The War in the Pacific

1. The War in the Pacific

2. Japan and the United States

3. Japanese Internment, 1942 • Relocation & internment • 110,000 Japanese Americans • Pacific coast • "War Relocation Camps," • Executive Order 9066: • Ability to designate "military areas" as "exclusion zones," • Used to target all people of Japanese ancestry • Korematsu v. United States : 1944, the US Supreme Court Case • maintained legality of interment • Grounds: need to protect against espionage outweighed  individual rights

4. Japan, Propaganda, & Dehumanizing

5. The Savagery of the Pacific Life Magazine, May 22 1944 “Arizona war worker writes her Navy boyfriend a thank-you note for the Japanese skull he sent her. This skull of a Japanese soldier bears the inscription: ‘Here is a good Jap -- a dead one!’”

6. Midway Island: June 4-7, 1942 • The turning point in the Pacific • Halts Japanese expansion in the Pacific. • Japanese plan • lure American ships into battle & permanently destroy the American war effort • Intercepted battle plans • Admiral Chester Nimitz

7. Midway & Island Hopping • Turning Point BUT • not an immediate turn around for either nation. • Japan maintained its superiority • US still building up navy • Island Hopping Campaign • Avoid head on onslaught • Attack strategically important islands • Poorly defended but allow slow crawl towards Japan

8. Bataan Death March • Phillipines lost in 1942 • 75,000 American and Filipino prisoners of war marched 60 miles • Death count: • Impossible to determine…estimates6,000- 18,000

9. “I came out of Bataan and I shall return“ • Douglass MacArthur • US loses the Philippines but Douglas MacArthur promises a return…

10. Battle of Guadalcanal, 1942-43 • First major offensive launched against Japan • Allies overwhelmed the outnumbered Japanese defenders • First significant strategic victory for Allies • Shifts the momentum of the Pacific • Japanese had continued moving south in the Pacific. • Guadalcanal stops this

11. The Status Quo: 1944 • Mid-1944 Japan controlled six million square miles • Victory meant controlling the seas.

12. Leyte Gulf: October, 1944 “I have returned” -Douglas MacArthur • Japan lost 4 aircraft carriers, 400 planes and 16 additional surface ships. • Neutralizes Japanese Navy • US began bombarding outlying islands of Japan. • B-29 bombers – long range bombers attack Japan

13. Iwo Jima (February-March, 1945) • First American attack on the Japanese home islands. • Thus imperial soldiers defended their positions tenaciously. • Americans made use of naval and air support • Japan fortified Iwo Jima • 5,000 pillboxes and fortified caves • 13,000 yards of tunnels. • A key area of defense was Mt.Suribachi

14. Iwo Jima, Feb-March, 1945 • Japan & US fought savagely • Japan had 21,000 men but only 1,000 taken prisoner, • Americans 6,821 killed and nearly than 20,000 wounded. • Iwo Jima was 900 miles from Japan • Allows US to bomb Japan, thereby reducing fuel consumption & flying time • Raising the Flag • Iwo Jima had one of the most famous images of the war • Flag being raised on Mt. Suribachi

15. Campaign on Tokyo • March, 1945 – B29 Bombers attacked Tokyo • Tokyo mostly constructed of wood • US dropped more than 2,000 tons of incendiary bombs • Firestorm • More than 100,000 Tokyo residents were killed • Japanese defenders on Okinawa aware of what happened in Tokyo

16. Okinawa: The Last Battle, April 1945 • April 1, 1945 1,300 US ships/50,000 men to invade • 120,000 Japanese did not contest the landing. • Kamikazes • Sunk more than 20 US ships • 1,000 kamikaze pilots died during battle • Fighting ferocious. • 110,000 Japanese defenders were killed. • Civilians suffered losses between 70,000 and 160,000. • United States lost 6,938 killed and 38 ships sunk.

17. Okinawa Midway Iwo Jima Leyte Gulf Guadalcanal

18. Potsdam Conference, July-August 1945 • Participants • Met to discuss how to punish Nazi Germany • Also… • ATOMIC WEAPONS: • Truman informed both Churchill and Stalin of the A-Bomb • Potsdam Declaration • Message to Japan, threatening total destruction • Told Japanese government to submit to unconditional surrender Winston Churchill -Harry Truman -Joseph Stalin

19. Manhattan Project Gen. Leslie Groves J. Robert Oppenheimer

20. Operation Olympic • Invasion of Japan? • Estimates 500,000 American soldiers killed • Possible 1,000,000 casualties • Or…Atomic Bomb

21. Hiroshima & Nagasaki • Why these cities? • largely untouched by previous bombing • Would allow assessment of weapon’s power

22. AFTER Hiroshima & Little Boy • August 6, 1945, at 8:15 AM • The Enola Gay dropped ‘Little Boy’ on Hiroshima • Instantly kills an estimated 80,000 people. • By the end of the year casualties to 90,000-140,000 (due to radiation and other injury) • 69% of the city's buildings were completely destroyed • 7% severely damaged. Paul Tibbets & Enola Gay HIROSHIMA BEFORE

23. NAGASAKI BEFORE/AFTER Nagasaki & ‘Fat Man’ • August 9, 1945 • Nagasaki attacked at 11:02 a.m. • Less killed by the second bomb: "Fat Man." • Death toll totaled 73,884 • 74,909 injured

24. Surrender • Hirohito gave a recorded radio address to the nation on August 15. • He declared a surrender, announcing to the Japanese populace the surrender of Japan. • Official surrender signed on the USS Missouri on September 2, 1945.

25. …THE END…for now…