Download File - Mr. O`Sullivan`s World of History

WORLD WAR II: PACIFIC THEATER
THE PACIFIC THEATER
IMPERIAL JAPAN
Japan saw the US and
others as a threat to its
influence in Asia and in
1940 the Japanese
began developing plans
to destroy the US Navy
in Hawaii
 On Dec 7, 1941, the
Japanese attacked
Pearl Harbor

In May 1940, the main part of the
US fleet was transferred to Pearl
Harbor from the west coast
PEARL HARBOR

Dec 7, 1941

“a date which will live
in infamy”
Americans taken
completely by
surprise
 The first attack wave
targeted airfields and
battleships
 The second wave
targeted other ships
and shipyard
facilities

TACTICAL DAMAGE
 Eight
battleships were damaged, with five
sunk
 Three light cruisers, three destroyers,
three smaller vessels, and 188 aircraft
were destroyed
 2,335 servicemen and 68 civilians killed
 1,178 wounded

1,104 men aboard the Battleship USS Arizona
were killed after a 1,760-pound air bomb
penetrated into the forward magazine causing
catastrophic explosions.
BROADER RESULTS

In spite of the tactical
success, the attack on
Pearl Harbor was an
operational and strategic
failure for the Japanese
The attack failed to
destroy the American
aircraft carriers, fleet
repair facilities, or fuel
reserves
 The “sneak attack”
galvanized American
support for entry into the
war

FALL OF THE PHILIPPINES
Shortly after Pearl
Harbor the Japanese
made initial
landings on Luzon,
then made their
main landings on
Dec 22
 On Dec 24,
MacArthur ordered
his forces to
withdraw to the
Bataan Peninsula
 By Apr Bataan
surrendered
 By early May
Corregidor
surrendered

Douglas MacArthur in his
headquarters tunnel at Corregidor
in March 1942
BATAAN DEATH MARCH
President Roosevelt
ordered MacArthur
to relinquish
command to
Lieutenant General
Jonathan
Wainwright and
MacArthur escaped
to Australia
 25,000 Americans
and Filipinos died on
the Bataan Death
March to captivity

CENTRIFUGAL ADVANCE
Japanese attacked Malaya, the Philippines, the
Dutch East Indies, Wake, Guam….
 Instead of halting, establishing a defense, and
pressuring the US to sue for peace (the prewar
plan), the Japanese decided to extend their
control over the Pacific planning operations in
New Guinea near Port Moresby and against
Midway (1,300 miles northwest of Honolulu)
 US achieved a moral victory with Doolittle’s Raid
on the Japanese home islands on April 18, 1942
 Minimal damage but humiliated Japanese
high command and led them to advance the
date for their attack on Midway

CORAL SEA (MAY 4-8, 1942)




US had been able to intercept
Japanese radio traffic in an
operation called “Magic”
Magic intercepts allowed
Admiral Nimitz to position
two carriers off the eastern tip
of New Guinea
Both sides suffered heavy
losses but the Japanese were
forced to call off their
amphibious attack on Port
Moresby
Battle waged exclusively via
air strikes
 Opposing surface ships
never made direct contact
Admiral Chester Nimitz,
Commander in Chief Pacific
and Pacific Ocean Areas
MIDWAY (JUNE 3-6, 1942)
 Japanese
planned a diversionary attack on
the Aleutian Islands while the main force
attacked Midway to destroy the American
fleet
 Thanks to Magic intercepts, US didn’t fall for
the Alaska feint and reinforced Midway
 Americans destroyed four Japanese carriers
and most of their flight crews
 Japanese advance was checked and initiative
in the Pacific began to turn to the Americans
GREATEST EXTENT OF GREATER
EAST ASIA CO-PROSPERITY SPHERE
CHINA-BURMA-INDIA
The Chinese Nationalist
government of Chiang Kaishek was on the Allied side
of World War II
 In the spring of 1942
Lieutenant General Joseph
Stilwell became commander
of the China-Burma-India
Theater and Chiang’s chief
of staff



Stilwell was impatient, direct,
and indiscreet
He was publicly critical of
Chiang and eventually would
be removed from command
over the controversy in 1944
Generalissimo and Madame
Chiang Kai-shek with Stilwell
in Burma
CHINA-BURMA-INDIA
 In
addition to Chiang and Stilwell’s
command difficulties, the Americans,
Chinese, and British lacked common
objectives in the CBI
The US wanted the Chinese to actively engage
the Japanese to keep the Japanese occupied as
US forces advanced through the Pacific theater
to the Japanese home islands
 Chiang’s main objective was to preserve his
own strength and political power
 The British wanted to preserve their colonial
administrations in Burma and India and
initially opposed giving any authority to
Chiang

CHINA-BURMA-INDIA
 In
the spring of 1942 the Japanese
launched an offensive that captured
Singapore, defeated the Allied navies in
the Battle of Java Sea (which exposed
Australia to attack), and drove the Allies
out of Burma into India
General William Slim led British forces on a
900 mile retreat to Imphal, India
 Stilwell had to personally march his staff 140
miles through the wilderness to reach safety in
India

