The War in the Pacific

Japan

Hawaii

Iwo Jima

Leyte Gulf

Okinawa

Guadalcanal

Coral Sea

Midway

Pearl Harbor – Dec. 7th, 1941

Review: Why attack the USA at Pearl Harbor?

Attack on the Philippines

• March, 1942 - Philippines– Japan attacks the

Philippines to try to rid the US from the region.

• Bataan Death March– 76,000 American

refugees taken prisoner, forced to march 60 miles to prison camps without food or water.

» 10,000 die» 15,000 die in

prison camps

“I Shall Return”

The Doolittle Raid• April, 1942 – Doolittle Raid

– Small scale bombing raid on Tokyo• Does not cause much damage, but is a huge morale

booster for U.S.

Battle of Coral Sea

• May 1942 – Coral Sea– After fall of Dutch East

Indies (Indonesia) Japan is looking to invade Australia

• Battle of Coral Sea– Planes on both sides

bombed aircraft carriers.– *First naval battle

completely between aircraft carriers that weren’t within sight of each-other.

– Ended in a draw.• But, it stops Japanese

expansion into Australia.

The Turning Point

• June 1942 - Midway– Japan is looking to “finish

off” the US Pacific fleet.• US suffers heavy losses at

first, but ultimately sinks all four Japanese carriers.

– Allied victory - Go on offensive

• Aug 1942 – Feb 1943 – Guadalcanal– First Allied victory on

Japanese-held soil.• Fierce jungle combat

between Marines and Japanese on interior of island.

– 5 months!

• Island Hopping– US

strategy to attack specific crucial islands.

– Cuts off supplies.

Meanwhile, Carpet Bombing Japan

•In one such raid on Tokyo in March of 1945, 279 US B-29 Bombers destroyed 267,000 buildings, killing 100,000 people and destroying 25% of Tokyo.

=Dropping many bombs over a large area to destroy an entire region

Taking Back the Philippines

• Oct 1944 – Dec 1944 – Leyte Gulf– U.S. assault to take

back Philippines• Largest air and naval

encounter in history• Japanese utilize

Kamikazes

– U.S. victory.• Do not officially take

all of Philippines until June 1945.

• Nearly destroy entire Japanese navy

Iwo Jima

• Feb 1945 - Iwo Jima– Fighting intensified

as US Troops got closer to Japan.

• Iwo Jima is considered Japanese soil.

– Lasts 74 days– US drops 20,000

bombs– 25,000 US casualties– 22,000 Japanese

casualties– Only 218 Japanese

taken prisoner

Okinawa

• March 1945 – June 1945 - Okinawa– Last obstacle to an

invasion of the Japanese mainland.

– 100,000 Japanese defenders vow to fight to death.

• 1,300 warships, 180,000 combat troops invade.

– 50,000 US casualties– Only 7,200 Japanese

POWs

Invasion of Japan?

The Fears of Invading Japan

• Bushido (the warrior way) – this samurai way influenced how the Japanese fought until death

• Conventional bombing was not working (100,000 civilians killed in Tokyo)

• Our losses were mounting as well as time spent fighting was growing

Hiroshima

• August 6th, 1945 the Enola Gay dropped the world’s first atomic bomb on the city of Hiroshima

• About 50,000 people were instantly killed

• Within a month or two up to 100,000 more died of radiation poisoning, burns, or sickness

The Effects

• Before After

Nagasaki

• August 9th, 1945, the Bockscar dropped the second atomic bomb (a fusion bomb)

• 35,000 people were instantly killed with 35,000 more dying with a few weeks!

• Two more bombings were planned but the Japanese surrendered on August 15th, 1945 (V-J Day) and since then a nuclear bomb has not been detonated in aggression

• The US made over 31,000 more by 1967 conducting over 1,000 test detonations!