world war ii
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World War II. Battles of the Pacific Theatre. Japanese Bomb Pearl Harbor. December 7 th , 1941 Japan surprised American fleet in Hawaii and destroyed or damaged 19 ships 2,300 Americans were killed Following day US declared war on Japan. Vocabulary. - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
Japanese Bomb Pearl Harbor
December 7th, 1941 Japan surprised American fleet in Hawaii
and destroyed or damaged 19 ships 2,300 Americans were killed Following day US declared war on Japan
Island Hopping: Allied troops moved past Japanese strongholds seizing islands that were not well defended and moved Allied troops closer to Japan
January of 1942: Japanese attacked the Philippines
Americans fought them from Bataan Peninsula
3 months of fighting before Japan overtook American forces
Japanese considered it dishonorable to surrender and had contempt for prisoners of war
Bataan Death March- 50 mile forced march of POWs
70,000 POWs only 54,000 survived
“I was questioned by a Japanese officer, who found out that I had been in the Philippine Scout Battalion. The [Japanese] hated the Scouts… Anyway, they took me outside and I was forced to watch as they buried six of my Scouts alive. They made the men dig their own graves, and then had them kneel down in a pit. The guards hit them over the head with shovels to stun them and piled earth on top.”
- Lieutenant John Spainhower
(War Diary 1939-1945)
US wanted revenge for Pearl Harbor
Lt. Col. Doolittle led 16 B-25 Bombers on an attack of Tokyo
Bombs did little damage but proved Japan was vulnerable to attack
Raised American moral
May 1942 Japanese and
Allied aircraft attacked enemy ships
Allies suffered huge losses
Stopped Japan’s southward advances
June 1942 Key American airfield Allied code breakers
learned of Japanese attack
American forces surprised Japanese fleet and destroyed 332 planes and 5 ships
Turned the tide of war
Japanese were building a stronghold on island
MacArthur wanted to take before airbase was completed
August 1942 Marines seized airfield Battle lasted for 6 months before Japan
abandoned the island
Oct. 1944 MacArthur returned to Philippines Japanese wanted to defeat US fleet and keep
Allies from resupplying troops Four days of battle Entire Japanese fleet was destroyed
February-March 1945
Heavy losses for both US Marines
(4 Marines died for every yard taken)
Airfields made it possible for US to attack closer to Japan
April to July 1945 Japan’s last effort to
protect the empire A bloody land battle 100,000 Japanese
died and 12,000 Americans
US is now 350 miles away from Japan’s main islands