Transcript War in the Pacific

War in the Pacific
Hours after the attack on Pearl
Harbor
• The Japanese
attack Clark
Field, an
American
airbase in the
Philippines.
McArthur did not expect this. .
• An immediate attack
was not expected.
• About half of his air
force was destroyed.
McArthur withdraws his troops
• Goes to the
Bataan
peninsula
• sets up his
defenses and
hopes the navy
will be able to
evacuate his
men from the
Philippines.
McArthur holds out for 4 months
• After realizing it
was hopeless, he
is told to escape to
Australia.
• He does not want
to abandon his
soldiers, and
promises “I shall
return.”
Trouble in Bataan
• As the
Bataan
peninsula
fell, 76,000
men became
prisoners of
war.
Prisoners were split into groups
• They were made to march 60 miles to a
railroad.
• Already weak from lack of food, at least
10,000 died during the march.
• Many were executed when they could not
keep up.
• Those who made it to the railroad were
shipped to prison camps where they stayed
for the remainder of the war.
A first hand account of the march
•
Troops started to march in a long column on a dusty road without food and water.
For many of the Bloody, frail men, this was the last march.
One man fell from exhaustion and was then flatten by a tank, as all the other troops witnessed this
horrible action, other soldiers were hit by Japanese trucks passing by.
The P.O.W's were forced to stand next to a fresh stream but weren't allowed to drink from it, even though
they were exhausted and dehydrated , after a while one soldier could not take it any more, he ran to the
stream and fell in, face first, to drink. Immediately one of the Japanese guards ran over, pulled his sword
out and cut his head off..
A great many men reached the end of their endurance. The dropouts became numerous. They fell on the
roadside, some making no effort to rise. Groaning and weeping, some succeeded while others fell back
helplessly.
•
As the march continued, the diseased, starving men staggered up the dusty road, prodded by the Japanese
guards to keep moving. As one soldier was dying, he cried for water. He died on the dusty road. The heat
of the day was so intense that they were half crazy from thirst. They arrived at a small stream that was
contaminated with filthy water, a bloated corpse filled with maggots, this filthy stream the P.O.W's were
allowed to drink from , as the Japanese guards laughed at them.
Death March ended after 6 days, where the P.O.W's boarded a train to the Death Camp.
Bataan
• The war camps were only expecting 25,000
men. They could not hold and feed 76,000.
The death of US men could only help this
situation.
• Japan never ratified the Geneva Convention,
which states how you treat POW’s.
• Japanese tradition holds that those who
surrender rather than die on the battlefield are
cowards unworthy of respect.
Knowledge of the Bataan Death March,
• as it is now called, did
not reach the U.S. for
three years.
• After the war, the
general in charge of
the march was
executed for war
crimes.
Battle of the Coral Sea
• This was the first navy
battle to be fought
entirely by aircraft.
• The battle was a draw.
• But it prevented the
Japanese from
invading Australia.
Island hopping, as we called it,
was a very effective strategy for
the United States.
Midway and Guadalcanal
• Mid 1942
• These battles changed the course
of the war in the Pacific.
The Japanese hoped . . .
• To destroy what remained of the Pacific
Fleet by luring it into battle at Midway
Island.
Battle of Midway
• Fought
entirely from
the air.
• The U.S.
demolished 3
of 4 carriers,
as bombs
stacked on
their decks
exploded in
the attack.
• They also lost
250 planes.
After our victory at Midway
Islands. . .
• Our goal was to
capture Guadalcanal
in the Solomon
Islands.
• 11,000 marines landed
on the island in August
1942
Jungle Warfare
• Guadalcanal was our
first taste of jungle
warfare.
• Japanese were masters
at hiding in swamps,
in trees. . .
• When Japan’s forces
slipped off the island
in Feb. 1943, it went
undetected, until the
marines discovered
their empty boats.
October 1944
• American troops
invade the
Philippines.
• McArthur says, “I
have returned.”
While troops were fighting their
way inland. . .
• The greatest naval battle ever was
developing off the coast of the Philippines.
• It was called the Battle of Leyte Gulf.
• The battle saw the first use of kamikazes or
suicide planes
• Regardless of this tactic, the Japanese navy
was virtually destroyed.
• But not until June 1945 were the Philippines
in allied hands.
The next major battle
• Iwo Jima
• one of the bloodiest of
the war
• November 1944,
America pounds Iwo
Jima from the air.
• This lasts 74 days.
February 1945
• marines storm the
beaches of Iwo Jima.
• After 3 days of
combat, the U.S. has
only advanced 700
yards inland.
• Almost 25,000
Japanese fought usand they fought till the
last defender. Only
216 were taken as
prisoners.
There were no front lines. The Marines were
above ground and the Japanese were below
them underground. The Marines rarely saw
an alive Japanese soldier. The Japanese could
see the Marines perfectly.
April-June 1945
• 1300 warships
• 180,000 combat
troops
• all gathered to
drive the Japanese
out of Okinawa.
• After 3 months,
7200 Japanese
surrender.
• The way was open
for an invasion of
Japan!!!
American soldiers begin to
prepare for the invasion of Japan.
• Unknown to them, however, work was
nearly done on a bomb that would make an
invasion unnecessary.
Albert Einstein
• A Jewish physicist
• writes of a powerful
bomb that Germany was
already working on.
• The U.S. needed to
develop this first, and
the Manhattan Project
was developed.
Einstein
• Concern for man himself
must always constitute the
chief objective of all
technological effort -concern for the big,
unsolved problems of how
to organize human work
and the distribution of
commodities in such a
manner as to assure that
the results of our scientific
thinking may be a blessing
to mankind, and not a
curse." "
July 16, 1945
• In New Mexico the
U.S. detonated the
first atomic bomb.
• The explosion
shattered windows
125 miles away.
• The development of
the atomic bomb
would lead to new
technologies and an
arms race in the
future.
Now we have it,
but should we use it?
4 Alternatives
•
•
•
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Invasion of Japan
Blockade
Demonstrate
Soften the U.S. stance to unconditional
surrender
The heavy American
casualties at Iwo Jima and
Okinawa
were a factor in the U.S.
support of using the bomb.
The final decision rests with
Harry Truman
• President for only 3
months.
• (takes over after FDR
dies suddenly in April)
• He believes it should
be used.
• After the bombing he
says, “you should do
your crying at Pearl
Harbor.”
August 6, 1945
• An atomic bomb is
dropped on
Hiroshima, an
industrial and military
center in Japan.
• Estimated 140,000
dead
• buildings were
demolished, people
killed and disfigured.
3 days later- August 9, 1945
• Bomb is dropped on
Nagasaki
• 70,000 killed and
70,000 injured.
Pictures of the aftermath
August 14, 1945
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•
•
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Japan accepts terms for surrender.
September 2, 1945- the agreement is signed.
THE WAR IS OVER
A conference is formed to determine what
to do with Japan. Truman, Churchill and
Stalin meet.
Okay let’s go.
10 question quiz coming up.
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