1. UNITED STATES AND THE PACIFIC THEATER 1942-1945

2. Fall of the Philippines On Dec 8 th 1941 the Empire of Japan attacked the Philippines Bombed our bases Took over the islands of Guam, Wake Island and Gilbert Island

3. Bataan Peninsula Part of the Japanese Initial invasion 20,000 Allie troops “hole up” on Manila Peninsula for 3 months. Eventually will surrender to Japanese troops –Largest surrender of US troops since Harper’s Ferry (Civil War) –Would lead to the Bataan Death March Bataan Death March –85 miles of forced march of US and Filipino GIs –Tortured and would eventually die

4. Doolittle Raid April 1942 Militarily insignificant In retaliation for Pearl Harbor Helped US moral

5. Battle of the Coal Sea May 1942 Entire battle is fought with aircraft Fight to protect against a Japanese invasion of the island of New Guinea and Australia

6. Battle of Midway June 4-7 1942 Turning Point in the Pacific war Allies break Japanese code Japan lost 4 out of their 10 aircraft carriers 7-11 other ships are destroyed Japan lost 250 planes No more threat of Japan attack mainland USA US uses native speaking Navajos to communicate –Due to it being another language and hard to learn the US code was never broken

8. Island Hopping (1943) Take one island at a time by land, sea or air… Guadalcanal August 1942-Feb. 1943 1 st land defeat of Japan Took 6 long months Troops introduced to the Jungle Fighting that would last throughout the war Helped protect a Japanese invasion of Australia Iwo Jima February 19th 1945 Main objective to win the island so that Allie aircraft could bomb main land Japan Japanese built tunnels throughout the island 21,000 Japanese waited for US Marines 110,000 Marines storm the beach –25,851 die in this battle –Bloodiest battle ever for the Marines

9. More Island Hopping Okinawa April1st – Mid June 1945 Invasion of the island only 340(+/-)miles away from mainland Japan Use for an air strip for Allie Forces 50,000 American casualties –Highest Causalities in WWII Pacific –Japan is said to have lost 77,000 + soldiers Fierce Fighting Heavy Air, Sea and land attacks

10. Ending the War FDR and Truman FDR runs for his 4 th term and wins April 12, 1945 FDR passes away in Warm Springs GA Harry S. Truman becomes president of the USA Potsdam Conference Mid July-August 1945 Allie forces meet –Truman, Stalin, Churchill and later Attlee ( British politician) What to do about Europe. ( V-E day was 2months earlier) Threaten Japan that if they don’t surrender or “complete and utter destruction would occur”

11. Atomic Bombs and A Surrender Hiroshima August 6 th 1945 1 st Atomic bomb dropped –Lil’ Boy 80,000 people killed immediately 100,000 injured Countless victims have radiation poisoning Still no surrender Nagasaki August 9 th 1945 2 nd Atomic bomb dropped –Fat man 60,000 killed August 14 th Japan surrendered Signed papers on September 2, 1945 –WWII is officially over

12. The Great Debate Should we have dropped the bomb? Save American lives Iwo Jima and Okinawa were just the beginning of what would happen to our troops if we had continued to invade with our men Japan was preparing women and children to defend Japan Japan started the war and we needed to finish it Truman sought to intimidate the Soviet Union Didn’t know if the bombs would work There were only the two that we used in Aug. 1945 Navy blockade could have worked Hiroshima was not a crucial military target Nagasaki is not justifiable Misleading and incorrect information to the public

13. WW II Aftermath 46-55 Million dead; 35 million wounded 3 million missing 30 million soldiers died –405,000 were US soldiers 25 million civilians –15 Million in USSR along 30 Million Europeans lost their homeland and relocated –60% of them Germans

14. Aftermath Continued Massive destruction of cities –4 million homes in Britain –7 million buildings in Germany –1,700 towns in USSR –US mainland barely a scratch Holocaust