Download Page 630 Militarization of Japan - It was the gaining of power in

Page 630
1. Militarization of Japan - It was the gaining of power in Japan during the 1930s
of a very nationalist clique dedicated to building for Japan the most powerful
army and navy in East Asia. They kept power and destroyed their opponents
through murder, assassination and terror.
2. Manchuria - It was the northeastern region of China bordering Korea where
Japan decided to expand into starting in 1931. Japan wanted this area for its coal,
iron ore and living space. Japan quickly and successfully conquered this area in
1931, starting World War II in the process.
3. Nanking - It was a Chinese city where the Japanese troops, in 1937, massacred
over 200,000 people. This bloodletting even shocked the Nazis. The Japanese for
their part kept on trying to conquer China.
4. Pearl Harbor - It was the location of the Pacific Fleet of the United States. It was
successfully spied out and then suffered a surprise attack by the Japanese during
World War II. This attack damaged and sank nine U.S. battleships, several
cruisers, all planes on the airfield, etc. The Japanese counted it a huge victory.
The U.S. counted it “a day that will live in infamy” and declared war on Japan.
5. Battle of Midway - It was a major defeat for the Japanese in the Pacific Ocean
and showed again the importance of aircraft carriers in World War II naval
warfare. In this battle the Americans, badly outnumbered managed, through luck,
to sink four Japanese aircraft carriers. This Japanese defeat marked the end of
their unchallenged control of the Pacific only 6 months after they gained it by
their Pearl Harbor victory.
6. Aircraft Carriers - They turned out to be the most important naval ship of World
War
II. The United States was very fortunate these ships were not at Pearl Harbor
when the Japanese attacked. They were key to the American victories and
Japanese losses in the long distance battles between fleets in the Pacific from
1942-1944.
7. Malaysia - It is a long peninsula in Southeast Asia. The Japanese using their
secret weapon of bicycles quickly traveled the length of it, over 600 miles, a then
confronted Singapore.
8. Singapore - It was the British colony on an island at the tip of the Malaysian
peninsula. Its defenses faced the sea so the Japanese attacked it from the
mainland. In February 1942 it surrendered making 130,000 British soldiers
prisoner of Japan. It was the worst military disaster in British history.
Movie: Tora, Tora, Tora
9. Kagoshima Bay - It was the inlet in the Japanese home islands which bore an
eerie resemblance to Pearl Harbor, even to the volcanic islet that seemed a picture
image of Ford Island. Air Staff Officer Minoru Ginda led his pilots here in
training attacks here in preparation for the real attack.
10. “Purple” - It was Japan’s most complex diplomatic cipher, which they started
using in 1939. The U.S. cracked it by September 1940.
11. Magic - It was the code name given to the Purple messages that U.S. code
breakers unraveled using a cipher machine designed to do so.
12. “The Twelve Apostles” - They are the only persons permitted to receive MAGIC
messages: the president, the secretaries of State, War, and Navy; four high
ranking Navy officers; and four high ranking Army officers. Admiral Kimel and
General Short were not on the list.
13. Lieutenant Commander Alwin Kramer - He was the chief of the naval
intelligence translation section in Washington D.C. He ignored the “lights”
message from Mrs. Edgers in favor of unraveling the fourteen part Japanese
dispatch sent to the Japanese ambassador to
the U.S.
14. Kudo Butai - It was the secret Japanese naval strike force concealed in the vacant
sea,” that part of the ocean between the great southern and northern shipping
routes. It was six aircraft carriers, plus battleships, cruisers, and destroyers
arriving north of Oahu. It was also 24 Japanese submarines watching all around
Oahu and sending ten midget subs creeping toward Pearl Harbor. Its goal was to
batter the U.S. Pacific fleet so badly that it could not thwart the Japanese attack
against Southeast Asia.
15. Climb Mount Nitaka - It was the brief message sent to Admiral Nagumo the
very day the Kido Butai crossed the International Date Line on their way to
Hawaii. It meant Admiral Nagumo was to proceed with the attack on Pearl
Harbor.
16. U.S.S. Ward - It was the U.S. destroyer patrolling the restricted area outside Pearl
Harbor. Commander William Outerbridge had his ship attack the midget
submarine intruder with the No. 3 gun hitting the conning tower from point blank
range and then finishing the job with a pattern of depth charges. Outerbridge’s
radioed report of the strange encounter at 6:30 am was ignored.
