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US forces took the offensive in the Far East by attacking Guadalcanal. The British victory over the Germans in El Alamein was the start of the counter- offensives in Europe that would lead to Allied victory in 1945. US, British and Soviet forces were on the attack as the year ended.

Allied forces in the Far East suffered succeeding defeats in early 1942 and their outposts fell one by one to the advancing Japanese. These defeats strengthened the US'will to win and resulted in the defeat of the Japanese in the Battles of Coral Sea, Midway and Guadalcanal.

The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor forced the US into the Second World War.The US was unprepared for war in 1942 but Americans heeded the call to arms and by the end of the year millions had been drafted into the armed services. The nation stood united behind Pres Roosevelt and the allied cause.

The Germans started a deadly campaign of submarine warfare when World War II began in 1939. They attacked convoys of Allied supply ships guarded by destroyers. The US used advanced radar and sonar on its ships and aircraft to counter the submarines. The US also used submarines in its war against Japan.

The US Merchant Marine in World War II carried men, materiel and other vital supplies to the frontlines. The Battle of the Atlantic was a hellish experience for the men of the Merchant Marine with 5,638 men killed in action and 731 ships sunk.