The Battle of Wake Island

In December 1941, hundreds of Japanese aircraft bombed Pearl Harbor.
The planes decimated the U.
S.
Pacific Fleet stationed there, as well as aircraft located on surrounding airfields.
The very next day the Japanese army began the first of its advances in the Pacific around Wake Island.
Wake Island was a U.
S.
outpost in the Central Pacific that consisted of a few small islands.
It was there that they had begun construction of a military base, which by 1941 included completed airfields.
As such, the U.
S.
Air Force stationed a small squadron of Wildcat aircraft there, alongside a U.
S.
garrison that consisted of just a few hundred troops.
On the 8 December, the first Japanese aircraft flew over Wake Island.
The small number of U.
S.
planes were also in the air, and remained as such when their radios informed them of Japanese aircraft.
The weather conditions were not ideal for air raids, but Japanese aircraft still located and bombarded the airfield at Wake Island.
The first Japanese troops arrived at Wake by 11 December.
However, the shore batteries there had enough impact to wipe out one Japanese destroyer.
The Japanese fleet began to withdraw, but not before a handful of U.
S.
aircraft intercepted them.
A further two cruisers and one destroyer were lost off the island's coast.
This was one of the few ineffective amphibious landings in the Pacific War.
Unlike the Dieppe Raid, not a single Japanese troop had set foot on Wake.
The reinforcement provided by two Japanese fleet carriers ensured that A6M Zeroes took out the remaining U.
S.
planes at Wake Island.
With the U.
S.
air cover wiped out a second wave of Japanese troops arrived on the 23rd.
A further 1,000 Japanese troops landed, a much larger number than previously sent, which advanced toward and occupied the decimated airfield.
The arrival of the two Japanese fleet carriers was also enough to ensure the withdrawal of a U.
S.
carrier dispatched to support Wake.
The outnumbered Marines could not hold Wake Island for much longer.
They remained stationed in the northern part of the island, and duly surrendered to the Japanese on 23 December.
Thus, the Japanese won one of their first victories in the Pacific War.
The Battle of Wake Island was not a huge victory for the Japanese Empire.
Wake Island itself was little more than few miles of land, and they had lost a greater number of troops than the U.
S.
garrison along with cruisers and destroyers.
However, they had occupied an airfield that would become a part of their empire's perimeter until 1945.