BEYOND HAWAII

If you were in the business of inflicting devastating blows on the Allies, of securing your homeland with a formidable territorial perimeter, and of seizing much-needed economic assets, then an attack on far-distant Hawaii did not quite fulfil all of your requirements. Targets closer to home also had to be considered. This is precisely what Japan did, often at the very moment when its forces were headed for Pearl Harbor. The campaign proved to be remarkably successful.

GUAM AND WAKE

Everyone knew what was likely to happen to Guam if Japan and the United States ever went to war. This isolated American outpost had suffered from neglect during the 1930s but it could still claim strategic value and Japan would be only too pleased to seize it if – let’s say – the US was temporarily distracted by a devastating assault on Pearl Harbor.

Franklin D Roosevelt had urged Congress to strengthen the island’s defences but his pleas had fallen on deaf ears. Instead, with the threat of conflict looming ever larger, the