Objectives Know the key events that shaped the course

of World War II in the Pacific Theater

WWII in the Pacific: 4 General Stages

• From 7 December 1941, until June 1942, the Japanese successfully:• Attacked the Pacific Fleet’s base at Pearl

Harbor• Captured Wake Island and Guam• Invaded and conquered the Philippines,

Hong Kong, Malaya, and seized the British base of Singapore.

• Conquered Burma thereby cutting off China from all overland routes to the western Allies

• Seized the Netherlands East Indies and British Borneo, thereby securing a much-needed source of oil.

First Phase (Dec 1941 – June 1942)

Pearl Harbor On the morning of December 7, 1941, hundreds

of Japanese fighter planes attacked the American naval base at Pearl Harbor near Honolulu, Hawaii.

The barrage lasted just two hours, but it was devastating: The Japanese managed to destroy nearly 20 American naval vessels, including eight enormous battleships, and almost 200 airplanes.

More than 2,000 Americans soldiers and sailors died in the attack, and another 1,000 were wounded.

The day after the assault, President Franklin D. Roosevelt asked Congress to declare war on Japan; Congress approved his declaration with just one dissenting vote.

Three days later, Japanese allies Germany and Italy also declared war on the United States, and again Congress reciprocated

Japanese OccupationKorea:

In 1942, the Japanese authorities instituted extended provisions of the National Mobilization Law to include the conscription of Korean workers for factories and mines on the Korean peninsula, Manchukuo, and the involuntary relocation of workers to Japan.

Tens of thousands of young Korean women were drafted as “Comfort Women” - in effect, sexual slaves - for Japanese soldiers.

Of the 5,400,000 Koreans conscripted, about 670,000 were taken to mainland Japan for civilian labor. Those who were brought to Japan were often forced to work under appalling and dangerous conditions. 60,000 Koreans are estimated to have died between 1939 and 1945 from harsh treatment and inhumane working conditions. The total deaths of Korean forced laborers in Korea and Manchuria is estimated to be between 270,000 and 810,000.

Philippines: Japanese led their U.S. prisoners on a forced march out of Bataan. Covering sixty miles through intense heat with almost no water or food. Somewhere between 5,000 and 11,000 U.S. soldiers did not survive the trip

Battle of the Coral Sea and MidwayBattle of the Coral Sea (May 1942) Battle of Midway (June 1942)

Second Phase (June 1942 – Mid 1943) The second phase in the Pacific War was one of relative stalemate.

From June 1942 until late-1943, neither side could muster the land, sea, or air power required to take the offensive and seize the initiative from the other. The Battle of Guadalcanal was an example of this stalemate.

Third Phase (Mid 1943 – Mid 1945) Period of the Allied offensives.

U.S. Army/Marines: Series of amphibious operations up the Solomon Island chain and along the northern coast of New Guinea, with the Philippine Islands as the ultimate objective.

U.S. Navy: Strategy designed to move directly toward Japan and to draw the Imperial Japanese navy into a decisive fleet engagement as happened at the Battles of the Philippine Sea (June 1944) and Layte Gulf (October 1944). MacArthur’s and Nimitz’s campaigns merged into one for the invasion of the Philippines.

After the Philippines are retaken the campaign continues with the invasions of Iwo Jima and Okinawa.

Fourth Phase (Mid 1945 – September 1945) During the latter stages of the war the Army Air Force, operating

out of the Mariana islands and flying the B-29 Superfortress, which begun to fire bomb the cities of Japan.

These raids culminated with the dropping of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima on 6 August 1945 and Nagasaki on 9 August 1945.

Japan surrendered to the Allies on 2 September 1945.

Fire Bombing – Tokyo (May 1945) Estimated100,000 civilians deadWhy not precision bombing as in

Europe?

USS Missouri, 2 September 1945

Objectives Know the key events that shaped the course

of World War II in the Pacific Theater