U.S. INVOLVEMENT IN WORLD WAR II
THE PACIFIC CAMPAIGN
THE PACIFIC CAMPAIGN
JAPAN’S UPPER-HAND:
▸ Allies not winning in the Pacific
▸ Japan’s superior military:
▸ 2,400,000 trained
soldiers
▸ 3,000,000 reserves
▸ 7,500 aircraft (at a rate of
400 aircraft/month)
▸ Allies’ military:
▸ 550,000 soldiers
▸ 1,000 obsolete aircraft
THE PACIFIC CAMPAIGN
AIR WARFARE:
▸ Battle of Coral Sea & Battle
of Midway:
▸ Naval battles that, for
the first time in history,
battleships never saw
each other; fought
entirely by aircraft.
▸ Aircraft carriers to replace
naval battleships
THE PACIFIC CAMPAIGN
BATTLE OF MIDWAY:
▸ Japan makes it seem like
they’re going to attack Alaska,
but will really attack Midway
▸ U.S. discovers the ploy
and launches
counterattack led by
Chester W. Nimitz
▸ Losses:
▸ Japan: 4 aircraft carriers,
322 aircraft, 3,500
personnel
▸ U.S.: 1 aircraft carrier, 150
aircraft, 300 personnel
THE PACIFIC CAMPAIGN
ISLAND HOPPING:
▸ Europe= a single land mass v.
Pacific=hundreds of separate
islands (How do you “gain”
ground?)
▸ Island Hopping: each island to be
invaded, then immediately
supported with supplies; built up
with U.S. airfields
▸ Capture of Guam, Saipan, and
Titian meant Allies could begin
bombing Japan.
▸ Aviation made island hopping
possible
▸ Douglas MacArthur: oversaw the
occupation of Japan from
1945-1951
A landing craft packed with helmeted U.S. Marines,
accompanied by U.S. Coast Guard, approaches the
shore of an island in the Kwajalein Atoll during the
American invasion of the Marshall Islands in the
Pacific on March 2, 1944. Brian Albrecht
THE PACIFIC CAMPAIGN
GUADALCANAL:
▸ August 1942
▸ Japan’s first defeat on land
▸ Americans able to set up an
airbase
▸ 23,000 Japanese killed
THE PACIFIC CAMPAIGN
IWO JIMA:
▸ March 1945
▸ Small island made U.S. think it
was weak
▸ 20,000 Japanese living
underground (U.S. estimated
13,000)
▸ Only 200 Japanese survived
THE PACIFIC CAMPAIGN
OKINAWA:
▸ June 1945
▸ 19,000 kamikaze attacks
▸ 12,600 Americans died; 110,000
Japanese died
▸ The war in Europe was now over
and Allies were ready for the war to
end.
THE PACIFIC CAMPAIGN
But for Japan, surrender was unthinkable. If a massively
destructive air bombardment couldn’t end the war,
invasion seemed the only possibility. POWs saw women
holding sharpened sticks, practicing lunges, and small
children being drilled with wooden mock guns. Japan
was preparing to fight to the last man, woman, and
child.
Unbroken, Laura Hillenbrand
THE PACIFIC CAMPAIGN
JAPAN’S UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER:
▸ Kamikaze: a name given to
Japanese pilots who used
their plane as a bomb and
ultimately killed himself;
high honor to die for your
country in this way
▸ Unconditional surrender:
under NO conditions, will
we surrender; fight to the
death of women & children
▸ This makes Japan an
impossible enemy to fight;
huge casualties
THE PACIFIC CAMPAIGN
ATOMIC BOMB:
▸ Manhattan Project: the
secret project of the building
of the atomic bombs that
were used on Japan
▸ Why?: Seen as the only way
to win the war; Truman says
it will prevent many
casualties
▸ How?: B-29 (Enola Gay)
takes off from Tinian Island
▸ Hiroshima: August 6, 1945
▸ Nagasaki: August 9, 1945
AUGUST 15, 1945
V-J DAY
WAS IT WRONG TO DROP
THE ATOMIC BOMB ON
JAPAN?