Ms. BielefeldSpring 2012

16.2 Japan’s Pacific Campaign

Japan plans to attack European colonies in Southeast Asia

Americans cracked their codes & sent aid to Chinese resistance (fighting Japanese since 1931)

July 1941—Roosevelt cuts off oil to Japan

Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto called for an attack on the U.S. fleet in Hawaii

The Road to Pearl Harbor

Japanese launched a surprise attack on U.S. naval fleet at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii

Severely damaged naval fleet (19 ships) in 2 hours

Over 2,300 Americans killed & over 1,100 wounded

December 8—Roosevelt addressed Congress & declared war on Japan

“A date which will live in infamy.” -FDR

Pearl Harbor—December 7, 1941

Same time as Pearl Harbor, Japanese attack Hong Kong (Britain), Guam (U.S.), and Wake Island (U.S.)

Japanese attack the Philippines & they fall in 1942

Japan captures Hong Kong, Singapore, & Dutch East Indies

Japanese treated captured people brutally

Japanese Victories

70,000 Allied prisoners marched 50 miles up the Bataan Peninsula in the Philippines

Many were beaten & killed

54,000 survived the march

Bataan Death March

April 1942—Doolittle Raids—U.S. planes bombed Tokyo (lifted American spirits)

Battle of Coral Sea—1st naval battle carried out completely by aircraftNew kind of fighting introduced—done by

airplanesPrevent Japanese attack of Australia

Allies Strike Back

Thanks to code breakers, Admiral Chester Nimitz, commander in chief of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, knew the Japanese were heading for Midway Island

U.S. destroyed Japan’s naval fleet & Japan retreated

Midway was a key American airfield

Turned the tide of the war in the Pacific

Battle of Midway—June 4-7, 1942

General Douglas MacArthur—American Army commander in the Pacific

Strategy: island-hopping towards JapanHop past enemy strongholds & attack

weaker Japanese basesBuilt airfields on conquered islands

Island Hopping

MacArthur and his men

August 7- February 1943 (6 months)

Marines stormed the island and marked Japan’s first defeat on land

Over 24,000 lost

Referred to as “the Island of Death” by both sides

Allowed U.S. to reach Japan with long-range bombers

Battle of Guadalcanal