, but failed to capture the whole of the defences at Kohima. During April, the Japanese attacks against Imphal failed, while fresh Allied formations relieved the garrison of Kohima and drove the Japanese from the positions they had captured on Kohima ridge.

The invasion of [[Peleliu]] in the [[Palau]] Islands on 15 September, was notable for a drastic change in Japanese defensive tactics, resulting in the highest casualty rate amongst US forces in an amphibious operation during the Pacific War.<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/battle-of-peleliu | title=Battle of Peleliu | date=21 August 2018 | access-date=23 October 2019 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191024030750/http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/battle-of-peleliu | archive-date=24 October 2019 | url-status=live }}</ref> Instead of the predicted four days, it took until 27 November to secure the island. The ultimate strategic value of the landings is still contested.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.usmcmuseum.com/Exhibits_UncommonValor_p15.asp|title=Uncommon Valor: 1940 – 1945|date=3 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303212239/http://www.usmcmuseum.com/Exhibits_UncommonValor_p15.asp|access-date=8 April 2020|archive-date=3 March 2016}}</ref>

The Indian XV Corps (including two [[West Africa]]n divisions){{sfn|Allen|1984|p=457}} advanced along the coast in Arakan Province, at last capturing [[Sittwe|Akyab Island]] after failures in the two previous years. They then landed troops behind the retreating Japanese, inflicting heavy casualties, and captured [[Ramree Island]] and [[Cheduba Island]] off the coast, establishing airfields on them which were used to support the offensive into Central Burma.

During February, the Fourteenth Army secured bridgeheads across the Irrawaddy on a broad front. On 1 March, mechanised units of [[IV Corps (United Kingdom)|IV Corps]] captured the supply centre of [[Meiktila]], throwing the Japanese into disarray. While the Japanese attempted to recapture Meiktila, [[XXXIII Corps (British India)|XXXIII Corps]] captured [[Mandalay]]. The Japanese armies were heavily defeated, and with the capture of Mandalay, the Burmese population and the Burma National Army (which the Japanese had raised) openly turned against the Japanese.

After an intense seven-day bombardment the main landings on Okinawa took place on 1 April 1945, on the [[Hagushi]] beaches near the central part of the island's west coast.{{sfn|Heinrichs|Gallicchio|2017|p=367}} However, there was little opposition at the beaches as the Japanese had decided to meet the Americans farther inland out of range of naval gunfire. About 60,000 American troops landed on the first day, seizing the two nearby airfields and pushing across the narrow waist of the island to cut it in two.

There were 92,904 killed in battle and 208,333 wounded in action.<ref name="Clodfelter2017" /> Combined, the US and allied navies lost nearly 200 warships, including 4 battleships, 12 aircraft carriers, 25 cruisers, 84 destroyers and destroyer escorts, 63 submarines, and nearly 30,000 aircraft. This gave the Allies a 2–1 exchange ratio with the Japanese in terms of ships and aircraft.<ref>Hara, p. 299</ref><ref>http://www.navsource.org {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110225185751/http://navsource.org/ |date=25 February 2011 }} Retrieved 25 July 2015; http://www.uboat.net {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101230055449/http://uboat.net/ |date=30 December 2010 }} Retrieved 25 July 2015; Major British Warship Losses in World War II. Retrieved 25 July 2015.</ref>

* Chinese [[state media]] outlet ''[[China Daily]]'' lists the total number of military and non-military casualties, both dead and wounded, at 35&nbsp;million.<ref>{{cite web|date=2005-08-15|title=Remember role in ending fascist war|url=http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2005-08/15/content_468908.htm|access-date=2010-12-02|work=China Daily}}</ref> Duncan Anderson, Head of the Department of War Studies at the Royal Military Academy, UK, writing for BBC states that the total number of casualties was around 20&nbsp;million.<ref>{{cite web|title=Nuclear Power: The End of the War Against Japan|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/nuclear_01.shtml|access-date=2010-12-02|publisher=BBC}}</ref>

Between the [[Malayan Campaign]] (130,000 discounting some 20,000 Australians),<ref>{{cite book |last1=Corfield |first1= Justin |last2=Corfield |first2=Robin |date=2012 |title=The Fall of Singapore |location= Singapore |publisher=Talisman Books |isbn=978-981-07-0984-6 |page= 743}}</ref> [[Burma Campaign]] (86,600),<ref>{{cite book |first=Roy C |last=Nesbit |title=The Battle for Burma |date=2009 |publisher=Pen & Sword Military |isbn=9781844159550 |page= 240}}</ref> [[Battle of Hong Kong]] (15,000),<ref>{{cite book |last=Banham |first= Tony |date=2005 |title=Not the Slightest Chance: The Defence of Hong Kong, 1941 |location=Hong Kong |publisher= Hong Kong University Press |page= 317}}</ref> and various naval encounters, British, Dominion and Empire forces incurred some 235,000 casualties in the Pacific Theater, including roughly 82,000 killed (50,000 in combat and 32,000 as POWs).<ref>{{cite book |editor-first1=Kevin |editor-last1=Blackburn |editor-first2= Karl |editor-last2=Hack |title=Forgotten Captives in Japanese-Occupied Asia |publisher=Routledge |date=2007 |page=4 |doi=10.4324/9780203934746 |isbn=9780203934746 }} British Empire POWs are given a death rate of 25%.</ref> The Royal Navy lost 23 warships in the Pacific and Indian oceans: 1 battleship, 1 battlecruiser, 1 aircraft carrier, 3 cruisers, 8 destroyers, 5 submarines, and 4 escorts.<ref name="naval-history.net">{{cite web |url=http://www.naval-history.net/WW2aBritishLosses10tables.htm |title= British Losses & Losses Inflicted on Axis Navies |date=1 December 2010  |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190424104208/http://www.naval-history.net/WW2aBritishLosses10tables.htm |archive-date=24 April 2019 |url-status= live |work=naval-history.net |accessdate= 24 February 2018}}</ref> There were significant indirect losses to the British Empire territories of India and Burma as a result of the war. These included 3&nbsp;million deaths in the [[Bengal famine of 1943]] and 0.25 to 1&nbsp;million deaths in British Burma.<ref name= McLynn>{{cite book |first=Frank |last=McLynn |date=2010 |title=The Burma Campaign: Disaster into Triumph, 1942–1945 |publisher=Bodley Head |page=1}}</ref>

