Download WWII in the Pacific

WWII in the Pacific
Dec. 7, 1941-August 14, 1945
USA Leads the Way
PHASE ONE: Japan on the Move
• Goal of Japan’s Militarist government?
I. Attack on Pearl Harbor (Hawaii):
A. Japan attacked P. Harbor because
the entire U.S. naval fleet docked there.
-U.S.A. was only country in the
Pacific that could stop Japan
-December 7, 1941: 2,400
Americans dead; 1,100 wounded
PHASE ONE: Japan on the Move
(cont’d)
B. The United States reacted to the attack
by declaring war on Japan the next day,
and on Germany 3 days later.
-President Franklin D. Roosevelt: “The
American people, in their righteous might,
will win through to absolute victory.”
-U.S.A. now joins the Allied Powers
II. Japanese Victories
• Japan now tried to quickly conquer Allied
territories in the Pacific, before the U.S. could
respond to the Pearl Harbor attack.
• From USA: Jan. 1942 attacked Philippine
Islands (conquered by May ’42)
• From Britain: Hong Kong, Malaya,
Singapore (Jan-March ’42)
• From Netherlands: Dutch East Indies (now
Indonesia)
• By April 1942, Japan controlled 1 million
square miles of Asian land. Cruel
conquerors. Prediction?
A Japanese “Zero”
TURNING POINT: Midway and
Coral Sea
• Battle of Coral Sea (May 1942): both
sides used a new type of naval warfare.
• Aircraft carriers: served as mobile
airstrips. Planes took off from them,
attacked opponent’s ships, then landed
back on the aircraft carrier.
• Allies lost more ships and troops than the
Japanese
• Allies stopped Japan from moving closer
to Australia
Battle of Midway (June 4-7, 1942)
• Midway Island: home to a key airfield,
midway between Hawaii and Japan
• American pilots destroyed 332 Japanese
planes, all 4 aircraft carriers, and 1 support
ship.
• Japanese navy: no more aircraft carriers!
• American factories: started massproducing carriers, ships, and planes
PHASE TWO: USA on the Move
• Allied Offensive: “turning point” victories
gave U.S. forces experience and
confidence, so they went on the attack
• Guadalcanal: Japan constructing airbase
• U.S. Marines fought for 6 months in jungle
warfare, Japan gave up Guadalcanal by
Feb 1943
U.S. Strategy
• “Island-Hopping”: take over one island,
then the next, “hopping” to Japan
• Split forces in two:
a. Navy and Air Force=Pacific Ocean Area
(open seas, bomb islands from sea)
b. Army: Southwest Pacific (landed on
islands after bombing, fought on land to
control each island)
US Victory in Pacific
• Battle of Leyte Gulf (1944): US destroys
remainder of Japan’s navy
• Kamikazes, or suicide pilots, are now
Japan’s only weapon against US forces
• Iwo Jima & Okinawa (1945): US takes two
islands within striking distance of Japan
• US learns that Japanese will fight to the
death to defend their island (samurai code)
US Victory (continued)
• August 6, 1945: US drops first atomic
bomb on Hiroshima, Japan
• Truman warns Japan to surrender or face
“a rain of ruin from the air”
• August 9, 1945: US drops atomic bomb
on Nagasaki, Japan
• Japanese forces surrender Aug. 14,
formal surrender of Japanese gov’t Sept.
2, 1945 (V-J Day!)