WWII In the Pacific

Immediately after the US entered the war, Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill agreed that the war in Europe would be priority number one. After the Allies defeated Germany and Italy, they would concentrate on the Pacific theater of war. The US was already engaged in the Pacific, however, by virtue of the large US presence at sea and in the Philippine Islands. After Pearl Harbor…

I. Philippines attacked December 8. A I. Philippines attacked December 8 A. About half of General MacArthur’s air force destroyed on the ground B. Within days, a large Japanese force landed in the Philippines Philippine Islands

C. MacArthur withdrew to the Bataan Peninsula D. Americans held out for four months, 12,000 surrendered the Philippines May, 1942 Bataan Peninsula

E. Prisoners of War forced on 6 to 12 day Bataan Death March 1. Marched 60 miles to a railroad without food or water 2. Many executed for not keeping up 3. At least 10,000 died 4. After the war, Japanese general executed for war crimes On April 9, 1942, Major General Edward P. King Jr. surrendered at Bataan, Philippines--against General Douglas MacArthur's orders--and 78,000 troops (66,000 Filipinos and 12,000 Americans), the largest contingent of U.S. soldiers ever to surrender, were taken captive by the Japanese. The prisoners were at once led 55 miles from Mariveles, on the southern end of the Bataan peninsula, to San Fernando, on what became known as the "Bataan Death March." At least 600 Americans and 5,000 Filipinos died because of the extreme brutality of their captors, who starved, beat, and kicked them on the way; those who became too weak to walk were bayoneted. Those who survived were taken by rail from San Fernando to POW camps, where another 16,000 Filipinos and at least 1,000 Americans died from disease, mistreatment, and starvation. After the war, the International Military Tribunal, established by MacArthur, tried Lieutenant General Homma Masaharu, commander of the Japanese invasion forces in the Philippines. He was held responsible for the death march, a war crime, and was executed by firing squad on April 3, 1946.

Japanese soldier beating a Prisoner of War during the Bataan death march.

General Jimmy Doolittle II. Doolittle’s raid on Tokyo boosts morale—April 18, 1942 General Jimmy Doolittle

III. Battle of Coral Sea May, 1942. A. Naval battle prevented Japanese III. Battle of Coral Sea May, 1942 A. Naval battle prevented Japanese invasion of Australia B. Both navies suffered loss of one carrier, many planes

IV. Turning point at the Battle of Midway, June 4, 1942 A. Four Japanese carriers sunk B. Japanese never again able to launch major offensive action Midway Is.

V. America takes the offensive--Battle of Guadalcanal (August, 1942 – February, 1943) A. American marines’ first jungle fighting B. Japanese withdrew into swamps and jungles—set up ambushes C. Marines left alone for nearly six months while Japanese and American naval fleets battled nearby—Admiral Halsey’s fleet eventually drove the Japanese navy away

Guadalcanal

VI. Island hopping—selectively attacking or bypassing specific enemy-held islands A. Some Japanese troops were cut off from supplies and from rescue rather than attacked B. Admiral William “Bull” Halsey and General Douglas MacArthur in the Solomon Islands (west) C. Admiral Chester Nimitz in the Gilbert Islands (east)

VII. Nimitz moved north—closer to Japan A. Tarawa (1943), Eniwetok (1944), Guam (1944) B. Americans within bombing range of Japan in late 1944—Countless bombing raids over Japan from late 1944 to the end of the war

C. Iwo Jima, February-March, 1945 1. Nearly 25,000 Japanese defenders 2. Only 216 surrendered (fanatics?)

VIII. MacArthur, Halsey in the west A. Philippines (October, 1944-June, 1945) 1. Massive naval battle in Leyte Gulf virtually destroys Japanese navy 2. 80,000 Japanese defenders, less than 1000 surrendered (fanatics?) 3. Kamikazes—suicide planes—used for the first time

General Douglas MacArthur Admiral William “Bull” Halsey

B. Battle of Okinawa (April-June, 1945) 1. Last obstacle before Allied invasion of Japan 2. Invasion force of 130,000 second only to D-Day in Europe 3. 50,000 US casualties—Okinawa costliest battle in the Pacific

IX. President Roosevelt dies April 12, 1945 A. FDR’s health had been declining for several years B. Many Americans had never known another president C. Vice President Harry S. Truman became president

X. The Manhattan Project—the Atom bomb was developed in secret with the help of many scientists who had fled Germany and Italy before the war Albert Einstein Enrico Fermi Robert Oppenheimer

XI. The Atomic Bomb ends the war in the Pacific A. Bomb tested in July of 1945—it worked!

B. Interim committee—group of scientists, B. Interim committee—group of scientists, military leaders, government officials recommended using the bomb. Unacceptable alternatives: 1. Massive invasion of Japan 2. Naval blockade of Japan 3. Continued conventional bombing of Japan 4. Demonstration of the atom bomb 5. Accept less than unconditional surrender

C. Truman believed it was an easy decision to use the bomb 1. Fanatical Japanese resistance at Iwo Jima and Okinawa led Americans to expect as many as 1,000,000 casualties in an invasion

2. Unconditional surrender vital to stopping aggression—No WWI-style armistice—goal is to win, Japanese will not quit 3. Politically, Americans would demand using any weapon that could end the war President Truman

D. August 6, 1945 Hiroshima bombed—approximately 140,000 killed immediately or within months by radiation sickness, burns

E. August 7, 1945, Japanese did not surrender F. August 8, 1945, Japanese did not surrender G. August 9, 1945, Nagasaki bombed— thousands dead

H. August 10, 1945, Japanese did not surrender I. August 11, 1945, Japanese did not surrender J. August 12, 1945, Japanese did not surrender K. August 13, 1945, Japanese did not surrender

L. August 14, 1945, Japanese agreed to L. August 14, 1945, Japanese agreed to surrender—formally signed on September 2, 1945 aboard the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay