Battles of the Pacific Theatre

Japanese Bomb Pearl Harbor

December 7th, 1941 Japan surprised American fleet in Hawaii

and destroyed or damaged 19 ships 2,300 Americans were killed Following day US declared war on Japan

Island Hopping: Allied troops moved past Japanese strongholds seizing islands that were not well defended and moved Allied troops closer to Japan

Kamikaze:Japanese suicide pilots crashed bomb-filled aircraft into Allied ships

January of 1942: Japanese attacked the Philippines

Americans fought them from Bataan Peninsula

3 months of fighting before Japan overtook American forces

Japanese considered it dishonorable to surrender and had contempt for prisoners of war

Bataan Death March- 50 mile forced march of POWs

70,000 POWs only 54,000 survived

“I was questioned by a Japanese officer, who found out that I had been in the Philippine Scout Battalion. The [Japanese] hated the Scouts… Anyway, they took me outside and I was forced to watch as they buried six of my Scouts alive. They made the men dig their own graves, and then had them kneel down in a pit. The guards hit them over the head with shovels to stun them and piled earth on top.”

- Lieutenant John Spainhower

(War Diary 1939-1945)

US wanted revenge for Pearl Harbor

Lt. Col. Doolittle led 16 B-25 Bombers on an attack of Tokyo

Bombs did little damage but proved Japan was vulnerable to attack

Raised American moral

May 1942 Japanese and

Allied aircraft attacked enemy ships

Allies suffered huge losses

Stopped Japan’s southward advances

June 1942 Key American airfield Allied code breakers

learned of Japanese attack

American forces surprised Japanese fleet and destroyed 332 planes and 5 ships

Turned the tide of war

Japanese were building a stronghold on island

MacArthur wanted to take before airbase was completed

August 1942 Marines seized airfield Battle lasted for 6 months before Japan

abandoned the island

Oct. 1944 MacArthur returned to Philippines Japanese wanted to defeat US fleet and keep

Allies from resupplying troops Four days of battle Entire Japanese fleet was destroyed

February-March 1945

Heavy losses for both US Marines

(4 Marines died for every yard taken)

Airfields made it possible for US to attack closer to Japan

April to July 1945 Japan’s last effort to

protect the empire A bloody land battle 100,000 Japanese

died and 12,000 Americans

US is now 350 miles away from Japan’s main islands

With Japanese soldiers fighting to the death for their empire the US and Allies now looked at fighting Japan on the main islands

How many more lives will an assault take?