Battle of Wake Island

Battle of Wake Island
Part of the Pacific Theater of World War II
A destroyed Japanese patrol boat (#33) on Wake.
Date 8–23 December 1941 Location Wake Island, U.S. territory Result First attempt: American victory Second attempt: Japanese victory
Belligerents
Japan	United States
Commanders and leaders
Shigeyoshi Inoue Sadamichi Kajioka Shigematsu Sakaibara Eiji Gotō Tamon Yamaguchi	Winfield S. Cunningham (POW) James P.S. Devereux (POW) Paul A. Putnam (POW) Henry T. Elrod †
Strength
First Attempt (11 December): 3 light cruisers 6 destroyers 2 patrol boats 2 troop transports 1 submarine tender 3 submarines Reinforcements arriving for Second Attempt (23 December): 2 aircraft carriers 2 heavy cruisers 2 destroyers 2,500 infantry[1]	449 USMC personnel consisting of: 399 infantry of the 1st Defense Battalion 50 det. VMF-211 6 coastal artillery pieces 12 aircraft 12 anti-aircraft guns 68 U.S. Navy personnel 5 U.S. Army personnel 1,221 civilian workers
Casualties and losses
First attempt: 2 destroyers sunk 340 killed 65 wounded 2 missing[2] 1 submarine sunk Second attempt: 2 patrol boats wrecked 10 aircraft lost 21 aircraft destroyed 600 casualties[3]	52 killed 49 wounded 2 missing 12 aircraft lost[4] 1 scow sunk[5] 433 captured[6]
70 civilians killed 1,104 civilians interned, of whom 180 died in captivity[7]

The Battle of Wake Island was a battle of the Pacific campaign of World War II, fought on Wake Island. The assault began simultaneously with the attack on Pearl Harbor naval and air bases in Hawaii on the morning of 8 December 1941 (7 December in Hawaii), and ended on 23 December, with the surrender of American forces to the Empire of Japan. It was fought on and around the atoll formed by Wake Island and its minor islets of Peale and Wilkes Islands by the air, land, and naval forces of the Japanese Empire against those of the United States, with Marines playing a prominent role on both sides.

The battle started with a surprise bombing raid on December 8, 1941, within hours of Pearl Harbor, and the air raids continued almost every day for the duration of the battle. There were two amphibious assaults, one on December 11, 1941 (which was rebuffed) and another on December 23, that led to the Japanese capture of the atoll. In addition, there were several air battles above and around Wake and an encounter between two naval vessels. The U.S. lost control of the island and 12 fighter aircraft; in addition to the garrison being taken as prisoners of war, nearly 1200 civilian contractors were also captured by the Japanese. The Japanese lost about two dozen aircraft of different types, four surface vessels, and two submarines as part of the operation, in addition to at least 600 armed forces. It is typically noted that 98 civilian POWs captured in this battle were used for slave labor and then executed on Wake Island in October 1943. The other POWs were deported and sent to prisoner of war camps in Asia, with five executed on the sea voyage.

The island was held by the Japanese for the duration of the Pacific War theater of World War II; the remaining Japanese garrison on the island surrendered to a detachment of United States Marines on 4 September 1945, after the earlier surrender on 2 September 1945 on the battleship USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay to General Douglas MacArthur.^[8]