ww ii pacific theater of operations

WW II

Pacific Theater of Operations

The Japanese in the Pacific

• By 1942 the Japanese controlled much of the Pacific

• US Navy (aircraft carriers) started to turn the tide at the Battle of Wake Island

*Bataan Death March: April, 1942

• 76,000 prisoners [12,000 Americans] Marched 60 miles in the blazing heat to POW camps in the Philippines.

• April 9, 1942 – Japan captures the Philippines

War in the Pacific…Island Hopping: invade Japan by capturing

islands in the Pacific along the way

Island Hopping

• i. Navajo

code-talkers

help US

forces

communicate

without

Japanese

interception

*Battle of Midway Island:June 4-6, 1942

American Aircraft Carriers- Sink 4 Japanese Carriers

Turning point in the Naval war, U.S. now has control of the Skies

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4pUD9qWKs8(Battle of Midway video #16)

*Japanese Kamikaze Planes:The Scourge of the South Pacific

Kamikaze Pilots

Suicide Bombers

*US Marines on Mt. Surbachi,Iwo Jima [Feb. 19, 1945]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Y0gdFisD9k (Battle of Iwo Jima video #17)

*The Beginning of theAtomic Age

http://quest.eb.com/images/139_1970871?subjectId=0&collectionId=0&keyword=Manhattan+Project&localizeMetaData=false

“Little Boy” dropped by the Enola Gay on Hiroshima

http://quest.eb.com/search?page=1&localizeSearchMetaData=false&resultsPerPage=15&subjectId=0&collectionId=0&keyword=%E2%80%9Clittle+boy%E2%80%9D+

Hiroshima – August 6, 1945* 70,000 killed

immediately.* 48,000 buildings.

destroyed.* 100,000s died of

radiation poisoning & cancer later.

“Fat Man” Dropped on Nagasaki

http://quest.eb.com/images/132_1303103?subjectId=0&collectionId=0&keyword=%e2%80%9cFat+Man%e2%80%9d+&localizeMetaData=false

Nagasaki – August 9, 1945

* 40,000 killed immediately.

* 60,000 injured.* 100,000s died of

radiation poisoning& cancer later.

*Japanese A-Bomb Survivors

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5OI9xrJ8Zw (atomic bomb video #18)

*V(ictory)-J(apan) Day (September 2, 1945)

*V-J Day in Times Square, NYC

Post War

Yalta Conference (February, 1945)• Leaders of the

three allied nations agreed to divide Germany into zones of occupation controlled by the allies– Poland and the

Soviets in the East

– The US and Britain in the West

*The Division of Germany:1945 - 1990

Division of Berlin

*The Division of Europe: The Beginning of the Cold War

*The Creation of the U. N.

Currently 193 nations

*The Marshall Plan

The Marshal Plan. • channeled over $13

billion to finance the

economic recovery of

Europe

• The Plan successfully

sparked economic recovery

*The Nuremberg War Trials:Members of the Nazi Party

were charged with Crimes Against Humanity