17. Hachimaki - They were the white headbands emblazoned with the Rising Sun
worn by the Japanese pilots over their helmets.
18. Mitsuo Fuchida - He was the Japanese Commander who led the aerial attack on
Pearl Harbor. It was he who sent out the code words for the fliers to attack and to
announce the successful surprise of that attack.
19. Admiral Chuichi Nagumo - He was the strike force commander in charge of the
Kudo Butal force. He gave the permission for the attack on Pearl Harbor to
commence as planned. He also denied permission to Fuchida’s request for the
third attack wave, which wasn’t part of the original plan. Once he determined the
Japanese force had successfully accomplished its objective of badly mauling the
U.S. Pacific Fleet, he turned the Kudo Butai force for home.
20. Isoroku Yamamoto - He was the Japanese Combined Fleet Admiral in charge of
the planning of the Pearl Harbor attack on December 7, 1941. He planned the
daring strike with the purpose of battering the U.S. Pacific fleet so badly that it
could not thwart the Japanese attack against Southeast Asia. His flagship the
Nagato, far west in Japanese home waters, managed to pick up on radio the brief
successful surprise attack message. He realized even then that Japan would likely
lose the war against the United States. He was killed by Americans, in 1943,
during a surprise air attack as he flew into a Japanese held island. The U.S. had
broken the Japanese code and set a trap for where they knew he was going to be.
21. December 7, 1941 - It was the day of infamy, the day of deceit, and the day of
shock and horror. It started as a beautiful Hawaiian morning with what looked to
be peace in paradise, but it ended with Pearl Harbor burning and the United States
at war.
22. “To Ra! To Ra! To Ra!” - It was the prearranged code signal for the attack on
Pearl Harbor meaning “successful surprise attack achieved.” The signal was based
on the Japanese word meaning “tiger.”
23. General Walter Short - He was the Army commander of the Hawaiian
Department. Fearing sabotage, he had ordered the Army Air Corp planes
concentrated in the open where they could be more easily protected. The Japanese
pilots found the rows of neatly parked planes to be sitting ducks.
24. Admiral Husband Kimmel - He was the commander the U.S. Pacific Fleet based
at Pearl Harbor. Like General Short, he wasn’t given access to the MAGIC
decoded messages, despite their hints of the coming Japanese attack. He watched
the destruction of his fleet during the Japanese surprise attack.
25. Battleship Row - It was the neatly parked line of eight capital warships along
Ford Island. The pride of the American Navy was mostly destroyed in the first 40
minutes of the Japanese attack. The Arizona and West Virginia sat on the bottom
with their backs broken and superstructures aflame. The Oklahoma and Utah lay
capsized. The California was sinking and the Nevada aground. The Pennsylvania,
Tennessee, and Maryland were damaged by bomb hits.
26. U.S.S. Nevada - On this battleship’s deck, the Navy Band and Marine color guard
stood at attention, as the clock neared 8 a.m., waiting to raise the colors. All held
their positions until the completion of the “Star Spangled Banner,” then they ran
for cover from the Japanese attack. The crew then managed to get their ship
underway to make a run for the open sea. The battleship took five bomb hits
before making the harbor entrance. Lieutenant Commander Thomas then
intentionally grounded the battleship on shoals within the harbor so the entrance
wouldn’t be blocked.
27. U.S.S Arizona - It was a 25 year old battleship displacing 32,500 tons and
measuring
608 feet in length. It was armed with 12 fourteen inch guns and shielded by 13
inch slabs of steel at the waterline. Japanese planes took only 15 minutes to turn
this ship into a sepulcher. At 8:10 am Japan’s most skilled bombardier dropped a
bomb from 10,000 feet through the battleship’s main deck and into the area near
the forward magazines. Two million pounds of powder and high explosive
detonated obliterating the forward portion of the battleship. More than three—
quarters of the crew-1,177 officers and enlisted men died. The broken battleship
quickly settled to the bottom and her superstructure burned.
28. Second Japanese Attack Wave - It was the 8:50 a.m. arrival of 169 more
Japanese bombers and fighters. They finished off the American planes on the
ground and went after the few undamaged warships in the harbor. They also
fought the few American fighters to make it into the air.
