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Whom did America Fight in World War II: Most Important U.S Battles

The Second World War was one of the deadliest catastrophes witnessed in the history of man. While it majorly saw countries take sides with either the Allied or the Axis Powers, grave losses were incurred by both, and great feats were attained as well. The United States of America was part of the Allied forces, which included major powers such as Great Britain, France, and the Soviet Union. At first, America had been reluctant to engage directly in combat, but the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7 1941 instigated America’s official entry into the war. The U.S. would go ahead to fight the Axis Powers on various fronts, on air, land, and sea, featuring some of the bloodiest yet important battles that changed the course of World War II. Here are the most important U.S. battles.

See more on Why the U.S Entered World War II.

1. The Attack on Pearl Harbor

Attack on Pearl Harbor. Image by Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Division.

Since this is what led to America’s formal entry into the war, it’s only strategic to begin the list with it. Before the dreadful surprise attack on December 7, 1941, Japan and U.S.A had previously held negotiations over the fate of the Pacific. America had imposed sanctions on Japan and demanded its withdrawal from China in the Second Sino-Japanese war. Japan demanded the termination of the sanctions and non-interference in its military expansionist agenda. It was however apparent that the U.S.A would not give in, and the attack was a preventive move, aimed at averting interference from the U. S Pacific Fleet in Japan’s planned expansion into Southeast Asia.

At 7.48 a.m, on an unsuspecting, brisk Sunday morning of December 7, 1941, the attack on Pearl Harbor was underway. Japanese aircraft launched bombs from six aircraft carriers, sinking four of the U.S. Navy battleships at the harbor, and damaging the remaining four. Over 2, 400 Americans were killed in the attack, and 1,178 were badly injured. Over 180 U.S. aircraft were destroyed, including critical base infrastructure such as the shipyard, power station, and dry dock. The attack was entirely unprecedented and carried out without any prior declaration of war against the U.S.A. This was later cited by President Franklin D. Roosevelt as a date that will live in infamy. The U.S. declared war on Japan the next day, formally entering Second World War.

Read more on: 10 Things to Know about the Pearl Harbor Attack.

2. Doolittle Raid

Lt. Col. Jimmy Doolittle (second from right) with several of his aircrew on the deck of the Hornet.

Led by Lieutenant Colonel James Doolittle, this was an air raid on Tokyo, Japan, carried out on 18 April 1942. This was barely four months after the Pearl Harbor Attack and the raid initially served as a retaliation for the same. Sixteen B-25 Mitchell bombers from the aircraft carrier USS Hornet carried out the attack. The damage caused by Japanese military targets was relatively minimal but this raid had major psychological effects. It raised American morale while exposing Japan’s mainland vulnerability to air attacks. It also had a ripple effect on Japan’s resolve for retribution, and the killing of civilians was exploited for propaganda by Japan.

One of the U.S. aircraft crashed near the Chinese provinces of Zhejiang and Jiangxi, and 64 American soldiers sought cover in Chinese civilian homes. Consequently, the Japanese launched the Zhejiang-Jiangxi campaign (mid-May to early September 1942), killing 250,000 civilians and 70,000 Chinese soldiers in retaliation. Doolittle’s 14 out of the 16 crew returned to the U.S. safely after the raid, and he later received the Medal of Honor. On the other hand, the raid served to hasten Japanese Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto’s plan to launch an attack on Midway Island in the Pacific. This would culminate in the Battle of Midway, in which Japan would suffer a decisive defeat by the U.S. Navy.

3. Battle of the Coral Sea- Pacific Theater of World War II

Survivors of USS Lexington (CV-2) are pulled aboard a cruiser – probably USS Minneapolis (CA-36) – after the carrier was abandoned on the afternoon of 8 May 1942 during the Battle of the Coral Sea. Photo by USN.

This was the first naval battle in history to be fought by aircraft carriers.  It was fought for 4 days, between May 4 and May 8 of 1942 on the Coral Sea between Japan and the U.S. It is particularly notable as the first naval battle in which the opposing fleets were never in sight of each other, attacking instead using aircraft carriers. The Japanese Operation Mo was a plan to cement Japan’s position in the South Pacific by taking control of the Australian territory of New Guinea.

