WORLD WAR II Turning Back the Japanese

T HE G RAND A LLIANCE The entry of the US into the war created a new coalition, the Grand Alliance To overcome mutual suspicions, the 3 major Allies – Great Britain, the United States, and the Soviet Union – agreed to stress military operations and ignore political differences. At the beginning of 1943, the Allies agreed to fight until the Axis Powers – Germany, Italy, and Japan – surrendered unconditionally.

J APANESE MISCALCULATION Japanese leaders had hoped that their lightening strike at American bases would destroy the US fleet in the Pacific. The Roosevelt administration, they thought, would now accept Japanese domination of the Pacific. The Japanese miscalculated. The attack on Pearl Harbor unified American opinion about becoming involved in the war. The US now joined with European nations and Nationalist China in a combined effort to defeat Japan.

H OLDING THE L INE A GAINST J APAN Although the Japanese had badly damaged the American fleet at Pearl Harbor, they had missed the American aircraft carriers which were at sea on a mission. But in the days just after Pearl Harbor, they could do little to stop Japans advance into South East Asia

A few hours after they attacked Pearl Harbor, the Japanese attacked American airfields in the Philippines. 2 days later, Japanese troops landed on the islands – the US forces defending the island were badly outnumbered. Gen. MacArthur decided to retreat to the Bataan Peninsula and use the rugged terrain – held out for 3 months – gradually lack of supplies & diseases took their toll.

Realizing MacArthur's capture would demoralize the American people, FDR ordered him to evacuate to Australia.

B ATAAN D EATH M ARCH On April 9, 1942 the weary defenders of Bataan surrendered. The Philippines had fallen The nearly 78,000 prisoners of war were forced to march – sick, exhausted, and starving – 65 miles to a Japanese prison camp. Thousands died on this march, which became known as the Bataan Death March

…showing thinning file of prisoners carrying comrades who dropped along the way

C AMP O’D ONNELL Thousands died on the march from disease, starvation, thirst, heat exhaustion, untreated wounds, and meaningless execution. Additional thousands died in this and in equally disreputable prison camp.

G REATER E AST -A SIA C OPROSPERITY S PHERE Following the assaults on the Philippines, Japan began advancing toward the British colony of Malaya. Soon after, Japanese forces invaded the Dutch East Indies and occupied a number of islands in the Pacific Ocean. By the Spring of 1942 almost all of Southeast Asia and much of the western Pacific had fallen into Japanese hands. Japan now declared the creation of a community of nations called the Greater East-Asia Coprosperity Sphere – the entire region would now be under Japanese direction. Japan also announced its intention to liberate the colonial areas of Southeast Asian from Western colonial rule.

T HE D OOLITTLE R AID FDR wanted to bomb Tokyo to boost morale – but US planes could only reach Tokyo if aircraft carriers brought them close enough But Japanese ships in the North Pacific prevented carriers from getting close enough to launch they short-range bombers.

Decided to replace the short-range bombers with long- range B-25s that could attack from farther away – problem was could not land on short decks – so after attacking Japan would have to land in China

A crane loaded 16 B-25s onto the aircraft carrier Hornet and headed west across the Pacific

Lieutenant Colonel James (Jimmy) Doolittle was in charge of the Mission

On April 18, US bombs fell on Japan for the 1 st time

The plan for the Doolittle raid was to launch the B-25 bombers between miles from Japan. The planes would bomb selected targets then fly another 1,200 miles to China The Japanese discovered the carriers more than 150 from the proposed launch site – instead of cancelling the mission, the bombers took off early – the planes reached Japan & dropped the bombs, but did not have enough fuel left to reach the friendly air fields in China The crews were forced to bail out or crash land and 9 crewmembers died Nevertheless, the raid provided and instant boost to sagging morale

J APANESE S TRATEGY The Japanese were furious that the emperor could have been killed in the Tokyo bombing – wanted to attack Midway Island – the last US base in the North Pacific west of Hawaii. They believed that attacking Midway would lure the US fleet into battle where they could destroy it. The Japanese also wanted to cut US supply lines to Australia by capturing the south coast of New Guinea They believed they could proceed with the 2 different attacks and the “unaware” US would not be able to respond in time. What they didn’t know was that a US team of code breakers had already broken their secret Navy code

W INDTALKERS

B ATTLE OF THE C ORAL S EA In March 1942, decoded Japanese messages alerted the US to the Japanese attack on New Guinea (attempt to cut supply lines to Australia) Admiral Chester Nimitz (commander of the US Navy in the Pacific) sent 2 US carriers – the Yorktown & the Lexington – to intercept the Japanese in the Coral Sea. There carriers from both sides launched all-out airstrikes against each other The Japanese sunk the Lexington & badly damaged the Yorktown – but the US attacks forced the Japanese to call off their landing on the south coast of New Guinea & the US supply lines to Australia stayed open

A DMIRAL C HESTER N IMITZ

L EXINGTON H EADING TO B ATTLE

During the Battle of the Coral Sea the Lexington was hit by several bombs and three to five torpedoes. Damage-control efforts seemed effective, and the carrier began to steam back to Pearl Harbor, but gas fumes later ignited and her insides blew up. She had to be abandoned and finally sunk by five torpedoes from the American destroyer Phelps. She was the first U.S. carrier lost to enemy action.

Following the order to abandon ship, the crew of the Lexington slides down ropes to be rescued by small boats. A destroyer can barely be seen alongside evacuating the sick and wounded

B ATTLE OF M IDWAY The code breaking team learned of the Japanese plan to attack Midway (lure the US fleet into battle where they could destroy it) and Admiral Nimitz prepared for ambush When the Japanese launched their aircraft against Midway on June 4, 1942, the island was ready. The Japanese planes ran into a blizzard of antiaircraft fire and 38 of them were shot down. As they Japanese prepared a 2 nd wave of attack, aircraft from the Hornet, Yorktown, and Enterprise launched a counterattack.

The US planes caught the Japanese carriers with fuel, bombs, & aircraft exposed on their flight decks – within minutes 3 Japanese carriers were reduced to burning wrecks – a 4 th was sunk a few hours later.The Japanese retreated.

VT-6 ON THE DECK OF E NTERPRISE, PRIOR TO LAUNCH AT M IDWAY

T HE Y ORKTOWN WOUNDED AND SINKING AT THE B ATTLE OF M IDWAY

T URNING P OINT OF THE W AR The Battle of Midway was a turning point in the war. The Japanese Navy lost 4 of its largest carriers – the heart of its fleet Just 6 months after Pearl Harbor – the US had stopped the Japanese advance in the Pacific

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