Within the first 24 hours of the outbreak of war in the Pacific, the Japanese launched attacks against every major military installation and base that stood in the way of their gaining their primary wartime objective -- the capture of Malaya and the Dutch East Indies. Along with their attack on the U.S. Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor, they included pre-invasion attacks on Malaya, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Wake, and Guam, followed by major land invasions of both Hong Kong and Malaya that same day.
What the Japanese were able to accomplish within that first 24 hours would take the Allies over three years to get back. The only two places where the British and Americans stood a chance of holding back the Japanese was in Malaya and the Philippines. Although it took 70 days to take Malaya and Singapore, and 6 months to take the Philippines, results of their success on that first day spelled doom to both armies.
First 24 Hours of War in the Pacific covers the story of that first day, including the attack on Midway, what happened in Shanghai, to the U.S. Marines in North China on the USS Lexington, and in Washington, D.C.
It focuses on the almost unbelievable success the Japanese had in launching attacks over an area covering nearly one-fourth of the earth's surface within a single 24-hour period in December of 1941.