World War II

War in the Pacific

Japanese Military Flag Japan’s National Flag

Japan Goes to War

• Just like Germany & Italy, Japan was unhappy with their situation

• Lack of raw materials

• Lack of markets for industries

• Lack of space for growing population

• Suffering from Great Depression of 1930’s

• In 1931 Japan went to war, in 1941 they attacked Pearl Harbor

Fall of the Philippines

• 1941 – Japan attacks the Philippines*

• 1/2 of U.S. forces lost during air attack

• U.S & Philippine troops retreated to Bataan Peninsula - held out 4 months

• U.S. General Macarthur ordered to leave his army & escape to Australia

• April 1942 – forces retreated to the island of Corregidor in Manila Bay

• Lack of food & ammunition - 72K U.S troops surrendered

*(The U.S. occupied the Philippines since the Spanish-American War in 1898)

Bataan Death March

Prisoners from Corregidor divided into groups - 500 to 1000

Marched 60 miles north to a prison camp

6-12 day march - 10K U.S. soldiers died

News of this did not reach the American public until 1945

The Battle of Midway Japanese goal – destroy remaining U.S fleet

June 4, 1942 - fought entirely by air

U.S. planes discovered Japanese fleet of carriers reloading & refueling planes – Japanese were unable to launch an air defense

U.S sunk 3 of the 4 Japanese carriers & destroyed 250 planes

Heavy blow to the Japanese fleet prevented any further offensives in the Pacific

Battle of Guadalcanal 1st land battle btw. Japanese & U.S

August 1942 - 11K marines landed

2200 Japanese fled into the jungle

First taste of jungle warfare

U.S faced booby traps, ambushes, snipers

February 1943 - remaining Japanese escaped undetected

Island Hopping

1943 to 1944 – Two-prong allied advance

MacArthur & Adm. Halsey leapfrogged through Solomon Islands towards Philippines (skipping some islands)

Admiral Nimitz moved west across the Gilbert, Marshall & Marianna Islands

Air bases used to bomb future targets - Guam, Iwo Jima & Okinawa

By the end of 1944, the U.S was bombing Japanese cities.

The Philippine Campaign Oct. 1944, 160K U.S. troops invaded island of Leyte

Japanese lost 80K troops

Battle for Manila killed 100K Filipino civilians

Allies secured the Philippines, June 1945

Largest naval battle in history unfolded off the coast

280 ships including every warship Japan had left

Navy virtually destroyed

Japanese use Kamikazes

(suicide planes)

The Battle of Iwo Jima Japan occupied the 14 square mile volcanic island with

rocky slopes

700 miles from Japan – U.S could begin bombing Japan

25K Japanese, heavily fortified with concrete bunkers, honeycomb network of tunnels

Nov. 1944 - 74 days of aerial & & naval artillery with 110k troops

March 1945 - 6800 marines dead

Only 216 Japanese captured

The Battle of Okinawa April - June 1945 - bloodiest battle

350 miles from Japan - Last obstacle for an invasion of Japan

Allies launched attack the size of Normandy

U.S. used 1300 ships & 180K troops vs. 100K Japanese

Japanese used Kamikazes & Banzai tactics

After 3 months - 50K U.S casualties, 7200 prisoners

The Manhattan Project 1939 - Albert Einstein contacted FDR & explained possibility

of making a nuclear weapon.

Germany was attempting to build one of these new weapons too

FDR created the Manhattan project

1942 Enrico Fermi created 1st controlled nuclear reaction

Fermi’s work was field tested on July 16, 1945 in the desert of New Mexico

Hiroshima, 8 months after

Japan Surrenders

3 options other than the Atom bomb

Land invasion, naval blockade, conventional bombing

Aug. 6, 1945 - Hiroshima

140K killed instantly, 1000s more from burns & radiation

Aug. 9 – Nagasaki, similar results

Japan surrendered Aug. 14th, 1945

The End