Overview of WWII in the Pacific

1. War in the Pacific

2. Flying Tigers
American Volunteer fighter pilots
 Recruited to send supplies to China
 Engaged in combat Japanese pilots
 Destroyed almost 300 Japanese pilots


3. Attacking the Japanese

Japan’s mission of conquest after the attack on
Pearl Harbor was with great success.

U.S. fought Japan in the Philippines but were pushed back to
the Bataan Peninsula.
American forces surrender to Japanese on April 9, 1942
 70,000 troops were forced to march 60 miles where they
were sent to prison camps (14,000 died on march)
 Known as Bataan Death March
 President Roosevelt ordered General Douglas MacArthur
to take over after defeat.


5. Island Hopping

The U.S. had a large region of Pacific Ocean to
fight the Japanese, they attacked the Japanese
on certain islands and “hop” over others.
 Purpose was to conserve resources

7. Effects of Island Hopping


Plan was to attack islands where
Japanese had fewer defenses
 Went against traditional way of fighting
heavily defensed outposts first
Strategy was the ultimate success in the
Pacific against the Japanese
 Main island of Japan was virtually
defenseless

8. Battle of Midway


U.S. planned an attack on the island of Midway in
Central Pacific
 1,000 miles west from Pearl Harbor
U.S. intelligence intercepted plans for Japanese Attack
and told Admiral Chester Nimitz
 Nimitz assembled forces to prepare for the attack
 U.S. was outnumbered 76 ships to Japan’s 162

9. Battle of Midway

Up to this point, Japanese forces were
winning WWII in the Pacific

Japan’s Admiral Yamamoto ordered a retreat


By end of June 5, Japan had lost all 4 of their aircraft carriers in
battle
Major defeat for Japan as the Battle of Midway gave the
U.S. the upper hand in the Pacific and would continue

10. Battle of Midway

How effective was this victory for U.S.? Do
you believe this was the turning point for
the U.S. in the Pacific? Justify your
answers.

12. Battle of Iwo Jima

U.S. needed an airbase to launch an attack on the
Japanese homeland.
 Island of Iwo Jima was a small island off the southern
coast of Japan
 Japanese had 23,000 troops stationed there and an
underground tunnel system to use in attacks.

14. Battle of Iwo Jima


250,000 U.S. troops landed Feb. 19, 1945
 Outnumbered Japanese troops launched furious
counterattack
 Many soldiers were wounded or killed by land mines
Japanese soldiers where committed to the honor code
bushido (no surrender)
 Held off American troops for over 4 weeks

15. Battle of Iwo Jima

Japanese finally surrendered March 26,
1945
 Of
the 23,000 original Japanese soldiers, only
1,000 survived
 26,000 Americans killed, 22,000 Japanese

16. Battle of Iwo Jima

With what you have just watched, can you
devise a new way to invade Iwo Jima that
would be more efficient for soldiers?

17. Statue of Iwo Jima

18. Invasion of Japan (mainland)


U.S. planned to invade main island of Japan
Japan used kamikazes to destroy American warships
 Kamikaze Pilots intentionally crashed planes into
ships
 Kamikaze attacks damaged or sank over 200 vessels

24. Hiroshima and Nagasaki

U.S. scientists had been working on an
atomic bomb since 1940
 Manhattan

Project
President Truman feared that an invasion
on Japan would lead to thousands of
American lives lost
 Felt
that dropping the atomic bomb would
bring a quick end to the war and save lives

25. Hiroshima and Nagasaki



On August 6, 1945 U.S. dropped the first atomic bomb
on the city of Hiroshima
 Nicknamed “Little Boy”
 Instantly destroyed 60% of the city and 100,000
people killed
2 days later, another atomic bomb was dropped on the
city of Nagasaki
 Nicknamed “Fat Man”
 70,000 people were killed instantly
Japan agrees to surrenders from WWII on August 12,
1945

Official signing of surrender on the USS Missouri was Sept. 2,
1945

26. Hiroshima and Nagasaki

Do you think the use of the atomic bombs
on Hiroshima and Nagasaki was a
necessary thing to end the WWII? Justify
your opinion.