WORLD WAR II Battles of the Pacific Theatre

Japanese Bomb Pearl Harbor  December 7 th, 1941  Japan surprised American fleet in Hawaii and destroyed or damaged 19 ships  2,300 Americans were killed  Following day US declared war on Japan

Island Hopping: Allied troops moved past Japanese strongholds seizing islands that were not well defended and moved Allied troops closer to Japan

Kamikaze: Japanese suicide pilots crashed bomb-filled aircraft into Allied ships

 January of 1942: Japanese attacked the Philippines  Americans fought them from Bataan Peninsula  3 months of fighting before Japan overtook American forces

 Japanese considered it dishonorable to surrender and had contempt for prisoners of war  Bataan Death March- 50 mile forced march of POWs  70,000 POWs only 54,000 survived

 “I was questioned by a Japanese officer, who found out that I had been in the Philippine Scout Battalion. The [Japanese] hated the Scouts… Anyway, they took me outside and I was forced to watch as they buried six of my Scouts alive. They made the men dig their own graves, and then had them kneel down in a pit. The guards hit them over the head with shovels to stun them and piled earth on top.” - Lieutenant John Spainhower ( War Diary )

 US wanted revenge for Pearl Harbor  Lt. Col. Doolittle led 16 B-25 Bombers on an attack of Tokyo  Bombs did little damage but proved Japan was vulnerable to attack  Raised American moral

 May 1942  Japanese and Allied aircraft attacked enemy ships  Allies suffered huge losses  Stopped Japan’s southward advances

 June 1942  Key American airfield  Allied code breakers learned of Japanese attack  American forces surprised Japanese fleet and destroyed 332 planes and 5 ships  Turned the tide of war

 Japanese were building a stronghold on island  MacArthur wanted to take before airbase was completed  August 1942 Marines seized airfield  Battle lasted for 6 months before Japan abandoned the island

 Oct MacArthur returned to Philippines  Japanese wanted to defeat US fleet and keep Allies from resupplying troops  Four days of battle  Entire Japanese fleet was destroyed

 February-March 1945  Heavy losses for both US Marines (4 Marines died for every yard taken)  Airfields made it possible for US to attack closer to Japan

 April to July 1945  Japan’s last effort to protect the empire  A bloody land battle  100,000 Japanese died and 12,000 Americans  US is now 350 miles away from Japan’s main islands

 With Japanese soldiers fighting to the death for their empire the US and Allies now looked at fighting Japan on the main islands  How many more lives will an assault take?