Transcript War in the Pacific

War in the Pacific
• June 1942
– Battle of Midway
• American Naval forces defeat the Japanese Navy
• Threat to Hawaii ended
• Turning point of the War for America
• Battle of Guadalcanal 1943
– Island Hopping strategy started
– Heavy fighting on land and sea
– Americans take the islands and protect
Australia from Invasion
• Invasion of the Philippines October 1944July 1945
– US regain the territory (60,000 American
causalities)
– Largest naval engagement of the war
– Move closer to the Japanese Islands
• Tokyo Bombing March 1945
– American bombers destroy 250,000 buildings and
killed 83,000 in a massive fire bombing
– one million people homeless.
– to demoralize the Japanese populace.
• February to June 1945
– Iwo Jima and Okinawa
• Fighting becomes more intense as the Americans
moves closer to the Japanese Homeland
• Okinawa: Japanese inflict 80,000 causalities
• Japanese use Kamikaze and suicide missions
• August 6, 1945
– Hiroshima, Japan
– 180,000 killed, wounded, or missing after First Atomic
Bomb is dropped
• August 9, 1945
– Nagasaki, Japan
– 2nd Atomic Bomb is dropped after Japanese delay
surrender
– 80,000 killed, wounded, or missing.
• V-J Day
– September 2, 1945
• Tokyo Bay, Japan
– Japan surrenders with one term
» The emperor must retain his throne
» The War ends on the Battleship USS Missouri