Eaglemoss Military Watches Collection.

The War in the Pacific had been a long time beginning. As far back as the early 1930s, Japan had followed an increasingly Imperialist policy, aiming to expand its territories and influence in an attempt to gain access to the raw materials that the Japanese homeland lacked, for example, the Dutch East-Indies was known to be rich in oil reserves. Australia, The Netherlands Britain and the USA had supported an embargo on any material being sold to Japan that may benefit the Japanese war machine and its expansionist policies.
Undeterred by this opposition the Japanese Generals still planned for war and their first major offensive strike proved to be disastrous for the United States, the bombing of The Naval base at Pearl Harbour had been a tremendous shock to the US military and civilians alike. However they were not the only ones targeted, the Australians suffered a major attack on their own home soil in February of 1942 when the Japanese bombed the city of Darwin, killing 235 Australians fueling fears that Japan was intent on invading Australia itself.
The coordinated fightback by the allies began in the middle of 1942, but it would be a slow progression, island by island and terrible costly in manpower, and the nearer to mainland Japan the allies progressed the heavier the losses became, and the more desperate the Japanese became. Okinawa island had been targeted by the allies as a forward operations base in the push toward the mainland, in the 82 days of battle following the fist landings on April 1st American casualties numbered over a thousand each day and over a thousand a week were killed, however it was the Japanese civilians who were to count the heaviest losses, almost a third of the 300,000 inhabitants of the island were killed, the Japanese army were known to have used civilians as human shields, and conscript schoolboys into shock troops forced to attack Allied lines. There is still a controversy today in the roll of Japanese troops in the huge losses of Okinawan civilians.
One of the major factors in the pacific war was to do with material availability. The USA was able to continually renew aircraft and ships throughout the war, whereas the Japanese were severely restricted, and US marine Corp aircraft were able to operate relatively unopposed and reduce even further the capacity of the Japanese to resupply their troops. Marine Corp Pilots often used the highly prized Elgin A-11 watches, which despite being mass produced were still very accurate for the day.





Case
Polished 30mm case, 32.3mm with crown, 8.45mm deep, 37.4mm Lug to Lug, 13.8mm lug width.

Interior diameter 26mm, 8.4mm deep, 4.5mm crown, 25mm flat glass.

Dial

Black Dial with tan printed minute scale at the outside edge. Numbered at 5-minute intervals, Hours indicated in tan colour Arabic numerals.

polished lozenge shaped hour and minute hands with tan infill, and a matching slim seconds hand.

Strap

Tan PU Leather strap 14mm wide at the lugs, narrows to a 12mm polished buckle, approx. fitting 175/215mm