PRINCIPAL DATES IN JAPAN'S WAR CAREER

Evening Post, Volume CXL, Issue 55, 3 September 1945, Page 4

PRINCIPAL DATES IN JAPAN'S WAR CAREER

1931 September 18. Japanese occupied Mukden, and thereafter created in Manchuria the puppet State of Manchukuo. 1933 !May 30. Tangku Truce signed creating demilitarised zone. • 1937 7. Skirmish between Japanese troops and Chinese garrison outside I .Peking which began SinoJapanese War. August 9. Japanese seized Peking. November 16. Chinese capital transferred to Chunking. 1938 January 10. Japanese occupied Tsingtao. 17. Japan repudiated Chinese Central Government. October 32. Japanese landed large force m Bias Bay, near Hong Kong. 21. Canton captured by Japanese. 25. Japanese entered Hankow. 1939 September 16. Russo-Japanese armistice concluded. 1940 18. Burma Road closed for three months. August 9. British withdrawal from Shanghai. 4 September 27. Japan joined the Axis. 1941 28. Japanese troops landed in IndoChiria. August 14. Churchill - Roosevelt (Atlantic Charter) meeting at sea announced. i October | 19. Tojo Cabinet formed in Japan. December 7. Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour, etc. 8. U.S.A. and Great Britain declared war on Japan. 1942 January 22. Japanese landed at Rabaul. 23. Attack on Japanese convoy in Macassar Strait began. February 15. Singapore occupied by Japanese. 19. Japanese air raids on Darwin. 27. Battle of the Java Sea. March 8. Rangoon occupied by Japanese. 14. Arrival of U.S. troops in Australia announced. April 5. Colombo bombed by Japanese. 9. Surrender of Bataan. H.M.S. Cornwall, Dorsetshire, and Hermes sunk in Indian Ocean by Japanese air attack. 18. First bombing of Tokio by U.S. bombers. 29. Lashio taken by Japanese. May 6-11. Battle of the Coral Sea. Severe Japanese defeat. June 1. Jap. midget submarines in Sydney Harbour; four destroyed. 3-5. Battle of Midway. August 7. U.S. forces landed on Guadalcanal. 10. Battle of Savo Island, U.S. and British cruisers lost. September 8. Japanese advance into Owen Stanley Mountains, New Guinea. November 3. Kokoda (New Guinea) captured from Japanese. 12-14. Eleven Jap. warships and many transports sunk in Solomons. December 20. Advance of British and Indian troops into India announced. 1943 March 2. Japanese convoy smashed by air attack, Bismarck Straits. August 15. Japanese driven out of Aleutians. September 14. Salamaua captured by Allies. 16. Lac captured. October i 12. Heavy air raid i on Rabaul, much Japanese shipping destroyed. 13. Full occupation of New Georgia, Solomons, announced. November

20-24. U.S. attack on Gilbert Islands; Battle of Tarawa. 22-26. Cairo Conference (Mr. Churchill, Mr. Roosevelt, Marshal Chiang Kai-shek). 1944 February 4. Conquest of Kwajalein. 17. U.S. air raid on Truk; 23 Japanese ships sunk. 28. Announcement that 80,000 Japanese had been isolated in New Britain, New Ireland, and Solomons area. April 23. Hollandia (New Guinea) occupied. June 15. Super-Fortresses bombed Kyushu. 19. Japanese naval defeat off J Marianas. July 15. Saipan conquered. August 10. Nagasaki and Palembang bombed. Capture of Guam completed. September 15. Palau Islands (Peleliu) and Halmahera invaded by U.S. forces. 21. First heavy U.S. air raid on Manila. October 17. Americans landed in Leyte (Philippines) . 24. Powerful Japanese fleet routed near Philippines; only two out of 60 ships undamaged. November 23 and 27. Heavy air raids on Tokio. 29. Destruction of six Japanese convoys in Philippine waters announced. December 10. Announcement of British Fleet under Admiral Fraser to operate . in Pacific. 15. American landing, Mindoro (Philippines). 1945 January 9. American landing in Lingayen Gulf, Luzon (Philippines). February 3. American forces re-entered Manila. 19. Invasion of Iwo Jima. 25. U.S. carrier force bombed Tokio area. March 11. "Blitz" of Nagoya district begun. 14. Iwo Jima conquered. 19. Japanese fleet heavily damaged in Inland Sea. 20. Capture of Mandalay. April. 1. U.S. landing on Okinawa. 30. Australian landing on Tarakan Island, Borneo. May 3. Capture of Rangoon announced. 10. Great air assault on Japan begun. From this date until the end of the war, American Super-Fortresses and aircraft from American and British carriers carried on a steadily increasing assault on Japanese cities. and towns, beginning with the largest. The forces used were worked up to as many as 800 Super-Fortresses, based on the Mariana Islands and later on Okinawa, and up. to 1500 carrier-borne planes. The bomb-loads, mainly incendiaries, went up to 6000 tons. There was practically no Japanese air opposition, and the heaviest loss suffered in any Super-Fortress attack was 12 machines. One after another the industrial centres were wiped out. June 12. Nevy ' American landing on Okinawa. 14. Brunei, Borneo, captured. 21. Capture of Okinawa completed after 82 days. July 1. Australian landing at Balik Papan, Borneo. 4. General Mac Arthur announced complete liberation of the Philippines. 13. Naval bombardments of Japanese coast towns began. 26. Potsdam ultimatum demanding Japanese surrender; declined by ; Tokio next day. August 1. Official announcement by U.S. Navy Department that Japanese navy, as a fighting force, had been destroyed. 6. First atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima. 8. Russia declared war on Japan. 9. Second atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki. 15. Imperial Rescript announces surrender. 27. First American forces landed. September. , 2. Surrender Terms signed in Tokio Bay.