Download Some would consider World War Two to be the largest and most

Some would consider World War Two to be the largest and most catastrophic war
in history. The casualties were immense, and it took a toll on the entire world, including
countries such as the United States and Japan, opposed to only European countries. These
two countries seemed to have a separate war of their own, fighting over the countries in
and around the Pacific Ocean. The Pacific war had many key battles but, I believe that
Pearl Harbor, the battle of Midway and the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were
the three main turning points in the Pacific war.
A war in the Pacific was inevitable. Because of its seemingly endless war with
China, Japan was in great need of oil and raw materials due to the Western Powers
ceasing trading with them. Japan started to take over many countries in the South-East
and the islands in the Pacific Ocean. The president of the United States at the time,
Franklin D. Roosevelt had suspected a Japanese attack on the American coast. He
transferred the United States Fleet to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, the closest American military
base to Japan. U.S. officials, however, did not expect Japan to attack the United States as
well as the Indies, Philippines and Malaya. When the attack came, it was a surprise for
most in the United States; all that is except for Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Many critics suspect that, “Roosevelt steered the country to war while professing
all the while to avoid it. No matter what his private sentiments were on the necessity of
war. Franklin D. Roosevelt chose to wait for provocations from the aggressors to push the
country out of its isolationist mood rather then act without their support… Roosevelt had
been increasing pressure on Japan by decreasing exports of metal and oil. When he
finally cut off high-octane aviation fuel to Japan entirely, the Japanese were pushed into a
corner and decided to launch an all-out offensive rather than give up their possessions in
China. The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, finally provided Roosevelt with the
provocation to declare war” (Nithya, 2006, para. 2). Roosevelt had also believed that the
war would bring his country together, in unity. Roosevelt said, “Yesterday, December 7,
1941 - a date which will live in infamy - The United States of America was suddenly and
deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan...As Commander-inChief of the Army and Navy, I have directed that all measures be taken for our
defense...With confidence in our armed forces - with the unbounded determination of our
people - we will gain the inevitable triumph - so help us God” (Trimnell, 2006). People
were shocked and surprised by the attack by the Japanese, but the U.S. Naval Historical
Center believes that it created a level of purposeful unity, that had hardly been seen
before, or since, from the previously divided, people of America (Naval Historical
Society, 2000, para.5).
On November 26, 1941, Japanese vice Admiral, Chuichi Nagumo brought 420
embarked planes on six of Japan’s first line aircraft carriers and many more ships
overseas. He was on a secret mission, for Japan: to attack Pearl Harbor, United States; but
was to abort if there were any signs of his detection, or the war had miraculously ended.
Earlier five large submarines, holding midget submarines, were sent to scout the coasts of
Hawaii. Once the attack began these midgets would swim into Pearl Harbor to ambush
the American ships and warships, to have a naval attack, as well as aerial, and to ensure a
Japanese victory at Pearl Harbor. Over 180 torpedo planes, high-level bomber, dive
bomber and fighters were cast into the sky, towards Pearl Harbor. Moments later a
second aerial bombardment struck Pearl Harbor, around the same size as the first one, but
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with additional dive bombers ad without torpedo planes. Eight out of fourteen American
battleships were either sunk or damaged, (the other six were repairable), and may other
ships and almost all Hawaii based combat planes were destroyed; approximately 2,400
Americans died and 1,200 were injured. Out of 441 Japanese planes and 28 submarines,
only 29 planes were shot down, 10 subs were killed or capture, 4 mini-subs were sunk
and only 55 airmen died and no battleships were sunk.
Nagumo was debating a 3rd attack in Pearl Harbor, the bombing of their fuel oil
storage tanks and the sinking of the rest of their battleships would ruin any hope of
recovery for the Americans, but Nagumo decided against it for a few reasons: The
American’s had an increasingly improving anti aircraft performance (the Japanese didn’t
want to lose anymore pilots); a third attack would have taken more time, possibly enough
time for the American’s to discover the location of the Japanese force, or for Japan to run
out of fuel; also a third attack would have to happen at nights and no one had reliable
night attacking techniques.
The withdrawal of the third Japanese attack resulted in the Japanese leaving six
American battle ships and their fuel and oil storage behind in working order. As the
military discovery channel says, “the failure to sink the remaining American ships played
a direct part in Japan’s downfall once the United States was forced into the theater of
war” (Military Discovery Channel, 2006). Now the United States was in the war and was
able to recover from the attack because many important elements of the American base
had not been destroyed and would be used in attacks against Japan. It was a necessity to
really bring the American navy to a halt, but the Japanese failed to do that. In failing to
do that the Japanese did not create the advantage they had hoped and planned for and
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believed that the consequential attacks by the United States might not be as easy to
withstand or beat as they had anticipated.
By the beginning of March 1942, Japan had conquered most of the Southwest
Pacific and Southeast Asia, especially the dominions exuding in natural resources or
areas that were of strategic importance. The only country left to over throw in Japan’s
mast plan, was the Philippines, which the Japanese were on the verge of winning. Most of
Japan’s leaders were delighted by this news a believed that they would win the war.
Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, Japanese combined fleet commander, however, believed
that Japan would flourish for the first few months of the war, but that if the war continued
on for more then eighteen months, the final outcome would be uncertain (Schorreck,
1999, para. 4). This was because the attack on Pearl Harbor was not nearly as successful
enough and did not knock out enough American warships and left their oil and fuel tanks
unharmed. This gave the United States a chance to recover from their beating and come
back with fully strength within 18 months, According to Yamamoto, ”Japan’s only hope
for success lay in rapid conquests combined with the destruction of the United States in
the Pacific, if this were accomplished, the United States might be forced to negotiate a
settlement which would recognize Japan supremacy in Southeast Asia and Southwest
Pacific; If the United States was given time to fully mobilize her industrial potential, the
outcome of the war could be in serious doubt” (Schorreck, 1999, para. 4). Yamamoto
wanted destroy the American carriers and one way to do that was to make the United
States need to attack Japan with all its forces. Japan would attack Midway, which was of
extreme military importance to the United States, and Japan was sure would bring out
every force they had to protect the atoll, including its carriers.
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On June the fourth, 1942 Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto attacked Midway, trying to
lure out and demolish the U.S. Pacific fleet’s aircraft carrier striking forces, which had
soundly defeated the Japanese Navy during the Battle of the Coral Sea. Yamamoto’s aim
was to speedily sweep through Midway’s defenses, and then proceed to infiltrate the
atoll’s two small islands and, in that area, create a new Japanese air base. During the
invasion of the two islands, Yamamoto assumed the U.S. Carriers to put up a strong
defensive, but appear too late to defeated Midway and with not enough men to escape a
loss to the strong Japanese military. Much to Yamamoto’s dismay the superior American
communication intelligence had figured out his plan, much in advance to the actual
attack. When the Japanese arrived to attack Midway they fell into the American trap. U.S.
Pacific Fleet Commander, Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, had set up an ambush waiting for
the Japanese to attack. This strategy proved to be effective, Japan lost four valuable fleet
carriers whilst the United States only lost one of three and even though the base at
Midway had been affected, it was still useable.
Because Japan did not win at Midway, the war would therefore last longer than
eighteen months and according to Yamamoto, that would mean that Japan could no
longer guarantee a victory in the Pacific war. The battle of Midway is considered, by
Chris Trueman, ”One of the most decisive battles of World War Two” (Trueman, 20002006, para. 1). According to Trueman,”The Battle of Midway destroyed Japan’s naval
strength when the Americans destroyed four of its irreplaceable aircraft carriers…
Japan’s navy never recovered from its mauling at Midway and it was on the defensive
after this battle”. (Trueman, 2000-2006, para. 1). This battle had essentially won the war
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for the Americans. The Naval Historical Center argues that before the war Japan held
aerial and naval superiority but after the war the Americans had naval and aerial
superiority, and could choose when and where to attack, from then on the United States
took the offensive (Naval Historical Center, The United States had out-strategized, outstrengthened and out-witted the Japanese military and this battle had also proved to be
great moral for the American Military. Everything was downhill for Japan from there,
they would lose most of their battles and the United States would go on to control most of
the Pacific Ocean.
Hiroshima was a city of military significance, consisting of the headquarters of
the Fifth Division and Field Marshal Hata’s 2nd General Army Headquarters. This city,
also, headed the defense of all of Southern Japan and was an assembly area for Japanese
troops, a storage points, and a centre for communications. These are some of the reasons
why Hiroshima was chosen as a target of the newly created American weapon, the
Atomic Bomb. U.S. officials also chose this city because it ad never been damaged
before from bombing raids, this enabled the officials to measure the strength of the bomb.
Nagasaki was a different story, it actually was not the first choice of target, this was
Kokura, but Nagasaki was second for many reasons: it was a major military port and
shipbuilding city. But it had been bombed, and damaged five times in the past year, so
there would be no way to tell how much damage the bomb would have caused. Also
Nagasaki was separated with areas of water, valleys and hills and the effects of the bomb
might deplete throughout those barriers. However, because of the weather the bomb was
dropped on Nagasaki.
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On August the 5th, 1945 the United States launched their first ever nuclear attack
on Hiroshima, Japan. Colonel Paul Tibbets flew and commanded the B-29 Enola gay, the
bomber that was to drop “Little Boy” (the name of the atomic bomb), on the city of
Hiroshima. They chose June the sixth because of the excellent weather and everyone was
ready. The Enola Gay took off about six hours before the drop time, but one hour before
the drop the plane was detected heading for the Southern part of Japan by the Japanese
early warning radar net. At about 8:00 the radar operator concluded that the amount of
planes heading in Hiroshima’ direction was little, and the air alert was lifted, the planes
were the Enola Gay, the Necessary Evil (the photography plane), and the Great Artiste
(the recording and surveying plane). At 8:25 the Enola Gay dropped little boy in the
centre of Hiroshima. At the time Hiroshima was mobilized for “all-out war”. May of the
women, children and Korean’s in Japan were conscripted; they worked in military
offices, factories and building demolition. Unfortunately for them, many of the buildings
in the city, ranging form housing to industrial buildings, were made of wood or had wood
frames and were vulnerable to fire caused by the bomb. Since the air raid siren had been
called off, no one went into shelter. The bomb exploded around 600 meters over the city
and had a blast equal to thirteen kilotons of TNT, and it killed about 80,000 people.
