War in the Pacific

Pearl Harbour

• December 7th, 1941 Japan attacked Pearl Harbour, a major US Naval Station

• It was Sunday morning shortly after dawn and the Japanese managed to completely surprise the Americans

• The Japanese launched planes from their carriers with the goal of taking out as much of the US Navy as possible

• The Japanese attacked the ships moored along Battleship row

• http://plasma.nationalgeographic.com/pearlharbor/index.html

• The primary target was the USN carrier fleet, fortunately the carriers were at sea

• So the Japanese turned to the next largest ships. The targeted the Battleships moored along “Battleship row”

• Japanese Torpedo planes and bombers were extremely successful, sinking the Arizona,West Virginia, Tennessee, Nevada and Pennsylvania were all sunk

• The California and Maryland were severely damaged

• Arizona sunk when a 1700 pound bomb struck her forward magazine taking down 1100 men with her

• California after a torpedo hit

• The attack was devised by Japanese Admiral Yamamoto

• It was launched simultaneously with attacks on the Philippines, Hong Kong, Guam and Burma

• The Japanese had not declared war on the U.S. so the attack was treated as an act of cowardice

• Roosevelt declared war on December 8th, 1941

http://teachpol.tcnj.edu/amer_pol_hist/thumbnail363.html

Doolittle Raid

• The United States responded by planning and executing the Doolittle Raid in April of 1942.

• The USS Hornet led a small task force near the Japanese homelands were they launched B-25 bombers to attack Japan

• The Japanese were caught completely off guard.• Little Damage was done but the impact on the

morale of both countries was affected

The Doolittle Raid

The Battle of Coral Sea

• The First major battle between the USN and the Japanese occurred at Coral Sea

• The Japanese were threatening to take Port Moresby which would have allowed them a base to launch operations against Australia

• At this point the Japanese Empire is at it’s greatest

• The Battle of Coral Sea was unique in that it marked the first time that a sea battle was fought solely between aircraft carriers

• Both forces spent a great deal of time trying to find the opposing forces

• Japan found the Americans first and inflicted great damage sinking the carrier Lexington and severely damaging Yorktown

• The US responded sinking the light carrier Shoho• The battle is considered a draw but the United

States prevented the Japanese from taking Port Moresby

The Battle of Midway

• The Battle of Midway was a turning point in the war in the Pacific

• The Japanese attempted to take Midway Island which would have allowed them to launch bombing raids on Hawaii

• The United States Navy met them at sea and engaged them in the largest sea battle of the war.

• The United States were able to decipher the Japanese code and knew of the attack plans

• Admiral Chester Nimitz hid his carriers to lull the Japanese into attacking

• The Americans searched frantically for the Japanese fleet

• The Japanese launched attacks on Midway in preparation of invasion

• US planes followed retreating Japanese planes and the carriers Enterprise, Yorktown and Hornet attacked the Japanese in full force

• The Japanese lost four of their large carriers to American attacks

• The carriers Soryu, Hiru, Ziuho were all sunk by Dauntless bombers and a fourth was severly crippled and was sunk by an American Submarine

• This represented the majority of the Japanese carriers and would prevent them from launching any further offensives

• They also lost many of their best and most experienced pilots

• From this point on the Japanese were on the retreat and the Americans were advancing

• The Americans broke their offensive into two campaigns both based on island hopping

• The Americans moved from one small Japanese held island to another

• They would then attack an island further along the line and cutoff the islands in between

Island hopping

• Relied on three main aspects; air power from the carriers, submarine warfare and amphibious assualts

• There were two main campaigns

• The first led by Admiral Nimitz and came from the West

• The second was led by General Macarthur and attacked north with the goal of recapturing the Philippines which he had lost two years earlier

• Nimitiz’s assault group proved to be more effective

• The forces under the command of Macarthur attacked the Japanese at Guadalcanal in August of 1943

• There were a series of fierce naval battles followed by an amphibious invasion of US Marines

