1. World War II:
The Pacific Theater

2. Japan
Canada
China
USA
The Pacific Ocean
SE Asia
Australia

3. The Pacific War Dates: July 7, 1937 - August 14, 1945
Began with the Second Sino-Japanese war, between China and Japan
Concluded with Japan’s surrender to the Allied powers
War begins 1937, Japan Invades Chinese holdings
1941: Japan attacks USA (Pearl Harbour) Attack on USA brings the USA into WW2 on the Allied side.
1941: US allies: UK, Australia, Free France, The Netherlands, New Zealand and Canada declare war on Japan
1942: Thailand joins Japan and Germany
1945: The Soviet Union enters war with Japan

4. Prelude to War
Japan seeks to establish “The Greater East Asia Co- Prosperity Sphere”
“a bloc of Asian nations led by the Japanese and free of Western powers”
Invasions of Manchuria and Korea follow
Three political forces in Japan:
Emperor Hirohito
Civilian Government
Military branches
The army informs the civilian gov’t of the Manchuria campaign two months after it begins.
Manchuria was Chinese at the time (1931)

5. Prewar

6. 1932

7. 1937 A B C D
“ABCD Encirclement”

8. 1940

9. 1941
Dec 8/7 1941
Dec 8/ (simultaneous, but Int’l date line skews date)
Attacks on British Territory (Hong Kong) and American Territory (Pearl Harbour)

10. Fleet Admiral Yamamoto
“The US fleet is a dagger pointed at our throat and must be destroyed.”
“I can run wild for six months,after that, I have no expectation of success.”
- Yamamoto, during discussions on the planned Pearl Harbour Attack
Fleet Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto

11. Attack on Pearl Harbour
Dec 7, “A day that will live in infamy”

12. Pearl Harbour

13. Japanese Aircraft Mitsubishi A6M “Zero” Fighter
Nakajima B5N torpedo bomber
Aichi D3A dive bomber

14. The Attack

15. The Attack

16. Aftermath
"Being saturated and satiated with emotion and sensation, I went to bed and slept the sleep of the saved and thankful.”
- Winston Churchill

17. 1941 Dec 8/7 1941 (simultaneous, but Int’l date line skews date)
Attacks on British Territory (Hong Kong) and American Territory (Pearl Harbour)

18. 1942

19. Bataan Death March April 1942
12,000 Americans walked 60 miles to a POW camp
No food or water
5,000 died

20. Battle of Coral Sea
May 7, 1942
Strategic Allied victory—halted the Japanese advance on Australia
First naval battle carried out entirely by aircraft.
The enemy ships never even came into contact with each other

21. The Battle Of Midway June 4-7 1942 6 months after Pearl Harbour
Yamamoto seeks to capture Midway atoll and thus confront and destroy the US Navy’s carrier forces.
Yamamoto’s plan was to draw the American Navy (Particularly its three carriers) into a decisive battle and defeat it, forcing the US to withdraw from the mid-Pacific.

22. Midway Order of Battle US forces: Japanese forces: 3 carriers
~50 support ships
233 carrier aircraft
127 land-based aircraft
Japanese forces:
4 carriers
7 battleships
~150 support ships
248 carrier aircraft
16 floatplanes

23. Plan of Attack

24. The Battle of Midway The first major carrier vs. carrier engagement
Decided by cryptanalysis, tactics, radar, pilot skill, weather, and luck.

25. The Battle of Midway
Scouts from the US fleet find the Japanese Fleet first
A delayed scout means the Japanese fleet receives a warning of US carriers only minutes before the first US planes attack
After losing many planes in ineffective strikes, US dive bombers manage to set three Japanese carriers on fire.
A Japanese counterstrike does heavy damage to one US carrier
Japanese battleships never see combat

26. The Battle of Midway US forces: Japanese forces: 3 carriers, 1 lost
~50 support ships, 1 destroyer lost
360 aircraft, 98 lost
307 dead
Japanese forces:
4 carriers, 4 lost
7 battleships, 0 lost
~150 support ships, 1 cruiser lost
264 aircraft, 228 lost
3058 dead
The four carriers: Hiryu, Soryu, Akagi and Kaga represented Japan’s only heavy carriers at the time. Losing all four was a crippling blow.
Additionally, the loss of the elite pilots would be felt deeply, as their combat skills and ability to train new pilots would be sorely missed in years to come.

