WWII War Against Japan. Japan Invades Manchuria, 1931.

WWIIWarAgainstJapan

Japan Invades Manchuria, 1931

The Japanese Invasion of China, 1937What were the reasons for Japanese aggression?

Pearl Harbor

FALL OF THE PHILIPPINESJapanese attacked just hours after Pearl HarborGen. Douglas MacArthur retreated to Bataan Peninsula; badly outnumbered by JapaneseHeld out for 3 mos.; MacArthur ordered to AustraliaRemaining troops surrendered in April 1942Bataan Death March to prison camp thousands died; worst defeat in U.S. military history

National ArchivesBataan Death March85 miles1942

FALL OF THE PHILIPPINES

THE DOOLITTLE RAIDS, April 1942Secret mission from USS Hornet; 16 B-25s took off from Hornet to bomb Tokyo first bombing of JapanThen supposed to land in friendly airfields in ChinaHad to take off early after Japan discovered aircraft carriersNot enough fuel to reach friendly airfields in China had to crash land or bail out; all planes lostOf the 80 airmen that participated in the raid, 69 escaped capture and death; aided by Chinese who paid dearlyRaid a MAJOR boost to American morale and surprise to the Japanese; forced Japan to shift vital resources to their defense.

THE DOOLITTLE RAIDS, April 1942

Military Strategy against the Japanese is ISLAND HOPPING:capturing key islands to cut off Japanese supply lines and to use as bases for attack against the Japanese islands

U.S. Commanders in the Pacific:General Douglas MacArthurAdmiral Chester Nimitz

U.S. vs. JapanU.S. P40 (Flying Tigers)Japanese Zeros (Kamikaze)

Japanese Kamikaze Pilots

U.S.S. LEXINGTONBATTLE OF CORAL SEA 5/42Halts Japanese advance on AustraliaFirst all-aircraft battleLexington sank, but supply lines to Australia stayed open!

Battle of Midway 6/42

3 day air battleUS sinks 4 Japanese carriers with 100 planes each3000 Japanese casualtiesTurning point in War in the Pacific!Limited Japans ability to conduct an offensive war

Battle of Guadalcanal8/42 2/43

By air, sea and landMany MarinesVictory guaranteed Japanese would not disrupt U.S. Australian shipping lanesMarianna IslandsCould be used for B52 bombing raids250 Japanese planes downed; 29 U.S.Saipan Island, Suicide cliffs

MacArthur returns & retakes Philippines in October 1944 with victory at LEYTE GULF - destroys Japanese imperial fleet 60 ships / greatest naval battle of all time! Kamikazes first used.Major difficulties in combat: Reefs surrounding the islands; Japanese fought to the death --- dishonorable to surrender

Fire bombing of TokyoMarch 1945Napalm bombings destroyed 16 square miles of Tokyo 83,000 civilian casualties - Japan still wont surrender

IWO JIMA660 miles from TokyoOnly 8 square milesHas 3 airstrips

One of last major outposts

Only 660 miles from Tokyo -- would be an unsinkable aircraft carrier from which to launch attacks

B52s made 2,500 emergency landings here during Tokyo firebombingExtremely heavy casualties

20,000 Japanese at start 1,083 at end

7,000 Marineslost

Iwo Jima, Feb.-March 1945

OKINAWAJune 1945Only 350 mi. from Japanese mainlandTook 3 months for victoryGround invasion to take place from hereMore than 1,000 Kamikaze attacksU.S. gets airfield to launch attacks against Japanese industrial centers

POTSDAM CONFERENCEJuly August, 1945Truman and Stalin and ChurchillUltimatum to Japan surrender or elseTruman insists German industry be allowed to recover but Stalin wants reparationsAgreement:German industry allowed to revive in the British, American and French zonesStalin gets reparations from only the Soviet zone of Germany (not happy since it was primarily agricultural)Truman tells Stalin of U.S. atomic bomb testing

Atomic BombsHiroshima and NagasakiAugust 6, 1945Hiroshima bombed 1stAugust 9, 1945Nagasaki bombed 2ndUS did not bomb Tokyo; they chose military targets to hit, not civilian targetsAugust 8, 1945 Soviet Union declares war on Japan (did this in order to get a piece of the settlements)

Little BoyHiroshima, Aug. 6, 1945Fat ManNagasaki,Aug. 9, 194580,000 casualties35,000 dead180,000 casualties70,000 dead instantly

Col. Paul Tibbets preparesto take off for HiroshimaCol. Tibbets named his plane after his mother.

HIROSHIMAAugust 6, 1945Why were Hiroshimaand Nagasaki thechosen sites?

Nagasaki under atomic bomb attack on August 9, 1945. Two planes of the 10th Air Force participated in the mission-one to carry the bomb, the other to serve as an escort. The new atomic age was underway.

Hiroshima after the Bomb

Hiroshima Victims

Shadows burned into a wooden observation towerand outlined in chalk by investigators record a Nagasaki air-raid observers last moments. After descending from his post by ladder,the observer hung up his sword belt and was unbuttoning his jacket when the bomb exploded.EFFECTS OF THEATOMIC BOMB

One feature connected with heat radiation was the charring of fabric to different degrees depending upon the color of the fabric. Persons wearing clothing of various colors received burns greatly varying in degree, the degree of burn depending upon the color of the fabric over the skin in question. The duration of the heat radiation from the bomb is so short, just a few thousandths of a second, that there is no time for the energy falling on a surface to be dissipated by thermal diffusion; the flash burn is typically a surface effect. Where solid objects block the energy, the blast produced a permanent atomic shadow on solid surfaces.

Vegetation begins to propagate because of the radiation.

V-J DAYAugust 15,1945

SURRENDER- SEPT. 2, 1945 ON THE U.S.S. MISSOURI

Sept. 2, 1945 Japanese surrender Didnt want any more bombs; they didnt know that the US didnt have anymore, but the Soviets definitely didUnconditional surrenderJapanese asked for one thingto keep their Emperor (Hirohito) and it was granted

TOJOSSUICIDEATTEMPT

September 11, 1945

Japanese had been told they were invulnerable Sixteen B-25 bombers (medium bombers ) took off from the deck of the USS Hornet, led by (then Col.) Jimmy Doolittle. They were to fly over Japan, drop their bombs and fly on to land in a part of China that was still free.

succeeded in its goal of raising American morale and casting doubt in Japan on the ability of its military leaders to defend their home islands. It also caused Japan to withdraw its powerfulaircraft carrier forcefrom theIndian Oceanto defend theirHome Islands, and the raid contributed to AdmiralIsoroku Yamamoto's decision to attackMidway Islandin theCentral Pacifican attack that turned into a decisive strategic defeat of theImperial Japanese Navy(IJN) by the U.S. Navy in theBattle of Midway.

Approximately 250,000 Chinese civilians were massacred by the Japanese in eastern China in retaliation for helping the attacking American aviators escape capture****Decision to attack at Battle of Midway had much to do with resources shifted by Japanese back to Japan after Doolittle Raid********Small, 8 square miles*4 ton bomb not fully armed at take off . In case of crashPlane itself was 8 tons overloaded45 seconds to detonate at first, thought it was a dud*