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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 • http://plasma.nationalgeographic.com/pearlharbor/ index.html • 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