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The Pacific War

• Dates: July 7, 1937 ‐ August 14, 1945

• Began with the Second Sino‐Japanese war, between China and Japan

• Concluded with Japan’s surrender to the Allied powers

Prelude to War

• Japan seeks to establish “The Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere”• “a bloc of Asian nations led by the Japanese and free of Western powers”

• Invasions of Manchuria and Korea follow•Three political forces in Japan:

•Emperor Hirohito•Civilian Government•Military branches

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Japan and China

• Operating without knowledge of the high command but possibly with knowledge of the Palace, officers of the Japanese Kwangtung Army staged the September 1931 Manchurian Incident by which it claimed the right to exact military retribution against China and established the puppet state of Manchukuo. Subsequent incidents led the Japanese army to invade parts of Northern China. Japan also occupied for a time Shanghai, and following a protest by the League of Nations, Japan withdrew from the League. 

1932

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Prewar

Japan had few natural resources in creating an empire it hoped to gain natural resources to feed its industry and war machine such as iron, coal, lead, copper, oil, and rubber

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ABCD Encirclement Policy 

•This was the "ABCD encirclement" (American‐British‐Chinese‐Dutch) designed to deny Japan of the raw materials needed to continue its war in China. They stopped selling oil and steel to Japan Japan saw this as an act of aggression, as without these resources Japan's military machine would grind to a halt. 

1937

AB

C

D

“ABCD Encirclement”

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1940‐1941

Fleet Admiral Yamamoto

Fleet Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto

“The US fleet is a dagger pointed at our throat and must be destroyed.”

“I can run wild for six months,after that, I have no expectation of success.”

- Yamamoto, during discussions on the planned Pearl Harbour Attack

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Attack on Pearl Harbor Dec. 7 1941

• In the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor the United States 2,403 Americans were killed including 63 civilians. 19 U.S. Navy ships were destroyed or damaged including 8 battleships. Luckily, the U.S. carriers were not in the harbor at the time of the attack. In addition, 328 U.S. planes were destroyed or damaged. This event brought the U.S. into the war

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•So what did the British Prime Minister Winston Churchill think of the attack?

“I thought of a remark . . . that the United States is like a 'gigantic boiler. Once the fire is lighted under it there is no limit to the power it can generate.' Being saturated and satiated (filled) with emotion and sensation, I went to bed and slept the sleep of the saved and thankful.”

•Great Britain would no longer be fighting the Germans and Japanese alone. Now, the US would be fighting on their side.

1941Dec.7/8

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• Japan launched a surprise attack on the Philippines on December 8, 1941, just ten hours after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Initial aerial bombardment was followed by landings of ground troops both north and south of Manila. The defending Philippine and United States troops were under the command of General Douglas MacArthur, who had been recalled to active duty in the United States Army earlier in the year and was designated commander of the United States Armed Forces in the Asia‐Pacific region. The aircraft of his command were destroyed; the naval forces were ordered to leave; and because of the circumstances in the Pacific region, reinforcement and resupply of his ground forces were impossible. Under the pressure of superior numbers, the defending forces withdrew to the Bataan Peninsula and to the island of Corregidor at the entrance to Manila Bay. Manila, declared an open city to prevent its destruction, was occupied by the Japanese on January 2, 1942. 

Bataan Death March April 1942• The Philippine defense continued until the final surrender of United States‐Philippine forces on the Bataan Peninsula in April 1942 and on Corregidor in May. Most of the 80,000 prisoners of war captured by the Japanese at Bataan were forced to undertake the infamous "Death March" to a prison camp 105 kilometers to the north. It is estimated that as many as 10,000 men, weakened by disease and malnutrition and treated harshly by their captors, died before reaching their destination. Quezon and Osmeña had accompanied the troops to Corregidor and later left for the United States, where they set up a government in exile. MacArthur was ordered to Australia, where he started to plan for a return to the Philippines. 

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Battle of Coral Sea

First naval battle carried out entirely by aircraft.

The enemy ships never even came into contact with each other

•May 7, 1942

•Strategic Allied victory—halted the Japanese advance on Australia

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The Battle Of Midway

June 4-7 1942

6 months after Pearl Harbour

Yamamoto seeks to capture Midway atoll and thus confront and destroy the US Navy’s carrier forces.

Midway Order of Battle

US forces:

3 carriers

~50 support ships

233 carrier aircraft

127 land-based aircraft

Japanese forces:

4 carriers

7 battleships

~150 support ships

248 carrier aircraft

16 floatplanes

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•The first major carrier vs. carrier engagement

•Decided by cryptanalysis, tactics, radar, pilot skill, weather, and luck.

