Download World War II

World War II
War In The Pacific
Japanese Advances
• Japanese empire dwarfs
Hitler’s 3rd Reich
• The Fall of the
Philippines/March 1942
– General MacArthur in
command of Allied
troops
– Japanese victorious
– MacArthur…”I Shall
Return!”
Japanese Empire
Bataan Death March
• Forced march of 75,000
American POWs to
prison camps
• 50,000 murdered
– Kicked/beaten, starved,
bayoneted
• Treated same way as
Native Americans during
Trail of Tears
• Later considered a
Japanese war crime
Doolittle’s Raid
• Spring 1942
• Bombing raid on Tokyo and
surrounding cities
• Most daring campaign to
date; some bombers killed
or captured
• Boosts American morale,
lowers Japanese
Battle of Coral Sea
• May 1942
• American and Australian carriers vs. Japanese
Imperial Navy
• Successful at stopping Japanese advance to take
Australia, eliminate 2 Japanese carriers
– Damaged Japan’s naval capability at Midway
• All-Air Battle
– All planes launched from aircraft carriers
– No shots fired from surface ships!
DEFENDING AUSTRALIA
Battle of Midway
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June 3, 1942
Strategic location NW of Hawaii
Allies stop the Japanese
Allies had broken Japan’s naval code
– Anticipated the attack
• Allies under command of Admiral Chester A. Nimitz
– Helped to locate the Japanese fleet and dive bomb them
• TURNING POINT IN THE PACIFIC WAR!!!
-- Bulk of Japanese fleet destroyed
-- Japanese forced to retreat and play defense
• Result = Allies begin to “island hop”
BATTLE OF MIDWAY
Allies on the Offensive
• Battle of Guadalcanal, 1944
– 19,ooo Allied troops storm the island
– Marks Japan’s first defeat on land
– Secured Australia from Japanese
occupation and protected AmericanAustralian sea route
• Battle of Leyte Gulf, 1944
– Entire Japanese fleet involved
• Largest naval battle of WWII
– Appearance of Kamikaze
– Japan defeated, complete disaster
– Last major Japanese naval
engagement of the war
MACARTHUR RETURNS
Battle of Iwo Jima
• Japan to stop US advance to stop
mainland invasion
• Allies face fierce opposition
– Fanatical fighting (Samurai mentality)
– Fighters entrenched in tunnels and caves
• Iwo Jima’s location critical to US
– Heavy-loaded bombers could reach
Tokyo
• 6,000 US Marines killed
– Most in any pacific battle to that point
• US gains control of the island
• Only 200 of 20,000 Japanese troops
survive
IWO JIMA
Battle of Okinawa
• April 1945
• US Marines invade, challenge
Japanese occupation of the island
• Massive Kamikaze attacks
– 1900 attacks kill 5000 U.S. sailors, sink
30 ships and damage 300 more
• Fiercer opposition than Iwo Jima
• 110,000 Japanese killed in action
• Allies see this as premonition of
invasion of Japan
– Churchill estimates 1 Million US /
500,000 British deaths if allies invade
Japan
The Atom Bombs
• The Manhattan Project
– Over 600,000 Americans involved
– Led by J. Robert Oppenheimer
• Truman orders plans to use the bombs
– Churchill warning of allied deaths if war
continues
– Japanese warned of super weapon
• Enola Gay drops Little Boy over
Hiroshima
– Japan still won’t surrender
• Three days later, drop Fat Man on
Nagasaki
– Macarthur accepts Japan’s official surrender
on USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay, September 2,
1945
HIROSHIMA BEFORE
HIROSHIMA AFTER