Event 10: March 10, 1945 Firebombing Raid of Tokyo

Tokyo Burning

Tokyo Before/After 40% of the city’s buildings were destroyed

…but Tokyo was not the only target!

Air Campaign Against Japanese Home Islands ______________________ Boeing B-29 Superfortress Range: 4,100 miles Wingspan: 141 feet (half of a football field) New airframe, propellers, engines, pressurized cabin Began service in April 1944 Dropped A-Bombs 1945

Air Campaign Against Japanese Home Islands ______________________ Long range B-29 bombers launched from Guam, Tinian, and Saipan after November 1944 Fighter support from Iwo Jima after April 1945 Fighters from Okinawa after May 1945 Bombers from Okinawa after July 1945

Naval Bombardment and Air Attacks Against Japan ______________________ May 1945, island-based fighters attack Japan July 1945, carrier-based planes attack Japan July 1945, US Navy ships begin direct bombardment of coastal areas July 1945, American and British carrier-based planes begin destroying what was left of Japanese Navy in its home waters

Operation Downfall, The Allied (American) Invasion of the Japanese Home Islands

Operation Downfall, the invasion of Japan, first phase: Operation Olympic ______________________ Kyushu, the southernmost of the four home islands of Japan Set for autumn 1945

Operation Downfall, the invasion of Japan, second phase: Operation Coronet ______________________ Honshu, the main and largest of the four home islands of Japan Set for March 1946

Allied Occupation of Japanese Home Islands ______________________ After Japan surrenders, American forces would occupy the country. Important areas would be secured first.

The Japanese Defeat Would firebombing major cities be enough to defeat Japan? Would an invasion be needed? Did the Allies have other options, with other weapons?

Event 11: Significance/Result Worst death toll of any single event in World War II after the bombing starts a massive fire in Tokyo 100,000 Japanese die in the resulting blaze

Event 15: September 2, 1945 Japanese surrender to General MacArthur on the deck of the battleship USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay

The Surrender Fearing another atomic strike, Japan finally surrenders, despite the desire of some Japanese army officers to continue the war.

USS Missouri, Tokyo Bay 9/2/45

USA, China, UK, USSR, Australia, Canada, France, Netherlands, and New Zealand

Conditions of the Surrender Emperor Hirohito had to declare to the Japanese people that he was not a divine presence on Earth Japan was forced to demilitarize; they could only go to war if they were attacked US drew up a new constitution for a constitutional monarchy in Japan Land and Labor Reforms – Redistribution of land – Legalization of unions Right to vote for all citizens over 20

Japanese forces surrender throughout the Pacific, August – September 1945

Some parts of the war last longer than others… Although the war ended 70 years ago, Japan and Russia never formally ended hostilities The last formal attempt failed in 2000 because Japan wanted four offshore islands back from Russia

Some parts of the war last longer than others… Throughout the late 1940s and 1950s, Japanese holdouts surfaced in Southeast Asia and the islands of the West and Southwest Pacific. In 1972, Shoichi Yokoi was captured on Guam. In 1974, Hiroo Onoda, came out of the jungle of the Philippines and gave himself up. In 1974, Teruo Nakamura finally surrendered in Indonesia. They had been hiding for decades, unaware that Japan had surrendered to the US in 1945.

Event 15: Significance/Results Japan Surrenders World War II finally ends The formal peace treaty is not signed until 1951

“It is my earnest hope, and indeed the hope of all mankind, that from this solemn occasion a better world shall emerge out of the blood and carnage of the past-a world dedicated to the dignity of man and the fulfillment of his most cherished wish for freedom, tolerance and justice.” - General Douglas MacArthur, Supreme Allied Commander of the Pacific Remarks upon the conclusion of the Japanese surrender, 02 September 1945