The War in the Pacific Ch 14 sec 3

I. A Slow Start for the Allies After Pearl Harbor, the U.S. took a few months to recover. Also, the focus of the nation was on Europe, so the ability to strike back at the Japanese was delayed. The Japanese made huge advances while the U.S. was recovering. They spread throughout the south Pacific and Southeast Asia, solidifying their control of resources they need. http://www.historyplace.com/unitedstates/pacificwar/pacwar.gif

I. A Slow Start for the Allies One of the main targets for Japan was the U.S. controlled Philippines. They forced the out-manned Americans back to a defensive position on the Bataan peninsula. The army ran out of food and medicine, and had to surrender to the Japanese. The POWs were then marched 65 miles to a prison camp, with little food or water given to the prisoners. http://gettingunstuckllc.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/pow1.jpg

I. A Slow Start for the Allies Thousands died on the march, called the Bataan Death March, and hundreds more died at the prison camp. http://binaryapi.ap.org/aad74de199e5da11af9f0014c2589dfb/preview.jpg?wm=api

II. Fortunes Shift in the Pacific After the loss of the Philippines, the U.S. finally got some good news. A squadron of bombers were able to attack Tokyo and other cities in Japan in retaliation of Pearl Harbor. Although it was not a physically damaging attack, it did cause the U.S. to celebrate, and it gave concern to the Japanese about possible future attacks. http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/images/g40000/g41191.jpg

II. Fortunes Shift in the Pacific At the Battle of the Coral Sea, the U.S. was able to stop the Japanese advance for the first time. The Battle of Midway was the turning point in the war. The Japanese lost all four of its aircraft carriers, over 250 planes and were unable to initiate attacks for the rest of the war. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/89/Battle_of_Midway.jpg

III. The Allies Make Progress The Allies defeated the Japanese at Guadalcanal after months of intense fighting. They used a combination of land, sea, and air attacks to gain control of the island. This started the island-hopping plan of attacking some islands while bypassing others. The manufacturing capability of the U.S. could replace lost equipment that Japan could not. https://mrshealy-usii.wikispaces.com/file/view/Island_Hopping.PNG/337068120/Island_Hopping.PNG

III. The Allies Make Progress The U.S. had broken the Japanese code early on, and the U.S. used Navajo radio operators to translate messages, and the Japanese were never able to break that code. The U.S., led by General MacArthur, took back the Philippines. The Battle of Leyte Gulf was where the Japanese navy was all but destroyed. Kamikaze pilots were first used at the battle. They did not affect the battle, but they were feared. https://www.cia.gov/news-information/featured-story-archive/2008-featured-story-archive/navajo-code-talkers/navajo-code-talkers-2.jpg/image.jpg

III. The Allies Make Progress The Allies then wanted islands closer to Japan to stage bombing raids on the country. The first island they took was Iwo Jima. Out of the 20,000 Japanese soldiers on the island, only 1,000 surrendered. The rest fought to the death. The next island was Okinawa, where again the Japanese fought with no real thought of surrender. There were huge losses on both sides, and the Americans realized that the invasion of mainland Japan would be a long, bloody process. http://www.iwojima.com/bond/lflage.gif

In your notebooks Half-page summary of the lecture today.