29. The Few American Fighter Pilots - They were the only U.S. pilots to make it
into the air. 1st Lt. Sanders leading a flight of four P-36s downed the first enemy
plane. 2nd Lt.s Welch and Taylor downed six planes and damaged three more.
2nd Lt. Rasmussen shot down a dive-bomber. Rasmussen on his third time up was
shot down by American ground fire and died in the crash.
30. Pearl Harbor Disaster - It was eight battleships sunk and seriously damaged. It
was ten other warships seriously damaged and sunk. It was over 160 warplanes
destroyed and as many more seriously damaged. It was over 2,400 Americans
killed and over 1,170 wounded. Japan lost five midget submarines, 29 planes, and
had 64 die. It was the start of the Pacific theater of World War II.
World at War 14: It’s a Lovely Day Tomorrow
31. Burma - It is a muddy swampy steam bath on the inside and green all over. It is
also a battle ground between armies with the British beating the Japanese in the
end. It is also a war between man and nature where diseases like malaria,
dysentery, scrub typhus, prickly fever, etc. were major foes. It is a country in
South East Asia.
32. Orde Wingate - He was a British officer with colonial war experience. In 1942
he led the first Chindit expedition into Burma as a counter attack guerilla raid on
the Japanese. In 1944, this general led the second Chindit expedition into Burma.
He was killed early on in an air crash. His well planned operation continued
successfully without him.
33. DDT - It is dichioro-diphernyl-trichloro-ethane. It was an insecticide used in
Burma to combat mosquitoes carrying malaria.
34. Saburo Sakai - He was a Japanese fighter pilot who learned aerial combat in
China during the latter 1930s. In 1942, he fought over New Guinea and was one
of the best Japanese combat fighter pilots. During his squadron’s mission to
destroy the American fleet at Guadalcanal, he was shot up. Terribly injured he
miraculously completed the long distance return flight in his damaged Zero. He
showed himself to be a true samurai.
35. Okedoke Pass - It was the location of the second Burma offensive, in 1943. The
British force was trapped there and faced almost certain defeat. Using airdropped
supplies they held out suffering heavy losses.
36. Lord Mountbatten - He was a British noble and uncle of Princess Elizabeth, the
future queen of England. He took command for the British in Burma and helped
change the British attitude from defeat to desire to retake Burma from the
Japanese.
37. Kohima - It was the high tide of the Japanese offensive in the Burma - India war
theater part in World War II. The Japanese in March 1944 tried to take this Allied
staging area in India. It became a vicious hand to hand combat battle between the
ordinary Japanese and British soldiers. The British air drop of supplies enabled
the defenders to hold out and in the end the British won.
Video: World at War: Pacific: Island to Island
38. Admiral Chester Nimitz - He was the American Admiral who planned and
executed the successful island hopping strategy of the United States to regain the
conquered central Pacific from the Japanese. Today there is a U.S. nuclear
powered aircraft carrier named after him.
39. Tarawa - It is a small island in the Gilbert Island chain where the American
World War II thrust across the central Pacific started. The Japanese defended this
island almost to the last man. In the end after this three day battle, 17 Japanese
were captured with the other 3000 dead. The American’s lost over 1000 dead and
2000 injured on this small island.
40. Marianas Islands - It was the site of a long distance carrier fleet battle between
the roving Japanese fleet and the U.S. fleet intent on retaking the Central Pacific.
The U.S. pilots called it a turkey shoot because of their easy victories during their
defense of the American carriers. After the successful U.S. attack on the once
hidden Japanese fleet, many planes ran out of fuel on the return flight and were
ditched in the ocean. Many pilots survived to be picked up by the U.S. fleet the
next day.
41. Battle of Leyte Gulf - It was long distance carrier warfare again. In four days of
battle the Americans destroyed the Japanese fleets and the Japanese Navy ceased
to be an effective fighting force
42. Iwo Jima - It was a Pacific Island near enough Japan to be a major airbase for the
Japanese. The U.S. wanted it for the same purpose only to bomb the home islands
from. Saburo Sakai helped defend it in the summer of 1944. The Marines who
took this barren volcanic island termed it and the fighting there as Hell. Even after
76 days of naval bombardment the fighting was difficult and frequently hand to
hand. After three days the Marines captured the high ground and in a famous
picture and statue planted the U.S. flag. In the end only, 200 of the 21,000
Japanese troops on the island were taken alive.
