Chapter 17: The U.S. in WWII Section 3: The War in the Pacific

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Chapter 17The U.S. in WWIISection 3The War
in the Pacific
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Standards

• California Academic Standards 11.7.2, 6, 7
• 11.7 Students analyze America's participation in
  World War II.
• .2 Explain U.S. and Allied wartime strategy,
  including the major battles of Midway, Normandy,
  Iwo Jima, Okinawa, and the Battle of the Bulge.
• .6 Describe major developments in aviation,
  weaponry, communication, and medicine and the
  war's impact on the location of American industry
  and use of resources.
• .7 Discuss the decision to drop atomic bombs and
  the consequences of the decision (Hiroshima and
  Nagasaki).

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Objectives

• Following lecture and reading of this section,
  students will be able to
• Identify key turning points in the war in the
  Pacific.
• Explain the development of and the debates
  concerning the use of the atomic bomb.
• Describe the challenges faced by the Allies in
  building a just and lasting postwar peace.

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Japanese Advances

• In first 6 months after Pearl Harbor, Japan
  conquered an empire (Pacific)
• Gen. Douglas MacArthur led the Allied forces in
  Philippines
• March 1942 U.S. Filipino troops were trapped on
  Bataan Peninsula
• FDR ordered MacArthur to leave, thousands of
  troops remain
• MacArthur vows to return!

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Striking Back _at_ Japan

• Doolittles Raid
• April 1942, Lt. Col. James Doolittle led air raid
  on Tokyo
• Battle of the Coral Sea
• May 1942, U.S. Australian soldiers stop
  Japanese drive to Australia
• For first time since Pearl Harbor, a Japanese
  invasion turned back
• The Battle of Midway
• Admiral Chester Nimitz commanded U.S. naval
  forces in Pacific
• Allies broke the secret Japanese code, win the
  Battle of Midway, and stop Japan again
• Allies advance island by island to Japan
• Island Hopping- taking less defended islands

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Offense and Defense

• The Allied Offensive
• Allied offensive begins August 1942 in
  Guadalcanal
• October 1944, Allies converge on Leyte Island in
  Philippines
• MacArthur returns to the Philippines
• The Japanese Defense
• Japan used kamikaze attack
• Pilots crash bomb-laden planes into ships
• Battle of Leyte Gulf is a disaster for Japan
• Imperial Navy severely damaged played minor role
  after

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Converging on Japan

• Iwo Jima
• Iwo Jima critical as base from which planes can
  reach Japan
• 6,000 marines die taking island of 20,700
  Japanese, 200 survive
• The Battle for Okinawa
• April 1945 U.S. Marines invade Okinawa
• AprilJune 7,600 U.S. troops, 110,000 Japanese
  die
• As fighting neared the Japanese homeland death
  tolls on both sides increased

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Invading Japan

• Allies feared an invasion of Japan may cause up
  to 1.5 million Allied casualties
• The Manhattan Project (Atom Bomb)
• J. Robert Oppenheimer was research director of
  Manhattan Project
• July 1945, atomic bomb tested in New Mexico
  desert
• Much more powerful than expected
• President Truman ordered military to drop 2
  atomic bombs on Japan
• Hiroshima and Nagasaki
• August 6, Hiroshima, major military center,
  destroyed by bomb (Little Boy)
• 3 days later, bomb dropped on city of Nagasaki
  (Fat Man)
• September 2, 1945 Japan surrendered

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Post War Issues

• The Yalta Conference
• February 1945, FDR, Churchill, Stalin meet in
  Yalta
• discussed post-war world
• FDR, Churchill make a concession
• Temporarily divide Germany into 4 parts (zones)
• Stalin promised free elections in Eastern Europe
  also agreed to fight Japan
• FDR got support for conference to establish
  United Nations
• Human Costs of the War
• WW II most destructive war in human history
• Millions of lives lost

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Trials and Occupation

• The Nuremberg War Trials
• Nuremberg trials24 Nazi leaders tried, sentenced
• charged with crimes against humanity, against
  the peace, war crimes
• Established the principle that people are
  responsible for their own actions, even in war
• The Occupation of Japan
• MacArthur commanded U.S. occupation forces in
  Japan
• Over 1,100 Japanese tried, sentenced
• MacArthur reshaped Japans economy government
• Capitalism
• MacArthur Constitution, still in place today in
  Japan
• Suffrage for women

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• In the Philippines, the 200,000 Japanese troops
  eventually overran the 80,000 American and
  Filipino troops under the command of General
  Douglas MacArthur over the course of four months
  on the Bataan Peninsula and another month of the
  island of Corregidor in Manila Bay.

