WORLD WAR IIPART III

THE PACIFIC THEATER: WAR AGAINST JAPAN

EUGENIA LANGANMATER ACADEMY CHARTER HIGH SCHOOLHIALEAH GARDENS, FLORIDA

ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS:

WHAT WERE THE MAJOR EVENTS IN THE PACIFIC THEATER OF WWII?

WHY DID TRUMAN DECIDE TO DROP THE ATOMIC BOMB ON JAPAN – TWICE?

APRIL 18, 1942: DOOLITTLE AIR RAID ON JAPAN (TOKYO AND OTHER JAPANESE CITIES)

ORDERED BY FDR TO BOOST PUBLIC MORALE AFTER PEARL HARBOR

PROPAGANDA VICTORY – DEMONSTRATED JAPAN NOT INVULNERABLE

ALSO FORCED JAPAN TO DEPLOY INDIAN OCEAN FLEET TO PACIFIC TO DEFEND HOMELAND

3 AMERICANS KILLED DURING RAID, 8 TAKEN POW, THREE OF THOSE EXECUTED

LT. COLONEL JAMES DOOLITTLE AND PILOTS BEFORE RAID (USAAC)

B-25 BOMBER TAKING OFF FROM NAVY AIRCRAFT CARRIER BEFORE RAID

RECALL: AT 1943 CASABLANCA CONFERENCE, FDR AND CHURCHILL AGREED THAT ALLIES WOULD DEFEAT GERMANY BEFORE TURNING TO WAR AGAINST JAPAN

WE PLANNED ONLY DEFENSIVE, HOLDING ACTION IN PACIFIC BEFORE VICTORY WAS ACHIEVED IN EUROPE

WE DID MUCH, MUCH MORE! VJ DAY AUGUST 15, 1945 – ONLY 4 MONTHS AFTER VE DAY

APRIL 1942 – JAPAN TAKES PHILIPPINES (AMERICAN COLONY) (GENERAL DOUGLAS MCARTHUR: “I SHALL RETURN” – SPEECH MADE IN AUSTRALIA, TO WHICH HE ESCAPED – AT ORDERS OF FDR)

BATAAN DEATH MARCH: ABOUT 76,000 TROOPS, INCLUDING “WHITE” AMERICANS, FILIPINO U.S. CITIZENS, AND CHINESE, SURRENDER AT BATAAN ON LUZON ISLAND

POWS FORCED ON 60-MILE MARCH, LARGELY THROUGH JUNGLE, STARVED, BEATEN NEARLY 20,000 DIE INCLUDING ABOUT 15,000 U.S. TROOPS (INCLUDING ABOUT 5000 FILIPINOS)

BATAAN DEATH MARCH ROUTE

BODIES OF DEAD POWS ON BATAAN DEATH MARCH

RESULTING U.S. ARMY RECRUITING POSTER

MAY, 1942 – BATTLE OF THE CORAL SEA – U.S. AND AUSTRALIAN NAVIES PREVENT JAPAN FROM TAKING AUSTRALIA SIGNIFICANT: AUSTRALIA = RESOURCE RICH CON TINENT

U.S.S. LEXINGTONAIRCRAFT CARRIEREXPLODES DURINGBATTLE

JUNE 1942 – BATTLE OF MIDWAY (U.S. POSSESSION SINCE 19TH CENTURY, NOW U.S. TURNS BACK JAPANESE ATTACK)

U.S. ARMY AIR FORCE DIVE-BOMBERS ATTACK JAPANESE BATTLESHIP DURING BATTLE

AFTERWARD, IT’S “ISLAND HOPPING” ACROSS THE PACIFIC TO JAPAN (SEE MAP NEXT SLIDE)

COORDINATED ATTACKS BY NAVY, MARINES, AND ARMY AIR CORPS

MARINES DO THE GROUND FIGHTING ON THE ISLANDS

EVERY ISLAND WE TAKE COSTS TENS OF THOUSANDS OF CASUALITIES – JAPANESE FOUGHT FIERCELY TO THE END, INCLUDING KAMIKAZE ATTACKS (SUICIDE PILOTS)

PACIFIC THEATRE

MAJOR PACIFIC BATTLES IN JAPANESE TERRITORY

GUADALCANAL, AUGUST 1942 – FEBRUARY 1943 – FIRST TIME WE TAKE JAPANESE TERRITORY – OF ABOUT 60,000 U.S. FORCES NEARLY 8,000 KILLED

THIS PICTURE OF MARINESDURING THE BATTLE OF GUADALCANALSHOULD GIVE YOU AN IDEA OFWHAT THE GROUND FIGHTINGWAS LIKE – JUNGLE COMBAT – HOT, HUMID, TROPICAL DISEASES (U.S. TROOPS HAD NO PRIOR EXPERIENCE OF THIS)

OCTOBER 1944 – U.S. RETAKES PHILIPPINES

GENERAL DOUGLAS MCARTHURIN MANILA: “I HAVE RETURNED.”

