1. WWII IN ASIA 1. Japanese aggression and US strategy
Turning point battles
Coral Sea
Midway
Leyete Gulf
Iwo Jima and Okinawa
Potsdam Conference---July 1945
Atomic bomb
Hiroshima and Nagasaki---Aug. 1945
Japan surrenders---Sept. 1945
WWII ends in Asia
VJ-Day---Victory in Japan

2. 1942 JAPANESE EXPANSION Dec. 7, 1941, Japan attacks Pearl Harbor
US declares war on Japan.
1942
Philippines
Bataan Death March
map/japan

3. Bataan Death March: April, 1942
Approximately 80,000 US and Filipino troops [12,000 Americans] surrendered to the Japanese and were forced to march 60 miles to Camp O’Donnell.
Several thousand died along the way from atrocities committed by the Japanese soldiers.

4. "Island hopping" or "leap frogging" all the way to Japan.
JAPANESE EXPANSION
Dec. 7, 1941, Japan attacks Pearl Harbor
US declares war on Japan.
1942
Philippines
Bataan Death March
"Island hopping" or
"leap frogging" all
the way to Japan.
Difficult strategy
of re-taking islands
Japan had under
their control...
Guam
Malaya
New Guinea
Threatening Australia and Hawaii
map/japan

5. General Douglas MacArthur
WWII MILITARY LEADERS
West Point Graduate
Commanding general of troops in the Philippines
Forced off the Philippines in “I shall return”
1944, Battle of Leyete Gulf---- “I have returned to re-take the Philippines”.
Supreme Allied Commander in the South Pacific
General Douglas MacArthur
WWII Military Leaders

6. 1942 1943 TURNING POINT BATTLES Coral Sea Midway
map/japan
TURNING POINT BATTLES
1942
Coral Sea
Midway
Midway virtually destroyed Japanese Navy.
1943
Continued “island hopping” strategy

7. The Doolittle Raid After Pearl Harbor, FDR wanted a morale booster.
He wanted to bomb Tokyo but aircraft carriers could not get close enough.
Plan: B-25s (which could launch off carriers) would bomb Tokyo and land in China.
Lt. Col. James Doolittle was in command of this operation.
On April 18th, 1942 bombs fell on Tokyo, which led to a change in strategy among the Japanese leaders.
Lt. Col. James Doolittle
B-25s off to Tokyo

8. Change in Japanese Strategy
Japanese leaders were rattled by the raids—bombs might have killed the emperor!!
The American fleet, they decided, had to be destroyed!
They wanted to cut off their supply lines to Australia.
They decided to attack Midway Island—the last American base west of Pearl Harbor.
Bombs falling on Tokyo.

9. Battle of the Coral Sea: June 4-6, 1942
A strategic victory, the Battle of the Coral Sea cost Fletcher the carrier Lexington, as well as the destroyer Sims and the oiler Neosho.
Total killed for the Allied forces was 543. For the Japanese, the battle losses included Shoho, one destroyer, and 1,074 killed. In addition, Shokaku was badly damaged and Zuikaku's air group greatly reduced. As a result, both would miss the Battle of Midway in early June. While Yorktown was damaged, it was quickly repaired at Pearl Harbor and raced back to sea to aid defeating the Japanese.

10. Fighting at the Battle of Midway Badly damaged Yorktown
Code-breakers heard the plan.
At the Battle of Coral Sea, the Yorktown and the Lexington fended off a Japanese attack on New Guinea and preserved Australia.
Code-breakers learned of plan to attack Midway
Admiral Nimitz used this as an opportunity to ambush the Japanese fleet.
Japanese planeWhat was the result of the Battle of Midway?s were hit with antiaircraft fire, shooting down 38 planes.
Japan lost 100 pilots which hurt their Air War.
American planes caught carriers by surprise—their fuel, bombs, and aircraft were exposed.
Four Japanese carriers were sunk, destroying the heart of the navy.
This hit the Japanese hard—it halted Japanese expansion in the Pacific.
Fighting at the Battle of Midway
Badly damaged Yorktown

11. Battle of Midway Island: June 4-6, 1942

12. Gen. MacArthur “Returns” to the Philippines! [1944]

13. Japanese Kamikaze Planes: The Scourge of the South Pacific
Kamikaze Pilots
The last 2 years of the war, the Japanese resorted to “suicidal bombers” or Kamikaze bombers to destroy the American Navy.
Approximately 2,800 Kamikaze attackers sunk 34 Navy ships, damaged 368 others, killed 4,900 sailors, and wounded over 4,800.

14. TURNING POINT BATTLES
1944
Battle of Leyete Gulf, recaptured the Philippines
1945
Iwo Jima and Okinawa
Put the US 500 miles from mainland Japan
Began bombing mainland Japan
map/japan

15. US Marines on Mt. Surbachi, Iwo Jima [Feb. 19, 1945]

16. Big Three POTSDAM CONFERENCE
Churchill, Truman and Stalin meet in Potsdam, Germany in July 1945.
Truman informed of successful test of bomb.
Demanded unconditional surrender from Japanese or a new weapon would be used.

17. Some suggest that Truman was warning Stalin.
POTSDAM CONFERENCE
potsdam
Some suggest that Truman was warning Stalin.
If he didn’t follow through with the decisions at Yalta, it could happen to the Soviet Union.