World War II: Pacific Theater

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Imperial Japan

• Japan saw the US and others as a threat to its influence in Asia and in 1940 the Japanese began developing plans to destroy the US Navy in Hawaii

• On Dec 7, 1941, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor

In May 1940, the main part of the US fleet was transferred to Pearl

Harbor from the west coast

Broader Results

• In spite of the tactical success, the attack on Pearl Harbor was an operational and strategic failure for the Japanese– The attack failed to

destroy the American aircraft carriers, fleet repair facilities, or fuel reserves

– The “sneak attack” galvanized American support for entry into the war

Fall of the Philippines• Shortly after Pearl

Harbor the Japanese made initial landings on Luzon, then made their main landings on Dec 22

• On Dec 24, MacArthur ordered his forces to withdraw to the Bataan Peninsula

• By Apr Bataan surrendered

• By early May Corregidor surrendered

Douglas MacArthur in his headquarters tunnel at Corregidor

in March 1942

Bataan Death March

• President Roosevelt ordered MacArthur to relinquish command to Lieutenant General Jonathan Wainwright and MacArthur escaped to Australia

• 25,000 Americans and Filipinos died on the Bataan Death March to captivity

Centrifugal Advance

• Japanese attacked Malaya, the Philippines, the Dutch East Indies, Wake, Guam….

• Instead of halting, establishing a defense, and pressuring the US to sue for peace (the prewar plan), the Japanese decided to extend their control over the Pacific planning operations in New Guinea near Port Moresby and against Midway (1,300 miles northwest of Honolulu)

• US achieved a moral victory with Doolittle’s Raid on the Japanese home islands on April 18, 1942– Minimal damage but humiliated Japanese high

command and led them to advance the date for their attack on Midway

Coral Sea (May 4-8, 1942)• US had been able to intercept

Japanese radio traffic in an operation called “Magic”

• Magic intercepts allowed Admiral Nimitz to position two carriers off the eastern tip of New Guinea

• Both sides suffered heavy losses but the Japanese were forced to call off their amphibious attack on Port Moresby

• Battle waged exclusively via air strikes– Opposing surface ships

never made direct contact

Admiral Chester Nimitz, Commander in Chief Pacific

and Pacific Ocean Areas

Midway (June 3-6, 1942)

• Japanese planned a diversionary attack on the Aleutian Islands while the main force attacked Midway to destroy the American fleet

• Thanks to Magic intercepts, US didn’t fall for the Alaska feint and reinforced Midway

• Americans destroyed four Japanese carriers and most of their flight crews

• Japanese advance was checked and initiative in the Pacific began to turn to the Americans

Greatest Extent of Greater East Asia Co-prosperity Sphere

China-Burma-India• The Chinese Nationalist

government of Chiang Kai-shek was on the Allied side of World War II

• In the spring of 1942 Lieutenant General Joseph Stilwell became commander of the China-Burma-India Theater and Chiang’s chief of staff– Stilwell was impatient, direct,

and indiscreet– He was publicly critical of

Chiang and eventually would be removed from command over the controversy in 1944

Generalissimo and Madame Chiang Kai-shek with Stilwell in Burma

China-Burma-India

• In addition to Chiang and Stilwell’s command difficulties, the Americans, Chinese, and British lacked common objectives in the CBI– The US wanted the Chinese to actively engage the

Japanese to keep the Japanese occupied as US forces advanced through the Pacific theater to the Japanese home islands

– Chiang’s main objective was to preserve his own strength and political power

– The British wanted to preserve their colonial administrations in Burma and India and initially opposed giving any authority to Chiang

China-Burma-India

• In the spring of 1942 the Japanese launched an offensive that captured Singapore, defeated the Allied navies in the Battle of Java Sea (which exposed Australia to attack), and drove the Allies out of Burma into India– General William Slim led British forces on a 900 mile

retreat to Imphal, India– Stilwell had to personally march his staff 140 miles

through the wilderness to reach safety in India

China-Burma-India

• The loss of Burma effectively cut China off from its Allies– The US responded

by supplying China by air which meant flying over the high altitude Himalayas (“The Hump”)

– The US also constructed a road from Ledo, India through northern Burma to southern China

China-Burma-India

• In late Dec 1943, Stilwell initiated an offensive to retake Burma– Key to the attack were

Merrill’s Marauders, a commando unit that was designed to conduct long-range patrols and raids well behind enemy lines, disrupting communications and supply efforts

– Slim had also shown excellent leadership in rebuilding the British forces and instilling in them an offensive spirit

