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Japan
USA
Canada
Australia
China
SE Asia
The Pacific Ocean
The Pacific War
• Dates: July 7, 1937 - August 14, 1945• Began with the Second Sino-Japanese war,
between China and Japan• Concluded with Japan’s surrender to the
Allied powers
Prelude to War
• Japan seeks to establish “The Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere”– “a bloc of Asian nations led by the Japanese
and free of Western powers”– Invasions of Manchuria and Korea follow
• Three political forces in Japan:– Emperor Hirohito– Civilian Government– Military branches
• The army informs the civilian gov’t of the Manchuria campaign two months after it begins.
Prewar
1932
1937
AB
C
D
“ABCD Encirclement”
1940
1941
Dec 8/7 1941
Fleet Admiral Yamamoto
Fleet Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto
“The US fleet is a dagger pointed at our throat and must be destroyed.”
“I can run wild for six months,after that, I have no expectation of success.”
- Yamamoto, during discussions on the planned Pearl Harbour Attack
Attack on Pearl Harbour
Dec 7, 1941. “A day that will live in infamy”
Pearl Harbour
Mitsubishi A6M “Zero” FighterNakajima B5N torpedo bomber
Aichi D3A dive bomber
Japanese Aircraft
The Attack
The Attack
Aftermath
"Being saturated and satiated with emotion and sensation, I went to bed and slept the sleep of the saved and thankful.”
- Winston Churchill
1941
1942
Bataan Death March April 1942
– 12,000 Americans walked 60 miles to a POW camp
– No food or water– 5,000 died
Battle of Coral Sea
First naval battle carried out entirely by aircraft.
The enemy ships never even came into contact with each other
•May 7, 1942
•Strategic Allied victory—halted the Japanese advance on Australia
The Battle Of Midway
June 4-7 1942
6 months after Pearl Harbour
Yamamoto seeks to capture Midway atoll and thus confront and destroy the US Navy’s carrier forces.
Midway Order of Battle
US forces:
3 carriers
~50 support ships
233 carrier aircraft
127 land-based aircraft
Japanese forces:
4 carriers
7 battleships
~150 support ships
248 carrier aircraft
16 floatplanes
Plan of Attack
The Battle of Midway
• The first major carrier vs. carrier engagement• Decided by cryptanalysis, tactics, radar, pilot
skill, weather, and luck.
The Battle of Midway
• Scouts from the US fleet find the Japanese Fleet first
• A delayed scout means the Japanese fleet receives a warning of US carriers only minutes before the first US planes attack
• After losing many planes in ineffective strikes, US dive bombers manage to set three Japanese carriers on fire.
• A Japanese counterstrike does heavy damage to one US carrier
• Japanese battleships never see combat
The Battle of Midway
US forces:
3 carriers, 1 lost
~50 support ships, 1 destroyer lost
360 aircraft, 98 lost
307 dead
Japanese forces:
4 carriers, 4 lost
7 battleships, 0 lost
~150 support ships, 1 cruiser lost
264 aircraft, 228 lost
3058 dead
1943-1944
Strategic Bombing
B-29 Superfortress bombers
Island-Hopping Warfare
American and Australian troops land in Borneo
Guadalcanal—8/42-2/43
• Who: US vs. Japan• Where: Island near Australia—
one of Solomon Islands• What: One of the most vicious campaigns
– Japanese put up a fierce resistance– US has superior air and naval power
• Results:– First time US land troops defeat Japanese– Americans are able to secure the island
Island-Hopping Warfare
American Troops assaulting Iwo Jima
1944-1945
The Final Year
• The US retakes the Philippines in a long and costly campaign.
• Borneo, Iwo Jima and the Okinawa fall, with heavy losses on both sides.
• The military leadership of Japan refuses to give up, in spite of the loss of the bulk of their forces.
• An edict is issued, ordering civilians on the main Japanese islands to construct bamboo spears and meet the invaders on the beaches.
• US Bombers produce a firestorm in Tokyo, killing 100,000 people in two days.
• The US, Britain and China issue the Potsdam Declaration, demanding Japan’s surrender.
Iwo Jima
• February-March 1945• Island off the coast of Japan—Japanese soil
– Longest sustained aerial offensive of the war
– More marines sent than in any other battle– 100,000 men fighting on an island the 1/3
the size of Manhattan– Japanese fought from below ground—Allies
rarely saw a soldier– The battle was won inch-by-inch
Volcanic island deeply entrenched
Iwo Jima
• Results: US win– Provides a link in the
chain of bomber bases– By the war’s end,
2,400 B-29 bombers and 27,000 crewmen made emergency landings.
– “4 marines raising US flag”
Okinawa
• Casualties– US—12,500 killed; 36,000 wounded– Japan—93,000 troops killed; 94,000 civilians
killed (many killed themselves)
• Kamikazes—suicide pilots– Crashed planes loaded with explosives– Sank 30 US vessels
Hiroshima - 90,000 to 100,000 persons were killed immediately - 145,000 persons perish from the bombing by the end of 1945.
NagasakiLeveled Area: 6.7 million square metersDamaged Houses: 18,409CasualtiesKilled------73,884Injured-----74,909Total------148,793(Large numbers of people died in the following years from the effects of radioactive poisoning.)
Nuclear Strikes
Aug 6, 1945. Uranium bomb “Little Boy” dropped on Hiroshima, killing 140,000
Aug 9, 1945. Plutonium bomb “Fat Man” dropped on Nagasaki, killing 74,000
Japan Surrenders
Representatives of Japan’s Foreign Ministry, Army and Navy appear to sign the surrender aboard USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay
The Cost
• 2,000,000 Japanese Soldiers dead• 300,000 Allied Soldiers dead• 600,000 - 1,000,000 Japanese civilians dead• 11,000 American civilians dead• 60,000 Korean civilians dead• Mass devastation of Japanese infrastructure• Indigenous people of north and western Pacific
islands devastated by disease, cultural contamination, collateral damage, and atrocities.
• The list continues…
