Dec 18, 1941: Japanese forces land on Hong Kong island, crossing narrow straits from mainland Dec 19, 1941: Japanese landing force southeast of Manila reach municipality of Sipocot Dec 20, 1941: Admiral Ernest J. King is appointed Commander-in-Chief, US Fleet Dec 21, 1941: Japanese carrier-based planes bomb US forces on Wake island in mid-Pacific prior…

Dec 11, 1941: Britain’s Royal Air Force gives up day-time bombing of targets on Malayan peninsula after seeing heavy losses during first days of fighting back Japanese invasion Japanese destroyer Hayate is sunk during attempt to invade US-held Pacific island of Wake. It is the first Japanese surface warship to be lost in the conflict…

Dec 4, 1941: Japanese navy fans out across the Pacific, with submarine I-10 reconnoitering off Samoa Japanese invasion force set to hit Malayan beaches three days in the future departs from southern China Dec 5, 1941: Royal Navy Amiral Tom Phillips, right, recently arrived in the Far East, meets in Manila with General Douglas MacArthur…

Nov 27, 1941: George C. Marshall, left, chief of staff of the US Army, warns in War Department Message: ‘Japanese future action unpredictable but hostile action possible at any moment’ Nov 28, 1941: Admiral Nagano Osami, Chief of the Imperial Japanese Navy General Staff, tells Japan’s foreign minister Togo Shigenori that ‘zero hour’, when military…

Nov 20, 1941: As Japan completes preparations for attack on western possessions in the Asia Pacific, its diplomats send a final ultimatum to Washington calling for an end of assistance to China in return for a Japanese pledge not to expand into Southeast Asia Nov 21, 1941: General Douglas MacArthur, commander of US Army Forces…

Nov 13, 1941: Top brass of Japan’s Combined Fleet meet to hear ‘Operational Order No. 1’ on upcoming offensive in the Pacific, including attack on Pearl Harbor Nov 14, 1941: Japan’s ambassador to Washington, Admiral Nomura Kichisaburo, desperate to reach a last-minute deal with the United States, urges Tokyo to abandon rigid deadlines for bringing…

Nov 6, 1941: General Yamashita Tomoyuki is put in command of the Twenty-Fifth Army, which is assigned the task of invading the Malayan peninsula in the planned offensive against Southeast Asia Nov 7, 1941: Japanese aircraft carrier Soryu sails to Kure harbor, its assigned naval station ahead of the planned attack on Pearl Harbor Nov…

Oct 30, 1941: As fears of war in East Asia mount, Britain urges its citizens in Japanese-occupied parts of China to evacuate Oct 31, 1941: Japanese troop concentrations are reported in central China, triggering fears of an imminent offensive to cut off the Burma Road, the vital supply line to unoccupied Chinese territories Nov 1,…

Oct 23, 1941: US Senate passes supplemental Lend Lease Bill, adding nearly 6 billion dollars that can be spent on material aid, everything from weapons to food, to the struggling nations of Britain, the Soviet Union and China Oct 24, 1941: Admiral Yamamoto Isoroku, chief planner of attack on Pearl Harbor, writes in letter to…

Oct 16, 1941: Steep drop at Shanghai Stock Exchange amid fears of imminent war in Asia Oct 17, 1941: New hardline government headed by General Tojo Hideki takes over in Japan Oct 18, 1941: General Tojo Hideki, Japan’s new prime minister, stays on concurrently as minister of war, concentrating political power in his own hands…