Pacific
1942–1943: Guadalcanal and New Guinea
July 1942 – February 1943 · 4 battles
After Midway the Japanese did not give up on cutting Australia off from the United States. In July 1942 they landed on the north coast of Papua and set off along the Kokoda Track over the Owen Stanley Range towards Port Moresby, while on Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands they were building an airfield. On 7 August US Marines landed on Guadalcanal, opening the first Allied offensive in the Pacific. For six months, on land, in the air and in night naval battles around the island, both sides lost ships, aircraft and thousands of men, while in Papua the Australians stopped the Japanese short of Port Moresby and at Milne Bay and pushed them back to the coast at Buna and Gona. In February 1943 Japan evacuated Guadalcanal; the initiative in the Pacific had passed to the Allies.
- 21 July – 16 November 1942Key battleKokoda Track campaignFrom 21 July to 16 November 1942 the Australians halted Japan's overland advance on Port Moresby in the Owen Stanleys and pushed it back to Buna and Gona.
- 7 August 1942 – 9 February 1943Key battleGuadalcanal campaignFrom 7 August 1942 to 9 February 1943 the Americans held the airfield seized on Guadalcanal until, after six months of fighting, Japan evacuated the island.
- 12–15 November 1942Key battleNaval Battle of GuadalcanalFrom 12 to 15 November 1942, in two night actions and a series of air strikes, the Americans sank two Japanese battleships and most of a Guadalcanal convoy.
- 16 November 1942 – 22 January 1943Battle of Buna–GonaFrom 16 November 1942 to 22 January 1943 Australians and Americans took Japan's beachheads at Gona, Buna and Sanananda in Papua amid swamp, rain and malaria.