43. Okinawa - In 1945, the U.S. fleet off of this island suffered the complete loss of
30 ships and over 200 more were damaged by Japanese suicide pilots. The
American invasion of this island was successfully completed. U.S. military bases
are still present on this island today.
44. Kamikazes - They are the Japanese fighter pilots who flew the suicide bomb
loaded airplanes against the American ships toward the end of World War II.
They did this willingly
45. Saburo Sakai - He was the one eyed Japanese fighter pilot who managed to
escape with his plane and life after being trapped by U.S. fighter planes. He
managed to outlast the American pilots by superior flying ability and the greater
fuel capacity of his Zero. He beat 15 to one odds without even one bullet hole in
his plane.
46. Hellcat - It was a fighter plane used extensively in the Pacific Ocean air battles
during World War II. It was the American plane. It was faster than the Zero and
almost as maneuverable.
47. Yasuo Kawahara - He was a young Japanese fighter pilot. He was ordered on a
suicide mission against the American fleet off of Okinawa on August 8, 1945. He
went into Hiroshima on August 6th and managed to survive the historic bombing
of that city and never went on the August 8th mission due to his extensive
injuries.
48. Atomic Bombing - It took place in a relatively undamaged Japanese city (from
American bombing) in 1945. It was a major historic bombing where one bomb
ended up killing about 100,000 people instantly. It was the first bomb action of
this type and, so far, one of only two to take place in a major city.
49. Emperor Hirohito - He was regarded as a god by his people. He was the
supreme ruler of Japan from 1926 to his death in 1989. He opposed the militarism
of the 1930s and 1940s, but in the tradition of his line lacked much real political
power. He did personally make the decision to surrender to the U.S. ending World
War II. He renounced his divinity in 1946, helped the U.S. reform Japan and
became a democratic monarch after World War II. He was a respected Marine
Biologist.
50. Douglas MacArthur - This U.S. military man was the Supreme Allied General in
the Pacific during World War II. He was the U.S. military commander of defeated
Japan after World War II. In that position, he made many decisions to reform
Japan including not putting the Emperor on trial for war crimes, writing a
constitution for the post-war democratic government, and starting the process of
helping Japan rebuild.
Video: Battle for China
80.
Japanese - They were the people of a technologically superior country to China.
They took advantage of China’s weakness and in 1931 invaded Manchuria and defeated
it. In 1937, they manufactured an excuse and invaded China with the intent of conquering
it.
81.
Japanese - They were described as ‘modern barbarians,” “peace loving,’ puppet
masters, and “blood crazed,” in a World War II era propaganda film about the Chinese
part in World War II.
82.
Manchuria - It was the area north of Korea that the Japanese invaded starting in
1931.
83.
Nanking - In this location the Japanese massacred a city. At least 40,000 were
killed and many others were raped and tortured in one of the most brutal killings in the
20th Century, Even the Nazi’s were horrified by it.
84.
Is this statement fact or opinion? The Chinese used the tactic of yielding land to
gain time in their fight against the Japanese. Fact
85.
Chung King - It was the Nationalist Chinese refuge and war time capital during
World War II. It suffered daily bombing by the Japanese, but was never taken. Here in
western China, behind protective mountains, the Nationalists held out against the
Japanese until the end of the World War II.
86.
Burma Road - It was a supply transportation route built in less than one year from
Rangoon to Chungking by the Nationalist Chinese. It was used to truck in supplies to the
Chinese until it was cut off by Japanese taking all of Southeast Asia after December 7,
1941.
87.
World War II in China - It was a war started in 1931 with the Japanese invasion
of Manchuria. It renewed in 1937 with the invasion of China proper and continued
through 1945. The U.S. got involved helping the nationalist Chinese after December
1941. In 1945 Japan surrendered.
Book reading: The Ragged Rugged Warriors
88.
George Weigel - This American mercenary pilot flew a Hawk plane in defense of
Chungking. After a 1937 Japanese bombing attack where 10,000 Chinese were burned to
death, he jumped Japanese bomber formations tearing them to shreds. He managed to
shoot down four bombers that day. He was killed by mechanical failure of his airplane
the next day.
89.