Field Marshall William Slim, considered by many to be the best British commander of World War II

China-Burma-India

• The Japanese resisted ferociously and the Allies did not retake Burma until May 1945– In the meantime, relations

between Chiang and Stilwell grew intolerable

– On Oct 19, 1944 Stilwell received word that President Roosevelt was recalling him and that Stilwell had just 48 hours to leave

Stilwell’s nickname, “Vinegar Joe,” gives insight into his caustic personality

China-Burma-India• While the Allies ultimately

retook Burma and the Chinese army developed into an effective fighting force, China never became an important arena of combat operations

• After World War II, Chiang led the Nationalist Chinese in the civil war against the Communist Chinese – In 1949, the Nationalists lost

and fled to the island of Taiwan which Chiang governed until his death in 1975

Compromise• King’s planned drive

would move first against the Gilbert Islands and then toward the Philippines

• MacArthur would likewise advance toward the Philippines– Joint Chiefs gave no

clear priority to either drive

– “Mutual supporting” or “mutually competing?”

Chester Nimitz, Commander in Chief Pacific and Pacific Ocean Areas andWilliam Halsey, Commander, South Pacific Area and South Pacific Force

Operation Cartwheel

• MacArthur requested five additional divisions and 1,800 aircraft to capture Rabaul

• Joint Chiefs of Staff concluded there were not enough resources to capture Rabaul in 1943 so they accepted MacArthur’s proposal for a two-pronged drive to isolate it

Operation Cartwheel

• MacArthur would be in overall command

• Admiral William Halsey, commander of the naval forces in the South Pacific, would advance up the Solomons as far as Bougainville

• MacArthur would move along the coast of New Guinea before attacking the western end of New Britain

Operation Cartwheel• Became the model for Pacific commanders

throughout the rest of the war– don’t move island to island; advance by great

bounds using air superiority– bypass major strongpoints and leave them

reduced to strategic and tactical impotence– hit Japanese weak spots; avoid frontal assaults;

use deception and surprise – seize existing airfields and ports and use these

newly acquired bases to support the next leap forward

Battle of Leyte Gulf

• The American and Japanese surface fleets made contact the night of October 24-25 in the San Bernardino Strait

• Two Japanese task forces entered the strait, Halsey did the classic naval maneuver of crossing the “T” and sank all but one enemy destroyer

Battle of Leyte Gulf• However, Halsey was

surprised shortly after dawn when Japanese heavy cruisers and battleships passed unopposed through the San Bernardino Straits and threatened the invasion fleet

• American aircraft turned back the already weakened Japanese

• Still the Japanese did not give up, delivering their first wave of kamikaze attacks Escort carrier St. Lo

sunk by kamikaze attack

Battle of Leyte Gulf

• The Battle of Leyte Gulf secured the beachheads of the U.S. Sixth Army attack on Leyte and destroyed Japanese naval power

• By the end of December 1944, the Allies controlled Leyte and MacArthur was in position to attack Luzon, the heart of the Philippines

Walter Krueger, commander of

Sixth Army

“I shall return”

Final Campaigns• From Feb 19 to Mar 11, 1945

the Marines captured Iwo Jima• From Apr to June Americans

captured Okinawa– Total American battle

casualties were 49,151, of which 12,520 were killed or missing and 36,631 wounded

– Approximately 110,000 Japanese were killed and 7,400 more were taken prisoners

– Okinawa showed how costly an invasion of the Japanese home islands would be

Raising the flag on Mt. Suribachi,

Iwo Jima

Plan to Invade Japan

• US planned to invade Japan with eleven Army and Marine divisions (650,000 troops)

• Casualty estimates for the operation were as high as 1,400,000

• Truman decided to use the atomic bomb to avoid such losses

Operation Cornet, the plan to take Tokyo

The Atomic Bomb

• In the early 1940s, America had started an atomic weapons development program code named the “Manhattan Project”

• A successful test was conducted at Alamogordo in New Mexico in July 1945 J. Robert Oppenheimer and

General Leslie Groves at the Trinity Site soon after the test

Hiroshima and Nagasaki

• Hiroshima Aug 6, 1945– 90,000 killed

• On Aug 8, the USSR declared war on Japan and invaded Manchuria the next day

• Nagasaki Aug 9, 1945– 35,000 killed

• Okinawa had been much more costly than Hiroshima and Nagasaki

Captain Paul Tibbets piloted the plane that dropped the bomb on

Hiroshima

Hiroshima, vicinity of ground zero

Surrender

Japan surrenders Sept 2, 1945 aboard the USS Missouri