World War II War in the Pacific

Axis Strategy Following Pearl Harbor, Japan invaded the Philippines and Indonesia and planned to invade both Hawaii and Australia Japanese leaders hoped America would accept Japanese predominance in Southeast Asia and the Pacific, rather than conduct a bloody and costly war to reverse Japanese gains

Allied Strategy Island Hopping Campaign – seizing islands closer and closer to Japan and using them as bases for air attacks on Japan and cutting off Japanese supplies through submarine warfare against Japanese shipping

May and June 1942 American warships and airplanes damaged 2 Japanese fleets during the battles of Coral Sea and Midway  weakened Japanese naval power and stopped the Japanese advance toward Hawaii

War in the Pacific

Summer 1942 – Island Hopping Campaign Americans landed at Guadalcanal and began Island Hopping Campaign American strategy to win World War II in the Pacific Capture a few strategic Japanese-held islands and isolating the rest Began with Guadalcanal

Island Hopping Campaign

October 1944 MacArthur began to retake the Philippines

February 1945 – Battle of Iwo Jima Part of the Island Hopping Campaign Americans suffered heavy casualties (6,800 Americans died)

April 1945 – Battle of Okinawa "Bloodiest island fight in the Pacific War" 12,000 Americans died By capturing Okinawa, Americans gained more airbases for raids against Japan (began bombing Tokyo, Yokohama, and Osaka)

Battle of Okinawa

July 1945 – Manhattan Project New Mexico  U.S. successfully tested the first atomic bomb (Manhattan Project  plans to build the first atomic bomb)

August 1945 Atomic Bomb dropped on Nagasaki and Hiroshima

September 1945 – V-J Day Japan surrendered  V-J Day (Victory in Japan Day)