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The Pacific Theater. Pearl Harbor. Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto. Pearl Harbor from the Cockpit of a Japanese Pilot. Pearl Harbor - Dec. 7, 1941. A date which will live in infamy!. President Roosevelt Signs the US Declaration of War. USS Arizona, Pearl Harbor. Pearl Harbor Memorial.
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The Pacific Theater
Pearl Harbor - Dec. 7, 1941 A date which will live in infamy!
Pearl Harbor Memorial 2,887 Americans Dead!
Betty Grable: Allied Pinup GirlShe Reminded Men What They Were Fighting For
Bataan Death March: April, 1942 76,000 prisoners [12,000 Americans] Marched 60 miles in the blazing heat to POW camps in the Philippines.
Bataan: British Soldiers A Liberated British POW
Pacific Strategy • Two Pronged Attack • Island Hopping under Admiral Nimitz from the East • Navy and Marines, one island group at a time • Movement North to retake Philippines under McArthur (army) • After Philippines on to Japan from the South
Retaking of the Philippines MacArthur’s Promise Fulfilled
Background info… • In 1942 MacArthur left the Philippines as part of the American retreat/withdraw when the Japanese took the island. He left the people with this promise, “I shall return.” • The plan was to leapfrog these islands and avoid Japanese strongholds and eventually place an attack on Japan. • U.S. troops set up on islands without many Japanese soldiers and used air power to cut supply lines of enemy troops.
Battle for Leyte Gulf • October 23-26 1944, 178,000 Allied troops and 738 ships converged on Leyte Island (in the Philippines). • When General McArthur waded ashore he said “People of the Philippines: I have returned.” • Often considered the largest naval battle in history. • Japanese threw their entire fleet into the battle for Leyte Gulf including a new flying tactic.
KAMIKAZE“Divine Wind” • These were suicide-plane attacks where Japanese pilots crashed their planes into U.S. ships. • 424 kamikaze pilots did suicide missions and sunk 16 ships and damaged another 80.
Japanese Kamikaze Planes:The Scourge of the South Pacific Kamikaze Pilots Kamikaze is a Japanese word meaning, “divine wind”
Results of the Battle for Leyte Gulf • The battle was a huge victory for the Allies. In 3 days of battle the Japanese lost 10,000 dead; 4 aircraft carriers, 3 battleships, 6 cruisers, 12 destroyers sunk • Americans only suffered 3,000 dead; 1 aircraft carrier, 1 cruiser, 2 escort carriers, 3 destroyers sunk • USA crushed the Japanese navy and left it a weak force in the Pacific war that could no longer pose as an obstacle for American naval operations in the west
Iwo Jima • Bloodiest battle in the Pacific to this point • February 1945 • Small “pork chop-shaped” island only 4 square miles • Airstrips to launch at Japan and for emergency landing of U.S. planes • Most heavily defended area in the world
Potsdam Conference:July, 1945 • FDR dead, Churchill out as Prime Minister during conference. • Stalin only original. • Harry S. Truman has the bomb. • Allies agree Germany to be divided into occupation zonesPoland moved around to suit Soviets.
The Manhattan Project:Los Alamos, NM Major GeneralLesley R. Groves I am become death, the shatterer of worlds! Dr. Robert Oppenheimer
Tinian Island, 1945 Little Boy Fat Man Enola Gay Crew
Hiroshima – August 6, 1945 • 70,000 killed immediately • 48,000 buildings. destroyed. • 100,000s died of radiation poisoning & cancer later.
Atomic Bomb • Three elements of the atomic bomb • Heat • Blast • Radiation
Nagasaki – August 9, 1945 • 40,000 killed immediately • 60,000 injured. • 100,000s died of radiation poisoning & cancer later.
Results of World War II
WW II Casualties: Europe Each symbol indicates 100,000 dead in the appropriate theater of operations
WW II Casualties: Asia Each symbol indicates 100,000 dead in the appropriate theater of operations
