The Pacific War Begins

After crippling the U.S. Pacific fleet in Oahu at the end of 1941, the Japanese empire expanded to its territorial zenith during the first half of 1942. A string of victories put geography on Tokyo’s side at the beginning  of the Pacific war. Between December 1941 and mid-1942, Imperial forces took from the Americans, British, and Dutch all the important Al-lied bases in the western Pacific and southeastern Asia, including Guam, Wake, the Philippines, Malaya, Singapore, Burma, Hong Kong, and most of the East Indies. By mid-1942, Japanese forces controlled an empire that stretched from Alaska to India and the gates of Australia. Japan’s military leaders thus considered their home islands of Honshu, Kyushu, Shikoku, and Hokkaido (where most war industries were located) immune to Allied attack. No weapon, not even the longest-range bombers then available, could reach the heart of the Japanese empire. Allied bases were simply too far away. With many of its battleships damaged or destroyed at Pearl Harbor, the U.S. Navy could do little except defend the eastern Pacific and the western coast of North America. Japan seemed invincible. 

As the progression of victories continued, Japanese confidence soared and American morale languished. To reverse these trends and bring the war home to Japan as quickly as possible, President Franklin D. Roosevelt authorized a daring initiative: a surprise raid on Tokyo, the Japanese capital.