New Zealanders in the Pacific War
The war against Japan - New Zealanders in the Pacific War
United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt described it as 'a date which will live in infamy' — 7 December 1941, the day the Japanese bombed the American naval base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. This was the opening salvo in the Pacific War. A day later, New Zealand, the United States and Britain declared war on Japan. The conflict ended nearly four years later, on 15 August 1945 when the Japanese signed the Armistice — a week after the dropping of two atomic bombs on Japanese cities.
Changing fortunes - New Zealanders in the Pacific War
In 1942 the Battle of the Coral Sea (7-8 May) and Battle of Midway (3-6 June) between the Japanese and United States navies left the United States with superior numbers of essential aircraft carriers. Japan had lost the initiative. This set the stage for New Zealand's involvement in the American campaign in the Solomon Islands — the closest point to home where the New Zealanders fought.
The final stages - New Zealanders in the Pacific War
Soldier's stories - New Zealanders in the Pacific War
New Zealanders who served in the Pacific War had diverse experiences. They were involved in fighting in the jungle, some spent time in Japanese prisoner of war camps, others took part in air raids or manned ships, while others played a vital support role. Hear some of the experiences of five New Zealanders who fought in the Pacific.
Pacific War Timeline - New Zealanders in the Pacific War
Timeline of events in the Pacific War
1939
- 14 June: Japanese blockade British concession at Tientsin, China
- 22 August: Soviet Union and Germany sign non-aggression pact
- 1 September: Germany invades Poland
- 3 September: Britain, France, New Zealand and Australia declare war on Germany
- 12 September: Enlistment for 2 New Zealand Expeditionary Force (2 NZEF) begins
- 3 October: First Echelon, 2 NZEF training begins at Burnham, Trentham, Hopuhopu and Papakura
- 23 November: Major-General Bernard Freyberg is appointed to command 2 NZEF
- 13 December: Battle of the River Plate - New Zealand cruiser HMS Achilles involved in battle with German pocket battleship Admiral Graf Spee
1940
- 5 January: First Echelon embarks for the Middle East
- 5 June: New Zealand begins raising an infantry brigade group for Fiji
- 10 June: Italy declares war on Great Britain and France
- 11 June: Australia, New Zealand and South Africa declare war on Italy
- 20 August: German raider Orion sinks the steamer Turakina off Cape Egmont
- 10 September: Advance party of 8 Infantry Battalion leave for Fiji
- 27 September: Tripartite (Axis) Pact signed by Germany, Italy and Japan
- 3 November: HQ 8 Infantry Brigade established in Fiji
- 25 November: Steamer Holmwood sunk by German raiders off Chatham Islands
- 27 November: Rangitane sunk by German raiders 480km from East Cape
- 8 December: New Zealand steamer Komata sunk by German raiders off Nauru Island
1941
- 3 March: Bulk of 2 NZEF now in the Middle East
- 25-27 July: Britain, Australia, New Zealand and United States freeze Japanese assets
- 28 July: Japanese troops move into southern Indo-China
- 18 October: General Tojo Hideki forms Cabinet in Japan
- 7 December: Japanese attack Pearl Harbor
- 7 - 8 December: Japanese troops land in Thailand and north-eastern Malaya
- 8 December: Britain, USA, and New Zealand declare war on Japan
- 18 December: Japanese land in Hong Kong
- 22 December: Japanese land in the Philippines
- 23 December: New Zealanders serving with 67 Squadron RAF have first encounter with enemy during Japanese air raid on Rangoon, Burma
- 25 December: Hong Kong falls to Japanese troops
- 31 December: Martial law declared in Singapore
1942
- 2 January: Japanese occupy Manila
- 3 January: 488 Sqn RNZAF in action at Singapore
- 10 January: More New Zealand reinforcements to Fiji
- 30 January: Japanese within 25 km of Singapore
- 8 February: Japanese invade Burma
- 10 February: US naval vanguard arrives in Wellington
- 15 February: Fall of Singapore
- 19 February: Japanese attack Indonesia; Darwin, Australia, raided for the first time
- March: Japanese air raids over Australia
- 8 March: Japanese submarine I-25 sends reconnaissance plane over Wellington
- 13 March: Reconnaissance flight from I-25 over Auckland
- 18 April: US General Douglas MacArthur assumes command of the South West Pacific Area; New Zealand in South Pacific Area a US Navy responsibility under Admiral Chester Nimitz