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The Battle of Midway

• Scouts from the US fleet find the Japanese Fleet first• A delayed scout means the Japanese fleet receives a warning of US carriers only minutes before the first US planes attack

• After losing many planes in ineffective strikes, US dive bombers manage to set three Japanese carriers on fire.

• A Japanese counterstrike does heavy damage to one US carrier

• Japanese battleships never see combat

The Battle of Midway

US forces:

3 carriers, 1 lost

~50 support ships, 1 destroyer lost

360 aircraft, 98 lost

307 dead

Japanese forces:

4 carriers, 4 lost

7 battleships, 0 lost

~150 support ships, 1 cruiser lost

264 aircraft, 228 lost

3058 dead

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Guadalcanal—8/42‐2/43• Who:  US vs. Japan

• Where:  Island near Australia—

one of Solomon Islands

• What:  One of the most vicious campaigns• It marked the beginning on the American Island hopping campaign to retake the Pacific

• Japanese put up a fierce resistance• US has superior air and naval power

• Results:• First time US land troops defeat Japanese

• Americans are able to secure the island

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KAMIKAZE PILOTS ATTACK ALLIES

• The Americans continued leapfrogging across the Pacific toward Japan

• Japanese countered by employing a new tactic –Kamikaze (divine wind) attacks 

• Pilots in small bomb‐laden planes would crash into Allied shipsIn the Battle for the Philippines, 424

Kamikaze pilots sank 16 ships and damaged 80 more

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1944‐1945

The Final Year

• The US retakes the Philippines in a long and costly campaign.

• Borneo, Iwo Jima, and the Okinawa fall, with heavy losses on both sides.

• The military leadership of Japan refuses to give up, in spite of the loss of the bulk of their forces and issues an edict ordering civilians on the main Japanese islands to construct bamboo spears and meet the invaders on the beaches.

• US Bombers produce a firestorm in Tokyo, killing 100,000 people in two days.

• The US, Britain, and China issue the Potsdam Declaration, demanding Japan’s surrender.

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Iwo Jima

• February19, 1945 –March 16,1945

• Iwo Jima, which means “sulfur island” is about 660 miles south of Japan and approximately 8 square miles.

• Approximately 70,000 U.S. troops and 22,000 Japanese troops took part in the fighting

• Japanese defenders were dug into bunkers deep within the volcanic soil. The battle was won inch-by-inch.

• In the almost one month of fighting more than 20,000 Japanese troops and 6,000 U.S. Marines were killed and an additional 20,000 U.S. Marines were wounded.

• This battle was the bloodiest in Marine Corps history

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Why Iwo Jima?

• Iwo Jima was strategically important as an air base for fighter escorts supporting the long range bombing missions against mainland Japan. 

•Because of its distance between mainland Japan and U.S. bases in the Mariana Islands, the capture of Iwo Jima was necessary to provide an emergency landing strip for crippled B‐29s returning from bombing runs. 

•The seizure of Iwo Jima would allow for sea and air blockades and would provide the ability to conduct intensive air bombardment and to destroy the enemy’s air and navel capabilities 

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•The seizure of the island prepared the way for the last major battle in the Pacific Theater: the invasion of Okinawa   

•The prime reason for taking Iwo Jima was the requirement for an emergency landing strip for the two planes that would deliver the atomic bomb. The thought of loosing these multi‐Million dollar weapons at sea weighted heavy on the minds of the war planners     

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Strategic Bombing

B-29 Superfortress bombers

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Okinawa

• The Battle of Okinawa was codenamed Operation Iceberg. The Ryukyu Island of Okinawa and was the largest amphibious assault of the Pacific War

• The battle lasted for 82 days from early April to mid-June 1945.

• Okinawa is only 340 miles from mainland Japan• The U.S. had 138, 000 troops in the initial assault force. During

the battle they suffered 12,000 killed and more than 38,000 wounded

• Japan had 120,000 troops including 40,000 Okinawan conscripts. In the battle 110,000 were killed and 7,000 captured.

• 40,000 to 150,000 civilians were killed

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INVADE JAPAN?

• After Okinawa, MacArthur predicted that a Normandy type amphibious invasion of Japan would result in 1,500,000 Allied deaths

• President Truman saw only one way to avoid an invasion of   Japan . . .

The loss of life at Iwo Jima and Okinawa convinced Allied leaders that an invasion of

Japan was not the best idea

Okinawa

ATOMIC BOMB  DEVELOPED

• Japan had a huge army that would defend every inch of the Japanese mainland

• So Truman decided to use a powerful new weapon developed by scientists working on the Manhattan Project – the Atomic Bomb

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U.S. DROPS TWO      ATOMIC BOMBS ON JAPAN

• Truman warned Japan in late July 1945 that without a immediate Japanese surrender, it    faced “prompt and utter destruction”

• On August 6 (Hiroshima)  and August 9 (Nagasaki) a B‐29 bomber dropped Atomic Bombs on Japan The plane and crew that dropped an

atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan

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Hiroshima- 90,000 to 100,000 persons were

killed immediately- 145,000 persons perish from the

bombing by the end of 1945.

