1. The Early Battles
Chapter 21 Section 2

2. Main idea
The Japanese continued to win victories in the Pacific until the Battle of Midway

3. Holding the line against japan
General Douglas MacArthur commanded American and Filipino forces
Forced to retreat from Japanese to Bataan Peninsula
Roosevelt ordered MacArthur to retreat himself and family to Australia
78,000 POW’s forced to march – sick, exhausted, and starving - 65 miles to Japanese prison camp – known as “Bataan Death March”

4. Battle of Midway
Americans had cracked code of Japanese, helping to know about plans to attack Midway Island
Antiaircraft fire met Japanese; 38 planes shot down
Major turning point for the U.S.; Japan lost 4 large carriers
Americans killed – 362; Japanese killed – 3,057

5. Stalingrad
Hitler’s strategy was to wound Soviet economy by capturing oil fields, factories, farmland in southern Russia and Ukraine
Hitler saw Stalingrad as key to victory
Half a million troops lost on both sides (Germany & USSR)
Germans would be on defensive rest of war after Stalingrad