1. Military Strategy against the Japanese is ISLAND HOPPING: capturing key islands to cut off Japanese supply lines and to use as bases for attack against the Japanese islands
U.S. Commanders in the Pacific
General Douglas MacArthur
Admiral Chester Nimitz
Philippines fall in April 1942

2. THE DOOLITTLE RAIDS, April 1942
Secret mission from USS Hornet
B-52s took off from Hornet & bombed Tokyo – first bombing of Japan
Had to crash land in China (could not land on aircraft carriers)
Most of the pilots survived

3. TIMELINE OF EVENTS IN THE PACIFIC:
Battle of the Coral Sea – 5/42
Halts Japanese advance on Australia
Japanese had overextended themselves
First all-aircraft battle
Battle of Midway – 6/42
3 day air battle; US sinks 4 Japanese carriers
Turning point in War in the Pacific
Battle of Guadalcanal – 8/42 – 2/43
Victory guaranteed Japanese would not disrupt U.S. – Australian shipping lanes

4. Gen. Douglas MacArthur returns to the Philippines
Battle of Leyte Gulf, Oct. 1944
Destroys Japanese imperial fleet
Kamikazes used by Japanese

5. Iwo Jima Feb.-March 1945
One of last major outposts; only 600 miles from Tokyo
Would be “unsinkable aircraft carrier”
Extremely heavy casualties

6. OKINAWA June 1945 Only 350 mi. from Japanese mainland
Ground invasion to take place from here
279 Kamikaze hits here

7. Col. Paul Tibbets waves
farewell as he prepares
to take off for Hiroshima
Col. Tibbets named his plane after his mother.

8. “Fat Man”
Nagasaki,
Aug. 9, 1945
“Little Boy”
Hiroshima,
Aug. 6, 1945

9. EFFECTS OF THE ATOMIC BOMB
Shadows burned into a wooden observation tower
and outlined in chalk by investigators record a Nagasaki air-raid observer’s last moments. After descending from his post by ladder, the
observer hung up his
sword belt and was un-
buttoning his jacket when
the bomb exploded.
EFFECTS OF THE
ATOMIC BOMB

10. V-J DAY
Aug. 15, 1945
Times Square

11. Official Surrender, U.S.S. Missouri, Sept. 2, 1945 -- Tokyo

12. The End of the War
In less than four years, the US achieved what no other nation had ever done – it fought and won a two-front war against two powerful military empires, forcing each to surrender unconditionally.
“For all the fake manliness… we cried with relief & joy. We were going to live. We were going to grow up to adulthood after all.”

13. The United Nations (UN)
Before his death, FDR thought that a new world organization would help to prevent another world war
In 1944, delegates from 39 countries met in Washington, D.C. to discuss the new organization
April 15, 1945 – representatives from50 countries met to design the UN’s charter, or constitution

14. Putting the Enemy on Trial
In the summer of 1945, the US, Britain, France, & the Soviet Union created the International Military Tribunal (IMT)
Designed to try the German leaders of WWII suspected of committing war crimes
The trials were held in Nuremberg, Germany & called the Nuremberg Trials
22 leaders were prosecuted
3 acquitted, 7 given prison sentences, 12 sentenced to death by hanging
Trials of lower-ranking officers were done in 1949
24 more were executed & 107 given prison sentences
Similar trials were held in Tokyo
Emperor not tried