The aim included occupying Port Moresby in New Guinea and Tulagi in the Solomon Islands. In a series of airstrikes, the Japanese sank a U.S. destroyer, and badly damaged U.S. fleet carrier Lexington, Yorktown, and fleet oiler Neosho.

The U.S. sank the Japanese light carrier Shoho. Damage to Japanese Shokaku and Zuikaku would consequently prevent both aircraft carriers from taking part in the Battle of Midway, barely a month later. Although the Japanese achieved a tactical victory in terms of the number of military targets won including the successful invasion of the Tulagi, the U.S. achieved a strategic victory in stopping a major Japanese advance and preventing the invasion of Port Moresby, a critical area to the U.S. in the war.

Have a look at 10 Things to know about Japan during World War II.

4. Battle of Midway

Scene on board USS Yorktown (CV-5), during the Battle of Midway, 4 June 1942, shortly after she was hit by three Japanese bombs on the same day. Photo by Cassowary Colorizations.

The Battle of Midway has been described by naval historian Craig Symonds as ‘one of the most consequential naval engagements in world history’. It took place from 4^th to 7^th June 1942, with the U.S. Navy dealing a heavy blow to the Imperial Japanese Navy north of Midway Atoll. This was barely a month after the Battle of the Coral Sea, and 6 months after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. The Doolittle Raid had exposed the weakness in Japan’s defensive strength and hastened Admiral Yamamoto’s plan to eliminate America’s carrier forces which he considered a critical threat to the Pacific Campaign.

Such a move would also serve as an extension of their defensive parameter in the Pacific. The plan was to lure U.S. aircraft carriers into the area, making way for the attack. However, the U.S. had an advantage that would cost Japan’s strategy. Cryptographers cracked Japan’s coded messages, revealing critical information about the anticipated attack including the time, location, and strategy. They were thus able to prepare their ambush in advance.

Japan was also misinformed about the U.S. morale and preparedness in the event of an attack. Unknown to them, the Yorktown that had been damaged during the Battle of the Coral Sea had survived and repaired sufficiently to take part in the action. Japan’s strategy to send out its troops in four separate waves would also cost them greatly since they were too far apart to grant each other support in case of an ambush. 4 Japanese and 3 U.S. aircraft carriers saw action in the battle.

Japan lost its fleet carriers, the Akagi, Soryu, Kaga, and Hiryu, while the U.S. lost Yorktown and destroyer, Hammann. The devastating blow to Japan by the American troops that were waiting for them was so critical that Japan’s capacity to replace losses with incredibly high casualties was no longer sufficient. The significant depletion of Japan’s Imperial Navy’s manpower and arsenal marked a turning point in the Pacific Theater of World War II. Japan would spend the rest of the war period on the defensive, having retreated.

5. Battle of Guadalcanal

This is yet another significant military campaign by the Allied forces, mostly U.S. Marines, against Japan. It took place between 7 August 1942 and 9 February 1943 on the island of Guadalcanal and surrounding areas south of the Solomon Islands. It was the first major land Allied offensive against Japan and would mark the former’s transition from defensive to offensive position operations in the Pacific Theater of the War. The plan was to employ the Guadalcanal and Tulagi islands as bases in their campaign to finally capture a major Japanese base at Rabaul in New Britain.

The Japanese were not anticipating it, hence this was a surprise attack that would quickly overwhelm them after three fierce major land battles, 7 naval battles, and numerous aerial battles throughout that period. They had eventually evacuated their forces by 7 February 1943, marking their withdrawal from the Solomon Islands. Consequently, the Allied forces recaptured the Solomon Islands, and once again, the Imperial Japanese Navy was significantly neutralized by the depletion of manpower. The Battle of the Guadalcanal, alongside the Battle of Midway, is regarded to have caused a critical shift in the power position of the Allied Forces, significantly shifting the course of the war in the Pacific Theater of World War II.

6. Battle of Normandy-Operation Overlord

Normandy Invasion, June 1944. Landing ships putting cargo ashore on one of the invasion beaches. Photo by US Coast Guard,

D-Day, as it is often referred to, was the largest seaborne invasion in history, taking place on the 6^th of June, 1944. The Allied Invasion of Normandy, France marked the beginning of the liberation of German-occupied France and was a crucial contribution to the eventual Allied victory on the Western front of the war. Before the launch of the operation, the Allies conducted a massive deception campaign, codenamed Operation Bodyguard, calculated to misguide the Germans on the date and location of the attack.

