World War II-Victory in the Pacific The Americans Chapter 17.

World War II-Victory in the Pacific

The AmericansChapter 17

Map of the Pacific Theatre

Douglas MacArthur

• 80,000 Filipino and American troops battled the Japanese

• Gen. MacArthur leader of American forces

• Ordered to leave March 11, 1942• Pledged “I shall

return.”

Bataan Death March

Doolittle’s Raid

• April 18, 1942• 16 bombers to

attack Japan mainland for revenge of Pearl Harbor

• Let the Japanese know we were still in the fight

Battle of Coral Sea

• Americans and Australians main Pacific Allied force

• May 1942-• 5 day fight

• Carrier based aircraft fought to push back a Japanese invasion fleet

• Japanese invasion stopped and turned back.

Corsair

Hellcat

Battle of Midway• U.S. broke the Japanese

code-Midway Is. would be next

• Admiral Chester Nimitz commanded the Pacific fleet

• June 3, 1942• U.S. fighters and torpedo

bombers find Japanese fleet• Japanese losses-

• 4 carriers• 1 cruiser• 250 planes

Battle of Midway (Con’t)

• Avenged Pearl Harbor• Turning Point in war• Began “island hopping” Island by

island allies begin winning territory back from the Japanese.

Island Hoping and the Battle of Leyte Gulf

• Island Hopping• August 1942-• Guadalcanal first

Japanese defeat on land • October 1944-• Leyte Gulf (Philippines)

• Bulk of remaining Japanese fleet

• 178,000 Allied troops• 738 ships

• “People of the Philippines: I have returned.”• MacArthur

Iwo Jima

• Iwo Jima-Critical for heavy bombers to reach mainland

• Defended by 20,000+ Japanese soldiers• Only 200 would

be left• 6,000 Marines lost

their lives

Okinawa

• Final assault before the mainland

• April 1945• 1,900 Kamikaze-”Divine

Wind”• U.S. losses

• 30 ships sunk• 300 ships damaged• 5,000 sailors died

• June 21, 1945• 7,600 American dead• 110,000 Japanese

dead

War in the Pacific

• Hand to hand combat was a trial for the

Americans• Battle of Okinawa would be a “chilling

foretaste” of what the Allies imagined the invasion of Japan’s home islands would be.

• Prediction of a million American lives would be lost.

Manhattan Project and V-J Day

• Manhattan Project• 600,000 workers but

kept secret• July 16, 1945 first

test @ Alamogordo, N.M.

• July 25, 1945 Truman orders two bombs to be used

• “I regarded the bomb as a military weapon…and never had any doubt it should be used.”•Truman

B-29 Super Fortress

The Atomic Bomb

Fat Man

Nagasaki

8/9/45

Little Boy

Hiroshima

8/6/45

Victims

The explosion

The destruction

Yalta Conference

• February 1945-Black Sea

• Roosevelt, Churchill, Stalin

• Churchill vs. Stalin• FDR mediated

• Hoped USSR would join in the war against Japan

• Wanted Stalin’s support for the U.N.

Occupation of Japan

• MacArthur placed in command of the occupation

• 1,100 Japanese soldiers placed on trial for war crimes• Tojo found guilty and

put to death• Occupation lasted 7 years• Wrote a new Constitution

for Japan• Free market• Representative • Women's’ rights