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The War in the PacificThe War in the Pacific
1941-1945
The Players United States
England
Australia
New Zealand
China
Philippines
Japan
Background
Japanese imperial expansion begins in 1931
Need for oil and other natural resources Japan Attacks the US at Pearl Harbor
crippling the US pacific fleet Dec 7th 1941
Japanese War Mentality
Death before surrender Boshito Code If you surrender you disgrace your family
and ancestors All other Asians are inferior
Dec 1941
Attack on Pearl Harbor Dec 7th
Dec 8th Japan invades US held territory of the Philippines
The US has only one hope: the aircraft carrier (3 survived Pearl Harbor)
Early 1942 Japan invades various
other Pacific Islands US garrison in the
Philippines surrenders to Japanese forces in April 1942
Bataan Death March: 60 miles 76,000 POW 12,000 are Americans 5,000 die in a week
US/Allied Strategy Reclaim the Pacific:
Island hopping Campaign: one island at a time, clear it and use it as a base of operations for the next island.
Must clear the oceans of the Japanese Navy first!
(Large challenge with a crippled Navy and only 3 Aircraft carriers!)
Japanese Strategy
Make the war so horrible the US will give up
They dug into tropical islands, built underground bunkers and fortresses.
heavy artillery, suicide attacks Bleed the enemy dry, Japanese rarely
surrender but die to the last man!
Early 1942: The US strikes back
Doolittle raid May 1942: Battle of
Coral Sea, first ever carrier vs. carrier battle- US looses an Aircraft carrier
TURNING POINT:Battle of Midway June
1942
Midway June 4, 1942
US lost one of two carriers
Japanese lost four irreplaceable aircraft carriers in five minutes!
The Japanese would be on the defensive for the rest of the war.
Island Hoping: The first step: Guadalcanal
Invaded by the US Navy and Marines
August 1942Took the Marines 6
months to take the island from Japan
Allies lost 1,492 killed
Japan Lost 15,000
A list of “D-Days”
Nov 1943 Bouganville Nov 1943 “ Bloody” Tarawa June 1944 Siapan July 1944 Guam and Tinian Oct 1944 Allies invade the Philippines Feb 1945 Iwo Jima April 1945 Okinawa (falls in June)
Soldier’s Lives
HARSH Subtropical diseases Humid, sticky, and
always hot. Average age was 19 Death was around
every corner.
Japan’s desperation Oct 1944 U.S. warships in
Leyte Gulf faced their first Kamikaze attacks
2,257 Japanese aircraft were destroyed in these suicide missions during the war.
Kamikaze: Devine Wind
A most famous Photo Taken on Iwo Jima February 23, 1945 On March 16, when
Iwo Jima was declared secured, 6,821 Americans and 21,000 Japanese (the entire force) had died
Planning for the end
May 1945 Allied forces plan Operation Olympic, the invasion of Japan itself in Nov.
US planners feared casualty estimates of one million!
Japan was desperate but unwilling to surrender!
QuickTime™ and ampeg4 decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
“Little Boy” and “Fat Man” are unleashed
August 6, 1945- Hiroshima August 9, 1945 - Nagasaki
killed an estimated 110,000 Japanese
injured another 130,000.
By 1950, another 230,000 Japanese had died from injuries or radiation.
VJ Day
August 14, 1945 - Japanese accepts unconditional surrender
Celebration parties erupt throughout every allied country!
The End
September 2, 1945 - Formal Japanese surrender ceremony on board the MISSOURI in Tokyo Bay as 1,000 carrier-based planes fly overhead.
The most destructive conflict in human or world history ends.
The world is forever changed.
Millions have died. 100s of cities
destroyed Millions are homeless US & USSR are
WORLD powers