1. Early Battles in the Pacific

2. The Philippines
A few hours after Pearl Harbor, Japan attacked American airfields in the Philippines.
Japanese troops were landed 2 days later
General MacArthur retreated to the Bataan Peninsula.
Assisted by the rugged terrain, the U.S. troops held out for more than 3 months

3. Struggling to Survive
By March, troops were eating cavalry horses and mules.
They lacked food and supplies.
Diseases like dysentery, scurvy, and malaria took their toll.
Women of Army Nurse Corps worked in primitive conditions (patients slept in open air).

4. Bataan Death March
Realizing that MacArthur’s capture would demoralize the American people, FDR ordered the general to evacuate to Australia.
April 9, 1942, the U.S. troops on the Bataan Peninsula finally surrendered.
78,000 POWs forced to march – sick, exhausted, and starving – 65 miles to the Japanese prison camp.

5. Raising Morale
Since the Philippines fell, FDR was looking for a way to raise morale
He wanted to bomb Tokyo, but aircraft carriers couldn’t get close enough.
In 1942 a military planner suggested replacing short range bombers with long range B-25s.

6. The Doolittle Raid
The only problem was that the B-25s couldn’t land on aircraft carriers.
They would have to land in China after attacking Japan.
Lieutenant Colonel James Doolittle was in charge of the mission to bomb Tokyo.
Cranes loaded B-25s on “Hornet” aircraft carrier.
April 18, 1942 – American bombs fell on Japan for the first time.

7. Japan Changes Strategy
Japanese leaders were aghast at the raid
Bombs could have killed emperor, who was revered as a god.
Before the raid, Japanese navy disagreed about the next step.
Naval Planners wanted to cut supply lines to Australia by capturing New Guinea’s south coast.
Admiral Yamamoto wanted to attack Midway Island, the last American base in the North Pacific west of Hawaii.

8. Battle of the Coral Sea
Admiral Nimitz, commander of US Pacific naval fleet, sent the aircraft carriers Yorktown and Lexington to Coral Sea
Japanese and American carriers launched all out attacks on each other.
Lexington was sunk; Yorktown damaged.
But the Japanese were unable to land on New Guinea’s south coast, keeping supply lines to Australia open.

9. Midway – June 4, 1942
Japanese ran into antiaircraft fire and 38 planes were shot down.
American carriers Hornet, Yorktown, and Enterprise launched a counterattack
American planes caught Japanese carriers with fuel, bombs, and aircraft on their decks.
Three Japanese carriers were destroyed; a fourth was sunk hours later.