Course of the War Pacific/Asian Theater

1. Course of the WarPacific/AsianTheater

2. 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 surprise attack on U.S. naval base: Pearl Harbor

3. 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

5. 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

6. 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

7. 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

8. 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

9. Gen. Douglas MacArthur • US commander in Pacific • “old soldiers never die; they just fade away.”

10. 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

11. Harry Truman • Harry Truman – U.S. Pres after FDR dies • Has to decide if U.S. should use atomic bomb

12. 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

13. 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

14. 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