PACIFIC WAR TIMELINE

APRIL 1944


9 April: India: Battle of Kohima. 1,200 British troops pushed back to Garrison Ridge in the hill top village of Kohima located on the main road north from Imphal to the train junction and logistic center at Dimapur.


15 April: New Guinea: Australians complete the clearance of Japanese forces from the Huon Peninsula.


19 April: China: Operation ICHIGO starts as Japanese Army sweeps through Central China.


22 April: New Guinea: Battle of Hollandia. MacArthur’s flanking amphibious attack on main Japanese garrison in northern New Guinea.


29 April: India: Battle of the Tennis Court (Kohima). Five day battle ends after British tanks manage to crash down on the court.


MAY 1944


12 May: Crimea: Germans surrender in the Crimea.


16 May: Burma: Battle of Myitkyina. Stilwell’s Marauders and General Sun’s X-Force win a surprise battle when they emerge from the jungles to take the airfield at Myitkyina, the strategically located city on the main routes and railway lines and rivers in northern Burma.


20 May: India: Mutaguchi attacks Bishenpur, the gateway to the Imphal Plain in Manipur Province. The Battle of Imphal starts.


27 May: New Guinea: Battle of Biak. Hard fought battle on an island off the northwest coast of New Guinea as Colonel Nayuki uses a withdrawn defence for the first time. Copied thereafter by Japanese commanders in future island battles.


China: Battle of Changsha. Operation Togo-I (second part of Operation ICHIGO) is launched by Field Marshal Hata who orders Japan’s 13th Army to advance on Changsha, the capital of Hunan Province.


JUNE 1944


2 June: India: Battle of Imphal. Mutaguchi’s final attempt to break through to Imphal fails.


China: General Hata, Commander of Japan’s China Expeditionary Army is promoted to Field Marshall.


4 June: Pacific Ocean: USS Shark and USS Pintado sink 7 vessels in convoy on the way to Saipan. Loss of an aggregate 24,000 tons of shipping and 4,000 out of 10,000 drowned.


5 June: Thailand: 77 B-29 Superfortress make first raid on rail facilities in Bangkok, Thailand.


Italy: Allies enter Rome.


6 June: France: D-Day landings in Normandy by the Allies starts the attempt to retake mainland Europe from the Nazis.

8-10 June: Bougainville: Battle of Porton Plantation. Japanese forces destroy Australian amphibious landing at Porton Plantation on Bougainville.


13 June: Great Britain: Germany launches first V-1 rocket attacks on Britain.


14 June: New Guinea: Battle of Lone Tree Hill. Amphibious landing by US troops at Maffin Bay.


15 June: Saipan: 682 vessel armada assembled for the invasion of Saipan.


15-16 June: Japan: 47 B-29s based in Bengal attack steel works at Iwata – the first B-29 attack on Japan.


18 June: China: US B-29 Superfortress bomber base at Hengyang Airfield is under siege by General Hata’s 13th Army.


Emperor Hirohito warns General Tojo that Saipan has to be held. Saipan considered a home island.


19 June: Philippine Sea: The Great Marianas Turkey Shoot (The Battle of the Philippine Sea). Three Japanese fleet carriers sunk including their newest carrier Taiho and almost the entirety of their air fleet destroyed.


Iwo Jima: General Kuribayashi arrives on Iwo Jima to coordinate the defense of the island.


22 June: Burma: Battles of Imphal and Kohima ends. Pursuit of Mutaguchi’s fleeing army begins. Mutaguchi’s army suffers 65,000 killed out of 90,000 troops.


23 June: Burma: Battle of Mogaung. In northern Burma, Lieutenant-Colonel Calvert with remants of Wingate LRP 2 captures the strategically important town of Mogaung on the road to Myitkyina from Mandalay.


27 June: New Guinea: Battle of Biak: US troops overrun Biak but only after General Krueger replaces General Fuller with General Eichelberger.

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