Chapter 25 section 4 The War in the Pacific

Bataan Death March Brutal March of American and Filipino prisoners by Japanese soldiers in 1942 Denied water and rest Many beaten and tortured More than 10,000 died during the 6-10 day ordeal

Geneva Convention Conducted in 1929 Stated that “prisoners of war shall at all times be humanely treated and protected, particularly against acts of violence.” Bataan Death March a clear violation of the Geneva Convention

Why was the United States unable to defend the Philippines successfully? American troops were surprised by the Japanese The Philippines were too distant from the U.S. to reinforce with more American troops to make a difference

Battle of the Coral Sea May 1942- US and Australian forces intercept Japanese fleet targeting Australia-Battle of the Coral Sea New Warfare-all fighting done with carrier-based planes-opposing ships never saw each other

Why was the Battle of the Coral Sea important to the Allies? Allies lost more ships than Japanese Japanese fleet too short of fuel to continue to Australia-1st time Japanese had been stopped Moral victory for the US Allies lost more ships than Japanese Japanese fleet too short of fuel to continue to Australia-1st time Japanese had been stopped Moral victory for the US

Battle of Midway June 1942- Chester Nimitz-commander of American forces in Pacific- learned Japanese invasion force heading for Midway then on to Pearl Harbor 110 Japanese ships Largest assemblage of naval power in history

Battle of Midway US outnumbered 4 to 1-prepared a surprise for Japanese at Midway Americans ordered to inflict maximum damage on the enemy

Battle of Midway Japanese lose 4 aircraft carriers, a cruiser, 322 planes Americans avenged Pearl Harbor

Battle of Guadalcanal 1st land offensive of Japanese war- Guadalcanal in Solomon Islands 19,000 marines 6 months later-Japanese leave 1st Japanese defeat on land

How did the Battle of Midway and the Battle of Guadalcanal change the course of the war in the Pacific? The losses sustained by Japan during the Battle of Midway prevented the Japanese from launching any further offensive operations in the Pacific In the Battle of Guadalcanal, the Americans conquered their first piece of Japanese-held territory

Island Hopping Lots of distance between island on in the Pacific Japanese troops dug in on hundreds of islands Taking each island would be long and costly Americans “leapfrogged” Japanese strongholds Seized less-fortified islands, built airfields, used airpower to cut Japanese supply lines Starved out Japanese strong points

Why were aircraft carriers crucial to the Japanese and American war efforts? Carrier-based aircraft could attack the opposing fleet from a great distance without the need for a land base Carriers are highly mobile Air strikes could be carried out anywhere in the Pacific

Battle of Leyte Gulf October 1944- 178,000 Allied troops & 280 ships converge on Leyte Island in the Philippines Japanese throw entire fleet into the battle Japanese introduce kamikaze-suicide plane In the Philippines- 424 kamikazes-sunk 16 US ships and damaged another 80 Leyte Gulf a disaster for Japan Lost 3 battleships 4 aircraft carriers 13 cruisers 400 planes

Kamikaze Japanese suicide plane Effective because they inflicted massive amounts of damage

Battle of Iwo Jima US could use this as abase to attack Japan Most heavily defended spot on earth 20,700 Japanese dug into Iwo Jima 6,000 marines died taking Iwo Jima

Iwo Jima 200 Japanese survived Last obstacle was Okinawa

Battle of Okinawa Japan’s last defensive outpost Unleashed 1,900 kamikazes Sunk 30 allied ships Killed 5,000 US sailors Fighting ends June 22, 1945 More than 7,600 Americans died 110,000 Japanese die If Okinawa was defended this fiercely, what would an invasion of Japan be like? Churchill predicted 1million American lives and 500,000 British

How did the Battle of Okinawa influence the decision to use the atomic bomb against Japan? If Okinawa was defended this fiercely, what would an invasion of Japan be like? Churchill predicted 1million American lives and 500,000 British

Manhattan Project Manhattan Project- project to develop the atomic bomb Most ambitious scientific project in history Best kept secret of he war More than 600,000 Americans were involved in the project-few actually knew the purpose

How was the atomic bomb different from other war technology? It was the most powerful weapon ever created and had the potential to destroy hundreds of thousands of lives with a single bomb

Alternatives to dropping the atomic bombs 1. A massive invasion of Japan, expected to cause million of Allied casualties 2. A naval blockade to starve Japan, along with continued conventional bombing 3. A demonstration of the new weapon on a deserted island to pressure Japan to surrender 4. A softening of Allied demands for unconditional surrender

Hiroshima August 6, 1945 Enola Gay released atomic bomb code named Little Boy over Hiroshima an important Japanese military center 43 seconds later, the city collapsed to dust Japanese leaders still hesitated to surrender

Nagasaki August 9, 1945- a second atomic bomb-Fat Man- was dropped on Nagasaki Leveled half the city By the end of 1945-200,000 people had died due to the atomic bombs

Japanese Surrender September 2, 1945-Japanese formally surrender on board the USS Missouri