Transcript War in the Pacific

War in the Pacific
Background
• Japan invades China in 1937.
• Japan joins the Axis in Sept 1940.
• US, British, and Dutch impose oil embargo
in July 1941 on Japan
• Japanese expect armed conflict with U.S.
continue false negotiations.
• US population focused on war in Europe.
Situation
• Growing Japanese Empire starved for resources
• Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor
– Pre-emptive Strike
• Successful opening offensive!
– Border extended 14,200mi
• Over half the earth’s circumference
• Each attack in an area larger then European and
Mediterranean Theatres combined
Defensive Phase
Offensive Phase
Pearl Harbor
Wake Is.
Kiska/Attu – Aleutians
Philippines (Bataan)
Guam
“Turning Point”
Midway - June 1942
• Japanese get greedy.
– Not satisfied w/ original perimeter.
– Want base to bomb Hawaii.
– Destroy US naval fleet.
• US breaks Japanese code.
• Jap. complex plan with many targets.
– Aleutians, Midway, Fleet, etc.
• First naval battle fought entirely with
airplanes.
Midway: The Tide Turns
• Japanese lose four heavy carriers, all planes,
and many of their best pilots
• US loses A/CC USSYorktown.
Defensive Phase
Offensive Phase
Tarawa
Pearl Harbor
Marianas (Saipan, Tinian, Guam)
Wake Is.
Iwo Jima
Kiska/Attu – Aleutians
Okinawa
Philippines (Bataan)
Firebombing Tokyo
Guam
Hiroshima, Nagasaki
“Turning Point”
Offensive Phase
• “Twin Thrusts”
• MacArthur from south
• Purpose
– Push back and destroy the enemy
– By-Pass enemy strongholds
– Regain the Philippines
Offensive in the Southern Pacific
MacArthur
Twin Thrusts – Nimitz
• Nimitz from across the Pacific
– Carrier Fleet vulnerable to land air bases
• Purpose
– Cut the enemy in two
– Break enemy will to fight
• Firebombing
– Prepare to invade Japan
Offensive in the Central Pacific
Nimitz
Tarawa
• 1943
– (Mac) March Bismark Sea
– (Nim) November
Tarawa and Makin (Gilberts)
• 1944
– (Nim) February
Kwajalein & Eniwetok (Marshalls)
– (Mac) February-June
New Guinea
– (Nim) June-August Saipan, Tinian, Guam (Marianas)
• B29s able to bomb Japan
– (Mac & Nim) October
Leyte Gulf
• Destroyed much of Japanese Navy
• Largest Naval Battle in History
LVT – Landing Vehicle, Tracked
• Amphibious Tractor or AmphTrac or
Amtrac or “Alligator”
Flame Throwers – Filled with Napalm –
Gasoline mixed with naphtha that sticks to flesh
and burns extremely hot flames.
Iwo Jima (Nimitz)
• 9 Feb 1945
• Objective: Capture Airfields
• 1st wave of Marines gets ashore easily but
then Japanese attack.
– 2 days - Southern half of island in US control.
– Takes 34 more days to secure remainder
– (8 square miles total).
Iwo Jima
– “Throwing human flesh against reinforced concrete.”
• 36 days, 26,000 US casualties including 6,800
Killed
– 27 Medals of Honor awarded.
• ONLY 1,000 out of 20,000 Japanese survived
• By the end of the war 2,400 B-29s w/ 27,000
crewmen made unscheduled landings on IWO.
• Using the data below, create a bar graph or
line graph showing U.S. casualties in the
Pacific theater in WWII.
• What “trends” can you identify?
• Make a prediction of the casualties of an
invasion of Japan.
Battle
American Dead
American Wounded
Tarawa (Gilberts)
1,001
2,300
Guam (Marianas)
3,000
7,000
Saipan (Marianas)
3,426
13,160
Iwo Jima
6,000
17,200
Okinawa
12,500
35,500
Japan
?????
?????
1945
• February-March Iwo Jima
(Nim.)
• March Tokyo raids
• Low level fire-bombing runs.
• Kills 80,000 Japanese civilians
• Designed to force surrender but didn’t.
• April-June Okinawa (Nim.)
– Japanese home island – very tough resistance
• August
• 6th Hiroshima
• 9th Nagasaki
• 15th Japan surrenders.
• September 2
VJ Day
A New Formula for Mass
Destruction
• Japan warned, but refused to surrender.
• Planners estimate 3-5x as many casualties as at
Okinawa.
• Hiroshima
– 6 August 1945
– 60-70k killed or missing
• Nagasaki
– 9 August
– 40k killed
• Logical outcome of “Total War”?