Retribution_ The Battle for Japan, 1944-45 - Max Hastings [376]
23 May: Stilwell reaches India, after 150-mile march out of Burma with Chinese units; British forces complete withdrawal from Burma
4 June: Japanese attack Midway Island, north-east of Hawaii
6 June: Japanese occupy Kiska in the Aleutians; decisive U.S. naval victory at Midway, with four Japanese carriers sunk and 275 planes destroyed, for American loss of one carrier and 132 planes
7 August: Americans land on Guadalcanal
9 August: Japanese navy sinks four U.S. cruisers off Savo Island, in the Solomons
11 August: Australians driven out of Deniki on the Kokoda Trail in New Guinea
12 August: Japanese land at Buna, New Guinea
27 August: U.S. carrier Saratoga badly damaged by submarine attack, leaving Wasp only operational U.S. carrier in the Pacific
1 September: Battle of Stalingrad begins
2 September: In North Africa, Rommel withdraws after the decisive failure of his assault on the British defending Egypt at Alam Halfa
8 September: New Guinea: Australian forces driven back in the Owen Stanley Mountains
18 September: New Guinea: Japanese forces obliged to make some withdrawals, Australians poised to start advance on the Kokoda Trail
11-12 October: Solomons: Japanese navy worsted in Battle of Cap Esperance
17 October: Burma: Indian forces begin an advance in the Arakan
23 October: U.S. forces land in North Africa; Battle of El Alamein begins
26 October: Japanese navy victorious in Battle of Santa Cruz, which costs U.S. Hornet fatally damaged and Enterprise crippled, but Japanese suffer heavy aircraft losses
1943 2 February: Germans capitulate at Stalingrad
13 February: First British “Chindit” operation launched into Burma
2 March: Battle of the Bismarck Sea
20 June: U.S. campaign in New Georgia begins
5 July: Battle of Kursk begins
1 August: Japanese declare Burma independent
3 September: Allies land in Italy
7 October: Mountbatten becomes Allied supreme commander in South-East Asia
14 October: Japanese declare Philippines independent
20 November: U.S. Marines land on Tarawa Atoll
2 December: First chain reaction achieved at Chicago University by the Manhattan Project team
1944 31 January: U.S. forces land in the Marshalls
2 March: Second Chindit operation mounted into Burma
15 March: Japanese Imphal-Kohima offensive begins
22 April: U.S. forces land at Hollandia, New Guinea
April–December: Japanese “Ichigo” offensive in China
17 May: Stilwell’s Chinese and U.S. force takes Myitkyina airfield
31 May: Japanese begin withdrawal from Kohima
4 June: Allied forces enter Rome
6 June: D-Day landings in Normandy
15 June: U.S. forces land on Saipan
19 June: Battle of the Philippine Sea begins
18 July: Tojo resigns as Japan’s prime minister; Japanese begin retreat from Imphal
20 July: German officers attempt unsuccessfully to assassinate Hitler
15 September: Marines land on Peleliu
20 October: U.S. Army lands on Leyte
24-25 October: Naval Battle of Leyte Gulf
30 October: Lt.-Gen. Albert Wedemeyer replaces Stilwell as senior U.S. military representative in China
6 November: Roosevelt wins fourth presidential term
December: Slim’s Fourteenth Army crosses Chindwin into Burma
1945 9 January: U.S. Army lands on Luzon
11 January: British forces begin to cross the Irrawaddy
19 February: Marines land on Iwo Jima
2 March: British advance to Meiktila
9 March: Japanese seize control of Indochina
20 March: British capture Mandalay
1 April: U.S. Army and Marines land on Okinawa
5 April: Koiso resigns as Japan’s prime minister, succeeded by Suzuki
12 April: Death of Roosevelt; Truman becomes president
30 April: Hitler commits suicide
3 May: Slim’s Fourteenth Army enters Rangoon
8 May: VE-Day in Europe: Germany surrenders unconditionally
16 July: World’s first atomic device tested at Alamogordo
17 July: Allied summit meeting in Potsdam
26 July: Churchill resigns as British prime minister following election defeat
6 August: First atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima