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War in the Pacific
Pearl Harbour
• December 7th, 1941 Japan attacked Pearl Harbour,
a major US Naval Station
• It was Sunday morning shortly after dawn and the
Japanese managed to completely surprise the
Americans
• The Japanese launched planes from their carriers
with the goal of taking out as much of the US
Navy as possible
• The Japanese attacked the ships moored along
Battleship row
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• The primary target was the USN carrier
fleet, fortunately the carriers were at sea
• So the Japanese turned to the next largest
ships. The targeted the Battleships moored
along “Battleship row”
• Japanese Torpedo planes and bombers were
extremely successful, sinking the
Arizona,West Virginia, Tennessee, Nevada
and Pennsylvania were all sunk
• The California and Maryland were severely
damaged
• Arizona sunk when a 1700 pound bomb
struck her forward magazine taking down
1100 men with her
• California after a
torpedo hit
• The attack was devised by
Japanese Admiral
Yamamoto
• It was launched
simultaneously with
attacks on the Philippines,
Hong Kong, Guam and
Burma
• The Japanese had not
declared war on the U.S.
so the attack was treated
as an act of cowardice
• Roosevelt declared war on
December 8th, 1941
Doolittle Raid
• The United States responded by planning and
executing the Doolittle Raid in April of 1942.
• The USS Hornet led a small task force near the
Japanese homelands were they launched B-25
bombers to attack Japan
• The Japanese were caught completely off guard.
• Little Damage was done but the impact on the
morale of both countries was affected
The Doolittle Raid
The Battle of Coral Sea
• The First major battle between the USN and
the Japanese occurred at Coral Sea
• The Japanese were threatening to take Port
Moresby which would have allowed them a
base to launch operations against Australia
• At this point the Japanese Empire is at it’s
greatest
• The Battle of Coral Sea was unique in that it
marked the first time that a sea battle was fought
solely between aircraft carriers
• Both forces spent a great deal of time trying to
find the opposing forces
• Japan found the Americans first and inflicted great
damage sinking the carrier Lexington and severely
damaging Yorktown
• The US responded sinking the light carrier Shoho
• The battle is considered a draw but the United
States prevented the Japanese from taking Port
Moresby
The Battle of Midway
• The Battle of Midway was a turning point in the
war in the Pacific
• The Japanese attempted to take Midway Island
which would have allowed them to launch
bombing raids on Hawaii
• The United States Navy met them at sea and
engaged them in the largest sea battle of the war.
• The United States were able to decipher the
Japanese code and knew of the attack plans
• Admiral Chester Nimitz hid his carriers to
lull the Japanese into attacking
• The Americans searched frantically for the
Japanese fleet
• The Japanese launched attacks on Midway
in preparation of invasion
• US planes followed retreating Japanese
planes and the carriers Enterprise, Yorktown
and Hornet attacked the Japanese in full
force
• The Japanese lost four of their large carriers
to American attacks
• The carriers Soryu, Hiru, Ziuho were all
sunk by Dauntless bombers and a fourth
was severly crippled and was sunk by an
American Submarine
• This represented the majority of the
Japanese carriers and would prevent them
from launching any further offensives
• They also lost many of their best and most
experienced pilots
• From this point on the Japanese were on the
retreat and the Americans were advancing
• The Americans broke their offensive into
two campaigns both based on island
hopping
• The Americans moved from one small
Japanese held island to another
• They would then attack an island further
along the line and cutoff the islands in
between
Island hopping
• Relied on three main aspects; air power
from the carriers, submarine warfare and
amphibious assualts
• There were two main campaigns
• The first led by Admiral Nimitz and came
from the West
• The second was led by General Macarthur
and attacked north with the goal of
recapturing the Philippines which he had
lost two years earlier
• Nimitiz’s assault group proved to be more
effective
• The forces under the command of
Macarthur attacked the Japanese at
Guadalcanal in August of 1943
• There were a series of fierce naval battles
followed by an amphibious invasion of US
Marines
• The battles for the island lasted until
February of 1944, the battles were fierce but
on a smaller scale than later battles
• The Americans secured the island and it’s
vital airfield
• During the invasion of Guadalcanal the US
successfully shot down a plane containing
Japanese Admiral Yamamoto
• After Guadalcanal the Macarthur force
moved on towards the Philippines, Nimitz
began his campaign in early 1944 by taking
the Marshall islands
• Battles such as Tarawa, Saipan were fierce
and costly but the Americans were closing
in on Japan
• Two key battles left the defeat of the
Japanese as a forgone conclusion
• The first was the Battle of Leyte Gulf off
the coast of the Philippines
• It was a massive naval battle, the Japanese
were desperate and committed all their
resources to this battle, either they would
win or the war would be lost for the
Japanese Navy
• The Japanese tried to lure Nimitz’s carriers
away from the invasion fleet that they were
attempting to protect
• Admiral Halsey took the bait and pursued
the Japanese decoy fleet to the north
• The remainder of the Japanese attacked the
invasion fleet destroying much of it
• Halsey recognizing his mistake split his task
force
• Half went on to destroy the decoy fleet and
the other half went back to engage the fleet
which had attacked their invasion fleet
• The invasion of the Philippines continued as
scheduled but Halsey’s blunder had been
costly and he was fortunate to not have lost
the entire invasion fleet
• The Americans recaptured the Philippines
and Macarthur returned as promised
• The Japanese desperation was shown by the
introduction of Kamikaze raids on US ships
• Kamikaze meant divine wind, they were
suicide missions by novice pilots with the
intent of destroying US warships
• The second battle was for a tiny island Iwo
Jima
• It was the first step towards occupying
Japan
• Iwo Jima was the scene of the most
concentrated bombing campaign of the war
• The Marines landed and faced extremely
stiff resistance as the whole island was a
series of bunker and fortifications
• The USMC had to fight for
the island inch by inch as
the Japanese remained
underground and were not
going to surender
• Eventually the Americans were able to take
the island which would serve as a base for
an invasion of Japan
The Bombing of Japan
• With the capture of the island of Saipan the
Americans were able to begin to bomb
Japan
• Starting in November of 1944 American B29’s rained down destruction on Japanese
cities
• By March they began to target cities as
targeting industry had been ineffective
• March 11-12 302 B-29’s dropped incendiary
bombs on the city of Tokyo
• They created a massive firestorm which
destroyed six square miles of the city and
killed over 100,000 people
• Over the course of the next four months the
Americans continued attacks against the
major Japanese cities destroying much of
the industrial capacity of the nation
• The Americans continued to demand an
unconditional surrender from the Japanese
• The Japanese refused to surrender as it
would require them to turn over the
Emperor who was considered a god in
Japan
• The Americans decided to use an experimental
weapon to attempt to end the war
• The atomic bomb had been secretly created by the
“Manhattan Project” in New Mexico at a cost of
several billion dollars
• President Harry Truman ordered the use of the
Atomic Bomb on Japan
• August 6th, 1945 the B-29 Enola Gay dropped an
atomic bomb on the city of Hiroshima
• The city was destroyed with upwards of 200,000
killed instantly and many others who would die
due to the effects of radiation
• The atomic bomb
had the
destructive power
of 3,000 B-29
bombers
• The United
States
repeated their
demand for
unconditional
surrender
• The Japanese
refused and
the United
States
dropped their
second on
Nagasaki on
August 9th
• The Soviet Union declared war on Japan on
the 8th of August
• This combined with the atomic bombing led
the Japanese to agree to an unconditional
surrender
• The Japanese signed the official documents
of surrender on the 15th of August on the
deck of the USS Missouri ending World
War Two
• People
across the
US
celebrated
the end of
the war
The Cost of War
• The war led to the deaths of 45 to 50
million people worldwide
• Europe and much of Asia lay in ruins due to
the fighting
• The relationship between the United States
and the Soviet Union had broken down to
the point were a war between the two
powers was a real possibility
• The ability of the industry of the United
States to produce vast amounts of materials
kept the Germans & Japanese from winning
the war
• Without the industrial power of the United
States the outcome of the war would have
been very different
• The Americans supplied the Soviets, the
British and rearmed themselves