War in the Pacific

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War in the Pacific
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• August 7, 1942 - The first U.S. amphibious
  landing of the Pacific War occurs as 1st Marine
  Division invades Tulagi and Guadalcanal in the
  Solomon Islands.
• August 8, 1942 - U.S. Marines take the unfinished
  airfield on Guadalcanal and name it Henderson
  Field after Maj. Lofton Henderson, a hero of
  Midway.
• September 9/10 - A Japanese floatplane flies two
  missions dropping incendiary bombs on U.S.
  forests in the state of Oregon - the only bombing
  of the continental U.S. during the war.
  Newspapers in the U.S. voluntarily withhold this
  information.

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• April 18, 1943 - U.S. code breakers pinpoint the
  location of Japanese Admiral Yamamoto flying in a
  Japanese bomber near Bougainville in the Solomon
  Islands. Eighteen P-38 fighters then locate and
  shoot down Yamamoto.
• April 21, 1943 - President Roosevelt announces
  the Japanese have executed several airmen from
  the Doolittle Raid.
• August 1/2 - A group of 15 U.S. PT-boats attempt
  to block Japanese convoys south of Kolombangra
  Island in the Solomon Islands. PT-109, commanded
  by Lt. John F. Kennedy, is rammed and sunk by the
  Japanese Cruiser AMAGIRI, killing two and badly
  injuring others. The crew survives as Kennedy
  aids one badly injured man by towing him to a
  nearby atoll.
• JFK would island swim until he found natives that
  could help him
• Awarded the Navy and Marine Corp medal for saving
  lives

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• JFK would suffer from his injuries long after
  World War II and would eventually become
  President of the United States.
• America was gaining territory lost to Japan
• This territory was gained through Island Hopping
• Taking the most strategic islands and leaving the
  others cut off from supplies
• Japan had already figured this out and had taken
  the extreme of fortifying Islands that they
  deemed strategic

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• MacArthur had been appointed Supreme Commander of
  the Pacific
• Had promised the people of the Philippines and
  his troops that he left behind that he would
  return
• In October 1944 he would return after the Battle
  of Leyte Gulf
• This battle would be the largest Naval battle to
  date
• Crushed the Japanese Navy and they would never
  recover

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Iwo Jima

• The worst battle in the Pacific
• Japanese had dug into caves preventing the US
  from destroying their strongholds
• Of the 20,000 Japanese on the island only 1,000
  were captured
• The rest were killed or wounded
• 6,800 Americans lost there lives on Iwo Jima
• One of the most famous from Arizona was Ira Hayes
  (Read Handout)

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Ira Hayes Enlistment photo
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Kamikaze

• Kamikaze, which means "Divine Wind" in Japanese,
  was Japan's last attempt to balance the ever
  increasing technological and material advantage
  of the American forces advancing to Japan.
• The Kamikaze attack tactic was suggested on
  October 19, 1944, by vice-Admiral Onishi of the
  Japanese Navy, when he was assigned to command
  the air attacks against the huge American
  invasion fleet off the Philippines, and then
  realized that he had less than 100 operational
  aircraft for this task.
• There was no way to sink or even severely damage
  the American fleet in any conventional tactic, so
  the Admiral needed a force multiplier, a way to
  get a significantly greater striking power from a
  given force.

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• The solution was obvious. Guided weapons provide
  dramatically greater accuracy and lethality than
  unguided weapons, producing much greater damage
  per weapon unit and per sortie.
• Such weapons already existed and were operational
  for over a year then, but not in Japan.
• The German Air Force successfully used large
  radio-guided Fritz-X bombs against battleships
  and cruisers since September 1943, but Japan had
  no such weapon, and therefore Admiral Onishi
  suggested that volunteer pilots will guide their
  bomb-carrying aircraft all the way to an
  explosive suicide collision with their American
  warship targets, acting as a living guidance
  system, literally becoming "smart bombs".

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• The new tactic was adopted immediately. Large
  numbers of pilots, initially qualified and
  experienced pilots and later air cadets with
  minimal training who were asked to volunteer,
  were assigned to "Special Attack" air wings, the
  official name of the Kamikaze units. Their goal
  and motto was "One man - one ship".
• In the first of these Kamikaze attack waves, 355
  Kamikaze pilots attacked the American fleet off
  Okinawa, together with 341 conventional attack
  aircraft, and in coordination with a naval attack
  which included the super-battleship Yamato. The
  result of this massive air strike was six sunk
  ships and ten severely damaged.

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• When Japan ran out of ordinary combat aircraft
  for Kamikaze attacks, slow trainer aircraft were
  also used.
• Another aircraft used was the Okha (cherry
  blossom), Japan's latest new weapon.
• The Okha was specifically designed as a Kamikaze
  missile.
• It was a small rocket-powered aircraft with a
  large 1200kg warhead in the nose, that was
  carried by a bomber and dropped 20-30 miles from
  its target, where its Kamikaze pilot ignited the
  rockets and streaked to its target.
• In its final dive, the Okha reached a top speed
  of 576mph, much faster than any other aircraft,
  but most Okhas were shot down by American
  fighters before even being dropped from the
  carrying bombers.

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Okha Suicide rocket bomb
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• A total of about 5000 Kamikaze pilots were
  launched, mostly in the Battle of Okinawa,
  consuming much of the remaining human and
  material resources of Japanese air power.
• The result of their effort was 36 sunk American
  ships and landing craft, and 368 damaged.
• The ferocity of watching wave after wave of
  Kamikaze pilots hurtling down through a dense
  hail of anti-aircraft fire, and the enormous
  fiery explosions which followed, terrorized the
  Americans, but the Kamikaze campaign failed to
  achieve its strategic goal of stopping the
  American advance, and American air attacks were
  launched against the Kamikaze air bases in
  southern Japan in order to reduce their numbers.
• Japan lost its last battle despite the enormous
  sacrifice of its fanatic warriors, and lost the
  war.

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• The Kamikaze was indeed a formidable enemy
• He knew no fear
• He was dying for his Emperor who he believed was
  a God
• No greater honor could you bestow then to die for
  your God
• The only way to stop him was to kill him before
  he did any damage

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This concludes todays Lesson

• Any Questions?