1. The Battles for the Pacific

2. Japanese Advances  Within Six months after Pearl Harbor, Japan dwarfed the German Empire by taking the following: Hong Kong French Indochina Malaya Burma Thailand Half of China Formosa Dutch East Indies Guam Wake Solomon Islands 2 Aleutian Islands

4. Japan takes the Philippines  December 1941 to May 1942  Gen. MacArthur held out for 4 months w/ 31,000 US troops and 110,000 under-trained and ill-equipped Filipino troops as 200,000 Japanese troops invaded  MacArthur abandoned, he and officers escaped to Australia, as he left he stated: “I shall return.”  American and Philippine troops suffered 14,000 KIA, 48,000 wounded, and approx. 80,000 endured cruel imprisonment or execution at the hands of the Japanese

5. Battle of Coral Sea  May 1942  America/Australia intercepted info that Japan was going to leave from New Guinea to invade Australia  Significance:  First battle where ships never saw each other, airplanes played large role  First Halt of Japanese since Pearl Harbor  Allies lost more ships, but Japan ran out of fuel to continue to Australia  543 American causalities

8. Battle of Midway  June 1942  US intercepted messages of Japanese naval force (largest assembled in history) heading toward Midway  Goal: continue to finish off Pearl Harbor  US was outnumbered 4 to 1 in ships and planes, but the US commander prepared a surprise reception

10. Battle of Midway  By the end, Japan lost:  4 “irreplaceable” aircraft carriers  A cruiser  322 Planes  American Casualties - 307

11. What strategy should the US take to defeat the Japanese?

12. US Strategy  Can go hundreds of miles without seeing land  Japanese dug in on hundreds of islands scattered over thousands of miles of ocean  Too costly to storm each one  Strategy:  Bypass Japanese strongholds  Seize well fortified Islands, build airfields, cut off enemy supply lines

13. Battle of Guadalcanal  August 1942  Significance:  First US land offensive  First Japanese defeat on land  6 months until Japanese abandoned island, known as “Island of Death.”  US had 6,000 casualties, 1600 dead

15. Battle of Guam  July 1944 (Mariana Islands – includes Saipan and Tinian)  Guam was formerly a US possession until Japan took it in 1941  Strategic Importance  great for Airbases  Almost can fly from Guam to Tokyo  Approx. 3,000 Americans killed; 7,122 wounded

17. Second Battle of the Philippines: Battle for Leyte Gulf  October 1944  Significance:  MacArthur wanted revenge for 1 st battle “People of the Philippines, I have returned.”  First testing of the Kamikaze (suicide plane), 424 Kamikaze planes sank 16 ships, damaged 80  Disaster for Japanese – huge loss of naval force (3 ships, 13 cruisers, 400 planes)  Arguments over necessity  cut off Japan from western possessions  Did not really use it for US military purposes  cost well over 2,000 American lives

20. Battle of Iwo Jima  Feb 19-March 26, 1945  “Ugly, smelly glob of cold lava squatting in a surly ocean.”  Strategic Importance:  critical as an air base from which heavily loaded bombers could reach Japan.  Kamikazes would not be able to depart from here  Emergency landing strip from Mariana Islands to Japan

22. 70,000 Marines invaded the Island of Iwo Jima

24. Iwo Jima Contd.  Most heavily defended spot on earth  20,700 Japanese troops deeply entrenched in tunnels and caves.  U.S. personnel 6,821 Killed  19,217 Wounded  2,648 Combat Fatigue  Total 28,686  Japanese approx. 20,000 killed

25. Battle of Okinawa  “Operation Iceburg”  April 1, 1945-June 22, 1945  April 12, 1945 – FDR dies  4 airfields on the island that America needed to control  Location  ½ the distance to Japan than of Iwo Jima much closer for invasion of Japan  Land and Naval fights  Kamikazes did serious damage sank over 30 allied ships and killing 5,000 Navy men.

27. Okinawa – The Bloodiest  US losses  50,000 casualties  12,000 KIA  Huge rate of Non-Combat losses  ie. Stress  Japanese losses  ~107,000 KIA  Civilian losses  estimates around or above 100,000

28. What comes next? What do you think the casualties will be like?