American History Chapter 14Section 2

Philippine Islands

• The Japanese continued to win victories in the Pacific until the Battle of Midway.

• A few hours after their attack on Pearl Harbor, Japanese attacked airfields in the Philippines.

• A few days later, troops landed on the Philippine Islands, strongly outnumbering American and Filipino forces.

Giving up the Philippines

• General Douglas MacArthur decided to retreat to the Bataan Peninsula.

• Eventually the defenders of Bataan surrendered.– April 9, 1942

Prisoners of War (POWs)

• Japanese were infamous on how they badly treated POWs

• In the Philippines, nearly 78,000 soldiers were forced to march 65 miles to a Japanese prison camps.

• Almost 10,000 troops died on the way.

• The march was later called the Bataan Death March.

Firing Back-April 18, 1942

• By early 1942, the United States was preparing to drop bombs on Tokyo.

• President Roosevelt ordered Lieutenant Colonel James Doolittle to command the mission.

• America bombed Japan for the first time in April of that year.

• Doolittle’s raid sent Japanese strategy into a tailspin.

Breaking the Code

• Thanks to the work of code breakers, American forces were able to decode Japan’s plan to attack both New Guinea and Midway.

Battle of Coral Sea-April 7-8, 1942

• Japan suffers its first defeat of the war during the Battle of the Coral Sea off New Guinea –

• The first time in history that two opposing carrier forces fought only using aircraft without the opposing ships ever sighting each other.

• American forces prevented the Japanese from cutting supply lines to Australia.

Battle of Midway-June 4-7, 1942

• Knowing the code allowed Admiral Chester Nimitz to ambush the Japanese fleet at Midway and win the battle.

• At the Battle of Midway, 3,057 Japanese had died.

• FOUR Japanese Aircraft carriers were sunk by the Americans.

• The Battle of Midway was a turning point.

We want a plan

• In 1942, Joseph Stalin wanted President the Americans and British to open a second front against Germany.

• Winston Churchill, however, wanted to attack the periphery, or edges, of the German empire.

Why North Africa was Import

• Egypt was very important to the British because of the Suez Canal, the route used by most of Britain's Empire to send supplies to Britain

Nazi German’s Afrika Korp

• The German “Afrika Korp” was commanded by General Erwin Rommel, a brilliant commander whose success earned him the nickname, the “desert fox”

Agreeing to attack the edges

• Roosevelt agreed and ordered troops to invade Morocco and Algeria in North Africa.

• These were French territories under German control.

Casablanca

• General Patton led the American forces in Morocco.

• They quickly captured the city of Casablanca.

• Then they headed east into Tunisia, where they struggled in their first real battle with German forces.

Battle of Kasserine Pass

• In the Battle of Kasserine Pass, 7,000 Americans were injured.

• Together with British forces, they were able to defeat the Germans in North Africa in 1943.

German Subs

• At the same time, the war against German submarines in the Atlantic intensified as well.

• German submarines had entered American coastal waters.

• By August of 1942, Germans had sunk about 360 American ships there.

Convoy System

• This convinced the U.S. Navy to set up a convoy system. • Cargo ships traveled in groups escorted by navy warships. • American and British shipyards also upped production of

cargo ships. • Soon they were producing more ships than the German

submarines were sinking. • The United States was also using new technology such as

radar, sonar, and depth charges against the submarines. • The war slowly turned in favor of the Allies.

Battle of Stalingrad • In the spring of 1942, Hitler

was confident he could beat the Soviets by wrecking the Soviet economy.

• The city of Stalingrad controlled the Volga River and was a major railroad junction, capturing the city was the key to Germany’s attack.

• He considered the city of Stalingrad central to his efforts.

Not the right supplies

• Hitler ordered his troops to capture and hold the city at all costs.

• In September of that year, German troops entered Stalingrad, but they were not equipped for the cold in ways the Soviet army was.

Victory and Turning Point • The Germans lost thousands

of soldiers. • In November, Soviet

reinforcements arrived and trapped almost 250,000 German troops within the city.

• The Germans surrendered the city in February of 1943.

• The Battle of Stalingrad was a major turning point of the war, because it put Germans on the defensive.