On this day…

The atomic bombing of Nagasaki. 9th August 1945.

The Japanese conquest of Burma.

The Japanese invasion and conquest of Burma concluded in May, 1942. The campaign marked the beginning of Japan’s years-long campaign in the South-East Asian region in the Second World War.

In the image below, Japanese troops can be seen lined up at the Burmese border in January, shortly before the invasion began.

On this day: the Doolittle Raid

The Doolittle Raid, a series of US bomb attacks on Japan, took place on the 18th of April, 1942. Also called the Tokyo Raid, it was seen as retaliation for the Pearl Harbor attack a few months before.

On this day: the bombing of the USS Franklin

The USS Franklin, an American aircraft carrier, was struck by a Japanese dive bomber on the 19^th of March, 1945.

While many on board were thrown into the water or killed, some stayed voluntarily and saved the ship.

It is thought over 800 people were killed in the attack.

On this day: the bombing of Darwin

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The first of Japan’s Second World War attacks on Darwin, Australia occurred on the 19^th of February, 1942.

The same fleet that bombed Pearl Harbor bombed the Northern Territory, but considerably more bombs were dropped on Australia than in the US.

Darwin Post Office destroyed X

The attack came in two waves, and hundreds of people – including civilians – were killed. It was the beginning of many Japanese attacks on Australia (there were approximately 100 more attacks), who had been involved in the conflict since the beginning of the war.

Christmas as a prisoner of war.

The Chungkai Camp was operated by the Japanese during World War Two, and prisoners – including soldiers from Britain and the Commonwealth – were made to work on the Burma–Thailand Railway.

This “Christmas card” is in the collection of London’s Imperial War Museum, and was created in either 1943 or 1944. It depicts Father Christmas in a loincloth, carrying a sack of presents through a bamboo fence.

It was very dangerous to make images while a prisoner in the camp. One prisoner, Jack Chalker, reported his sketches of camp life being discovered by a Korean guard. Chalker was beaten for days as punishment.

On this day: a Thanksgiving festival in an internment camp

Halfway through the Second World War, after Japan bombed Pearl Harbor and the United States joined the conflict, American citizens and legal US residents of Japanese descent were moved to internment camps for the remainder of the war.

Construction of the Gila River War Relocation Center in Arizona began in May 1942.

A few months later, in the same year, the camp hosted a Christian service and then a Harvest Festival parade on Thanksgiving Day. The holiday fell on the 26^th of November that year.

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