Hitler is dead! So now

what????

Japanese captured Hong Kong, French Indochina, Malaya, Burma, Thailand,

New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Philippines,

Guam, Wake Island, part of Aleutian islands.

After Pearl Harbor...

Coral Sea

May ‘42

Result: Australia’s saved

U.S. victory

1st battle where carriers do most of fighting

(not battleships)

Crew of the USS Lexington

abandoning ship

June ‘42

NW of Hawaii

4 Japanese aircraft

carriers & 100s of “zeros”

destroyed1st major Japanese defeat

Hiryu on fire & drifting

after attack by US carrier

Air Forces

US Strategy in Pacific Theater?

Capture key

islands, build

bases, & surround

Japan

Goal: Cut off

supplies

‘42

Adm. Chester Nimitz: Pacific Zone

Gen. Douglas MacArthur: SW Pacific

Japan began to build airfield here to invade

Australia

10,000 marines sent to take island & stop them

Aug 7, ‘42

1st U.S. marines land on Guadalcanal

ENEMY: daily conditions

Poisonous insects

Scorching heat & humidity

Tropical fevers (malaria & dysentery)

25,000 Japanese dead

Fight to the death!

Lasted 6 months

Showed they could be beaten, but it would be

BLOODY

1st major territorial loss for Japanese

Sullivan brothers

US lost 2 cruisers, 7 destroyers, & 1600

men

Japan takes

Manila in ‘42

US & Filipino troops surrender, but...

Bataan Death March

...must march from

Bataan Peninsula: 65 miles!!

I shall return!

I make a promise! Who am I?

Biggest naval battle in history (282 ships)

June ‘44

USS Indiana Firing on Japanese positions on

Leyte

Kamikaze (Divine Wind)

pilots 1st usedPilots who

crashed into US ships

with bomb-loaded planes

MacArthur returns Oct 20,

‘44

American flag being raised at

Mt. Suribachi

Feb. ‘45

750 miles from

Japan

No Japanese survivors!

Fight fromunderground

tunnels!

Kill 10 USsoldiers before

you are!

Launch 110,000 Marines & 880 warships to island

Bombed island for 2 months

before sending in Marines

No front linesU.S. Weapons of

choice: Liquid gas, Napalm, & grenades

U.S. rarely saw Japanese soldiers

Another U.S. victory

350 miles

South of Japan

April ‘45

Bloodiest island fight in Pacific

Knowing what you do now about how

the Japanese defended these

islands, what can you deduce about the end of the war

in the Pacific?