The Allies’ 1937-1945 struggle against Imperial Japan stretched from the Pacific Ocean to the Indian Ocean from the shores of Northern Australia to the gates of the Raj from the dense jungles of Papua New Guinea to the cloud-covered mountains of Burma and from the wastelands of the Mongolia-Manchurian border, to the burning clouds over Tokyo, Hiroshima and Nagasaki.īefore the Rising Sun set, battles would see Japanese troops storm Southeast Asian cities, US Marines hit Pacific beaches, British special forces land deep behind enemy lines and Soviet armored columns thunder over baking Manchurian wildernesses. The Allies’ 1939-1945 war against the Nazis covered a vast map: From the Western Atlantic to the Barents Sea from the deserts of North Africa to the Volga steppes from the sunny heavens of southern England to the night skies over Hamburg, Dresden and Berlin.īut compared to the Pacific theater, that was a modest battlescape.
World War II – which ended with Imperial Japan’s surrender 75 years ago today – can, broadly speaking, be sliced into two.