CHINA-BURMA-INDIA

The loss of Burma
effectively cut
China off from its
Allies


The US responded by
supplying China by
air which meant
flying over the high
altitude Himalayas
(“The Hump”)
The US also
constructed a road
from Ledo, India
through northern
Burma to southern
China
CHINA-BURMA-INDIA
 In
late Dec 1943, Stilwell
initiated an offensive to
retake Burma


Key to the attack were
Merrill’s Marauders, a
commando unit that was
designed to conduct longrange patrols and raids well
behind enemy lines,
disrupting communications
and supply efforts
Slim had also shown
excellent leadership in
rebuilding the British forces
and instilling in them an
offensive spirit
Field Marshall William Slim,
considered by many to be
the best British commander
of World War II
CHINA-BURMA-INDIA
 The
Japanese resisted
ferociously and the Allies
did not retake Burma until
May 1945


In the meantime, relations
between Chiang and Stilwell
grew intolerable
On Oct 19, 1944 Stilwell
received word that President
Roosevelt was recalling him
and that Stilwell had just 48
hours to leave
Stilwell’s nickname,
“Vinegar Joe,” gives insight
into his caustic personality
CHINA-BURMA-INDIA
While the Allies ultimately
retook Burma and the
Chinese army developed into
an effective fighting force,
China never became an
important arena of combat
operations
 After World War II, Chiang
led the Nationalist Chinese
in the civil war against the
Communist Chinese


In 1949, the Nationalists lost
and fled to the island of Taiwan
which Chiang governed until
his death in 1975
TWIN DRIVES


Chief of Naval Operations Admiral
Ernest King favored a drive across
the central Pacific moving toward
Japan over the coral atolls scattered
across the Pacific
 Take advantage of ability to leap
across vast distances
MacArthur favored an advance
across the South Pacific via New
Guinea and the Philippines
 Meet obligations to Filipinos
 Maintain pressure against the
retreating Japanese
 Protect against a renewed threat
against Australia
Admiral Ernest King
COMPROMISE
King’s planned drive
would move first against
the Gilbert Islands and
then toward the
Philippines
 MacArthur would
likewise advance toward
the Philippines
 Joint Chiefs gave no
clear priority to either
drive
 “Mutual supporting”
or “mutually
competing?”

Chester Nimitz, Commander in Chief
Pacific and Pacific Ocean Areas and
William Halsey, Commander, South
Pacific Area and South Pacific Force
OPERATION CARTWHEEL
 MacArthur
requested five additional divisions
and 1,800 aircraft to capture Rabaul
 Joint Chiefs of Staff concluded there were not
enough resources to capture Rabaul in 1943
so they accepted MacArthur’s proposal for a
two-pronged drive to isolate it
OPERATION CARTWHEEL



MacArthur would be in
overall command
Admiral William Halsey,
commander of the naval
forces in the South
Pacific, would advance up
the Solomons as far as
Bougainville
MacArthur would move
along the coast of New
Guinea before attacking
the western end of New
Britain
OPERATION CARTWHEEL

Became the model for Pacific commanders
throughout the rest of the war
 don’t move island to island; advance by great
bounds using air superiority
 bypass major strongpoints and leave them
reduced to strategic and tactical impotence
 hit Japanese weak spots; avoid frontal assaults;
use deception and surprise
 seize existing airfields and ports and use these
newly acquired bases to support the next leap
forward
RETAKING THE PHILIPPINES
The invasion of the
Philippines brought
MacArthur and Nimitz’s
twin drives together
 On Oct 20, 1944,
MacArthur attacked
Leyte

BATTLE OF LEYTE GULF
The American and
Japanese surface fleets
made contact the night of
October 24-25 in the San
Bernardino Strait
 Two Japanese task
forces entered the strait,
Halsey did the classic
naval maneuver of
crossing the “T” and
sank all but one enemy
destroyer

BATTLE OF LEYTE GULF



However, Halsey was
surprised shortly after
dawn when Japanese
heavy cruisers and
battleships passed
unopposed through the
San Bernardino Straits
and threatened the
invasion fleet
American aircraft
turned back the already
weakened Japanese
Still the Japanese did
not give up, delivering
their first wave of
kamikaze attacks
Escort carrier St. Lo
sunk by kamikaze attack
BATTLE OF LEYTE GULF
The Battle of Leyte Gulf
secured the beachheads of
the U.S. Sixth Army attack
on Leyte and destroyed
Japanese naval power
 By the end of December
1944, the Allies controlled
Leyte and MacArthur was
in position to attack Luzon,
the heart of the Philippines