FEBRUARY – MARCH 1945 IWO JIMA – FIRST U.S CONQUEST OF PART OF JAPAN ITSELF!•BUT – 20,000 CASUALTIES, INCLUDING 8,000 DEATHS

“RAISING THE FLAG ON IWO JIMA” (MT. SURIBACHI ) – THOUGH THE EVENT OCCURRED, THIS WAS A STAGED PHOTO SHORTLY AFTERWARD

APRIL – JUNE 1945 – OKINAWA -- 80,000 CASUALTIES

EVERY JAPANESE ISLAND IN THE PACIFIC COST U.S. TENS OF THOUSANDS OF CASUALTIESJAPAN FOUGHT BITTERLY TO THE ENDIT PROBABLY WOULD HAVE COST THE U.S. TENS OF THOUSANDS AT EVERY ISLAND BEFORE HONSHU AND TENS OF THOUSANDS MORE TAKE TOKYO WITH CONVENTIONAL FORCES

THE END – VJ

APRIL 12, 1945 – FDR DIES – V.P. HARRY S. TRUMAN BECOMES PRESIDENT

FDR HAD BEEN PRESIDENT FOR 15 YEARS!

TRUMAN

AN ACCIDENTAL PRESIDENT

CLEMENT ATLEE, TRUMAN AND STALIN AT POTSDAM CONFERENCE, JULY – AUGUST 1945 – DIVIDED UP EUROPE AND SET TERMS FOR JAPANESE SURRENDER: "UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER" AND OCCUPATION

THE MANHATTAN PROJECT (DEVELOPMENT OF THE ATOMIC BOMB) :

IN 1939, ALBERT EINSTEIN (GERMAN-JEWISH REFUGEE THEN AT PRINCETON) WROTE TO FDR ADVISING HIM THAT ENRICO FERMI (AT UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO!) HAD SPLIT URANIUM ATOM NUCLEAR CHAIN REACTION – AND THAT THIS MIGHT LEAD TO DEVELOPMENT OF MAJOR WEAPON

EINSTEIN, A PACIFIST, COULD NOT GET SECURITY CLEARANCE TO WORK ON PROJECT, BUT FERMI DID

BEGINNING 1942, PHYSICISTS WORKED ON THE TOP-SECRET THE MANHATTAN PROJECT” HAD BEEN WTO DEVELOP THE ATOMIC BOMB, MOSTLY AT LOS ALAMOS, NEW MEXICO

J. ROBERT OPPENHEIMER, SCIENTIFIC DIRECTOR

MAJOR GENERAL LESLIE GROVES, MILITARY COMMANDER

MANHATTAN PROJECT SITESOAK RIDGE, TN. WAS THE HEADQUARTERS

JULY 16, 1945 – MANHATTAN PROJECT TESTS A-BOMB IN N.M. DESERT

OPPENHEIMER'S COMMENT: "NOW I AM BECOME DEATH, THE DESTROYEROF WORLDS” (QUOTING THE BHAGAVAD GITA).

AUGUST 1945 – TRUMAN DECIDED TO NUKE JAPAN:

AUGUST 6, 1945, HIROSHIMA A-BOMBED

HIROSHIMA WAS MILITARY SUPPLY DEPOT

AUGUST 9, 1945 , NAGASAKI A-BOMBED NAGASAKI WAS A PORT

THE TARGETS WERE CHOSEN AS HAVING THE BEST COMBINATION OF PSYCHOLOGICAL AND "STRATEGIC" IMPACT ON JAPAN

BE SURE TO READ THE ATF CHAPTER AND THE ARTICLE ON THE DECISION TO DROP THE BOMB – WE WILL DEBATE THIS TH/F

COLONEL PAUL TIBBETS (OF MIAMI), WAVES FROM THE ENOLA GAY, BEFORE LEAVING TO DROP THE A-BOMB "LITTLE BOY" ON HIROSHIMA

THE MUSHROOM CLOUD FROM THE A-BOMB DROPPED ON HIROSHIMA, AS SEEN FROM THE ENOLA GAY

HIROSHIMA AFTER THE BOMB

AERIAL VIEWS OF HIROSHIMA, BEFORE AND AFTER "LITTLE BOY"

BOCK'S CAR AND CREW, BEFORE LEAVING TO DROP "FAT MAN" ON NAGASAKI

NAGASAKI BEFORE AND AFTER "FAT MAN"

