World War II-The South Pacific

On December 7, 1941, the Japanese plan to deliver a declaration of war to President Roosevelt just moments before a pre-dawn raid on America's naval base in Pearl Harbor. Instead, the message is an hour late and the act becomes "the day of infamy" which rouses America into the dominant military and industrial complex it remains today.

The Pacific fleet is not entirely destroyed and Japan hurries to gain advantage before America can build more ships. Along with industrial might, the crucial element of success in the war of the South Pacific is American interception of Japanese communications. The first such interception reveals that Japan is going to attack and remove Australia from the war. Australia and America meet Japan in the Coral Sea in the summer of 1942 at Port Moresby in New Guinea. Militarily, the battle is a draw, but the attack on Australia...