WWII: Pacific TheatreAct I

12/7/1941: Pearl Harbor

12/1941-5/1942: Grim Defeat and RetreatFall of Dutch East Indies, Fall of Philippines, Corregidor, Bataan Death March, Gen. MacArthur

– “I shall return.”

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PHILIPPINES

80,000 US VS.

200,000 JAPAN

After 5 Months-US Forces:14,000 KIA48,000 WIA

Map: Closing the Circle on Japan, 1942-1945

Closing the Circle on Japan, 1942-1945Following the Battle of Midway, with the invasion of Guadalcanal (August 1942), American forces began the costly process of island hopping. This map shows the paths of the American campaign in the Pacific, closing the circle on Japan. After the Soviet Union entered the war and Hiroshima and Nagasaki were destroyed by atomic bombs, Japan surrendered on August 15, 1945.

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

The Doolittle RaidsOn April 18, 1942, sixteen B25 bombers, with 80 volunteers commanded by Lieutenant Colonel James Doolittle, took off from the aircraft carrier Hornet. Their mission was to drop the first bombs on Tokyo, Nagoya and Yokohama. All reached their targets successfully, with little Japanese response. Then, low on fuel, fifteen of the planes crashed or were abandoned in China. (The Japanese would eventually execute 250,000 Chinese for helping the American fliers escape.) A sixteenth plane landed near Vladivostok. Two of the Doolittle raiders came down in enemy territory and three crewmen were executed. But 71 men eventually came home.

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WWII: Pacific TheatreAct II

May-June 1942: Allies Turn the Tide

Battle of the Coral Sea (saves Australia)

Battle of Midway (destroys Japanese Carriers)

Aug. 1942: “Island Hopping” begins

Guadalcanal (20K Japanese dead to 1200 USA)

Tarawa, Marianas, Solomon Islands

Aug. 1943: Recover Aleutian Islands

MEANWHILE: US subs destroy Japansese navy,

US begins bombing Tokyo and Japan

Battle of Midway• Admiral Chester Nimitz, US Commander• US uses intercepted/decoded Japanese messages re:

invasion fleet of 110 ships• Nimitz sets trap, destroys 332 planes, 4 aircraft carriers, and

many experienced Japanese pilots

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Island Hopping• By-pass Japanese

strong-points• Seize small, unfortified

islands• Build airfields on them• Use air power to

destroy Japanese supply lines

• Starve out Japanese strong-points

• Repeat

Tarawa by Tom LovellOn November 21, 1943, marines stormed ashore on the atoll of Tarawa, soon to be called "Bloody Tarawa." The marines secured the island, but the cost was high. Of the 5,000 marines who fought in the battle, more than 1,000 were killed and another 2,000 wounded. Nearly all of the 5,000 Japanese defenders died, many in a final "death charge." (U.S. Marine Corps Museum)

Tarawa by Tom Lovell

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

Map: Closing the Circle on Japan, 1942-1945

Closing the Circle on Japan, 1942-1945Following the Battle of Midway, with the invasion of Guadalcanal (August 1942), American forces began the costly process of island hopping. This map shows the paths of the American campaign in the Pacific, closing the circle on Japan. After the Soviet Union entered the war and Hiroshima and Nagasaki were destroyed by atomic bombs, Japan surrendered on August 15, 1945.

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

Gen. Douglas MacArthur

• Supreme Commander of Allies in Pacific

• Utilized “island hopping”• Brilliant strategist• 1/10 kill ratio US/Jap.• Put in charge of

governing Japan after WWII

• Led US forces in Korean War

• Fired by Truman for insubordination

http://www.e-yliko.gr/Fyyl/Istoria/prosopawwarII/Douglas%20MacArthur.gif

WWII: Pacific TheatreAct III

Oct. 1944: Battle of Leyte Gulf (final destruction of J navy)

Jan.-July 1945-: Liberation of PhilippinesMarch 1945: Iwo JimaApril-June 1945: Okinawa (Kamikaze)July 1945: Potsdam Conference (US, UK, USSR’s

ultimatum)Aug. 6, 1945: Hiroshima – 180,000 deathsAug. 9, 1945: Nagasaki – 80,000 deathsSep. 2, 1945: V-J Day

Kamikaze• “divine wind”• Used in Battle of Leyte

Gulf, Philippines• 424 kamikaze pilots sunk

16 ships, damaged 80• Similar suicidal resistance

shown by Japanese army on Iwo Jima, Okinawa

• Okinawa: 1900 kamikaze attacks sink 30 ships, damage 300, kill 5,000 sailors

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Manhattan Project

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• Secret project to develop atomic bomb• Racing Germans and Soviets• Began in 1942• Scientists organized by J. Robert

Oppenheimer (above right)• many scientists are refugees from fascist

countries• Bombs use plutonium and uranium 235 • First bomb, “Trinity,” tested July 16,

1945 near Alamogordo, NM – beginning of atomic age

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TRUMAN

• TRUMAN REPLACES FDR

• VET OF WWI

• MISSOURI

• HIGH SCHOOL EDUCATION

• COMES TO POLITICS AFTER FAILING AT BUSINESS

WHO DOES

HE REMIND YOU OF?

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YALTA: February 1945

•Last meeting of the Big Three•Stalin joins fight against Japan•USSR gets Manchuria, Kuril, Sakhalin•Founding of the United Nations, based on Atlantic Charter

What is it? Pact? Agreement? Sell-out?

Is it Versailles?Is it Munich?Or…?

Island Bases in Marianas and on Iwo Jima provided

strategic staging areas for the bombing of Japan

and dropping of the bomb.

http://www.mbe.doe.gov/me70/manhattan/potsdam_decision.htm

Hiroshima & Nagasaki

New World Order (?)• Nuremburg Trials: 1945

– Trial of Nazi and German Military Leaders– Foundations of International Human Rights

• New Crimes:– Crimes against Humanity– Crimes against Geneva Convention

• Division of Germany among “Big Four” – US, UK, USSR, and France– East and West Germany

• Military Administration of Germany and Japan– Gen. MacArthur runs Japan, writes democratic

constitution