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SECTION 3: THE WAR
IN THE PACIFIC
• The Americans did not
celebrate long, as Japan
was busy conquering an
empire that dwarfed
Hitler’s Third Reich
• Japan had conquered
much of southeast Asia
including the Dutch East
Indies, Guam, and most
of China
Essential Questions
• What was the key difference between the war
in Europe and the war being fought in the
Pacific?
• What were the Allies’ plans for winning the
war?
• What were key events in the war in the
Pacific?
• How were islands in the Pacific liberated from
Japanese control?
Key Figures in the Pacific War
• Douglas MacArthur
• Supreme Allied
Commander of Forces in
the Pacific
• Why have another
American as Supreme
Commander?
– The U.S. had the biggest
investment of forces in the
Pacific
– Great Britain had its hands
full with Germany
Admiral Chester Nimitz
• Commander of U.S.
Naval Forces in the
Pacific
• Defended Midway
• Would coordinate with
General MacArthur to
squeeze the Japanese
Empire from the north
and south
Hackettstown Connection
• Vice-Admiral John D.
Bulkeley
• Hackettstown HS graduate
• Medal of Honor recipient
• He was also the PT boat
skipper who evacuated
General Douglas MacArthur
from Corregidor in the
Philippines
• Buried with full honors at
Arlington National
Cemetery
The Sea Wolf
What was the key difference between the
war in Europe and the war being fought in
the Pacific?
• Naval rather than land offensives
• Carriers replaced battleships as the mainstay
of the fleet
• The need for amphibious units to capture
islands called for the U.S. Marines to do most
of the fighting
• Show Carrier DVD- 10:00-18:45
The Doolittle Raid- April 18th 1942
• How long after the attack
on Pearl Harbor?
• A carrier-based attack
designed to attack
Japanese cities
• Not much damage, but a
huge morale boost to
America!
• According to FDR, the raid
was “a pinprick in the
heart of Japan”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQfBCsy
WFxI
BATTLE OF THE CORAL SEA
• The main Allied forces in the Pacific were Americans and
Australians
• The battle was the first action in which aircraft carriers
engaged each other, as well as the first in which neither side's
ships sighted or fired directly upon the other.
• In May 1942 they succeeded in stopping the Japanese drive
toward Australia in the five-day Battle of the Coral Sea
THE BATTLE OF MIDWAY
June 1942
• Japan’s next thrust was
toward Midway Island – a
strategic island northwest of
Hawaii
• Admiral Chester Nimitz, the
Commander of American
Naval forces in the Pacific,
moved to defend the Island
• The Americans won a decisive
victory as their planes
destroyed 4 Japanese aircraft
carriers and 250 planes
• https://www.youtube.com/wa
tch?v=MEXZ1sUO5gs WW2
from Space 21:30-27:50
The Turning Point of the War in the
Pacific
• The Battle of Midway was
a turning point in the war;
from this point on, the
U.S. was on the offensive
• Soon the Allies were
island hopping toward
Japan
• What is island-hopping?
– Going island by island
clearing out the Japanese,
while bypassing the more
heavily-defended islands
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEXZ1sU
O5gs WW2 From Space 56:00-1:00:10
The Code-Talkers
• Communication during
the war was important
• Messages could be
intercepted
• The U.S. had already
broken the Japanese
codes and were always
one step ahead of them.
How could we stop the
Japanese from breaking
our codes?
• Navajo Code Talkers
WindTalkers
• Navajo Indians served in
the Pacific
• Their language was not
a written language;
• The Japanese were
never able to break
their code
Major Battles of the Pacific Theatre
• Guadalcanal (the first major U.S.
offensive in the Pacific)
•
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEXZ1sUO5gs
WW2 from Space 56:00-1:03:20
• Saipan
• Tarawa
• Iwo Jima (first of the Japanese
home islands)
• Okinawa (second of the
Japanese home islands)
• As U.S. forces get closer to the
Japanese home islands, the
fighting becomes increasingly
ferocious; casualties higher
•
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEXZ1sUO5gs
WW2 from Space 1:15:00- 1:19:55
KAMIKAZE PILOTS
ATTACK ALLIES
In the Battle for the Philippines, 424
Kamikaze pilots sank 16 ships and
damaged 80 more
• The Americans continued
island-hopping across the
Pacific toward Japan
• Japanese countered by
employing a new tactic –
Kamikaze (divine wind)
attacks
• Pilots in small bomb-laden
planes would crash into
Allied ships
• General MacArthur
and the Allies next
turned to the Island
of Iwo Jima
• The island was
critical to the Allies
as a base for an
attack on Japan
• It was called the
most heavily
defended spot on
earth
• Allied and Japanese
forces suffered
heavy casualties
IWO JIMA
American soldiers plant the flag on the
Island of Iwo Jima after their victory
THE BATTLE FOR OKINAWA
• In April 1945, U.S.
marines invaded Okinawa
• The Japanese unleashed
1,900 Kamikaze attacks
sinking 30 ships and
killing 5,000 seamen
• Okinawa cost the
Americans 7,600 marines
and the Japanese 110,000
soldiers
• Civilians at War 00-4:42
• https://www.youtube.co
m/watch?v=HFe7BZSoG
Ms&feature=related
INVADE JAPAN?
• After Okinawa,
MacArthur predicted
that a Normandy type
amphibious invasion
of Japan would result
in 1,700,000 Allied
deaths and close to 10
million Japanese
casualties!
• President Truman saw
only one way to avoid
an invasion of
Japan . . .
Okinawa
The loss of life at Iwo Jima and Okinawa
convinced Allied leaders that an invasion of Japan
was not the best idea
“The Bomb”
• Civilian Physicist J. Robert
Oppenheimer
• Along with General Leslie
Groves, he led the effort by
the OSRD to build a weapon
which could split the atom and
unleash a tremendous amount
of energy.
• About 100,000 scientists were
involved in its development;
many had no idea! As VP,
Harry Truman didn’t even
know about the bomb.
• Code Name: The Manhattan
Project
•
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEXZ1sUO
5gs WW2 from Space 1:19:55-1:28:08
J. Robert Oppenheimer- Later, at a
meeting with Truman, he remarked
“I feel I have blood on my hands."
Potsdam Conference
• Took place in July 1945 in Potsdam,
Germany
• Meeting of the “Big Three”- Truman,
Stalin and Churchill (replaced by
Clement Atlee midway thru)
• Truman learns of the success of the
atomic bomb after a successful test
at Alamogordo, NM
• Truman had mentioned an
unspecified "powerful new weapon"
to Stalin during the conference,
trying to use it as a political tool.
• Stalin, though, had full knowledge of
the atomic bomb's development due
to Soviet spy networks inside
the Manhattan Project
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mj4rDmYOZjc&feature
=related The Homefront, 7:20-13:55
• Truman warned Japan
in late July 1945 that
without a immediate
Japanese surrender, it
faced “prompt and
utter destruction”
• They ignored the
ultimatum
U.S. DROPS TWO
ATOMIC BOMBS ON
JAPAN
• On August 6 (Hiroshima)
and August 9 (Nagasaki) a
B-29 bomber dropped
Atomic Bombs on Japan
The plane and crew that dropped
an atomic bomb on Hiroshima,
Japan
August 6, 1945
HIROSHIMA
20,000+ soldiers killed
70,000–146,000 civilians killed
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFe7BZSoGMs
&feature=related Civilians at War Pt. 2 13:00-15:00;
Pt 3 0-1:45
August 9, 1945
NAGASAKI
The bomb was dropped at 11:02 a.m., 1,650
feet above the city. The explosion unleashed
the equivalent force of 22,000 tons of TNT. The
hills that surrounded the city did a better job
of containing the destructive force, but the
number killed is estimated at anywhere
between 60,000 and 80,000 (exact figures are
impossible, the blast having obliterated bodies
and disintegrated records).
JAPAN SURRENDERS
Even though the War Council still remained
divided (“It is far too early to say that the war
is lost,” opined the Minister of War), Emperor
Hirohito, by request of two War Council
members eager to end the war, met with the
Council and declared that “continuing the war
can only result in the annihilation of the
Japanese people…” The Emperor of Japan gave
his permission for unconditional surrender.
(History.com)
At the White House, President Harry Truman
announces the Japanese surrender, August 14,
1945
•General MacArthur said,
“Today the guns are silent.
The skies no longer rain
death . . .the entire world is
quietly at peace.”
Should the bomb
have been used?
• Yes! Invasion of the main
islands would cost
millions of lives- Allied
and Japanese. The entire
Japanese population was
mobilized to defend the
home islands.
• No! The bomb was a
terrible weapon that
would target military as
well as civilians.
Official Surrender Ceremony aboard the
U.S.S. Missouri, September 2, 1945
THE OCCUPATION OF JAPAN
• Japan was occupied by U.S. forces under
the command of General MacArthur
• During the seven- year occupation, MacArthur
reshaped Japan’s economy by introducing freemarket practices that led to a remarkable
economic recovery
• Additionally, he introduced a liberal constitution
that to this day is called the MacArthur
Constitution
• In February 1945, as the
Allies pushed toward
victory in Europe, an
ailing FDR met with
Churchill and Stalin at the
Black Sea resort of Yalta
in the USSR
• A series of compromises
were worked out
concerning postwar
Europe
THE YALTA
CONFERENCE
(L to R) Churchill, FDR and Stalin at
Yalta
YALTA AGREEMENTS
• 1) They agreed to divide Germany into 4 occupied zones after
the war
• 2) Stalin agreed to free elections in Eastern Europe
• 3) Stalin agreed to help the U.S. in the war against Japan and
to join the United Nations
NUREMBERG WAR TRIALS
Herman Goering, Hitler's right-hand man and chief architect
of the German war effort, testifies at his trial. He was found
guilty of war crimes but avoided execution by swallowing
potassium cyanide.
• The discovery of Hitler’s death camps led the Allies to put 24
surviving Nazi leaders on trial for crimes against humanity, crimes
against the peace, and war crimes
• The trials were held in Nuremberg, Germany
• “I was only following orders” was not an acceptable defense as 12 of
the 24 were sentenced to death and the others to life in prison,
though some were released
•
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFe7BZSoGMs&feature=related Civilians at War- war crimes trials, 1:45-7:10
The Cost of War
• 16 million Americans served in the armed
forces during the war
• 415,000 Americans died in the war, and
many were missing in action
• 70 million people died in World War II
• More than half were civilians
What next?
• The end of the war against fascism and
militarist aggression would only lead to a
new war against communism…
End of the War 11:15-14:00
Homefront
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m
j4rDmYOZjc&feature=related