Transcript The Bombing of Japan

By: Jerry Moore
What started it
• The attack on Pearl Harbor (called Hawaii Operation
or Operation AI) by the Japanese Imperial General
Headquarters (Operation Z in planning) and the Battle
of Pearl Harbor) was a surprise military strike
conducted by the Imperial Japanese Navy against the
United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on
the morning of December 7, 1941 (December 8 in
Japan). The attack was intended as a preventive action
in order to keep the U.S. Pacific Fleet from interfering
with military actions the Empire of Japan was planning
in Southeast Asia against overseas territories of the
United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and the United
States.
• Curtis Emerson LeMay (November 15, 1906 –
October 1, 1990) was a general in the United
States Air Force . He is credited with designing
and implementing an effective, but also
controversial, systematic strategic bombing
campaign in the Pacific theater of World War II.
During the war, he was known for planning and
executing a massive bombing campaign against
cities in Japan and a crippling minelaying
campaign of Japan's internal waterways.
The battle of Okinawa
• Japan lost over 100,000 soldiers, who were
either killed, captured or committed suicide,
and the Allies suffered more than 65,000
casualties of all kinds. Simultaneously, tens of
thousands of local civilians were killed,
wounded, or committed suicide. The atomic
bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki caused
Japan to surrender just weeks after the end of
the fighting at Okinawa.
The Battle of Iwo Jima
• American casualties (killed and wounded) exceeded those of the
Japanese, although Japanese combat deaths were thrice those of
the Americans. Of the 22,000 Japanese soldiers on Iwo Jima at the
beginning of the battle, only 216 of these were taken prisoner.
Some of these were captured because they had been knocked
unconscious or otherwise disabled. The rest were killed or missing
and presumed dead.
• Despite the bloody fighting and severe casualties on both sides, the
Japanese defeat was assured from the start. The Americans
possessed an overwhelming superiority in arms and numbers.
These factors, coupled with the impossibility of Japanese retreat or
reinforcement, insured that there were no plausible circumstances
in which the Americans could have lost the battle.
• This would later lead to the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Facts
• The plane that was used to bomb Hiroshima and
Nagasaki was a Boeing B-29.
• The name of the bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima
was known as the Little Boy. On August 6, 1945.
• The name of the bomb that was dropped on Nagasaki
was also known as the Fat Man. On August 9, 1945.
• Within the first 4 months of the bombings, the acute
effects killed 90,000-166,000 people in Hiroshima, and
60,000-80,000 in Nagasaki, with roughly over half the
deaths occurring the very first day.