U.S. Major General Dwight D. Eisenhower was in charge of the Allied Forces, inclusive of the U.S., Canadian and British troops, while Field Marshal Erwin Rommel took command of the German forces in anticipation of the attack.  The Normandy landings were important since they forced Germany to fight on two fronts simultaneously (The eastern and Western front), thus weakening her position in the war.

7. Battle of the Philippine Sea

Described as the largest carrier battle in history, this was the last of five major carrier-to-carrier battles between Japanese and American forces. It was fought from June 19^th to 20^th 1944, during the invasion of the Mariana Islands by the U.S. in the Pacific Theater of World War II. Its effect was the total annihilation of Japan’s capacity to wage large-scale carrier action in the war. An impressive 24 aircraft carriers and about 1,350 carrier-based aircraft were involved. The American pilots were highly trained and had a numerical advantage over the Japanese. Combined with superior tactics and coordination, a decisive win by the U.S. was imminent.  Two of the largest Japanese fleet carriers were sunk in the battle by American submarines, and the Imperial Japanese Navy suffered heavy losses in terms of carrier strength, which they would never recover.

Read more on: 35 Important Battles of World War II.

8. Battle of the Atlantic

Officers on the bridge of a destroyer, escorting a large convoy of ships keep a sharp look out for attacking enemy submarines during the Battle of the Atlantic. October 1941. Photo by Post-Work.

This was the longest military campaign of World War II. It ran from 1939, just as the war began, and only concluded in 1945 when Nazi Germany was defeated. At its center was the blockade of Germany by the Allied forces, and Germany’s counter-blockade. Britain, an Allied power, was heavily reliant on imported supplies during the war. The Axis powers sought to cut off supply from Allied powers to Britain, resulting in a tonnage war.

It pitted German Navy U-boats, their Luftwaffe aircraft, and the Italian submarines against the United States Navy, British Royal Navy, the Canadian Royal Navy, and Allied merchant shipping. Thousands of ships were involved, engaging in a theater of war covering millions of square miles of the Atlantic Ocean. Indeed, it has been described as the largest and most complex naval battle in history. The German blockade eventually failed, and the Allies attained strategic victory, pushing back the Germans in Western Europe majorly by defeating their U-boats. 3,500 merchant ships and 175 warships were sunk.

Check out the Top 10 Facts about the Allies of World War II.

9. Battle of Iwo Jima

This was one of the most intense battles in World War II, fought between the Imperial Japanese Navy and the U.S Marine Corps and U.S Navy. It ran from 19 February to 26 March 1945. The U.S. forces landed on the island of Iwo Jima with one goal; to capture it with its two airfields (South and Central Fields) from the Imperial Japanese Navy. For 5 weeks, the U.S. forces engaged the heavily fortified Japanese Army positions in one of the bloodiest battles in the Pacific Theater of World War II.

The U.S. Navy and Marine Corps aviators afforded the American ground forces ultimate air supremacy and overwhelming support in numbers and arms. With limited supplies for the Japanese, and the inability to retreat or get reinforcement, victory for the U.S. was imminent. The number of Japanese combatant deaths was thrice the number of American deaths. Although the campaign was criticized for the low strategic importance of the island compared to the significant number of casualties, the island was later used as an emergency landing base for American bombers. Most of the Japanese combatants were killed too.

10. Battle of Okinawa

A guncrew of the 383rd Inf. Regt. loads a shell into the new 57mm recoiless rifle to fire against Japanese pillboxes and caves on Okinawa. 10 June, 1945. Photo by U.S. Army Signal Corps.

This was the largest amphibious battle in the Pacific Theater of the war, fought between 1 April and 22 June 1945 between the U.S. Marine Corps and the Imperial Japanese Navy. It was the last major battle in the Pacific theater of the war, and a decisive victory for the United States. High casualties were incurred on both sides, but Japan had the highest toll of deaths of up to 100,000 soldiers in combat and more than 100,000 civilians in Okinawa. The Allied forces incurred about 50,000 casualties. Having witnessed the heavy losses suffered, U.S. President Harry Truman was convinced that it would be worse if the attack on the Japanese home islands was carried out. The battle is therefore regarded as a critical influence in the decision of the U.S. to drop the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, marking the end of World War II.

Have a look at End of World War 2: 10 Important Things to Know.