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The War in the Pacific
Japan
Hawaii
Iwo Jima
Leyte Gulf
Okinawa
Guadalcanal
Coral Sea
Midway
Pearl Harbor – Dec. 7th, 1941
Review: Why attack the USA at Pearl Harbor?
Attack on the Philippines
• March, 1942 - Philippines– Japan attacks the
Philippines to try to rid the US from the region.
• Bataan Death March– 76,000 American
refugees taken prisoner, forced to march 60 miles to prison camps without food or water.
» 10,000 die» 15,000 die in
prison camps
“I Shall Return”
The Doolittle Raid• April, 1942 – Doolittle Raid
– Small scale bombing raid on Tokyo• Does not cause much damage, but is a huge morale
booster for U.S.
Battle of Coral Sea
• May 1942 – Coral Sea– After fall of Dutch East
Indies (Indonesia) Japan is looking to invade Australia
• Battle of Coral Sea– Planes on both sides
bombed aircraft carriers.– *First naval battle
completely between aircraft carriers that weren’t within sight of each-other.
– Ended in a draw.• But, it stops Japanese
expansion into Australia.
The Turning Point
• June 1942 - Midway– Japan is looking to “finish
off” the US Pacific fleet.• US suffers heavy losses at
first, but ultimately sinks all four Japanese carriers.
– Allied victory - Go on offensive
• Aug 1942 – Feb 1943 – Guadalcanal– First Allied victory on
Japanese-held soil.• Fierce jungle combat
between Marines and Japanese on interior of island.
– 5 months!
• Island Hopping– US
strategy to attack specific crucial islands.
– Cuts off supplies.
Meanwhile, Carpet Bombing Japan
•In one such raid on Tokyo in March of 1945, 279 US B-29 Bombers destroyed 267,000 buildings, killing 100,000 people and destroying 25% of Tokyo.
=Dropping many bombs over a large area to destroy an entire region
Taking Back the Philippines
• Oct 1944 – Dec 1944 – Leyte Gulf– U.S. assault to take
back Philippines• Largest air and naval
encounter in history• Japanese utilize
Kamikazes
– U.S. victory.• Do not officially take
all of Philippines until June 1945.
• Nearly destroy entire Japanese navy
Iwo Jima
• Feb 1945 - Iwo Jima– Fighting intensified
as US Troops got closer to Japan.
• Iwo Jima is considered Japanese soil.
– Lasts 74 days– US drops 20,000
bombs– 25,000 US casualties– 22,000 Japanese
casualties– Only 218 Japanese
taken prisoner
Okinawa
• March 1945 – June 1945 - Okinawa– Last obstacle to an
invasion of the Japanese mainland.
– 100,000 Japanese defenders vow to fight to death.
• 1,300 warships, 180,000 combat troops invade.
– 50,000 US casualties– Only 7,200 Japanese
POWs
Invasion of Japan?
The Fears of Invading Japan
• Bushido (the warrior way) – this samurai way influenced how the Japanese fought until death
• Conventional bombing was not working (100,000 civilians killed in Tokyo)
• Our losses were mounting as well as time spent fighting was growing
Hiroshima
• August 6th, 1945 the Enola Gay dropped the world’s first atomic bomb on the city of Hiroshima
• About 50,000 people were instantly killed
• Within a month or two up to 100,000 more died of radiation poisoning, burns, or sickness
The Effects
• Before After
Nagasaki
• August 9th, 1945, the Bockscar dropped the second atomic bomb (a fusion bomb)
• 35,000 people were instantly killed with 35,000 more dying with a few weeks!
• Two more bombings were planned but the Japanese surrendered on August 15th, 1945 (V-J Day) and since then a nuclear bomb has not been detonated in aggression
• The US made over 31,000 more by 1967 conducting over 1,000 test detonations!