Tommy Walker - This American mercenary pilot, formally a stunt pilot, flew
missions against the Japanese in a Hawk III and other planes. One night he changed, after
observing the results of Japanese rape and torture of women and children in a Chinese
village. He liked to catch the Japanese by surprise in dawn air strikes. Once when his
plane was shot down, he waited until he was 600 feet up before opening his parachute
and successfully escaped to fight again.
90.
The Flying Tigers - It was a famous aerial squadron organized by the Chinese, in
1941, for defense of China from the Japanese. Its leader Claire Chennault generally never
allowed his pilots to fight pitched large group air battles. He instead sent his pilots on
search and destroy missions to slow the ground advance of the Japanese. This squadron
during its six months of operation shot down 286 enemy planes and lost only nine before
being disbanded.
91.
The Hump - It was the nickname given to the Himalaya Mountains by Allied
pilots flying over it to supply the Nationalist Chinese during World War II.
98.
Chang Kai-shek - He was the Nationalist Chinese leader. He tried to unify all of
China under himself during the late 1920s. He tried and failed in his extermination of
Chinese Communists. He was forced to retreat with his army and government into
China’s interior to escape Japan’s invasion during the 1930s. He lost the Civil
War with the Communists and fled with his followers to Taiwan. He led Taiwan from
1949 until his death in 1975.
Page 812-815 and 824-825
1. Jimmy Doolittle - He was a U.S. Colonel who led the daring daylight air strike
against Tokyo in April 1942. They took off from the aircraft carrier Hornet,
bombed Tokyo, arid continued on to China. Before reaching the planned landing
strips they were forced down over China due to bad weather and lack of fuel. The
airmen who came down in Japanese occupied areas were killed while the others
who crashed in Chinese areas eventually made it out alive.
2. Battle of the Coral Sea - It was the naval battle that stopped the Japanese
expansion toward Australia. It took place in May 1942 and had no ship-to-ship
contact. Carrier-based planes did all the fighting. The Americans and Australians
lost more ships than the Japanese, but halted the Japanese attempt to invade
Australia.
3. Battle of Midway - It was a major defeat for the Japanese in the Pacific Ocean
and showed again the importance of aircraft carriers in World War II naval
Warfare. In this battle the Americans badly outnumbered managed, through luck,
to sink four Japanese aircraft carriers. This Japanese defeat marked the end of
their unchallenged control of the Pacific only 6 months after they gained it by
their Pearl Harbor victory.
4. Guadalcanal - It was one of the major turning point battles of World War II. It
took place in the Pacific over six months of time during 1942 and 1943. It was the
longest single military campaign in U.S. history. The U.S. fought a death struggle
with the Japanese over a strategically located South Pacific island with so many
fierce jangle skirmishes and major ground clashes that they can’t be numbered.
The air and naval dimensions were also very costly with six major naval battles
and hundreds of air and sea clashes. At great cost, the U.S. stopped the Japanese
advance toward Australia.
5. General Douglas MacArthur - He was the U.S. General in the Philippines who
held out five months against the Japanese take over in 1941-1942. After escaping,
he planned his return with a series of leapfrogging island attacks through New
Guinea. In 1944, as Supreme Allied Commander in the Pacific, he succeeded in
his return and, after the war ended, he became the Japanese Occupation
commander for the US.
6. Leapfrogging - It was the World War II Pacific military tactic invented by
General MacArthur where the U.S. would mount attacks on selected Pacific
islands instead of trying to take them all. Australians and New Zealanders would
mop up the bypassed islands.
7. Admiral Chester Nimitz - He became chief of the American Pacific Fleet shortly
after Pearl Harbor. He was responsible for the U.S. victory at Midway and the
successful Central Pacific campaign.
8. Great Mariana Turkey Shoot - It was an easy U.S. victory over the Japanese
fleet in the chain of islands in the Central Pacific. Admiral Nimitz sent U.S.
planes to bomb the Japanese feet knowing many would run out of fuel before their
return. He successfully chanced turning on the carriers lights at night so returning
pilots could land. Those who ran out of fuel were picked up the next day. The
Japanese fleet was destroyed. The Japanese Naval-Airforce was crippled by the
loss of over 400 planes.