Australia incurred losses of 45,841 not including deaths and illnesses from natural causes such as disease: 17,501 killed (including POW deaths in captivity), 13,997 wounded, and 14,345 living POWs.<ref>Long (1963), pp. 633–34</ref> New Zealand lost 578 men killed, with an unknown number wounded or captured.<ref>"Honouring NZ's Pacific War dead". Beehive. 15 August 2005. Retrieved 31 October 2010.</ref> Six warships of the Royal Australian Navy totaling 29,391 tons were sunk: 3 cruisers (''[[HMAS Canberra (D33)|Canberra]]'', ''[[HMAS Perth (D29)|Perth]]'', and ''[[HMAS Sydney (D48)|Sydney]]''), 2 destroyers (''Vampire'' and ''Voyager''), and 3 corvettes (''Armidale'', ''Geelong'', and ''Wallaroo'', the latter two in accidents).<ref name="naval-history.net"/>

Eight hundred thousand Japanese civilians<ref>Ishikida, Miki (2005). Toward Peace: War Responsibility, Postwar Compensation, and Peace Movements and Education in Japan. iUniverse, Inc. (13 July 2005). p. 30. {{ISBN|978-0595350636}}. Retrieved 4 March 2016.</ref> and over two&nbsp;million Japanese soldiers died during the war. According to a report compiled by the Relief Bureau of the Japanese Ministry of Health and Welfare in March 1964, combined Japanese Army and Navy deaths during the war (1937–1945) numbered approximately 2,121,000 men, mostly against either the Americans (1.1+ million) in places such as the Solomons, Japan, Taiwan, the Central Pacific, and the Philippines, or against various Chinese factions (500,000+), predominantly the NRA and CCP, during the war on the Chinese mainland, the [[Pacification of Manchukuo|Chinese resistance movement in Manchuria]] and Burma campaign. The losses were broken down as follows:<ref>{{cite web |title=Dispositions and deaths |quote=Figures were compiled by the Relief Bureau of the Ministry of Health and Welfare in March 1964. |url=http://ajrp.awm.gov.au/ajrp/AJRP2.nsf/530e35f7e2ae7707ca2571e3001a112d/e7daa03b9084ad56ca257209000a85f7?OpenDocument |author=Australia-Japan Research Project |publisher =  Australian War Memorial f |access-date=2016-03-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160311073745/http://ajrp.awm.gov.au/ajrp/AJRP2.nsf/530e35f7e2ae7707ca2571e3001a112d/e7daa03b9084ad56ca257209000a85f7?OpenDocument |archive-date=11 March 2016 |url-status=live }}</ref>

{| class="wikitable sortable" style=text-align:right

|Japan || 58,100 || 45,800 || 103,900

!Totals || 1,647,200 || 473,800 || 2,121,000

General George C. Marshall put Japanese "battle dead" against the Americans specifically at 965,000 (South Pacific: 684,000, Central Pacific: 273,000, Aleutians: 8,000), with 37,308 captured, from 7 December 1941 to 30 June 1945 (the war had yet to conclude). These are juxtaposed with the losses in the theater of the US Army alone, suggesting Japanese naval casualties weren't included in the figure. His figure for Japanese "battle dead" in China was 126,000 in the same period (thus excluding the preceding four years).<ref>George C Marshall, Biennial reports of the Chief of Staff of the United States Army to the Secretary of War : 1 July 1939-30 June 1945. Washington, DC : Center of Military History, 1996. Page 202.</ref>

Japan's ally Germany lost ten submarines and four [[Armed merchantman#Auxiliary cruisers|auxiliary cruiser]]s ([[German auxiliary cruiser Thor|''Thor'']], [[German auxiliary cruiser Michel|''Michel'']], [[German auxiliary cruiser Pinguin|''Pinguin'']], and [[German auxiliary cruiser Kormoran|''Kormoran'']]) in the Indian and Pacific oceans.<ref name="naval-history.net"/> These four alone sank 420,467 gross tons of Allied shipping.

Due to testimony accounts, American soldiers are alleged to have committed numerous rapes during the [[Battle of Okinawa]].{{sfn|Tanaka|Tanaka|2003|p=110-111}}{{Missing long citation|date=October 2021}} An unknown number of [[Rape during the occupation of Japan|rapes by Allied troops]] had also occurred during the initial stages of the [[Occupation of Japan]].

* Prange, et al. ''Miracle at Midway''. Penguin, 1982.

* Prange, et al. ''Pearl Harbor: The Verdict of History''.

{{Main|Bibliography of World War II battles and campaigns in East Asia, South East Asia and the Pacific}}