Nagasaki was forced to endure the same doom as Hiroshima, on August the 9th
1945. Scientists were curious to know which bomb was more effective the plutonium
bomb, which struck Hiroshima; or the uranium bomb which the United States would
launch on their second target. The American officials had to choose between the cities of
Kokura, Kyoto, Nagasaki, and Niigata. Kyoto was removed quickly because of religious
affiliations and Niigata was too far away, therefore this left the Americans with Kokura
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and Nagasaki. They decided to pick Kokura because Nagasaki had been previously
bombed and damaged, not allowing the actual destruction of the bomb to be determined.
The B-29 Bocks car was the bomber that carried the nuclear weapon called “FatMan”, which was 10, 000 lbs. and 10 feet 8 inches longs, opposed to “Little-Boy” which
was only 130 lbs. The flight was commanded by Major Sweeney who realized that one of
the fuel pumps on the Bocks car was not working that fuel would be useless and it would
add extra weight. When the Bocks car got to Kokura, the city was hidden underneath a
cloud, Sweeney did three turns around the city, but he could not detect a break in the sky,
Kokura would not be bombed. Since there was a deficiency of fuel, Sweeney decided tot
attack Nagasaki, his only other possibility. Nagasaki was also covered by a cloud, and the
Bocks car had to find a break quickly because it was running out of fuel, but a bomb
aimer found a break in the cloud and Fat Man was dropped.
Nagasaki was full of bomb shelters, because it had been bombed before, and these
were built in case of another attack; but the people of Nagasaki believed that the air raid
siren, that came that day, was the same as any other harmless bomb that had attacked
them before, and most people ignored the siren and went on with their lives. The
surrounding hills were full of bomb shelters, which, according to the Chris Trueman,
would have been very effective for the people who could have gotten there because the
people who were safely in the shelters remained, for the most part, unharmed (Trueman,
2000-2006, para. 9). This is completely ironic and rather befuddling because, even
though news of Hiroshima had not reached them yet, if people could have been
righteously cautious and sensible enough thousands of lives would have been saved and
Japan might not have had to surrender.
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The bomb was very powerful, more so then little boy, a stretch of 4,37 miles
squared was demolished, but fragments of the city were unscathed by the bomb because
of the city’s topography; for example the train service was untouched and the fire did not
spread because of the bodies of water all over the city. But even so, the damage to the
city and the number of casualties was astounding. Even though the medical facilities were
not completely wrecked, no one was able to treat those who were wounded. That day the
total death toll in Nagasaki was about 20,000 civilians but it kept rising and in the end it
had peaked at 87,000 dead and 70 percent of the city’s industrial zone was demolished.
Japan had a history of never giving up in battles, they would fight until the end,
but General Leslie Groves and Admiral Henry Purnell Blandy believed that two atomic
bombs dropped within days of each other would have such an overwhelming impact on
the Japanese government that it would surrender (Trueman, 2000-2006, para. 2). In fact,
they were correct, the bombing proved to be the last major act of World War Two and on
August the fifteenth, according to Trueman, Japan presented its formal document of
surrender to the Allied powers to cease the attack of atomic bombs>>> The Americans
had won the Pacific war.
However, even though these bombs had won the war against the Japanese
government, the effects still remained with the Japanese people for years. Jimmie
Yorioka says that symptoms of the radiation during the beginning months were small, for
example: loss of hair, bloody discharge, fever, diarrhea, low white blood cell count, loss
of appetite, nausea, fatigue, malaise and headaches; later, however, more serious effects
started to reveal themselves, such as: cataracts, keloids (massive scar tissue on burned
areas), leukemia and other cancers. (Yorioka, date unknown, para.5). “The ends justify
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the means” The United States adopted this phrase for their own. They committed a
terrible act by using nuclear weapons to kill over 100000 innocent people, but World War
Two ended because of it. So it may have been a bittersweet victory for the Americans,
but a victory none the less.
Though there were many important battles in the Pacific war between the United
States and Japan, these three battles were the turning points of the war: Pearl Harbor
brought the United States into the war, but with the drawback of loosing over half of their
ships; Midway lost the war for Japan because of the extreme communications and
strategic intelligence in the United States; and the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
because the devastation caused by the bombs forced Japan to surrender to the United
States. These battles were all necessary steps towards victory for the United States and if
any of them had went astray, who knows what would have become of the United States.
The United States did not just win the war for themselves, they won the war for peace in
the world, and at that time, with the ending of World War Two, they succeeded in
achieving that.
*It is my earnest hope - indeed the hope of all mankind - that from
this solemn occasion a better world shall emerge out of the blood and
carnage of the past, a world found upon faith and understanding, a
world dedicated to the dignity of man and the fulfillment of his
most cherished wish for freedom, tolerance and justice.
- General Douglas MacArthur, Supreme Allied Commander of
South-West Pacific (1945)
* (Lara, date unknown, para. 4)
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