Modern US History Ch.26, Section 4 “War in the Pacific”

Japanese Advances After Pearl Harbor In the first 6 months following Pearl Harbor, Japan conquered an empire On the Asian mainland Japan took Hong Kong, French Indochina, Malaya, Burma, Thailand, and much of China In the Pacific, Japan took the Dutch East Indies, Guam, Wake Island, the Solomon Islands, and countless other islands including two small islands at the end of the Aleutian chain (part of Alaska)

U.S. Forces in the Pacific After Pearl Harbor With European Allies preoccupied with Hitler in Europe, the U.S. was the only power capable of stopping Japan With the U.S. fleet nearly destroyed, the strongest U.S. force in the region was the 80,000 American and Filipino troops in the Philippines They were led by General Douglas MacArthur

Japanese Attack the Philippines Japan invaded the Philippines in December of 1941 (same month as Pearl Harbor) Japanese forces moved toward the capitol city of Manila from both the north and the south Allied forces were cornered at the Bataan peninsula and on Corregidor Island Why didn’t the U.S. send help? General MacArthur was ordered off the island by FDR and was taken to safety in Australia, where he vowed “I shall return” In March of 1942 the remaining Allied forces in the Philippines surrendered Watch “The Great Raid” beginning clip (5 minutes)

Bataan Death March When Japan conquered the Philippines they marched 75,000 U.S. and Filipino captured soldiers miles to prisoner of war camps and thousands died along the way Beheadings, cut throats, casual shootings, bayonet stabbings, numerous rifle butt beatings and a deliberate refusal to allow the prisoners food or water while keeping them continually marching for nearly a week in tropical heat

Pictures of the Bataan Death March

Propaganda Poster in the U.S. after the Bataan Death March

Bataan Death March Memorial “The Battling Bastards of Bataan”

Doolittle’s Raid U.S. bombers attack Tokyo and other Japanese cities in April 1942 (Here Lt. Col. James H. Doolittle wires a Japanese medal to a bomb, for "return" to its originators in the first U.S. air raid on the Japanese home islands) Raiders low on fuel had to ditch planes in China Raid does little damage, but shows that Japan is vulnerable, and improves U.S. morale on the home front

Battle of Coral Sea Battle of the Coral Sea— U.S. stops Japanese advance, May 1942 (1st time Japanese were stopped in WWII) Prevented invasion of Australia 1st naval battle where ships were not in sight of each other and all the fighting was done by planes from aircraft carriers

New Kind of Naval Warfare Reconnaissance planes from aircraft carriers search for enemy task forces When enemy found, bombers are sent to attack Bombers do not engage each other, but pass each other on the way to the enemy aircraft carrier Fighters and anti-aircraft guns defended the ships against bombers Ships never close enough to see each other or shoot at each other

The Allies Strike Back Japan sends powerful fleet to capture Midway Island Battle of Midway— US destroyed all 4 of Japan’s aircraft carriers causing Japan to retreat This is the turning point in the war in the Pacific

Battle of Midway

Battle of Guadalcanal A lengthy battle on this island northeast of Australia that was the first victory on land for the Allies against the Japanese in WWII

Island Hopping U.S. strategy of taking strategically important islands, usually not heavily defended by the Japanese Then they could stage future attacks from these islands as they worked their way across the Pacific Ocean toward Japan ←Guadalcanal

Navajo Code Talkers U.S. Marines used Native Americans from the Navajo tribe to send messages on the battlefield as the Japanese couldn’t understand their language

Battle of Leyte Gulf This naval battle off the coast of the Philippines in early 1945 destroyed what was left of the Japanese navy It was the largest naval battle in history

Philippines Liberated in 1944 General Douglas MacArthur who vowed in 1941 to return to free the Philippines from Japanese control did so near the end of 1944

Kamikaze Suicide Pilots As the Japanese navy had been nearly wiped out the Japanese resorted to using young pilots in planes filled with explosives to try to sink U.S. ships

U.S.S. Bunker Hill hit by two kamikazes

Allies begins to bomb Tokyo Tokyo and other Japanese cities were bombed by using planes from aircraft carriers to try to hurt Japan’s wartime industries and to get Japan to surrender

Iwo Jima and Okinawa These islands were invaded by the Allies because they were close enough to Japan that we could bomb Japanese cities from planes that took off of their airbases

Iwo Jima and Okinawa U.S. Marines invaded Iwo Jima in Feb. 1945, and Okinawa in April, 1945 and met heavy Japanese resistance on both islands ◄ Marines fighting on Okinawa

Iwo Jima and Okinawa In the several months needed to take both islands the U.S. lost 18,000 men and Japan lost over 120,000 as they refused to surrender ◄ Marines raise the U.S. flag on Iwo Jima

Pacific War in 1945 Iwo Jima and Okinawa were taken in early 1945 so US could use their airbases to bomb Japan ◄ Okinawa ▲ Iwo Jima Black arrows represent the plans for an invasion of Japan if atomic bombs were not used