9. Return to the Philippines - It was the outcome of the leapfrogging attacks across
the central Pacific and the movement up the islands from the south by
MacArthur’s forces. In October 1944, MacArthur himself went ashore on Leyte
Island and said, “I have returned.” Shortly after, the Japanese threw their entire
remaining naval forces into the Battle of Leyte Gulf to stop the American
landings. The Japanese fleet was crushed leaving the Japanese Navy crippled.
10. Kamikazes - They were Japanese suicide pilots who attacked U.S. ships with
explosive loaded planes in their attempt to blow up ships. The U.S. fleet at
Okinawa suffered over 430 casualties. Only one in ten suicide pilots were
successful.
11. Battle for Okinawa - It was the desperate Japanese resistance to the U.S.
penetration of its inner defense ring. The land battle part became extremely
difficult once the Marines reached the in-depth defense cave and tunnel network
around Suri Castle. Offshore the Japanese mounted floating chrysanthemum raids
on the U.S. fleet, almost causing it to withdraw due to the level of destruction it
suffered. In the end, the U.S. toughed it out and won.
12. A-Bomb - It was the ultimate weapon of World War II. After warning the
Japanese of “prompt and utter destruction” the United States dropped one of these
bombs on Hiroshima and then three days later a second one on Nagasaki. Japan
surrendered in the face of this new weapon.
13. General Joe Stillwell - He was “Vinegar Joe.” He led the U.S. forces in combat
in the China and Burma war theater.
14. Japanese Unconditional Surrender - It was the decision of Emperor Hirohito, in
August 1945, after the atomic bombings. The ceremony took place on the U.S.S.
Missouri on Sunday September 2, 1945 at 9 o’clock, in Tokyo Bay.
A-Bomb
15. Manhattan Project - It was the secret U.S. government project to develop the
atomic bomb. The project’s success was reported to President Truman at Potsdam
in July 1945. The first and second atomic bombs were dropped on Japan in
August 1945.
16. Enola Gay - It was the B-29 Superfortress that dropped the atomic bomb on
Hiroshima on Monday August 6, 1945 at 9:15:30 A.M. The plane was named
after the pilot’s mother. The bomb killed about 71,000 people, and horribly
injured another 68,000 and flattened four square miles of city.
17. Colonel Paul Tibbets - In 1936, he joined the Army Air Corp and during World
War II became a master B-17 pilot. He led the first American daylight raid on
Hitler’s occupied Europe, the first mass air attack across the English Channel, the
first American air raid in North Africa. With the experience of 40 bombing
missions he wrote the book on bombing techniques. He flight-tested the B-29
Superfortress. He was the pilot of the Enola Gay on its super secret mission to
drop the first atomic bomb on Japan.
18. A-Bomb - It was the ultimate weapon of World War II. After warning the
Japanese of “prompt and utter destruction” the United States dropped one of these
bombs on Hiroshima and then three days later a second one on Nagasaki. Japan
surrendered in the face of this new weapon.
Page 645-648
59.
Pearl Harbor - It is the American naval base in Hawaii, which was attacked
December 7, 1941 by the Japanese. This attack caused the United States to enter World
War II.
American Caesar
1. Douglas MacArthur, Early Life 2. Battle of the Coral Sea - It was the navy battle, which stopped the Japanese
expansion toward Australia. It took place in May 1942 and had no ship-to-ship
contact. All fighting was done by carrier-based planes. The Americans and
Australians lost more ships than the Japanese, but halted the Japanese attempt to
invade Australia.
3. Guadalcanal - It was one of the major turning point battles of World War II. It
took place in the Pacific Ocean over six months of time during 1942 and 1943. It
was the longest single military campaign in U.S. history. The U.S. fought a death
struggle with the Japanese over a strategically located South Pacific Island with so
many fierce jungle skirmishes and major ground clashes that they can’t be
numbered. The air and naval dimensions were also very costly with six major
naval battles and hundreds of air and sea clashes. At great cost, the U.S. stopped
the Japanese advance toward Australia.
4. General Douglas MacArthur - He was the U.S. General in the Philippines who
held out five months against the Japanese take over in 1941-1942. After
escaping, he planned his return with a series of leapfrogging island attacks
through New Guinea. In 1944, as Supreme Allied Commander in the Pacific, he
succeeded in his r4eturn and, after the war ended, he became the Japanese
occupation commander for the U.S.