Walter Krueger,
commander of
Sixth Army
“I SHALL RETURN”
FINAL CAMPAIGNS


From Feb 19 to Mar 11, 1945
the Marines captured Iwo
Jima
From Apr to June Americans
captured Okinawa
 Total American battle
casualties were 49,151, of
which 12,520 were killed
or missing and 36,631
wounded
 Approximately 110,000
Japanese were killed and
7,400 more were taken
prisoners
 Okinawa showed how
costly an invasion of the
Japanese home islands
would be
Raising the flag
on Mt. Suribachi,
Iwo Jima
PLAN TO INVADE JAPAN
 US
planned to invade
Japan with eleven
Army and Marine
divisions (650,000
troops)
 Casualty estimates
for the operation
were as high as
1,400,000
 Truman decided to
use the atomic bomb
to avoid such losses
Operation Cornet, the plan to take Tokyo
THE ATOMIC BOMB
 In
the early 1940s,
America had started
an atomic weapons
development
program code named
the “Manhattan
Project”
 A successful test was
conducted at
Alamogordo in New
Mexico in July 1945
J. Robert Oppenheimer and
General Leslie Groves at the Trinity
Site soon after the test
HIROSHIMA AND NAGASAKI

Hiroshima Aug 6, 1945



On Aug 8, the USSR
declared war on Japan
and invaded Manchuria
the next day
Nagasaki Aug 9, 1945


90,000 killed
35,000 killed
Okinawa had been much
more costly than
Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Captain Paul Tibbets piloted the
plane that dropped the bomb on
Hiroshima
HIROSHIMA, VICINITY OF GROUND
ZERO
SURRENDER
Japan surrenders Sept 2, 1945 aboard the USS Missouri
BEYOND WORLD WAR II
Growth of Total War
 Holocaust
 Post-war impact of the atomic bomb
 Expanded roles of women

GROWTH OF TOTAL WAR
 Total
war describes a war in which nations
use all of their resources to destroy another
nation's ability to engage in war.






Conscription
Military-industrial complex to include women
workers
Unconditional surrender
Civilian targets to include the Holocaust
Rationing, price controls, and other impacts on the
homefront
More destructive weapons to include the atomic
bomb
HOLOCAUST
 Jews
were the primary targets of Hitler’s
racially motivated genocidal policies, but
Slavs, Gypsies, homosexuals, Jehovah’s
Witnesses, communists, and others
suffered as well
 Sometime during 1941, the Nazi
leadership committed to “the final
solution” of “the Jewish problem”

At the Wansee Conference on Jan 20, 1942,
experts gathered to discuss and coordinate the
implementation of the plan to kill all the Jews
living in Europe
HOLOCAUST

Jews were rounded up and sent to concentration
camps


The largest was Auschwitz where at least a million Jews
died
The process was organized and technologically
sophisticated

Gassing was the preferred method of killing, but
electrocution, phenol injections, flamethrowers, hand
grenades, and machine guns were also used
ROLL CALL AT AUSCHWITZ
HOLOCAUST
Victims were subjected
to industrial work,
starvation, medical
experimentation, and
extermination
 Large crematories were
used to hide the evidence
 Approximately 5.7
million Jews perished in
the Holocaust
 Helps generate support
for the creation of Israel
as a Jewish state

Auschwitz crematory
MASS GRAVE AT BERGEN-BELSEN
CHILDREN SUBJECTED TO MEDICAL
EXPERIMENTS IN AUSCHWITZ
SURVIVORS OF
AMPFING SUBCAMP OF DACHAU
PRISONERS LIBERATED AT AUSCHWITZ
POST-WAR IMPACT OF ATOMIC BOMB
Changed the very nature
of war
 Presented the
possibility of
annihilation of
humankind
 US came to place great
strategic reliance on
atomic bomb
 War plans emphasized
sudden atomic attack
against USSR to allow
time for conventional
mobilization

15 megaton thermonuclear
device test on Bikini Atoll in
1954
POST-WAR IMPACT OF ATOMIC BOMB
US held an atomic
monopoly until 1949
 Huge US-USSR arms
race followed
 Eventually led to
Mutually Assured
Destruction (1967)
 Massive retaliation
strategy (1954) meant
US was prepared to
respond to Soviet
aggression with a
massive nuclear strike

POST-WAR IMPACT OF ATOMIC
BOMB
Nuclear
weapons prove
to not be a
reasonable
option in
limited wars
 We’ll see this
in Lesson 30
(Korea) and
Lesson 32-34
(Vietnam)

The US considered, but did not use, atomic
bombs in support of the French at Dien Bien
Phu in 1954
EXPANDED ROLES FOR WOMEN
The emergencies of war
greatly expanded the
roles of women
 Some served in the
military
 Others replaced men on
factory assembly lines
 Women whose husbands
went overseas acted as
heads of households

EXPANDED ROLES FOR WOMEN
 From
1940 to 1944
over 6 million
women joined the
workforce filling
jobs that had been
exclusively male
 After the war,
women were
expected to return
home and resume
their traditional
roles as wives and
mothers
Woman's Day, Oct 1950.
The picture asks, "What more
needs to be said about a woman's
day?"
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
Early Cold War