Winston Churchill dispatched 1,700 troops to the Falkland Islands in 1942 out of concern that the Japanese were planning to invade the territory and interfere with critical sea routes in the South ...

Although the Germans put up a firm resistance a force of 23,000 Japanese soldiers seizes control. Japan also takes over Germany’s colonies in the Caroline, Mariana and Marshall Islands.

Japanese troops storm a Russian position during the siege of Port Arthur In January 1904, the Japanese besieged Port Arthur, a Russian naval base and attacked the Russian Pacific Fleet.

In the Philippines: Japanese forces take Manila; American and Filipino troops withdraw to Bataan peninsula. January: Japan invades Burma. Malaya and the Solomon Islands fall. Rabaul, on the New ...