Download WWIIPacific

World War II
The Pacific Theater
1941 to 1943
World War II Pacific Theater
Focus Question
If the atomic bomb had not been
ready for delivery in August of 1945,
discuss how World War II might
have ended. Supply information
from your study in this section that
affected your prediction.
The Japanese conquest had grown dramatically in the
early 1940’s as the Japanese aggression had few checks
WWII
Battan Death March - January 1942
In the taking of the
Philippines the
Japanese marched
many Americans to
their deaths. The
treatment was
brutal including
starvation, torture,
and brutality.
Two key battles in 1942 stopped the Japanese
uncontested advance on over 300,000 square
miles in six months.
Battle at Coral Sea
Battle of Midway
• May, 1942
• The Japanese advance
to Australia was
halted.
• First Navy battle
where neither side’s
ships were in sight of
each other.
• June, 1942
• Japan attacked with
100 ships and 5
aircraft carriers.
• Chester Nimitz, using
the information from
the broken Japanese
code, successfully
defended Midway.
To deal with the Japanese control of the
Pacific, Admiral Chester Nimitz
employed a system of “island hopping.”
Rather than attempting to take on the
entire Japanese empire at once, the
Americans chose to fight for strategic
islands, cutting the rest of the islands off
from being supplied.
WWII
Solomon Islands - Guadalcanal
• August 1942 to
February 1943
• First Allied Offensive
• Stranded Marines
fought for four months
under Japanese
bombardment
• The Japanese fled the
island after fierce
battling.
World War II
The Pacific Theater
1943 to 1945
In the Pacific Theater, the war continued.
Starting in 1943, the Allies
had put together a string of
hotly contested victories;
each victory of the island
hopping strategy came
with the sacrifice of
American lives.
WWII
1944 Marshall Islands
WWII
1944 Guam
Saipan 1944
Wake Island 1944
Douglas Mac Arthur “returns” to the Philippines
1944
WWII
Leyte Gulf At Leyte Gulf,
the largest naval
battle in history
took place.
The United
States destroyed
what was left of
the Japanese
Navy.
WWII
Kamikazes
First
experienced at a
Leyte Gulf, the
Japanese
resorted to
Kamikaze raids
on U.S. ships.
Kamikazes Destroy the Bunker Hill.
WWII
Iwo Jima
• February, 1945
• 750 miles away
from Japanese
mainland
• 25,000 Americans
injured, 6,800 killed.
WWII
Okinawa
• April, 1945
• Bloodiest Pacific Battle
•110,000 Japanese
soldiers died, while
12,000 Americans
perished
•Provided Americans
with a base for Japanese
mainland bombing
As the war continued
into 1945, the United
States fully expected
to wage an invasion
on Japan.
The number of
casualties were
dreaded.
WWII
Potsdam Conference
• July 1945
• Agreed to try Nazi war
criminals, German
reparations, and a 4 zone
Germany
President Truman, Josef Stalin , and Winston Churchill /
Clement Atlee attended the Potsdam Conference.
Atomic Bombs
Paul Tibbets
dropped “Little
Boy” from the
Enola Gay over
Hiroshima on
August 6, 1945
• 100,000 Japanese
people were
injured.
• 78,000 Japanese
people died.
• 20 American
POWs died.
96% of the
buildings in the
city were
destroyed or
damaged.
• August 9, 1945
• Killed over 80,000
people
• On August 14,
Japanese emperor
Hirohito announced
his intentions to
surrender
• World War II had
ended
Nagasaki
On September 2, 1945, on the USS Missouri
the Japanese formally surrendered to the
United States
World War II Pacific Theater
Focus Question
If the atomic bomb had not been
ready for delivery in August of 1945,
discuss how World War II might
have ended. Supply information
from your study in this section that
affected your prediction.