Dec 18, 1941: Japanese forces land on Hong Kong island, crossing narrow straits from mainland

Dec 19, 1941: Japanese landing force southeast of Manila reach municipality of Sipocot

Dec 20, 1941: Admiral Ernest J. King is appointed Commander-in-Chief, US Fleet

Dec 21, 1941: Japanese carrier-based planes bomb US forces on Wake island in mid-Pacific prior to planned invasion

Dec 22, 1941: Japanese forces make landing in Lingayen Gulf north of the Philippine capital of Manila. Photo: US Air Force

Chinese leader Chiang Kai-shek offers to send his 5th and 6th Armies to Burma to assist the British defense against Japan

Dec 23, 1941: US military personnel and civilian contractors walk into captivity after Japanese forces take the Pacific island of Wake

Dec 24, 1941: US President Franklin D. Roosevelt, with British Prime Minister Winston Churchill at his side, delivers Christmas message to the American nation: “Our strongest weapon in this war is that conviction of the dignity and brotherhood of man which Christmas Day signifies”

Japanese troops battle last pockets of resistance in Hong Kong