War in the PacificWar in the Pacific

December 1942 – December 1942 – September 1945September 1945

PhilippinesPhilippines

80,000 US and Filipino troops 80,000 US and Filipino troops v. 200,000 Japanesev. 200,000 Japanese

14,000 killed and 48,000 14,000 killed and 48,000 wounded Allies forced wounded Allies forced General Douglas MacArthur General Douglas MacArthur to abandon the Philippines, to abandon the Philippines, and said, “I shall return”and said, “I shall return”

Bataan Death March

• 70,000 – largest US army to surrender

• 60 miles, intense heat, almost no food/water

• Btwn 5,000-11,000 never made it to the end

• Once @ camp, torture began

• 2 out of 3 soldiers never survived POW camps in the Philippines

After US loss at Philippines…

• Air strikes on Tokyo• April 18, 1942• Lift US spirits; Japan’s not invincible

Battle of the Coral Sea• US and Australian forces to stop Jap

attack on Australia

• All fighting: carrier-based airplanes, enemy ships never saw ea. Other or exchanged gunfire

• Allies lost more ships (Jap declared victory)

• Allies: Jap fleet was lacking too much fuel to continue onto Australia

Battle of Midway• Admiral Chester Nimitz: commander of

US naval forces in the Pacific, intercepted messages – Jap invasion of Midway (110 ships; the largest naval assembly in history); then planned to head to Hawaii (June ’42)

• Outnumbered 4:1, led a surprise attack. Destroyed 4 irreplaceable aircraft carriers, a cruiser, and 322 planes

• Midway “avenged Pearl Harbor”

Island HoppingIsland Hopping

US strategy in the Pacific against JapanUS strategy in the Pacific against Japan Jap was spread across hundreds of Jap was spread across hundreds of

islands and across thousands of miles of islands and across thousands of miles of oceanocean

““leapfrog” Jap strongholdsleapfrog” Jap strongholds 11stst seize weaker islands, build airfields, seize weaker islands, build airfields,

and use airpower to cut enemy supply and use airpower to cut enemy supply lineslines

Guadalcanal – (Solomon Islands)

• Aug. 1942, 1st land battle in Pac.

• 19,000 troops

• Eventually, Japan abandoned 6 months later and called it the Island of Death, to the US it was called simply “hell” (1/3 Amer. Died) (6 months)

• Japan’s 1st land defeat

Leyte Island (Philippines)• October 1944; 3 days

of battle• 178,000 Allied troops

and 738 ships landed on Leyte (Jap used entire fleet at this battle, used new tactic kamikazes)

• General MacArthur returned

• 424 kamikazes sunk 16 ships

and damaged another 80

• Destroyed Japan’s navy

• Liberated US P.O.W.’s

Iwo Jima• The Japanese strategy was unique for

three reasons: 1. The Japanese didn't fight above ground. They fought the battle entirely from beneath the ground. They dug 1,500 rooms into the rock. These were connected with 16 miles of tunnels. 2. Japanese strategy called for "no Japanese survivors." They planned not to survive. 3. Japanese strategy was for each soldier to kill 10 Americans before they themselves are killed.

Iwo Jima cont.• Iwo Jima was Japanese home soil,

part of Japan, only 650 miles from Tokyo

•No foreign army in Japan's 5000 year history had trod on Japanese soil. To the US, Iwo Jima's importance lay in its location, midway between Japan and American bomber bases in the Marianas. It was also an ideal sanctuary for crippled bombers returning from Japan.

•In Tokyo months before the invasion, General Kuribayashi had been told "if America's casualties are high enough, Washington will think twice before launching an another invasion against Japanese territory.“

• More US Marines earned the Medal of Honor on Iwo Jima than in any other battle in US History. In 36 days of fighting there were 25,851 US casualties (1 in 3 were killed or wounded). Of these, 6,825 American boys were killed. Virtually all 22,000 Japanese perished.

•The Marines' effort provided a vital link in the U.S. chain of bomber bases. By war's end, 2,400 B-29 bombers carrying 27,000 crewman had made emergency landings on Iwo

Jima.

FDR• Unprecedented 4th term as

president Nov. ’44 w/ Harry Truman as running mate

• On April 12, 1945: FDR was posing for a picture in Warm Springs, had a stroke, and died hrs. later

• Harry S. Truman is now President

Battle of Okinawa• Jap’s last defensive outpost• Largest and last campaign• 1,900 kamikaze attacks on US• Ended June 22, 1945; about

13,000 Americans died (Jap: 110,000 lives)

• 2 Generals chose ritual suicide over surrender

Result from 2 kamikazes

Pilot, Col. Paul W. Tibbets, before he bombs Hiroshima