WWII- The Pacific

Takes months to mobilize a army- American people become impatient- need a morale boost

Spring 1942- Bombing Raid over Tokyo◦ Led by James Doolittle◦ Plan- drop bombs, land in

mainland China and ditch planes

◦ Had no strategic Military Value This raid sent a message to

Japan- we can drop bombs on your cities

Preparing to fight Japan

Australia had become a major staging area for the U.S

Japan wanted to shut down the supply route to Australia

First battle here opposing sides never saw each other- ships v. airplanes

Battle of Coral Sea- May 1942

Bridge on the River Kwai

Turning Point of the War After Doolittle’s raid,

Japan is shocked- decide they needed to push farther east ◦ Sent 4 aircraft carriers and a

host of other ships U.S knew they were

coming- set a trap Japan lost- 275 planes

shot down, 4 carriers lost After Midway Japan will

fight defensively

Battle of Midway

The American strategy was called Island Hopping

Instead of attacking Japan directly, the navy would capture the smaller islands around Japan to back them into a corner

Island Hopping

Iwo Jima’s importance- had 2 air strips At total of 70,000 American troops landed on the island-

30,000 died Fighting took 6 weeks- almost all of the Japanese were

killed (21,000) If the Japanese would fight so hard for an island, how

hard would they fight to defend Japan itself?

Iwo Jima