The Japanese presented a tenacious, unrelenting foe to US and allied servicemen who battled with them during an island-hopping campaign across the Pacific.
Images from that vicious campaign have been assembled by In Focus as part of their weekly 20-part series on World War II. In the lead image, ordinance strikes the deck of the USS Enterprise, killing 74 (including the photographer taking the picture). In this image, the USS Essex is seen moments before a damaged kamikaze plane hits the deck.
The USS Yorktown ensures this Japanese bomber does not inflict the same kind of kamikaze damage as was suffered by the Essex.
After releasing its bombs over Kokas, Indonesia, a US A-20 Havoc bomber is hit and goes down with no survivors.
The unnamed secondary batteries of an unnamed US cruiser belch death into the skies and leave behind a series of peculiar smoke rings. [In Focus]