27.
American Offensives captured Guadalcanal, the Solomon Islands, And then Rabaul, the main base in Papua New Guinea
The push began to capture the Marianas cluster of islands, which would provide airbases to strike the main Japanese islands.

28. Strategic Bombing B-29 Superfortress bombers
High-altitude B-29 bombers could fly above fighter and artillery defenses and drop bombs with impunity. Explosives and incendiaries were used in rolling raids, day and night. Wooden Japanese buildings burned easily. The bombing eventually crippled Japan’s industrial abilities and killed hundreds of thousands of civilians. By 1944, Japanese troops were critically short of food, clean water, fuel, ammunition, and aircraft.

29. Island-Hopping Warfare
American and Australian troops land in Borneo

30. "Island Hopping"

31. Guadalcanal—8/42-2/43 Who: US vs. Japan Where: Island near Australia—
one of Solomon Islands
What: One of the most vicious campaigns
Japanese put up a fierce resistance
US has superior air and naval power
Results:
First time US land troops defeat Japanese
Americans are able to secure the island

32. Island-Hopping Warfare
American Troops assaulting Iwo Jima
Most of these attacks would follow a pattern: massive naval bombardment would destroy surface facilities on the island. The defenders would rely on underground tunnels to survive, with varying success. Mass charges of landing craft would transport marines to the beaches, where they would encounter fierce resistance. Japanese troops would usually mount suicidal “Banzai” charges on the enemy when unable to hold their positions. Due to this tactic, few Japanese infantry would survive or retreat from battles, and attrition rates were 10:1 in many encounters.

35. The Final Year
The US retakes the Philippines in a long and costly campaign.
Borneo, Iwo Jima and the Okinawa fall, with heavy losses on both sides.
The military leadership of Japan refuses to give up, in spite of the loss of the bulk of their forces.
An edict is issued, ordering civilians on the main Japanese islands to construct bamboo spears and meet the invaders on the beaches.
US Bombers produce a firestorm in Tokyo, killing 100,000 people in two days.
The US, Britain and China issue the Potsdam Declaration, demanding Japan’s surrender.

36. Iwo Jima February-March 1945
Island off the coast of Japan—Japanese soil
Longest sustained aerial offensive of the war
More marines sent than in any other battle
100,000 men fighting on an island the 1/3 the size of Manhattan
Japanese fought from below ground—Allies rarely saw a soldier
The battle was won inch-by-inch
Volcanic island deeply entrenched

37. Iwo Jima Results: US win Provides a link in the chain of bomber bases
By the war’s end, 2,400 B-29 bombers and 27,000 crewmen made emergency landings.
“4 marines raising US flag”

39. Okinawa Casualties Kamikazes—suicide pilots
US—12,500 killed; 36,000 wounded
Japan—93,000 troops killed; 94,000 civilians killed (many killed themselves)
Kamikazes—suicide pilots
Crashed planes loaded with explosives
Sank 30 US vessels

40. Devastation

42. Hiroshima Little Boy Nagasaki Fat Man - 90,000 to 100,000 persons were
killed immediately
- 145,000 persons perish from the
bombing by the end of 1945.
Nagasaki
Little Boy
Leveled Area: 6.7 million square meters Damaged Houses: 18,409 Casualties Killed ,884 Injured ,909 Total ,793 (Large numbers of people died in the following years from the effects of radioactive poisoning.)
Fat Man

43. Nuclear Strikes
Aug 6, Uranium bomb “Little Boy” dropped on Hiroshima, killing 140,000
Aug 9, Plutonium bomb “Fat Man” dropped on Nagasaki, killing 74,000

44. Japan Surrenders
Representatives of Japan’s Foreign Ministry, Army and Navy appear to sign the surrender aboard USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay

45. The Cost 2,000,000 Japanese Soldiers dead 300,000 Allied Soldiers dead
600, ,000,000 Japanese civilians dead
11,000 American civilians dead
60,000 Korean civilians dead
Mass devastation of Japanese infrastructure
Indigenous people of north and western Pacific islands devastated by disease, cultural contamination, collateral damage, and atrocities.
The list continues…