Download File

Name______________________
Date_________________
World War II: The Pacific Theater
Japanese Empire
Japan had _____________ more than 1 million square miles of land with about 150 million people.
Japan seized Hong Kong, Malaya, Singapore, Dutch East Indies, Burma, French Indochina and the Philippines
Bataan Death March: April 1942
76,000 prisoners [12,000 Americans] Marched 60 miles in the blazing heat to POW camps in the Philippines.
Island Hopping Strategy
Led by Douglas McArthur, the United States began an _________________ campaign that would push the
Japanese back to Japan.
Battle of Midway
The Battle of Midway was a victory for American forces and marked a turning point in the ___________. The
Japanese lost four aircraft carriers, two cruisers, and three destroyers. The Americans lost the aircraft carrier
___________ and one destroyer.
Battle of Leyte Gulf: Liberation of the Philippines
American ground troops continued to push toward the Philippines, landing
at Leyte Island in October 1944.
The Japanese used nearly their entire fleet against MacArthur’s troops,
making this the largest naval engagement in history.
Despite the impressive showing by the Japanese, ________________
Kamikaze Pilots
___________, which in Japanese means “divine wind,” were suicide
squadrons organized by the Japanese air force in the last months of World War II. Pilots flew their aircraft,
loaded with explosives, directly into U.S. naval vessels.
Kamikaze pilots, sacrificing their lives in a last-ditch effort to stop the Americans, sank about __________.
Battle of Iwo Jima
In March of 1945, American marines gained control of the tiny, but strategically located, island of Iwo Jima.
Iwo Jima is just 660 miles from Tokyo. This victory came after losing more than ______________________
more soldiers than they had ever lost in a single battle.
Atomic Bomb
On August 6, 1945, the United States dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, a
Japanese city and military center. The blast destroyed 68 percent of the city. An estimated
__________people were killed, and thousands more were made homeless.
Three days later, on August 9th, a second bomb was dropped on the city of Nagasaki. Over
20,000 people died instantly. In the successive weeks, thousands more Japanese died from
the after effects of the _______________ exposure of the blast.
VJ Day
Japanese officials formally ________________________ to the Allies on September 2, 1945, aboard the United
States battleship Missouri. Japan's surrender brought an end to World War II (1939-1945).