1. War Without Mercy: The Pacific Theater Mr. Johnson U. S
War Without Mercy: The Pacific Theater Mr. Johnson U.S. History & World History
Focuses on Japan and US, not war in Asian mainland
Created by Prof. John Tucker (ECU) & John Johnson (HCHS)

2. Objectives N.C. Standard Course of Study World History U.S. History
Objective 5.03 – Analyze the causes and course of World War II and evaluate it as the end of one era and the beginning of another
U.S. History
Objective Identify military, political, and diplomatic turning points of the war and determine their significance to the outcome and aftermath of the conflict.

3. The War in the Pacific
Note that Japan did occupy a few of the Aleutian islands (future state of Alaska)

4. The War in China Sino-Japanese War, 1937-1945

5. Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere

6. Invasion of Manchuria

7. “Rape of Nanjing”

8. Political cartoon (1937) on the invasion of China

9. Mao Zedong & Chiang Kai-Shek

10. Stimson Doctrine

11. US Aid

12. December 7, 1941: “A Date Which Will Live in Infamy”

17. FDR’s Pearl Harbor Address
“A date which will live in infamy”

18. Chain of Events Pearl Harbor attack U.S. declares war on Japan
Germany & Italy declare war on U.S.
U.S. declares war on Germany & Italy
U.S. is fully involved in WWII

19. U.S. Enters the War
Allied strategy: “Germany first”

20. Japanese Blitzkrieg,

21. U.S. as a “Paper Tiger”

22. War in the Pacific: Island Hopping
Purpose of island hopping was not to systematically clear Japanese troops off of all occupied territories; it was to establish forward air bases for the bombing of Japan into submission

23. American Commanders Gen. Douglas MacArthur U.S. Army
Adm. Chester Nimitz
U.S. Navy
MacArthur: “I shall return”

24. Farthest Japanese Advance
Note that Japan did occupy a few of the Aleutian islands (future state of Alaska)

25. Important Battles
Invasion of Philippines, 1941 – Japanese offensive; Bataan death march killed many American POWs
Coral Sea, 1942 – Stopped Japanese expansion in South Pacific
Midway, 1942 – Turning point of the war, ended Japanese naval superiority
Guadalcanal, 1943 – First major landing of U.S. troops… island hopping strategy
Leyte Gulf, 1944 – Major defeat for Japanese navy, U.S. liberated Philippines
Iwo Jima & Okinawa, –Small islands close to Japan, kamikaze suicide attacks, new airfields = bombing raids 1 2 3 4 5 6

26. “Miracle at Midway”
Japanese aircraft carrier destroyed at Midway

27. Landing at Iwo Jima

31. Desperation: Kamikaze & Kaiten

32. Kaiten – “Shaking of the Heavens”
a.k.a. “suicide torpedoes”
Rarely used and largely ineffective compared to normal torpedoes
All kaitens were designed to be launched from either the deck of a surface ship or the deck of a submerged submarine. Provision was made for the crew to enter the kaiten from the submarine while submerged. Having a very limited depth capability themselves, when carried on a submarine deck the kaitens similarly restricted the diving depth of the submarine itself. Because of this, as well as the fact that the kaiten would have to be launched within a close distance to the target, they were easy prey for US fighter planes as they approached. This is one of several factors blamed for the very poor survival rate of submarines using them, eight submarines being lost while sinking only two enemy ships and damaging some others. A submarine carried from three to six kaitens.
Kaiten means shaking/turning of the heavens; it is also a rolling move in martial arts

33. Kamikaze – “Divine Wind”

36. Embargo & Sub Warfare a.k.a. “suicide torpedoes”
Rarely used and largely ineffective compared to normal torpedoes
All kaitens were designed to be launched from either the deck of a surface ship or the deck of a submerged submarine. Provision was made for the crew to enter the kaiten from the submarine while submerged. Having a very limited depth capability themselves, when carried on a submarine deck the kaitens similarly restricted the diving depth of the submarine itself. Because of this, as well as the fact that the kaiten would have to be launched within a close distance to the target, they were easy prey for US fighter planes as they approached. This is one of several factors blamed for the very poor survival rate of submarines using them, eight submarines being lost while sinking only two enemy ships and damaging some others. A submarine carried from three to six kaitens.
Kaiten means shaking/turning of the heavens; it is also a rolling move in martial arts