- 7 – 8 May: Battle of Coral Sea; Japanese forces heading for Port Moresby turn back
- 31 May: Japanese midget submarine raid on Sydney Harbour
- 3-6 June: US victory at Battle of Midway effectively ends the danger of invasion of New Zealand
- 12 July: New Zealand steamer Hauraki captured by a Japanese raider
- 24 July: US assume control in Fiji; 2 NZEF troops in Fiji return to New Zealand
- July: 9 Sqn RNZAF deployed to New Caledonia
- 7 August: First US land offensive against Japan at Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands
- September: HMNZS Leander involved in Solomons campaign
- 5 – 13 October: US forces continue attacks against Japanese at Guadalcanal
- October: 3 Sqn RNZAF deploys in South Pacific theatre
- 2 December: Professor Enrico Fermi sets up an atomic reactor in Chicago
- 3 December: 3 NZ Div HQ temporarily established in New Zealand; throughout December troops NZ troops sent to New Caledonia
1943
- 5 January: HMNZS Achilles badly damaged by bomb off Guadalcanal
- 22 January: Australian and US forces defeat Japan in the Papua campaign
- 29 January: Japan withdrawing land forces from Guadalcanal
- 29 – 30 January: RNZN corvettes Kiwi and Moa sink Japanese submarine I-1 off Guadalcanal
- 18 May: Japan begins an offensive along Yangtze River
- 20 May: New Zealand government agrees to keep 2 NZEF in the Middle East to be available for operations in Europe; 3 Division in the Pacific to be reduced
- 12 – 13 July: HMNZS Leander suffers heavy damage when torpedoed off New Georgia
- 15 August: US troops land at Vella Lavella in the Solomon Islands
- 16 August: Heavy Allied air attacks on Japanese at Wewak, Papua New Guinea
- 3 October: 3 NZ Division secures Vella Lavella
- 5 October: US force attacks Wake Island
- 27 October: 3 NZ Division lands on Mono in the Treasury Islands
- 1 November: US invades Bougainville
1944
- January: US invades Marshall Islands
- 15 – 18 February: 3 NZ Division lands on Nissan Island; organised Japanese resistance ceases by 20 February
- 29 February: US General Douglas MacArthur's force invades Admiralty Island
- 7 March: 20 New Zealand aircraft take part in attack on Rabaul
- 8 May: Japanese launch offensive against British troops in Burma
- 15 June: Main body of 3 NZ Division HQ returns to New Caledonia
- 16 June: China-based B-29s bomb southern Japan
- 21 July: US troops land in Guam
- 10 August: Japanese resistance in Guam ends
- 20 October: Philippines campaign begins
- 5 November: Allied planes bomb Singapore
- 24 November: B-29s bomb Tokyo
- 24 December: Last Japanese attack on Calcutta
1945
- 22 January: Burma Road is reopened
- 19 February: US troops land on Iwo Jima, Japan
- 21 March: British forces take Mandalay, Burma
- 1 April: US troops invade Okinawa
- 3 May: Rangoon recaptured
- 13 May: Australian troops occupy Wewak
- 26 May: 700,000 incendiary bombs fall on Tokyo
- 8 May: VE Day (Victory in Europe)
- 1 June: First landing of US troops on Okinawa
- 20 June: Australian troops land in Sarawak
- 21 June: US forces capture Okinawa
- 5 July: Liberation of the Philippines completed
- 14 July: US Navy bombards Honshu and Hokkaido
- 16 July: First atomic bomb test in New Mexico
- 3 August: Japanese home islands blockaded
- 6 August: Atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, Japan
- 8 August: Russia declares war on Japan
- 9 August: Atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki, Japan
- Soviet troops enter Manchuria
- 12 August: Soviet troops enter Korea
- 14 August: Japan accepts Allied surrender terms
- 15 August: VJ Day (Victory in Japan) li>
- 28 August: US troops enter Japanese main islands
- 30 August: British troops re-occupy Hong Kong
- 2 September: Formal Japanese surrender on deck of USS Missouri
Notes and questions, Pacific - war oral history programme
Pacific – 1942–1945
They thought we were a bunch of coconut bombers, sitting under coconut trees, just lapping up the sun. That was their attitude ... it was people's wrong ideas.
Rob McLean, 3rd New Zealand Division, Pacific
Before you interview any veterans of this campaign, we recommend you read our Guide to recording oral history.
Background notes
United States forces had been at war in the Pacific since the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December of 1941. All three New Zealand services later became involved in the campaign.