5. Leapfrogging - It was the World War II Pacific military tactic invented by
General MacArthur where the U.S. would mount attacks on selected Pacific
islands instead of tying to take them all. The bypassed islands would be mopped
up by Australians and New Zealanders.
6. Admiral Chester Nimitz - He became chief of the American Pacific Fleet shortly
after Pearl Harbor. He was responsible for the U.S. victory at Midway and the
successful Central Pacific Campaign.
7. Return to the Philippines - It was the outcome of the leapfrogging attacks across
the Central Pacific and the movement up the islands from the south by
MacArthur’s forces. In October 1944, MacArthur himself went ashore on Leyte
Island and said, ”I have returned.” Shortly after, the Japanese threw their entire
remaining naval forces into the battle of Leyte Gulf to stop the American
landings. The Japanese fleet was crushed leaving the Japanese Navy crippled.
8. Kamikazes - They were Japanese suicide pilots who attacked U.S. ships with
explosive loaded planes in their attempt to blow up ships. The U.S. fleet at
Okinawa suffered 400 casualties. Only one in ten suicide pilots were successful.
9. Battle for Okinawa - It was the desperate Japanese resistance to the U.S.
penetration of its inner defense ring. The land battle part became extremely
difficult once the Marines reached the inept defense cave and tunnel network
around Suri Castle. Off shore the Japanese mounted “floating chrysanthemum”
raids on the U.S fleet, almost causing it to withdraw due to the level of destruction
it suffered. In the end, the U.S. toughed it out and one.
10. A-Bomb - It was the ultimate weapon of World War II. After warning the
Japanese of “prompt and utter destruction” the United States dropped one of these
bombs on Hiroshima and then three days later a second one on Nagasaki. Japan
surrendered in the face of this new weapon
Text Pages 812-815 and 824-825 (Pacific Theater) & DVD
1. Bataan Death March – After General MacArthur escaped Corregidor, the
Japanese marched 70,000 captured already starved Americans from the island
fortress and the Bataan peninsula to a prison camp 65 miles north. Many
American prisoners died of starvation, disease and Japanese brutality along the
way. Very few managed to survive the brutal Japanese prison camps and slave
labor for the rest of World War II.
2. Battle of the Coral Sea - It was the naval battle that stopped the Japanese
expansion toward Australia. It took place in May 1942 and had no ship-to-ship
contact. Carrier-based planes did all the fighting. The Americans and Australians
lost more ships than the Japanese, but halted the Japanese attempt to invade
Australia.
3. Battle of Midway - It was a major defeat for the Japanese in the Pacific Ocean
and showed again the importance of aircraft carriers in World War II naval
Warfare. In this battle the Americans badly outnumbered managed, through luck,
to sink four Japanese aircraft carriers. This Japanese defeat marked the end of
their unchallenged control of the Pacific only 6 months after they gained it by
their Pearl Harbor victory.
4. General Douglas MacArthur - He was the U.S. General in the Philippines who
held out five months against the Japanese take over in 1941-1942. After escaping,
he planned his return with a series of leapfrogging island attacks through New
Guinea. In 1944, as Supreme Allied Commander in the Pacific, he succeeded in
his return and, after the war ended, he became the Japanese Occupation
commander for the US.
5. Guadalcanal - It was one of the major turning point battles of World War II. It
took place in the Pacific over six months of time during 1942 and 1943. It was the
longest single military campaign in U.S. history. The U.S. fought a death struggle
with the Japanese over a strategically located South Pacific island with so many
fierce jungle skirmishes and major ground clashes that they can’t be numbered.
The air and naval dimensions were also very costly with six major naval battles
and hundreds of air and sea clashes. At great cost, the U.S. stopped the Japanese
advance toward Australia.
6. Island Hopping or Leapfrogging - It was the World War II Pacific military
tactic invented by General MacArthur where the U.S. would mount attacks on
selected Pacific islands instead of trying to take them all. Australians and New
Zealanders would mop up the bypassed is1ands.
7. Return to the Philippines - It was the outcome of the leapfrogging attacks across
the central Pacific and the movement up the islands from the south by
MacArthur’s forces. In October 1944, MacArthur himself went ashore on Leyte
Island and said, “I have returned.” Shortly after, the Japanese threw their entire
remaining naval forces into the Battle of Leyte Gulf to stop the American
landings. The Japanese fleet was crushed leaving the Japanese Navy crippled.
