Transcript Chapter 26 Section 4 Power Point

Modern US History
Ch.26, Section 4
“War in the Pacific”
Japanese Advances After Pearl Harbor
• In the first 6 months following
Pearl Harbor, Japan conquered
an empire
• On the Asian mainland Japan
took Hong Kong, French
Indochina, Malaya, Burma,
Thailand, and much of China
• In the Pacific, Japan took the
Dutch East Indies, Guam, Wake
Island, the Solomon Islands, and
countless other islands including
two small islands at the end of
the Aleutian chain (part of
Alaska)
U.S. Forces in the Pacific After Pearl Harbor
• With European Allies
preoccupied with Hitler in
Europe, the U.S. was the
only power capable of
stopping Japan
• With the U.S. fleet nearly
destroyed, the strongest
U.S. force in the region was
the 80,000 American and
Filipino troops in the
Philippines
• They were led by General
Douglas MacArthur
Japanese Attack the Philippines
• Japan invaded the Philippines in December
of 1941 (same month as Pearl Harbor)
• Japanese forces moved toward the capitol
city of Manila from both the north and the
south
• Allied forces were cornered at the Bataan
peninsula and on Corregidor Island
• Why didn’t the U.S. send help?
• General MacArthur was ordered off the
island by FDR and was taken to safety in
Australia, where he vowed “I shall return”
• In March of 1942 the remaining Allied
forces in the Philippines surrendered
• Watch “The Great Raid” beginning clip (5
minutes)
Bataan Death March
• When Japan conquered the
Philippines they marched 75,000
U.S. and Filipino captured soldiers
miles to prisoner of war camps and
thousands died along the way
• Beheadings, cut throats, casual
shootings, bayonet stabbings,
numerous rifle butt beatings and a
deliberate refusal to allow the
prisoners food or water while
keeping them continually marching
for nearly a week in tropical heat
Pictures of the Bataan Death March
Propaganda
Poster in the
U.S. after the
Bataan Death
March
Bataan Death March Memorial
“The Battling Bastards of Bataan”
Doolittle’s Raid
• U.S. bombers attack Tokyo and
other Japanese cities in April
1942
• (Here Lt. Col. James H.
Doolittle wires a Japanese
medal to a bomb, for
"return" to its originators
in the first U.S. air raid on
the Japanese home islands)
• Raiders low on fuel had to
ditch planes in China
• Raid does little damage, but
shows that Japan is vulnerable,
and improves U.S. morale on
the home front
Battle of Coral Sea
• Battle of the Coral Sea—
• U.S. stops Japanese
advance, May 1942 (1st
time Japanese were
stopped in WWII)
• Prevented invasion of
Australia
• 1st naval battle where ships
were not in sight of each
other and all the fighting
was done by planes from
aircraft carriers
New Kind of Naval Warfare
• Reconnaissance planes from aircraft carriers search for enemy task forces
• When enemy found, bombers are sent to attack
• Bombers do not engage each other, but pass each other on the way to the
enemy aircraft carrier
• Fighters and anti-aircraft guns defended the ships against bombers
• Ships never close enough to see each other or shoot at each other
The Allies Strike Back
• Japan sends powerful fleet
to capture Midway Island
• Battle of Midway—
• US destroyed all 4 of
Japan’s aircraft carriers
causing Japan to retreat
• This is the turning point
in the war in the Pacific
Battle of Midway
Battle of Guadalcanal
• A lengthy battle on this island northeast of Australia
that was the first victory on land for the Allies
against the Japanese in WWII
Island Hopping
• U.S. strategy of taking
strategically important
islands, usually not
heavily defended by the
Japanese
• Then they could stage
future attacks from
these islands as they
worked their way across
the Pacific Ocean
toward Japan
←Guadalcanal
Navajo Code Talkers
• U.S. Marines used Native
Americans from the
Navajo tribe to send
messages on the
battlefield as the
Japanese couldn’t
understand their
language
Battle of Leyte Gulf
• This naval battle
off the coast of the
Philippines in early
1945 destroyed
what was left of
the Japanese navy
• It was the largest
naval battle in
history
Philippines Liberated in 1944
• General Douglas
MacArthur who
vowed in 1941 to
return to free the
Philippines from
Japanese control did
so near the end of
1944
Kamikaze
Suicide
Pilots
• As the Japanese navy
had been nearly wiped
out the Japanese
resorted to using young
pilots in planes filled
with explosives to try to
sink U.S. ships
U.S.S. Bunker Hill hit by two kamikazes
Allies begins to bomb Tokyo
• Tokyo and other
Japanese cities were
bombed by using
planes from aircraft
carriers to try to hurt
Japan’s wartime
industries and to get
Japan to surrender
Iwo Jima and Okinawa
• These islands were
invaded by the Allies
because they were close
enough to Japan that we
could bomb Japanese
cities from planes that
took off of their airbases
Iwo Jima and Okinawa
• U.S. Marines invaded Iwo Jima in Feb. 1945, and
Okinawa in April, 1945 and met heavy Japanese
resistance on both islands
◄ Marines
fighting on
Okinawa
Iwo Jima and Okinawa
• In the several
months needed to
take both islands the
U.S. lost 18,000 men
and Japan lost over
120,000 as they
refused to surrender
◄ Marines raise the
U.S. flag on Iwo Jima
Pacific War
in 1945
Iwo Jima and
Okinawa were
taken in early
1945 so US could
use their airbases
to bomb Japan
Black arrows
represent the
plans for an
invasion of Japan
if atomic bombs
were not used
◄ Okinawa
▲
Iwo
Jima