u.s. army soldiers on bougainville taking cover behind m4 sherman tank. taken on 29 february 1943.
the war started america on 7 december 1941 japanese attack on pearl harbor, , invasion of philippines , dutch east indies. hard-fought campaigns in papua , guadalcanal followed in 1942. in 1943, japanese driven aleutian islands, , u.s. forces landed in northern solomon islands, gilbert islands, , bismarck archipelago. followed in 1944 invasion of marshall islands, series of landings in western new guinea, capture of mariana islands , battle of palau. u.s. army returned philippines in october 1944, waging major campaigns on luzon , southern philippines through 1945. u.s. forces landed on okinawa , in april 1945. atomic bombs developed under direction of u.s. army dropped on hiroshima , nagasaki in 1945, caused japanese unconditionally surrender on 2 september 1945, aboard uss missouri.
while u.s. support china reason war, u.s. army did not deploy major ground forces there, although u.s. air , service units played vital role. after being driven out of burma in 1942, provisional regiment of u.s. army (merrill s marauders) participated in reconquest of northern burma in 1944, , 2 regiments took part in central burma campaign following year before moving on china. in response u.s. army air forces operations china, japanese drove americans , chinese eastern china. in last weeks of war did tide turn in favor of allies in china.
although many campaigns fought in asia , pacific, major focus of u.s. army on european theater, strength deployed. u.s. forces saw action in invasion of north africa in november 1942, , subsequent tunisia campaign in 1943. u.s. army participated in allied invasion of sicily in july 1943, , allied invasion of italy in september. hopes quick capture of rome frustrated germans, conducted fighting withdrawal gustav line, landing @ anzio , fighting @ monte cassino in january 1944 failed break. gustav line broken in may 1944, while rome captured on 4 june, , germans retreated gothic line in northern italy, allies held until broke po valley in successful offensive in april 1945.
in june 1944, u.s. army participated in operation overlord, allied invasion of normandy. after heavy fighting, allies broke out of normandy in july 1944. efforts capture ports in brittany proved difficult, allied forces liberated belgium , of france. u.s. forces participated in invasion of southern france (operation dragoon) in august 1944, , airborne assault on netherlands (operation market garden) in september, logistical difficulties , german resistance slowed u.s. assaults on siegfried line , in lorraine in late 1944. in december 1944, u.s. army surprised german ardennes offensive (the battle of bulge), defeated after costly fighting strained u.s. army s manpower limits. in february 1945, operations began drove germans rhineland, , rhine crossed in march 1945. in april 1945, u.s. army forces entered heartland of germany. operations continued until war in europe ended on 8 may 1945 signing of unconditional surrender previous day.
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