The Battle of Wake Island

In December 1941, hundreds of Japanese aircraft bombed Pearl Harbor. The planes decimated the U.S. Pacific Fleet stationed there, as nicely as aircraft situated on surrounding airfields. The extremely subsequent day the Japanese army started the initial of its advances in the Pacific about Wake Island.

Wake Island was a U.S. outpost in the Central Pacific that consisted of a couple of little islands. It was there that they had begun building of a military base, which by 1941 integrated completed airfields. As such, the U.S. Air Force stationed a smaller squadron of Wildcat aircraft there, alongside a U.S. garrison that consisted of just a handful of hundred troops.

On the eight December, the 1st Japanese aircraft flew more than Wake Island. The compact quantity of U.S. planes have been also in the air, and remained as such when their radios informed them of Japanese aircraft. The climate situations have been not best for air raids, but Japanese aircraft nevertheless positioned and bombarded the airfield at Wake Island.

The initially Japanese troops arrived at Wake by 11 December. Even so, the shore batteries there had adequate effect to wipe out one Japanese destroyer. The Japanese fleet started to withdraw, but not just before a couple of U.S. aircraft intercepted them. A additional two cruisers and one destroyer had been lost off the island's coast. This was one of the handful of ineffective amphibious landings in the Pacific War. As opposed to the Dieppe Raid, not 1 Japanese troop had set foot on Wake.

The reinforcement offered by two Japanese fleet carriers ensured that A6M Zeroes took out the remaining U.S. planes at Wake Island. With the U.S. air cover wiped out a second wave of Japanese troops arrived on the 23rd. A additional 1,000 Japanese troops landed, a considerably bigger quantity than previously sent, which sophisticated toward and occupied the decimated airfield. The arrival of the two Japanese fleet carriers was also adequate to ensure the withdrawal of a U.S. carrier dispatched to help Wake.

The outnumbered Marines could not hold Wake Island for a great deal longer. They remained stationed in the northern portion of the island, and duly surrendered to the Japanese on 23 December. Hence, the Japanese won one of their initial victories in the Pacific War.

The Battle of Wake Island was not a enormous victory for the Japanese Empire. Wake Island itself was smaller over couple of miles of land, and they had lost a higher quantity of troops than the U.S. garrison along with cruisers and destroyers. Having said that, they had occupied an airfield that would turn into a aspect of their empire's perimeter till 1945.

Matthew is the author of the book Battles of the Pacific War 1941 - 1945. This is a book that covers nine of the biggest land and naval battles in the Pacific Theater. For additional information, verify out the book's weblog ( http://battlesofthepacificwar.blogspot.co.uk/ ), Amazon ( http://www.amazon.co.uk/Battles-Pacific-War-1941-ebook/dp/B008YDCBBQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1345193117&sr=eight-1 ) and Lulu pages.