The War in the Pacific Chapter 25 Section 3

Objective & Do Now Objective: Understand the war strategy employed in the Pacific theater of war Do Now: Should the US use Atomic weapons to defeat its enemies?

I the Allies Stem the Japanese Tide A. Japanese Advances 6 months after PH, Japanese took over much of Asian mainland along w/ many island nations Gen. MacArthur & his troops are forced to retreat from the Philippines but proclaims “I shall return” Japanese empire dwarfed that of Hitler’s Europe

B. US Retaliation B-52 bombers take off from aircraft carrier for Tokyo and bomb cities, factories, oil tanks, etc. Doolittle Raids Amer & Aussi fleet intercept Japanese strike aimed for Australia All fighting done by carrier based planes (opposing ships never saw each other)  east. New type of naval warfare Allies lost more ships but Japanese ran out of enough fuel

C. The Battle of Midway Commander of US forces in Pacific learns of Japanese invasion force heading towards Midway= strategic island in the Pacific Prepares troops on island to surprise Japanese Orders to “inflict maximum damage on enemy Japanese lose irreplaceable war ships Americans “avenge Pearl harbor”

D. Island Hoping Pacific theater was one of scattered islands across thousands of miles of ocean MacArthur implements Island Hoping strategy troops would attack and seize only certain strategic Japanese held islands, rather than trying to recapture all of them Goal= go from island to island to come w/in striking distance from Japan Attack garrisons to cut off supplies & reinforcements Seize airstrips to help support the next Allies advancement

1 st American land offensive was in Guadalcanal Guadalcanal marks Japans 1 st defeat on land  US troops continue to leapfrog towards Japan QcutkHFw Japanese threw their entire fleet into the battle of Leyte Gulf Test new Kamikaze (“divine wind”)= suicide plane attacks Significance= from then on, the Imperial army played only minor role in defense of Japan

American troops then turn their attention to the island of Iwo Jima Iwo Jima was critical to US as a base from which heavily loaded bombers could reach Japan However, it was the most heavily defended (tunnels and caves) Okinawa now the only obstacle between Allies and final assault on Japan

II the Atomic Bomb ends the War A. the battle for Okinawa FDR dies after a stroke leaving Harry Truman as Pres. Battle at Okinawa is Japan’s last defensive outpost Faced even more opposition than iwo Jima  110,000 American casualties Okinawa was scary foretaste of what allies were to expect to encounter on Japanese home islands

B. The Manhattan Project Not long after Truman takes office he is informed that the US is months away from having an atomic bomb Scientists led by J. Robert Oppenheuimer create the actual bomb First tests took place in New Mexico  more powerful than they had expected

C. To Bomb or not to Bomb Scientists who creates bomb signs petition arguing it would be immoral to drop bomb w/o warning Some suggest demonstrating bombs force to Japanese officials to convince them to surrender Interim Committee formed to discuss use of Atomic bomb Oppenheimer outlines prob. w/ test explosions Nothing less than dropping on city would lead to surrender Test might be a dud Japanese might shoot down delivery plane or move POW’s to test area Convinced by op.  decide to drop w/o warning

III Rebuilding for Peace A. Preparation for Peace FDR, Churchill, & Stalin met at Yalta Conference Create the UN based on principles of Atlantic Charter Stalin promises to fight against Japan after defeat of Germany and hold free elections in any Soviet held territory in return for 2 islands UN agree on charter and establish General Assembly= made up of all member nations which serves as “town meeting of the world” 11 member security council held the real power (GB, US, SU, France, & China) given permanent seats on council Any permanent member had the power to veto any council action FDR, Churchill, & Stalin meet in Potsdam to decide how to eliminate the Nazi regime & decide on stern justice for all war criminals

B. Nuremburg War Trials Potsdam Conference  Germany divided into 4 zones (GB, US, France, &SU) Berlin, located in SU terr., was divided into another 4 zones shared by occupying powers Nuremburg Trials= international tribunal representing 23 nations tried 22 Nazi leaders NUREMBERG TRIALS= THE FIRST TIME IN HISTORY THAT ANTIONS LEAFER WERE HELD LGALLY RESPONSBLE FOR THEIR ACTIONS DURING WARTIME

C. Occupying Japan Japan occupied but US forces under MacArthur Japanese including PM Hideki Tojo were put to trial MacArthur reformed Japanese econ by introducing free –market practices  econ. Recovery Also worked to transform gov’t  new constitution granting women suffrage Until this day constitution known as MacArthur Constitution