Chapter 18 Section 4

Toward Victory

Setting the Scene General Douglas MacArthur stood at the dock on

Corregidor in March 1942. A boat waited to evacuate him from the fortified island in the

Philippines. Although the United States Army and Filipino defense forces had battled to keep the

Japanese out of the island chain, they had not been successful. Thousands of Allied civilian men,

women, and children were being held in prison camps throughout the islands, and American and Filipino soldiers were under attack on the Bataan

peninsula. After reaching Australia, MacArthur pledged his determination to free the Philippines

with the words "I shall return.” Allied troops found that the war in Southeast Asia

and the Pacific was very different from that in Europe. Most battles were fought at sea, on tiny

islands, or in deep jungles.

I. War in the PacificBy May 1942, the Japanese controlled much of SE Asia and many Pacific islands, including the Philippines

I. War in the PacificHundreds of American and 10,000 Filipino soldiers were killed during the Bataan Death March

I. War in the PacificIn May and June 1942, the US stopped the Japanese advance at the battles of the Coral Sea and Midway Island

I. War in the PacificIn August 1942, US Marines landed at Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands and began an "island-hopping" campaign

I. War in the PacificBy 1944, the US Navy under Admiral Chester Nimitz was blockading Japan and bombers pounded Japanese cities and industries

I. War in the PacificIn October 1944, MacArthur began to retake the Philippines while the British were winning in the jungles of Burma and Malaya

MacArthur returns to the Philippines

British in Burma

II. The Nazis DefeatedAs Allied armies advanced into Belgium in December 1944, Germany launched a massive counterattack – the Battle of the Bulge

II. The Nazis DefeatedAllied bombers hammered Germany with round-the-clock bombing raids

Dresden, Germany

II. The Nazis DefeatedIn March 1945, the Allies crossed the Rhine River into Germany and Soviet troops closed in on Berlin

Crossing the Rhine River near Worms, Germany

Red Army in Berlin

II. The Nazis DefeatedIn late April, American and Soviet soldiers linked up at the Elbe River

II. The Nazis DefeatedAs Soviet troops fought their way into Berlin, Hitler committed suicide. Germany surrendered on May 7, 1945 – V-E Day

A soldier raises the Soviet flag over the Reichstag in Berlin

III. Defeat of JapanMost of the Japanese navy and air force had been destroyed, yet the Japanese still had an army of two million men

III. Defeat of JapanOfficials estimated that an invasion of Japan would cost over a million casualties - scientists offered another way to end the war

Provision Order of Battle for Invasion of Japan

(August 1945)

III. Defeat of JapanIn July 1945, Allied scientists successfully tested the first atomic bomb at Alamogordo, New Mexico

On July 16, 1945, the first atomic bomb was detonated at the Trinity Site, equivalent to eighteen thousand tons of TNT

III. Defeat of JapanPresident Harry Truman warned the Japanese to surrender or face destruction, but they ignored the deadline

The "Potsdam Declaration" described Japan's present

perilous condition and ended with an ultimatum: Japan

must immediately agree to unconditionally surrender, or

face "prompt and utter destruction".

III. Defeat of JapanOn August 6,1945, the Enola Gay dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, killing more than 70,000 people

Crew of the Enola Gay Hiroshima after the atomic bomb

III. Defeat of JapanOn August 8th, the Soviet Union declared war on Japan and invaded Manchuria - Japan still did not surrender

III. Defeat of JapanOn August 9th, the US dropped a second atomic bomb on Nagasaki, killing more than 40,000 people

Aftermath of Nagasaki bombingAtomic “Mushroom cloud”

III. Defeat of JapanEmperor Hirohito forced the government to surrender - the peace treaty was signed aboard the battleship Missouri on September 2, 1945

An Ongoing Controversy Dropping the atomic bomb brought a quick end to the war. It also unleashed terrifying destruction.

Ever since, people have debated whether the United States should have used the bomb. Why

did Truman use the bomb? First, he was convinced that Japan would not surrender without an invasion that would result in an

enormous loss of both American and Japanese lives. Truman also may have hoped that the bomb

would impress the Soviet Union with American power. At any rate, the Japanese surrendered

shortly after the bombs were dropped, and World War II was ended.