By the middle of 1942 the United States had recovered from the shock of Japan\u2019s attack on Pearl Harbor and the early defeats of Japan expanding into the Pacific.\xa0 Now it started parallel offensives north and south of the equator.\xa0 By the middle of 1944 the United States had retaken the Marianas Islands and was flowing over Japan\u2019s empire like \u201ca conquering tide.\u201d