When we talk about World War II, we often recall the European theater of operations. Meanwhile, in the vast expanses of Asia and the Pacific, where the Japanese were allies of the Germans, battles unfolded, which also had a considerable influence on the outcome of the war and the further fate of the Asian peoples.
Lightning strike
Military operations in Asia began for the Japanese a few years before German tanks entered Poland. Taking advantage of the weakness of China, where there was a power struggle between several military groups, Japan already successfully captured Manchuria in 1932, creating a semblance of an independent state there. After 5 years, the descendants of the samurai began the war already for the capture of all of China. Therefore, the main events of the Second World War in 1939-1940 occurred only in Europe, and not on the Asian expanses. The Japanese government was in no hurry to disperse its forces until the leading colonial powers surrendered. When France and Holland fell under German occupation, preparations began for war.
The land of the rising sun had very limited resources. Therefore, the main emphasis was on the rapid seizure of territories and their colonization. We can say that Japan in the Second World War used tactics similar to German blitzkrieg. After the surrender of the French and Dutch, the USSR and the USA remained the most serious opponents in this region. After June 22, 1941, the Soviet Union was not up to Japan, so the main blow was required to inflict on the American fleet. On December 7th, this was done - in the attack on Pearl Harbor, almost all American planes and ships in the Pacific were destroyed.
This event was for the Americans and their allies a complete surprise. Nobody believed that Japan, occupied by the war in China, would attack another territory. Meanwhile, military operations developed more rapidly. Hong Kong and Indochina quickly fell under Japanese occupation, in January 1942 the British troops were forced out of Malaysia and Singapore, and by May the Philippines and Indonesia were in the hands of the Japanese. Thus, under the rule of the descendants of the samurai, there was a vast territory with an area of 10 million square kilometers.
The successes that Japan initially made in World War II were facilitated by well-designed propaganda. The peoples of Asia were impressed that the Japanese had come to free them from white imperialism and together build a prosperous society. Therefore, at first the occupiers were supported by the local population. Similar sentiments were also in countries not yet captured - for example, in India, to which the Japanese Prime Minister promised independence. This is only later, upon seeing that “aliens” at first glance, the aliens are no better than the Europeans, the local residents began an active rebel movement.
From victories to defeats
But the Japanese blitzkrieg collapsed with the same bang as the Barbarossa plan. By mid-1942, the Americans and the British came to their senses and launched an offensive. Japan, with its limited resources, could not win this battle. In June 1942, the Americans inflicted a crushing defeat on the enemy at Midway Atoll, near the famous Pearl Harbor. Four Japanese aircraft carriers and the best Japanese pilots went to the bottom of the Pacific Ocean. In February 1943, after bloody battles that lasted several months, the Americans occupied Guadalcanal.
Over the course of six months, the United States, taking advantage of the lull at the front, increased the number of aircraft carriers many times over, and launched a new offensive. The Japanese left the Pacific archipelagos one by one under the onslaught of the enemy, which surpassed them in armament and strength.
However, it is worth saying that these victories were not given to the Americans easily. The battles that Japan lost in World War II brought a lot of losses to the enemy. The soldiers and officers of the imperial army, in accordance with samurai traditions, were in no hurry to surrender and fought to the last. The Japanese command actively used this stamina, a famous example of which are the famous kamikaze. Even the besieged units blocked on the islands held to the last. As a result, by the time of surrender, many soldiers and officers of the Japanese army simply died of starvation.
But neither heroism nor selflessness helped the Land of the Rising Sun to survive. In August 1945, after the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the government decided to capitulate. So Japan was defeated in World War II.
The country was quickly occupied by American troops. War criminals were executed, parliamentary elections were held, and a new constitution was adopted. The agrarian reform forever eliminated the samurai class, which already existed more in tradition. The Americans did not dare to abolish the monarchy, fearing a social explosion. But the consequences of World War II for other Asian countries were such that they forever changed the political map of this region. The peoples who fought with the Japanese no longer wished to endure the colonial authorities and entered into a fierce struggle for their independence.