BOMB VICTIM IN NAGASKAI

HEAT OF EXPLOSIONS ≈ 3900o. WIND > 1,000 MPH

WOMAN IN HIROSHIMAAFTER THE BOMB –RADIATION “BURNED”WEAVE OF FABRIC INTO HERFLESHTOTAL NUMBER OF CASUALTIES FROM HIROSHIMA AND NAGASAKI BOMBS UNCERTAIN -- EST. ABOUT 200,000 CASUALTIES, INCLUDING ABOUT 100,000 DEATHS, BY END OF 1945

THAT DOES NOT INCLUDE THOSE WHO DIED LATER OF CANCER CAUSED BY RADIATION, OR THE HUMAN COSTS OF BIRTH DEFECTS CAUSED BY THE RADIATION

BUT IT SAVED THE LIVES OF TENS OF THOUSANDS OF AMERICAN TROOPS

AUGUST 14, 1945 – INFORMAL SURRENDER OF JAPAN

AUGUST 15, 1945 – VJ DAY – FORMAL SURRENDER OF JAPAN

JAPANESE FOREIGN MINISTERSIGNS SURRENDER ABOARD U.S.S. MISSOURI

CELEBRATING V-J DAYROBERT EISENSTADT PHOTO OF COUPLE IN TIMES SQUARE

WORLD WAR II – COSTS TO U.S.

MILITARY CASUALTIES: 416,800 DEAD; 565,861 WOUNDED (WORLDWIDE, THE DEATH TOLL WAS MORE THAN 72 MILLION)

MONETARY COST: $288 BILLION (ADJUSTED FOR INFLATION = ABOUT $4 TRILLION IN TODAY’S DOLLARS)

BUT N.B. DETERMINING THE TRUE NET COST OF WARS IS DIFFICULT BECAUSE THEY HAVE BENEFITS (FOR EXAMPLE, WAR PRODUCTION STIMULATES ECONOMIES AND PUTS PEOPLE TO WORK) AND LONG-TERM COSTS (FOR EXAMPLE, VETERAN’S BENEFITS) AND MANY OF THESE ARE HARD TO CALCULATE.

TOTAL DEATHS:

MILITARY: 23 – 26 MILLIONCIVILIANS 35 – 47 MILLION

(INCLUDES ABOUT 10 MILLION HOLOCAUST DEATHS≈ 6 MILLION JEWS, 4 MILLION OTHERS INCLUDING ROMA, MENTALLY RETARDED AND INSANE PERSONS, HOMOSEXUALS AND JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES)

JUST A FEW SLIDES ABOUT THE HOLOCAUST, BECAUSE IT IS MOSTLY EUROPEAN HISTORY

WHILE THE HOLOCAUST WAS GOING ON, THE U.S. DID NOTHING TO HELP EUROPEAN JEWS, AND IN FACT REFUSED TO ADMIT AS MANY JEWISH REFUGEES AS IMMIGRATION LAWS WOULD HAVE ALLOWED (EVEN AFTER REPORTS ABOUT DEATH CAMPS ARRIVED).

SHAMEFUL INCIDENT: THE M.S. ST. LOUIS, GERMAN PASSENGER SHIP FILLED WITH NEARLY 1,000 GERMAN JEWISH REFUGEES, ARRIVED IN HAVANA HARBOR JUNE 1939

U.S. PRESSURED CUBAN GOVERNMENT TO REFUSE ASYLUM TO THE JEWS ON THE SHIP

ST. LOUIS THEM CAME TO MIAMI – U.S. WOULDN'T LET IT LAND

ST. LOUIS THEN WENT TO CANADA – UNDER U.S. PRESSURE, CANADA TURNED IT AWAY

SO ST. LOUIS HAD TO RETURN TO GERMANY (BUT CAPTAIN STOPPED IN ENGLAND, WHICH LET HALF THE PASSENGER STAY

JEWISH REFUGEES ABOARD M.S. ST. LOUIS, 1939U.S. REFUSED THEM ENTRY HALF RETURNED TO GERMANY, MOST OF THEM DIED IN HOLOCAUST

A FEW SURVIVED, INCLUDING MR. HERB CARLINER, MIAMI BEACH

NORDHAUSEN

BERGEN-BELSEN

MASS KILLING OF JEWS IN UKRAINE. SCENES LIKE THIS WERE TYPICAL IN EASTERN EUROPE

AFTER THE WAR THE U.S. TOOK THE LEAD IN PROSECUTING NAZIS FOR THE

HOLOCAUST AT THE NUREMBERG TRIALS.

BUT KEPT EUROPEAN JEWISH SURVIVORS IN "DISPLACED PERSONS"CAMPS AND WOULD NOT ALLOW THEM TO IMMIGRATE TO U.S. UNTIL 1951

ALSO AFTER THE WAR, THE U.S. TOOK THE LEAD IN SUPPORTING ESTABLISHMENT OF ISRAEL.