• The battles for the island lasted until February of 1944, the battles were fierce but on a smaller scale than later battles

• The Americans secured the island and it’s vital airfield

• During the invasion of Guadalcanal the US successfully shot down a plane containing Japanese Admiral Yamamoto

• After Guadalcanal the Macarthur force moved on towards the Philippines, Nimitz began his campaign in early 1944 by taking the Marshall islands

• Battles such as Tarawa, Saipan were fierce and costly but the Americans were closing in on Japan

• Two key battles left the defeat of the Japanese as a forgone conclusion

• The first was the Battle of Leyte Gulf off the coast of the Philippines

• It was a massive naval battle, the Japanese were desperate and committed all their resources to this battle, either they would win or the war would be lost for the Japanese Navy

• The Japanese tried to lure Nimitz’s carriers away from the invasion fleet that they were attempting to protect

• Admiral Halsey took the bait and pursued the Japanese decoy fleet to the north

• The remainder of the Japanese attacked the invasion fleet destroying much of it

• Halsey recognizing his mistake split his task force

• Half went on to destroy the decoy fleet and the other half went back to engage the fleet which had attacked their invasion fleet

• The invasion of the Philippines continued as scheduled but Halsey’s blunder had been costly and he was fortunate to not have lost the entire invasion fleet

• The Americans recaptured the Philippines and Macarthur returned as promised

• The Japanese desperation was shown by the introduction of Kamikaze raids on US ships

• Kamikaze meant divine wind, they were suicide missions by novice pilots with the intent of destroying US warships

• The second battle was for a tiny island Iwo Jima

• It was the first step towards occupying Japan

• Iwo Jima was the scene of the most concentrated bombing campaign of the war

• The Marines landed and faced extremely stiff resistance as the whole island was a series of bunker and fortifications

• The USMC had to fight for the island inch by inch as the Japanese remained underground and were not going to surender

• Eventually the Americans were able to take the island which would serve as a base for an invasion of Japan

The Bombing of Japan

• With the capture of the island of Saipan the Americans were able to begin to bomb Japan

• Starting in November of 1944 American B-29’s rained down destruction on Japanese cities

• By March they began to target cities as targeting industry had been ineffective

• March 11-12 302 B-29’s dropped incendiary bombs on the city of Tokyo

• They created a massive firestorm which destroyed six square miles of the city and killed over 100,000 people

• Over the course of the next four months the Americans continued attacks against the major Japanese cities destroying much of the industrial capacity of the nation

• The Americans continued to demand an unconditional surrender from the Japanese

• The Japanese refused to surrender as it would require them to turn over the Emperor who was considered a god in Japan

• The Americans decided to use an experimental weapon to attempt to end the war

• The atomic bomb had been secretly created by the “Manhattan Project” in New Mexico at a cost of several billion dollars

• President Harry Truman ordered the use of the Atomic Bomb on Japan

• August 6th, 1945 the B-29 Enola Gay dropped an atomic bomb on the city of Hiroshima

• The city was destroyed with upwards of 200,000 killed instantly and many others who would die due to the effects of radiation

• The atomic bomb had the destructive power of 3,000 B-29 bombers

• The United States repeated their demand for unconditional surrender

• The Japanese refused and the United States dropped their second on Nagasaki on August 9th

• The Soviet Union declared war on Japan on the 8th of August

• This combined with the atomic bombing led the Japanese to agree to an unconditional surrender

• The Japanese signed the official documents of surrender on the 15th of August on the deck of the USS Missouri ending World War Two

• People across the US celebrated the end of the war

The Cost of War

• The war led to the deaths of 45 to 50 million people worldwide

• Europe and much of Asia lay in ruins due to the fighting

• The relationship between the United States and the Soviet Union had broken down to the point were a war between the two powers was a real possibility

• The ability of the industry of the United States to produce vast amounts of materials kept the Germans & Japanese from winning the war

• Without the industrial power of the United States the outcome of the war would have been very different

• The Americans supplied the Soviets, the British and rearmed themselves