Transcript America and WWII: The War for the Pacific

America and WWII:
The War for the Pacific
Allies Stem the Japanese Tide
 Note: The war in the
Pacific was extremely
brutal and savage  a
lot of up-close, handto-hand combat
 6 months after Pearl
Harbor Japan
controlled:
 Hong Kong
 French Indochina
 Malaya
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Burma
Thailand
Much of China
Dutch East Indies
Guam
Wake Island
Solomon Island
Many other small islands
Battling the
Americans/Filipinos for
the Philippines
Allies Stem the Japanese Tide
 Japan invaded the Philippines in December 1941
 Allied forces in the Pacific were led by Gen.
Douglas MacArthur
 March 11, 1942  Allied forces were forced to
leave
 MacArthur pledged to those who did not make it
out : “I shall return”
Allies Stem the Japanese Tide
 Spring 1942  Allies
began to turn the tide
 Doolittle Raid
 April 18, 1942  Lt. Co.
James Doolittle
 Led 16 bombers on an air
raid over Tokyo and
other Japanese cities
 This lifted America’s
spirits and dampened the
Japanese
 Battle of the Coral Sea
 Main Allied forces in the
Pacific were American
and Australian
 May 1942  5 day battle
 Succeeded in stopping
the Japanese drive
towards Australia
 1st time Japanese
invasion had been
stopped and turned back
Allies Stem the Japanese Tide
 The Battle of Midway – Turing Point of the War!
 Japan’s next move was to the strategic island of Midway
(northwest of Hawaii)
 Allies succeeded in stopping the Japanese  able to break
Japanese code
 Led by Admiral Nimitz, scout planes found the Japanese
fleet  torpedo planes and dive bombers attacked
 Japanese were caught with aircrafts still on the ships 
total devastation
 Lost 4 aircraft carriers, 1 cruiser
 250 planes
 Allies began “island hopping” and moving towards Japan
 Frustrated by the Japanese code-breakers, the US Navy and
Marines use Navajo Indians as radio men in the Pacific
 Navajo language was very complex  Japanese were never
able to understand it
Allies Go on the Offensive
 First Offensive  August 1942
 Guadalcanal (Solomon
Islands)  19,000 troops
 Nicknamed the “Island of
Death”
 First Japanese defeat on
land!
 Continued leapfrogging across
the Pacific
 Leyte Island  October
1944
 178,000 ships, 738 ships
converged on the Philippine
island
 General MacArthur after
two years declared “People
of the Philippines: I have
returned”
The Japanese Defense
 The Japanese threw their entire fleet into the Battle of
Leyte Gulf
 Tested a new tactic  kamikaze (divine wind) suicideplane attack
 In the Philippines, 424 kamikaze pilots sunk 16 ships and
damaged another 80
 After Leyte Gulf, Japan lost 3 battleships, 4 aircraft
carriers, 13 cruisers, almost 500 planes  Imperial Navy
only played a minor role afterwards
The Japanese Defense
 Americans had taken much of the Philippines and
liberated American POWs  turned to Iwo Jima (1945)
 Critical to the U.S. as a base from which heavily loaded
bombers might reach Japan
 20,000+ Japanese in tunnels and caves  18,800+ died
 6,821 Marines died taking this island
 35 days of horrific fighting
Treatment of U.S. POWs
The Japanese Defense
 The Battle for Okinawa (April – June 21, 1945)
 1,900 kamikaze attacks  sunk 30 ships, 300 damaged,
5,000 soldiers died
 Even fiercer opposition than on Iwo Jima  7,600
American dead, 110,000 dead
 Two generals committed ritual suicide over the shame
of their surrender
 This forecasted the potential opposition they could face
on the island of Japan
The Atomic Bomb Ends the War
 Japan still had a huge army that would defend Japan their
homeland
 President Truman decided the only way to avoid an invasion
of Japan was to use the new atomic bomb
 July 25, 1945  Truman made final plans for dropping two
atomic bombs
 Warned Japan that it faced “prompt and utter destruction”
 Truman stated that he “regarded the bomb as a military
weapon and never had any doubt that it should be used”
The Atomic Bomb Ends the War
 August 6, 1945
 B-29 Bomber Enola Gay dropped “Little Boy” over
Hiroshima (Japanese military center)
 In 43 second the entire city collapsed into dust
 Japanese leaders still hesitated to surrender
 August 9, 1945 “Fat Man” was dropped on Nagasaki
 Half the city was leveled
 By the end of 1945  200,000 people died from injuries
and radiation poisoning
The Atomic Bomb Ends the War
 September
2, 1945
formal
surrender
ceremonies
took place
on U.S.
battleship
USS
Missouri
Rebuilding Begins
 Yalta Conference –
Feb. 1945
 “Big Three” – FDR,
Churchill, Stalin
 Stalin favored a harsh
treatment of Germany
 divide Germany
into occupation zones
 FDR disagreed,
Churchill mediated
 Compromises:
 Temporary division of
Germany into four zones
 Stalin promised “free and
unfettered elections” in
Poland and other Soviet
occupied European countries
 Stalin agreed to help with
Japan
 Agreed to participate in an
international conference 
FDR’s dream of the UN would
become a reality there
Rebuilding Begins
 The Nuremburg Trials
 Occupation of Japan
 24 Nazi officials tried  12
sentenced to death
 U.S. forces under Gen.
MacArthur occupied Japan
 200 more Nazis were found
guilty of war crimes in
lesser trials
 1,100+ Japanese were
arrested and put on trial 
7, including Tojo, were
sentenced to death
 Many went free but set up
the idea that individuals
are responsible for their
actions in war
 7 year occupation 
reshaped Japan’s economy
and government (with a
new constitution)
Total Casualties
 Battle Deaths: 15,000,000
 Battle Wounded: 25,000,000
 Civilian Deaths: 45,000,000*
* China alone might be 50,000,000 civilian deaths