WWII War Against Japan

Japan Invades Manchuria, 1931

The Japanese Invasion of China, 1937 What were the reasons for Japanese aggression?

Pearl Harbor

FALL OF THE PHILIPPINES Japanese attacked just hours after Pearl Harbor Gen. Douglas MacArthur retreated to Bataan Peninsula; badly outnumbered by Japanese Held out for 3 mos.; MacArthur ordered to Australia Remaining troops surrendered in April 1942 Bataan Death March to prison camp – thousands died; worst defeat in U.S. military history National Archives “Bataan Death March” 85 miles 1942

FALL OF THE PHILIPPINES

THE DOOLITTLE RAIDS, April 1942 Secret mission from USS Hornet; 16 B-25s took off from Hornet to bomb Tokyo – first bombing of Japan Then supposed to land in friendly airfields in China Had to take off early after Japan discovered aircraft carriers Not enough fuel to reach friendly airfields in China – had to crash land or bail out; all planes lost Of the 80 airmen that participated in the raid, 69 escaped capture and death; aided by Chinese … who paid dearly Raid a MAJOR boost to American morale and surprise to the Japanese; forced Japan to shift vital resources to their defense.

THE DOOLITTLE RAIDS, April 1942

Military Strategy against the Japanese is ISLAND HOPPING: –capturing key islands to cut off Japanese supply lines and to use as bases for attack against the Japanese islands U.S. Commanders in the Pacific: –General Douglas MacArthur –Admiral Chester Nimitz

U.S. vs. Japan U.S. P40 (Flying Tigers)Japanese Zeros (Kamikaze)

Japanese Kamikaze Pilots

U.S.S. LEXINGTON BATTLE OF CORAL SEA – 5/42  Halts Japanese advance on Australia  First all-aircraft battle  Lexington sank, but supply lines to Australia stayed open!

Battle of Midway – 6/42 3 day air battle US sinks 4 Japanese carriers with 100 planes each 3000 Japanese casualties Turning point in War in the Pacific! Limited Japan’s ability to conduct an offensive war

Battle of Guadalcanal 8/42 – 2/43 By air, sea and land Many Marines Victory guaranteed Japanese would not disrupt U.S. – Australian shipping lanes Marianna Islands Could be used for B52 bombing raids 250 Japanese planes downed; 29 U.S. Saipan Island, Suicide cliffs

MacArthur returns & retakes Philippines in October 1944 with victory at LEYTE GULF - destroys Japanese imperial fleet – 60 ships / greatest naval battle of all time! Kamikazes first used. Major difficulties in combat: Reefs surrounding the islands; Japanese fought to the death --- dishonorable to surrender

Fire bombing of Tokyo March 1945 Napalm bombings destroyed 16 square miles of Tokyo 83,000 civilian casualties - Japan still won’t surrender

IWO JIMA 660 miles from Tokyo Only 8 square miles Has 3 airstrips

One of last major outposts Only 660 miles from Tokyo -- would be an “unsinkable aircraft carrier” from which to launch attacks B52s made 2,500 emergency landings here during Tokyo firebombing Extremely heavy casualties 20,000 Japanese at start – 1,083 at end 7,000 Marines lost Iwo Jima, Feb.-March 1945

OKINAWA June 1945 Only 350 mi. from Japanese mainland Took 3 months for victory Ground invasion to take place from here More than 1,000 Kamikaze attacks U.S. gets airfield to launch attacks against Japanese industrial centers

POTSDAM CONFERENCE July – August, 1945 Truman and Stalin and Churchill Ultimatum to Japan – surrender or else Truman insists German industry be allowed to recover but Stalin wants reparations Agreement: German industry allowed to revive in the British, American and French zones Stalin gets reparations from only the Soviet zone of Germany (not happy since it was primarily agricultural) Truman tells Stalin of U.S. atomic bomb testing

Atomic Bombs Hiroshima and Nagasaki Hiroshima August 6, 1945—Hiroshima bombed 1 st Nagasaki August 9, 1945—Nagasaki bombed 2 nd Tokyo US did not bomb Tokyo; they chose military targets to hit, not civilian targets Japan August 8, 1945— Soviet Union declares war on Japan (did this in order to get a piece of the settlements)

“Little Boy” Hiroshima, Aug. 6, 1945 “Fat Man” Nagasaki, Aug. 9, ,000 casualties 35,000 dead 180,000 casualties 70,000 dead instantly

Col. Paul Tibbets prepares to take off for Hiroshima Col. Tibbets named his plane after his mother.

HIROSHIMA August 6, 1945 Why were Hiroshima and Nagasaki the chosen sites?

Nagasaki under atomic bomb attack on August 9, Two planes of the 10th Air Force participated in the mission-one to carry the bomb, the other to serve as an escort. The new atomic age was underway.

Hiroshima after the Bomb

Hiroshima Victims

Shadows burned into a wooden observation tower and outlined in chalk by investigators record a Nagasaki air-raid observer’s last moments. After descending from his post by ladder,the observer hung up his sword belt and was unbuttoning his jacket when the bomb exploded. EFFECTS OF THE ATOMIC BOMB

One feature connected with heat radiation was the charring of fabric to different degrees depending upon the color of the fabric. Persons wearing clothing of various colors received burns greatly varying in degree, the degree of burn depending upon the color of the fabric over the skin in question. The duration of the heat radiation from the bomb is so short, just a few thousandths of a second, that there is no time for the energy falling on a surface to be dissipated by thermal diffusion; the flash burn is typically a surface effect. Where solid objects block the energy, the blast produced a permanent atomic shadow on solid surfaces.

Vegetation begins to propagate because of the radiation.

V-J DAY August 15, 1945

SURRENDER- SEPT. 2, 1945 ON THE U.S.S. MISSOURI

Sept. 2, 1945Sept. 2, 1945 —Japanese surrender … –Didn’t want any more bombs; they didn’t know that the US didn’t have anymore, but the Soviets definitely did Unconditional surrenderUnconditional surrender Emperor (Hirohito)Japanese asked for one thing—to keep their Emperor (Hirohito) and it was granted

TOJO’S SUICIDE ATTEMPT September 11, 1945