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World War II in the Pacific
Japanese Empire Expands
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In 1931 Japan conquered Manchuria
in China
Under General Hideki Tojo Japan
continued its policy of expansion
Japanese troops spread throughout
East Asia and the Pacific
Hong Kong, Singapore, Burma
They then took control of the oil-rich
Dutch East Indies (now called
Indonesia).
Japan Keeps Pressure on U.S.
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Japan was taking advantage of the U.S.
decision to concentrate more of its attention
to the war in Europe rather than in the
Pacific
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Expecting a counterattack they moved
quickly to capture US territories in the
Pacific including the Philippines, and several
islands.
Japan Conquers the Philippines
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Under General Douglas MacArthur
(Commander of Army in Pacific), U.S.
and Filipino forces made their stand
against the Japanese invasion in the
Philippines
When the capital, Manila, fell quickly to
the Japanese
MacArthur's troops retreated across
Manila Bay to the Bataan Peninsula
In March 1942, President Roosevelt
ordered MacArthur to go to Australia
"I shall return," the general vowed before
making his escape.
Bataan Death March
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Weak and hungry, U.S. and Filipino
units remaining on the Bataan
Peninsula in the Philippines they
surrendered soon afterward
The Japanese then marched more than
70,000 Americans and Filipinos—
many of whom were sick and
wounded—to prison camps
The Japanese treated the prisoners
harshly during their 65-mile forced
march up the peninsula
No one knows just how many deaths
took place on the Bataan Death March
However, historians estimate that
between 400 and 1,000 Americans and
possibly as many as 10,000 Filipinos
died
Tide Turns in the Pacific
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In early 1942 the Japanese seemed unstoppable
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During 1942, however, Allied forces began to turn the tide of the war
against Japan
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Lt. Colonel Jimmy Doolittle led a daring one-way attack on Tokyo and
other cities on April 18, 1942 in Japan with medium B-25 bomber
airplanes
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Admiral Chester Nimitz, commander of U.S. Navy in the Pacific, had
an important, top secret advantage against the Japanese
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Navy experts had cracked the Japanese naval code and could therefore
read secret Japanese messages
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As a result, Nimitz knew that the Japanese planned to capture Port
Moresby, New Guinea.
Battle of Coral Sea
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In early May 1942, he sent an Allied
fleet to attack the Japanese invasion
force
The fleet met the Japanese northeast
of Australia in the Battle of the Coral
Sea
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U.S. planes sank one Japanese carrier
and damaged another
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The U.S. Navy suffered losses as well
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Despite their losses, the Allies had
turned back the Japanese advance for
the first time.
Battle of Midway
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Japanese forces hoped to seize the Midway
Islands, located northwest of Hawaii
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The Battle of Midway, which took place
between June 3-6 1942, was a battle of
carrier-based airplanes on the sea
Japanese and U.S. warplanes fought in the
air, trying to sink each other's aircraft
carriers
When the battle was over, the U.S. Navy
had crippled the Japanese navy by sinking
four of its carriers
While losing only one of its own
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U.S. Goes on the Offensive
The U.S. Navy had finally stopped the advance of Japanese
forces in the Pacific
 The Allies turned their efforts toward Guadalcanal, one of the
Solomon Islands in the southwest Pacific
 Japanese troops were building an airstrip there
 From Guadalcanal, Japanese forces could threaten the
important sea link between Australia and U.S.
The fight for Guadalcanal took place on land, at sea, and in the
air
 For months neither side could gain a clear advantage
 Finally, the Allies won control of the island in early 1943.
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Island-Hopping
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After Guadalcanal, Allied commanders began to
develop plans to attack Japan itself
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The Allies planned to conquer one Pacific island
after another, landing only on the most important
islands
Gradually, they would move closer to Japan while
isolating Japanese troops on bypassed islands
This strategy, called Island Hopping, would help
the Allies gain new bases
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Island-Hopping = strategy of conquering only
certain Pacific islands that were important to the
Allied advance to get close enough to attack
mainland Japan
MacArthur Leads Move to Japan
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From the bases gained through island hopping the
Allies could bomb and later invade Japan
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Forces under General MacArthur battled the Japanese
on New Guinea in November 1943
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From these bases, U.S. planes began bombing the main
islands of Japan
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U.S. submarines were attacking Japanese cargo ships,
cutting off the flow of raw materials to Japan.
MacArthur Returns to
Philippines
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General MacArthur now planned to take back the Philippines
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The Japanese navy gathered to block the Allied invasion force in
October 1944
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The two sides met in the Battle of Leyte Gulf—the largest naval battle
in history
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Both sides took heavy losses from airplane raids and artillery fire.
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In the end, however, the Allies won, greatly reducing the strength of the
Japanese fleet.
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MacArthur had kept his promise to return to the Philippines
Iwo Jima
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By spring 1945 the war against Japan had entered
its final phase
U.S. bombers hit targets in Japan during massive
nighttime raids
A raid on Tokyo in March 1945 destroyed about
one fourth of the Japanese capital
The Allies also bombed other major Japanese cities
into ruins and killed tens of thousands of Japanese
Despite great destruction and loss of life, Japan still
refused to surrender
As Allied forces got closer to Japan, they faced
some of the fiercest fighting of World War II
For example, several thousand Americans and most
of the 22,000 Japanese defenders died in the
February 1945 battle for the island of Iwo Jima
Okinawa Falls: U.S. within striking
distance of Japan
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In the battle for Okinawa, (April-June 1945) the Japanese air force used a
deadly tactic involving crashing piloted planes into Allied ships
Many of these kamikaze planes found their targets off the island of
Okinawa
They caused heavy damage to Allied ships and killed nearly 5,000 Allied
sailors
Despite the kamikaze attacks, the Allies stuck to their goal—the
complete defeat of Japan
The losses during nearly three months of fighting on Okinawa were
staggering
More than 110,000 Japanese troops—almost the entire force on
Okinawa—died
The Allies suffered some 12,000 dead and about 37,000 wounded
With the fall of Okinawa, Allied leaders looked to attack Japan itself for
final victory