8. Kamikazes - They were Japanese suicide pilots who attacked U.S. ships with
explosive loaded planes in their attempt to blow up ships. The U.S. fleet at
Okinawa suffered over 430 casualties. Only one in ten suicide pilots were
successful.
9. Battle for Okinawa - It was the desperate Japanese resistance to the U.S.
penetration of its inner defense ring. The land battle part became extremely
difficult once the Marines reached the in-depth defense cave and tunnel network
around Suri Castle. Offshore the Japanese mounted floating chrysanthemum raids
on the U.S. fleet, almost causing it to withdraw due to the level of destruction it
suffered. In the end, the U.S. toughed it out and won.
10. A-Bomb - It was the ultimate weapon of World War II. After warning the
Japanese of “prompt and utter destruction” the United States dropped one of these
bombs on Hiroshima and then three days later a second one on Nagasaki. Japan
surrendered in the face of this new weapon.
11. Japanese Unconditional Surrender - It was the decision of Emperor Hirohito, in
August 1945, after the atomic bombings. The ceremony took place on the U.S.S.
Missouri on Sunday September 2, 1945 at 9 o’clock, in Tokyo Bay.
A-Bomb
12. Manhattan Project - It was the secret U.S. government project to develop the
atomic bomb. The project’s success was reported to President Truman at Potsdam
in July 1945. The first and second atomic bombs were dropped on Japan in
August 1945.
13. Enola Gay - It was the B-29 Superfortress that dropped the atomic bomb on
Hiroshima on Monday August 6, 1945 at 9:15:30 A.M. The plane was named
after the pilot’s mother. The bomb killed about 71,000 people, and horribly
injured another 68,000 and flattened four square miles of city.
14. Colonel Paul Tibbets - In 1936, he joined the Army Air Corp and during World
War II became a master B-17 pilot. He led the first American daylight raid on
Hitler’s occupied Europe, the first mass air attack across the English Channel, the
first American air raid in North Africa. With the experience of 40 bombing
missions, he wrote the book on bombing techniques. He flight-tested the B-29
Superfortress. He was the pilot of the Enola Gay on its super secret mission to
drop the first atomic bomb on Japan.
Talk Walk
15. World War II Technology Advances - It was the application of science to war.
It was the use of radar by the RAF in the Battle of Britain; use of antibiotics such
as penicillin; use of insecticide DDT, invention of the jet engine airplane by the
Germans and use of rockets in war, etc. The biggest achievement was the creation
of the atomic bomb.
16. Takeo Yoshikawa - He was Japan’s master spy in the Hawaiian Islands in 1941.
For eight months during 1941, he spied out the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor.
He gave Japan the information it needed for it’s successful surprise attack on
December 7th. The United States never caught him.
17. Jimmy Doolittle - He was a U.S. Colonel who led the daring daylight air strike
against Tokyo in April 1942. They took off from the aircraft carrier Hornet,
bombed Tokyo, arid continued on to China. Before reaching the planned landing
strips they were forced down over China due to bad weather and lack of fuel. The
airmen who came down in Japanese occupied areas were killed while the others
who crashed in Chinese areas eventually made it out alive.
18. Admiral Chester Nimitz - He became chief of the American Pacific Fleet shortly
after Pearl Harbor. He was responsible for the U.S. victory at Midway and the
successful Central Pacific campaign.
19. Great Mariana Turkey Shoot - It was an easy U.S. victory over the Japanese
fleet in the chain of islands in the Central Pacific. Admiral Nimitz sent U.S.
planes to bomb the Japanese feet knowing many would run out of fuel before their
return. He successfully chanced turning on the carriers lights at night so returning
pilots could land. Those who ran out of fuel were picked up the next day. The
Japanese fleet was destroyed. The Japanese Naval-Airforce was crippled by the
loss of over 400 planes.
20. Balloon Bombs - The Japanese called them the “Windship Weapon.” They were
the weapons of the Japanese World War II Trans-Pacific Bombing Program.
These weapons were designed to cross the Pacific Ocean at high altitude and drop
explosives in the Western United States to spread fire and terror. This effort to
hurt the U.S. war effort failed. However, an Oregon minister and some of his
church families had their lives damaged by one of these weapons explo-=ding and
killing their children and the minister’s wife and unborn child, in May 1945.