War in the Pacific Section 4

Fighting the Japanese Empire At the same time as Pearl Harbor, Japan launched attacks throughout the Pacific Japan also pushed further into Southeast Asia Japan attacked the Philippines and pushed Allied forces onto the Bataan Peninsula US troops, led by General Douglas MacArthur, fought the Japanese at a standstill for months.

Fighting the Japanese Empire As fighting raged in the Philippines, the Allies feared that the Japanese might invade Australia Roosevelt ordered MacArthur to leave the Philippines and go to Australia Shortly after he left, the Japanese launched an offensive on Bataan that forced US troops to surrender Bataan Death March

Fighting the Japanese Empire The Allies began to turn the tide of the war with daring air raids led by Lieutenant Colonel James Doolittle Called Doolittle’s Raids Dropped bombs on Japanese cities Did little damage, but raised American morale US Navy clashed with Japanese forced in the Coral Sea off of Australia Called the Battle of the Coral Sea For the first time in naval history, enemy ships fought a battle without once seeing each other Americans successfully blocked Japanese advance toward Australia

Fighting the Japanese The opposing navies met again off the island of Midway US Navy destroyed 4 Japanese carriers and at least 250 planes Japanese destroyed one American carrier and only 150 planes Considered a victory for the Americans Battle of Midway is known as the turning point of the War in the Pacific

Progress in the Pacific Americans gained their first major land victory on the island of Guadalcanal after 6 months of bitter fighting Key player in this battle were the Code Talkers Allies then invaded the Philippines First attacked the island of Leyte Allies won and left the Japanese navy so badly damaged that it was no longer a threat Allies then liberated Manila

Progress in the Pacific Japanese began to get desperate and increased their use of kamikaze pilots Kamikazes filled their planes with explosives and crashed into Allied warships Japanese men volunteered for this honor Regardless, they were unable to stop the Allied advance

Progress in the Pacific With Japan’s defenses weakened, the US began to bomb Japan They needed bases closer to the mainland They chose the islands of Okinawa and Iwo Jima After months of fighting, US had control of those islands

Atomic Bombs End the War Allies planned to invade Japan American military leaders were afraid that an invasion would lead to excessive loss of American lives – instead, decided the drop the Atomic Bomb

Atomic Bombs End the War Shortly after entering the war, US started the Manhattan Project to develop the bomb After a test succeeded, President Truman threated Japan: if they did not surrender, it faced destruction Japan refused to give in On August 6, 1945, US dropped the bomb on the industrial city of Hiroshima Japan still refused to surrender On August 9, 1945, US dropped a second bomb on Nagaski On August 14, 1945, Japan leaders signed an official letter of surrender