1. The Allied Offensive Chapter 16.2 Part II

2. Setting the Stage In what way did the Japanese feel that the US backed them into a corner? How was the United States fortunate at Pearl Harbor? What did Yamamoto mean when he said that he “feared he had awakened a sleeping giant?”

3. The Allies Strike Back The Doolittle Raid: As America reeled from a string of early defeats, the US went on the offensive where it could. In April 1942, one of our surviving aircraft carriers sneaked across the Pacific carrying 16 land-based B-25 Mitchell medium bombers.

4. The Allies Strike Back Their target was Tokyo, and they inflicted very little real damage, but the raid was an incredible victory in psychological terms, however, as it made the Japanese fear American air attacks long before they were practical.

5. The Allies Strike Back Battle of the Coral Sea: In May, 1942, Japan was also menacing Australia, our only remaining ally in the Pacific. At the Battle of the Coral Sea, the Japanese were denied victory for the first time in 1000 years even though the battle was more of a tie.

6. The Allies Strike Back Turning Point at Midway: Japan launched a massive invasion force against the tiny island outpost of Midway in order to be within reach of Hawaii . The United States could decipher all Japanese codes at this point, but could not pinpoint where the attack would come because they used the codename “AF” for their true target.

7. The Allies Strike Back Operating on a hunch, two codebreakers used a secret and secure phone line laid underwater to Midway to ask its commanders to send out a false emergency request in plain language that they needed water because their desalinization plant had broken. The Japanese jumped on the bait, and their messages were abuzz with the news that “AF” was out of water.

8. The Allies Strike Back On June 4, 1942, the carriers USS Enterprise, Hornet, and even the half-repaired Yorktown waited for the unsuspecting Japanese. The Japanese bombed the island once, and Admiral Nagumo ordered his entire fleet to rearm for another land attack. .

9. The Allies Strike Back During this time, the US fleet was spotted, and Nagumo hurriedly ordered his planes to be rearmed to assault ships with heavy bombs and torpedoes. What amounted was a tangle of bombs coming off, new bombs going on, and fuel going into the Japanese planes.

10. The Allies Strike Back Though American torpedo planes were eradicated, our dive bombers succeeded and soon, four Japanese carriers, Pearl Harbor attackers Soryu, Hiryu, Kaga and Akagi were ablaze. After the battle concluded, the Japanese had lost four carriers to our one, and nearly twice the amount of aircraft. From this point on, the Japanese would be on the defensive. Zanesville native Lieutenant Oscar Wiseman is credited with disabling the carrier Hiryu and playing a pivotal role in the Battle of Midway. His dauntless was bounced by Japanese fighters and he and his gunner were lost. He was awarded the Navy Cross.

11. An Allied Offensive American momentum began to build, a drive was made to roll back the Japanese. This tactic would become known as “Island Hopping” and would involve leapfrogging from one lightly held island to another to avoid bloodbaths and create airfields that could isolate, choke off, and cause Japanese-held islands to “whither on the vine.”

12. An Allied Offensive A completely unknown island called Guadalcanal would earn its place in history as the first island seized from the Japanese. On August 7, 1942, a total of nearly 14,000 US marines landed on Guadalcanal and two smaller islands, and quickly killed or dispersed the tiny Japanese construction and defense force. Initial successes quickly evaporated after the Japanese Navy drove off the entire American fleet covering the landings. The Marines would fight without new supplies or support for quite some time.

13. An Allied Offensive After six months of fighting, Guadalcanal was finally secured. The United States would have a new airfield that it could use to attack other Japanese islands. Of a total of around 36,000 Japanese, 31,000 would be killed and only 1000 would be captured.

14. An Allied Offensive Hundreds of other islands would be taken in this way, and with each invasion, the Allies pushed closer to Japan, and the fighting would only grow more fierce. Prisoners would rarely be taken because Americans that were captured were often tortured and executed, and surrendering Japanese often dropped live grenades that killed the Americans that were attempting to receive or treat the prisoners. Fighting was often hand-to-hand when thousands of Japanese died making suicidal charges on American positions, or fought to the last man in tunnels carved into solid coral on many islands http://www.history.com/shows/wwii-in-hd/videos/battle-kwajalein#battle-kwajalein

15. An Allied Offensive Between June and November, 1944, three important islands in the Marianas group, Saipan, Tinian, and Guam were attacked and seized. These islands would be turned into bases from which American B-29 heavy bombers could reach Japan. http://www.history.com/shows/wwii-in-hd/videos/battle-saipan#battle-saipan