1. The Allies Strike Back: Japan!

2. Battle of Midway
June 1942
Japanese fleet planned to attack Midway Island, a US base
US had broken the final Japanese code
US planes attacked, sank 4 aircraft carriers
Greatly weakened Japan’s offensive capability

5. Battle of Guadalcanal Aug. 1942 – Feb. 1943
Japan was building an air base
US Marines and Navy attacked
“The Island of Death” – harsh jungle conditions, fierce Japanese resistance
US won – first victory over Japanese ground troops
The start of “island hopping”

8. Battle of Leyte Gulf Oct. 1944
Island hopping was working – the US was closing in on Japan
Japanese Navy and kamikazes attacked the US fleet headed to the Philippines
A last desperate attempt to stop US advances
US won and recaptured the Philippines
Last Japanese offensive of the war

9. General MacArthur: “I have returned!”

10. Battle of Iwo Jima Feb. – Mar. 1945
Island close to Japan (within bombing range for US planes)
Volcanic rock and ash
Heavily defended by Japanese in caves and tunnels
US won

14. Battle of Okinawa Mar. – June 1945 Last island US attacked
Closest island to Japan
Largest battle of the Pacific War
Defended by hundreds of thousands of soldiers and civilian reserves
A “dress rehearsal” for the invasion of Japan
100,000+ US troops, heavy casualties
Made the US decide not to invade Japan

16. Quickwrite
Imagine you could save the lives of hundreds of thousands of American soldiers by killing millions of foreign civilians.
How well does the benefit (saving our soldiers) outweigh the cost (deaths of foreign civilians)?

17. Discussion
If you had been President of the U.S., what would you have decided? Why?
How would you have felt knowing you were responsible for the devastation and deaths of so many civilians?

18. Strategic Bombing of Japan
Late 1944 – Aug. 1945
US B-29s bombed Japan’s factories and cities
Almost every major city was destroyed
100,000 people killed in Tokyo
Japan’s industries were crippled
Japan’s leaders still refused to surrender…

19. B-29 Bomber

20. The firebombing of Tokyo

21. Atomic Bombs Aug. 6, 1945 – Hiroshima. 140,000 killed
Aug. 9, 1945 – Nagasaki. 80,000 killed
Aug. 15, Japanese request a cease fire (“VJ Day”)
Sept. 2, Japan officially surrendered! The end of WWII!
Hiroshima: Dropping the Bomb

25. Results of World War II Over 60 million people killed
Europe left in ruins
Germany divided into two countries
Japan occupied by the US
United Nations established to prevent wars
Israel established as a homeland for Jews (Holocaust survivors)
US and USSR became “superpowers”
Led to The Cold War!