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This photograph was taken during the first and second waves of the bombing over the American naval base at Pearl Harbor. We can
see burning the battleships USS West Virginia USS Tennessee. The Japanese attack over Pearl Harbor turned out to be a mistake
that allowed the entering of United States on the conflict, decisive factor for the defeat of the Axis forces.
Australian soldiers training for combat in the jungle. The Australian Government pressed upon London and Washington to give
priority to the war in the Pacific above the war in Europe. Australia and New Zealand were certainly far from being able
to withstand the Japanese invasion, which eventually would have took place if the course of events had allowed this to happen.
American pilots onboard the aircraft carrier USS Lexington receive instructions before combat. The USS Lexington was put out of
action during the Battle of Coral Sea, in May 1942, after being hit by numerous torpedoes, and was finally sunk by American torpedoes.
American fuel tanks in flames in the Midway Atoll after a Japanese bombing.
American dive bombers Douglas SBD Dauntless stationed on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS Hornet. These aircraft,
like the German Stuka, could dive against their targets and hit them with great precision.
A view towards the prow of the USS Enterprise. On the foreground they can be seen two quadruple 40-millimeter anti-aircraft
mountings emplaced in front of the bridge, and a mobile crane beyond them. The USS Enterprise was seriously damaged during the
battles at Guadalcanal but unlike her twins she survived until the end of the war.
The aircraft carrier USS Wasp showing on her flight deck 38 of the 84 aircraft that she could carry. During the Second World War
aircraft carriers took the throne of naval supremacy in detriment of battleships, which after the war would never be built again,
as their armor could no longer protect them from aerial threats and the range of their artillery was small when compared with the
operational range of combat aircraft.
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This photograph was taken after the naval and aerial attack that the Japanese performed by surprise over the American base
at Pearl Harbor, in the Hawaiian island of Oahu, the 7 December 1941. Albeit this attack has been labeled as infamous, it should
taken into consideration that the embargo that United States had been applying on Japan during several years precipitated the
events in such way. As the Japanese strategy relied on delivering the declaration of war on a borderline deadline, the swiftness
of the attack was excessive from a legal standpoint.
Telemeter for the fire control of the heavy artillery pieces emplaced in the base that United States had in the island of
Corregidor, in the Philippines.
An American 350-millimeter cannon installed on its emplacement at Corregidor. The massive bombing and assault performed
by the Japanese against this base forced the garrison to surrender.
The American aircraft carrier USS Enterprise, one of the three units that formed the Yorktown class, was in June 1942 one of the
great protagonists of the Battle of Midway.
A view of the flight deck on the aircraft carrier USS Hornet, with an elevator visible on the foreground. The USS Hornet,
belonging to the Yorktown class, was sunk during the battles at Guadalcanal in the autumn of 1942. Some months ago, the
USS Yorktown had been sunk during the Battle of Midway.
The dramatic landing on an American aircraft carrier of a fighter F6F Hellcat that has been damaged. During the decisive Battle of
Midway, the Imperial Japanese Navy lost four aircraft carriers with their whole air wing, two cruisers, three destroyers and many
lesser units, while the United States Navy lost only one aircraft carrier, one cruiser and 150 aircraft.
Facilities of the USS Enterprise after being devastated by Japanese dive bombers, during the combats that took place in
Guadalcanal in August 1942. The large aircraft carrier seemed close to explode, but the crew managed to save the ship.
Airstrip on the American airbase of Dutch Harbor, in the Aleutian Islands, where a listening center intercepted the message from
the battleship Yamato that compromised the location of Admiral Yamamoto during an inspection route, which eventually allowed his
assassination.
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