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• MacArthur was forced to abandon the Philippines
  but vowed, I shall return.
• The Americans responded with the Doolittle raid,
  in which Americans bombed Tokyo.
• This lifted American spirits and dampened Japans
  spirits, having them doubt their invincibility.

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• The Battle of Midway
• The Allies endured hunger, disease, and
  bombardments, killing 14,000 and wounding 48,000.
• Admiral Chester Nimitz, commander of American
  forces in the Pacific, learned of Japanese
  intentions to take the island of Midway, then
  Hawaii.

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• Nimitz, outnumbered 4 to 1in ships and planes,
  prepared a surprise attack and staved off the
  Japanese invasion.
• Island Hopping
• The Pacific theater was huge because of all the
  distance between islands.
• MacArthur came up with an island hopping strategy
  to defeat Japan.

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• In island hopping, the U.S. would take less
  fortified islands back from the Japanese.
• Then once secured between Japan and other islands
  would cut supply lines to local islands.
• Allied Victories
• In August 1942, the Japanese lost their first
  land battle of the war on Guadalcanal

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• In October 1944, through island hopping,
  MacArthur returned to the Philippines as
  promised.
• During the Battle of Leyte Gulf, the Japanese
  unleashed Kamikazes, a new battle tactic in which
  Japanese pilots crashed planes with bombs on them
  into American ships.
• After retaking the Philippines, the Allies turned
  attention to Iwo Jima.

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• Taking Iwo Jima was critical to our offensive,
  because from Iwo Jima American bomber planes
  could get to Japan.
• Of the 20,700 Japanese, only 200 survived the
  American attack on Iwo Jima.
• The next and last island before reaching Japan
  was Okinawa, Japans last defensive outpost.

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• Japanese loses defending Okinawa were 110,000.
  While only 7,600 Americans died.
• Between Iwo Jima and Okinawa FDR died, placing
  Harry Truman in office as President.
• There is no doubt that as the fighting got closer
  and closer to Japan, Japanese soldiers became
  fiercer and more desperate.

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• The Atomic Bomb Decision
• On July 16, 1945, the a-bomb was detonated in the
  New Mexico desert the flash could be seen 180
  miles away.
• The bomb was more powerful than the scientists
  thought it would be.

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• Even though it worked, and worked well,
  scientists, military leaders, civilian
  policymakers had major doubts about using it,
  thinking it would be immoral without warning.
• Some claimed a demonstration of the bomb for the
  Japanese to show them the devastation would get
  them to surrender.

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• Eventually the Interim Committee decided dropping
  the bomb was necessary.
• People came around to the same conclusion,
  especially after figures of U.S. casualties and
  projected casualties came in.
• Bombed used for other reasons than to get
  Japanese to surrender.
• Needed to justify cost spent on developing weapon

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• Wanted to give U.S. advantage over Soviets when
  deciding how to shape the postwar world.
• The bomb was initially estimated to have saved
  over 1 million American lives.
• The Bombs Are Dropped
• The Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki,
  were bombed because they were military targets.

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• Hiroshima was bombed with the Enola Gay Bomber,
  bomb codenamed Little Boy on August 6, 1945
• Nagasaki was bombed with Fat Man, on August 9,
  1945 when Japanese leaders did not surrender.
• An estimated 200,000 Japanese died from the
  blasts or injuries from the blast by the end of
  the year.
• On September 2, 1945, Emperor Hirohito, of Japan,
  surrendered and the war was over.

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• Rebuilding the World
• February 1945, before war was over, FDR,
  Churchill and Stalin met in Yalta, USSR.
• At the Yalta Conference they agreed to move ahead
  with creating the UN.
• In April, 50 nations met in SF to establish the
  UN.

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• The UN was a town meeting for the world to help
  avoid conflicts before they start.
• The real power was held by an 11 member security
  council (6 permanent members, 5 rotating members)
• In July 1945, Truman, Churchill and Stalin met in
  Potsdam to discuss disarmament of Germany.

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• They decided to divide Germany into four sectors
  and the capital city of Berlin into four sectors.
• Nuremburg Trials
• We put 22 Nazis on trial for their crimes 12 were
  sentenced to death.
• 1st time people were held accountable for crimes
  during war time.

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• 200 more found guilty of war crimes in later
  dates.
• The Occupation of Japan
• MacArthur and U.S. occupied Japan.
• 1,100 people were arrested and put on trial.
• 7 were put to death, including Tojo

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• During 6 year occupation, MacArthur reformed
  Japans economy by introducing free-market
  practices and reformed Japans government by
  calling for a new constitution that provided
  woman suffrage, and guaranteed basic freedoms.
• To this day the Japanese constitution in known as
  the MacArthur Constitution.