VI- War in the Pacific A) In Dec 1941 (2 weeks after Pearl Harbor) Japan assaulted the Philippians Islands 1) The US Army stationed there surrendered in May (no supplies or reinforcements)

2) 75,000 US+British troops became POW’s POW- Prisoners of War 3) Batann Death March- Japanese force the POW’s to march 60 miles to the prison camp. 7,000 Allied POW’s die.

B) Battle of Midway 1) Japanese Navy tries to destroy the remaining US Navy at Midway Island 2) US Navy had broken the Japanese codes and sent all available Air-craft Carriers to Midway

3) While the Japanese planes were attacking Midway, our Navy planes were attacking the Japanese fleet 4) US torpedo and dive bombers destroy 4 Japanese Carriers Planes. 5) US lost one carrier, USS Yorktown

6)Winning Midway meant the Japanese could no longer threaten Hawaii 7) US Navy can now concentrate on taking back the Pacific Islands taken by the Japanese

C) Island Campaign 1) US plan is to capture islands that move us closer to Japan. 2) The closer islands can be used as air bases for bombers to attack Japan directly. 3) 8 Japanese tropical islands are invaded by the Navy and the US Marine Corps.

4) These small islands saw the fiercest fighting of WWII 5) Japanese troops fight to the death- almost no Japanese POW’s are taken alive during the war (failure in battle is too great a shame to bear for Japanese)

D) Divine Wind 1) During the Island Campaign, a desperate Japanese Navy began sending out suicide fighter pilots 2) 3000 “Kamikaze” pilots (means Divine Wind) intentionally attempt to fly their planes into US warships.

E) Iwo Jima 1) 650 miles from Japan 2) Volcanic Island 5 miles long 3) 36 days of fighting to take the island back 4) 7,000 Marines are killed and 20,000 wounded in the attack 5) 20,000 Japanese are killed (216 taken prisoner)

6) The battle of Iwo Jima is best remembered for US Marines planting the flag on Mt. Suribachi

F) Okinawa 1) 340 Miles from Japan 2) 500,000 Marines, soldiers, and Sailors assault the island 3) It took three brutal months of fighting to secure the island 4) Japan threw 2,000 Kamikazes at the US Navy during the battle 5) Japanese suffered 85,000 casualties

6) Several thousand civilians on the Island refused to surrender and committed suicide 7) Okinawa is immediately turned into an air base sending bombers over Japan

G) Japan is the only island left to take 1) The US war plan required 5 million troops and estimated 1 million casualties

H) Manhattan Project ) Military research project to turn the theory of splitting an atom into a usable weapon. 2) Prior to the war, splitting an atom was only a scientific theory taught in physics classes.

3) The 2 bombs were researched and built in total secrecy in New Mexico during the war 4) President Truman weighed the estimated casualties of invading Japan versus the horror of the bomb

Aug. 6, ) The B-29 bomber, Enola Gay, drops an atomic bomb on Japanese city, Hiroshima 6) 4.7 miles of city were destroyed instantly 7) 70,000-80,000 people killed 8) Japan does not surrender

9) President Truman tells Japan that we continue to use the bomb until they surrender.

10) 8 days after the first, another B-29 bomber drops a second atomic bomb on the city of Nagasaki 11) 45,000-70,000 people killed

I) VJ Day- August 14, ) Japan surrenders unconditionally and WWII ends. 2) Germany, Japan, and Italy are all defeated