Battle of Wake Island (Napoleon's World)

The Battle of Wake Island was an engagement between Allied forces - composed primarily of Americans and Oceanians - and a Japanese garrison at the Wake Island atoll in the central Pacific between October 3rd and November 10th, 1926. After successfully driving the Japanese from the Hawai'ian islands, the Allies realized the need for a quick and speedy victory further west to prevent the expected Japanese counterattack against Hawai'i the following spring. Two targets were selected - Midway and Wake - for this two-pronged assault, to be comprised of American, Oceanian and Colombian soldiers attacking Japanese garrisons at both islands.

The battle at Wake was renowned for its unusually barbaric and bloody nature. As many as 14,000 Allied soldiers were killed attempting to land at the island, about 30 American planes were shot down and the surprisingly resilient Japanese naval and land defenses held their ground for over a month. Eventually, due to being surrounded by Allied vessels and the destruction of a vital supply convoy on October 26th, the starving Japanese soldiers were overrun. By fighting to nearly the last man, about 10,000 Japanese died, making Wake one of the bloodiest encounters in the conflict.