37. Estimated U.S. casualties: 500,000-1,000,000
Operation Downfall
a.k.a. “suicide torpedoes”
Rarely used and largely ineffective compared to normal torpedoes
All kaitens were designed to be launched from either the deck of a surface ship or the deck of a submerged submarine. Provision was made for the crew to enter the kaiten from the submarine while submerged. Having a very limited depth capability themselves, when carried on a submarine deck the kaitens similarly restricted the diving depth of the submarine itself. Because of this, as well as the fact that the kaiten would have to be launched within a close distance to the target, they were easy prey for US fighter planes as they approached. This is one of several factors blamed for the very poor survival rate of submarines using them, eight submarines being lost while sinking only two enemy ships and damaging some others. A submarine carried from three to six kaitens.
Kaiten means shaking/turning of the heavens; it is also a rolling move in martial arts
Estimated U.S. casualties: 500,000-1,000,000

38. The Manhattan Project: Developing the Atomic Bomb

39. Incendiary Bombing – 1945
66 Japanese cities were devastated by fire- bombing raids
Incendiary bombs: meant to demoralize and cause mass destruction – “total war”
Total casualties from incendiary bombings:
241,000 killed
313,000 wounded

40. Incendiary Bombing – 1945 Tokyo 51% Tokohama 58% Toyama 99% Nagoya 40%
Osaka 35%
Kure 42%
Kobe 56%
Omuta 36%
Wakayama 50%
Okayama 69%
Nishinomiya 12%
Shimonoseki 38%
Kawasaki 35%
Yawata 21%
Kagoshima 63%
Amagasaki 19%

41. F.D.R.
approved the development of the atomic bomb – “Manhattan Project”
died April 12, 1945

42. Harry S. Truman VP for less than 3 months
Knew nothing about the development of the atomic bomb
Saw the atomic bomb as a way to save American lives

43. Atomic Politics Potsdam Conference (July 1945) The Manhattan Project
Japan was clearly defeated, but would not surrender
U.S., U.K. and K.M.T. China call for unconditional Japanese surrender
Japanese military refused to surrender, hoping that U.S.S.R. would help with a diplomatic settlement
The Manhattan Project
Robert Oppenheimer and Los Alamos
Trinity test explosion

44. Oppenheimer & Los Alamos

46. “I am become Death, destroyer of worlds.”
July 16, 1945, 5:29:45 am First man-made atomic explosion “Trinity”
“I am become Death, destroyer of worlds.”
-Oppenheimer
Only three weeks later, an atomic explosion would decimate Hiroshima

47. General Leslie Groves “The Atomic General”
saw use of atomic bomb as a preferable to Soviet entry into the Pacific war

48. Bomb Directive Selected targets:
Hiroshima
Kokura
Niigata
Nagasaki
Cities relatively undamaged by previous bombing raids were selected
Kyoto, the cultural and historical capital of Japan, was originally considered as a target, but bombing Kyoto was ultimately rejected as a potential trigger of further Japanese resistance.

49. Tongues of Fire: Hiroshima & Nagasaki

51. The Two Atomic Bombs
August 6, 1945, 8:15 am Hiroshima – “Little Boy” bomb
one bomb:
100,000 dead immediately
100,000 more dead in five years
August 9, 1945, 11:02 am Nagasaki – “Fat Man” bomb
70,000 dead immediately
70,000 more dead in five years

52. Hiroshima

53. Nagasaki

54. Effects of the Atomic Bomb
temperature at hypocenter: 5,400° F
“a silent flash” to close observers, resulting in death or severe burns
black rain
massive fire
long term effects – “radiation sickness,” blood and bone cancers, miscarriages, birth defects, lesions, etc.
Blast was immediately fatal for many people at up to two miles from hypocenter
Black rain – as the vaporized water accumulated in the atmosphere, it condensed around debris particles and fell back to earth as a “black rain”, giving an injection of radiation into the bodies of the victims upon whom it fell
Spreading of fires was due to convection system created by the heat of the explosion

55. Items recovered from Hiroshima – 8:15 – watch stopped at time of bombing

57. The only buildings which survived the blast were those that had been “earthquake-proofed”

58. V-J Day: Surrender & Occupation

59. Japanese officials on deck of USS Missouri

60. V-J Day – Times Square, NY

61. U.S. Occupation of Japan