NagasakiLeveled Area: 6.7 million square metersDamaged Houses: 18,409CasualtiesKilled------73,884Injured-----74,909Total------148,793(Large numbers of people died in the following years from the effects of radioactive poisoning.)

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Nuclear Strikes

Aug 6, 1945. Uranium bomb “Little Boy” dropped on Hiroshima, killing 140,000

Aug 9, 1945. Plutonium bomb “Fat Man” dropped on Nagasaki, killing 74,000

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Japan Surrenders

Representatives of Japan’s Foreign Ministry, Army and Navy appear to sign the surrender aboard USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay

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The Cost

• 2,000,000 Japanese Soldiers dead• 300,000 Allied Soldiers dead• 600,000 - 1,000,000 Japanese civilians dead• 11,000 American civilians dead• 60,000 Korean civilians dead• Mass devastation of Japanese infrastructure• Indigenous people of north and western Pacific islands devastated by disease, cultural contamination, collateral damage, and atrocities.

• The list continues…

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THE YALTA CONFERENCE

• In February 1945, as the Allies pushed toward victory in Europe, an ailing FDR met with Churchill and Stalin at the Black Sea resort of Yalta in the USSR

•A series of compromises   were worked out concerning postwar Europe

(L to R) Churchill, FDR and Stalin at Yalta

YALTA AGREEMENTS• 1) They agreed to divide Germany into 4 occupied zones after the war

• 2) Stalin agreed to free elections in Eastern Europe• 3) Stalin agreed to help  the U.S. in the war against Japan and to join the United Nations

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NUREMBERG WAR TRIALS

• The discovery of Hitler’s death camps led the Allies to put 24 surviving Nazi leaders on trial for crimes against humanity, crimes against the peace, and war crimes

• The trials were held in Nuremberg, Germany

• “I was only following orders” was not an acceptable defense as 12 of the 24 were sentenced to death and the others to life in prison

Herman Goering, Hitler's right-hand man and chief architect of the German war effort, testifies at his trial. He was found guilty of war crimes but avoided execution by

swallowing potassium cyanide.

THE OCCUPATION OF JAPAN

• Japan was occupied by U.S. forces under the command of General MacArthur

• During the seven‐ year occupation, MacArthur reshaped Japan’s economy by introducing free‐market practices that led to a remarkable economic recovery

• Additionally, he introduced a liberal constitution that to this day is called the MacArthur Constitution

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SECTION 4: THE HOME FRONT

• The war provided a lift to the U.S. economy

• Jobs were abundant and despite rationing and shortages, people had money to spend

• By the end of the war, America was the world’s dominant economic and military power

ECONOMIC GAINS

•Unemployment fell to only 1.2% by 1944 and wages rose 35% 

•Farmers too benefited as production doubled and income tripled 

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WOMEN MAKE GAINS

•Women enjoyed economic gains during the war, although many lost their jobs after the war

•Over 6 million women entered the work force for the first time

•Over 1/3 were in the defense industry

POPULATION SHIFTS

• The war triggered the greatest mass migration in American history

• More than a million newcomers poured into California between 1941-1944

• African Americans again shifted from south to north

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GI BILL HELPS RETURNING VETS

• To help returning servicemen ease back into civilian life, Congress passed the Servicemen’s Readjustment Act (GI Bill of Rights)

• The act provided education for 7.8 million vets

INTERNMENT OF JAPANESE AMERICANS

• When the war began, 120,000 Japanese Americans lived in the U.S. – mostly on the West Coast

• After Pearl Harbor, many people were suspicious of possible spy activity by Japanese Americans

• In 1942, FDR ordered Japanese Americans into 10 relocation centers Japanese Americans felt the sting

of discrimination during WWII

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Location of the 10 Internment camps

Jerome camp in Arkansas

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U.S. PAYS REPARATIONS TO JAPANESE

• In the late 1980s, President Reagan signed into law a bill that provided $20,000 to every Japanese American sent to a relocation camp

• The checks were sent out in 1990 along with a note from President Bush saying, “We can never fully right the wrongs of the past . . . we now recognize that serious wrongs were done to Japanese Americans during WWII.”

Today the U.S. is home to more than 1,000,000 Japanese-

Americans

Nearly 59 years after the end of World War II, the National World War II Memorial was dedicated in Washington, D.C., on Saturday, May 29, 2004 to

honor the 408,680 Americans who died in the conflict