course of the war pacific/asian theater

Course of the War

Pacific/AsianTheater

Japan’s Military Might• JAP leaders were encouraged by GER’s rapid

victories in the 1940s.• JAP received permission from GER to occupy

French Indochina.• Pres. Roosevelt froze all JAP assets in U.S. &

stopped shipping oil to them.• U.S. demanded JAP withdraw from China and

Indochina.• While negotiating with U.S. the JAP planned a s

urprise attack on U.S. naval base: Pearl Harbor

December 7, 1941• Japanese aircraft attacked Pearl Harbor

– Americans in Hawaii are unprepared for attack.– Japanese invasion seems inevitable.

• The Battle of Wake Island began simultaneously w/ the attack on Pearl Harbor

• JAP also hit Philippines & pushed toward Malaya (BR colony)

• Soon invaded Dutch Indies• Spring 1942 – almost all SE Asia & much of W Pacific in

Japanese control• JAP leaders - hoped lightening strike at American bases

would destroy US Pacific fleet• U.S. enters the war

– joined European nations & nationalist China to defeat Japan

• Historic sites of Pearl Harbor– http://video.yahoo.com/watch/2256300/7106820

• Hitler - declared war on U.S., thought U.S. couldn’t fight in Pacific & Europe

• The battles of Bataan & Corregidor fought in the Philippines were 2 of America’s greatest losses to Japan at beginning of WWII.

• Battle of Bataan – American/Filipino losses: 10,000 men, 20,000

wounded, 75,000 prisoners – Bataan Death March

Battle of Coral Sea

• May 7 & 8, 1942 – Battle of Coral Sea– US navy stopped Japanese advance & saved

Australia from invasion• JAP losses: Approximately 3500 men, 2 aircraft

carriers, 2 destroyers, numerous other vessels, about 100 planes

• U.S. losses: 540 personnel, the aircraft carrier Lexington, 65 planes, the destroyer Sims, and the aircraft carrier Yorktown was damaged

Battle of Midway Island• June 4 – Battle of Midway Island

– Turning Point in the Pacific• Showing that the Japanese had greatly underestimated the

U.S. Navy

– U.S. planes destroyed 4 Japanese aircraft carriers• U.S. losses: 307 personnel, 1 carrier, 1 destroyer,

98 planes• JAP losses: 3,057 men, 4 carriers, 1 cruiser,

248 planes• Losses permanently weakened the Imperial Japanese Navy

– U.S. established naval superiority in Pacific

• Fall 1942 – Allied forces gathering for 2 operations– 1. MacArthur – to Philippines through New

Guinea & South Pacific– 2. Move across Pacific w/ U.S. Army,

Marines & Navy attacks on Japanese held-island.

• (d) island hopping – tactic of capturing some and bypassing other Japanese held- islands

• 1943 – U.S. forces on offensive, advancing across Pacific

Gen. Douglas MacArthur

• US commander in Pacific– “old soldiers never die; they just fade away.”

The Battle of Iwo Jima• Feb. – March 1945• One of the bloodiest engagements of the

entire war. – JAP losses: 21,000– U.S. losses: 6,821

Harry Truman• Harry Truman – U.S. Pres after FDR dies

– Has to decide if U.S. should use atomic bomb

Atomic Bomb• Use of Atomic Bomb

– Allow U.S. to avoid invasion of Japan• Estimated 90% casualty rate to invade JAP

– Aug 6 – 1st bomb dropped on Hiroshima– Aug 9 – 2nd bomb dropped on Nagasaki

• Both cities leveled• Hiroshima: 71,379 instantly killed, 70,000 die

later from radiation poisoning.• Nagasaki: 25,000 instantly killed, 45,000 die

by end of year from radiation poisoning

Atomic Bomb cont. • Almost everything within a one-mile radius

of the explosion’s center spontaneously combusted.

• Granite stone melted• People vaporized left ghostly images

imprinted on stone walls & sidewalks.*Information from Everything World War II

End of the War

• Aug 14 – Emperor Hirohito surrendered– 17 million dead in battle– 20 million dead civilians– Some estimate total dead 50 million

– Immediately after the war, Russia and the U.S. went their separate ways

– This rivalry between east & west was known as the Cold War