1. Japanese aggression and US strategy

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WWII IN ASIA

• 1. Japanese aggression and US strategy
• Turning point battles
• Coral Sea
• Midway
• Leyete Gulf
• Iwo Jima and Okinawa
• Potsdam Conference---July 1945
• Atomic bomb
• Hiroshima and Nagasaki---Aug. 1945
• Japan surrenders---Sept. 1945
• WWII ends in Asia
• VJ-Day---Victory in Japan

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map/japan

• JAPANESE EXPANSION
• Dec. 7, 1941, Japan attacks Pearl Harbor
• US declares war on Japan.
• 1942
• Philippines
• Bataan Death March

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Bataan Death March April, 1942

• Approximately 80,000 US and Filipino troops
  12,000 Americans surrendered to the Japanese
  and were forced to march 60 miles to Camp
  ODonnell.
• Several thousand died along the way from
  atrocities committed by the Japanese soldiers.

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map/japan

• JAPANESE EXPANSION
• Dec. 7, 1941, Japan attacks Pearl Harbor
• US declares war on Japan.
• 1942
• Philippines
• Bataan Death March

"Island hopping" or "leap frogging" all the way
to Japan. Difficult strategy of re-taking
islands Japan had under their control...

• Guam
• Malaya
• New Guinea
• Threatening Australia and Hawaii

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WWII Military Leaders
WWII MILITARY LEADERS

• West Point Graduate
• Commanding general of troops in the Philippines
• Forced off the Philippines in 1942--- I shall
  return
• 1944, Battle of Leyete Gulf---- I have returned
  to re-take the Philippines.
• Supreme Allied Commander in the South Pacific

General Douglas MacArthur
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map/japan

• TURNING POINT BATTLES
• 1942
• Coral Sea
• Midway
• Midway virtually destroyed Japanese Navy.

• 1943
• Continued island hopping strategy

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The Doolittle Raid

• After Pearl Harbor, FDR wanted a morale booster.
• He wanted to bomb Tokyo but aircraft carriers
  could not get close enough.
• Plan B-25s (which could launch off carriers)
  would bomb Tokyo and land in China.
• Lt. Col. James Doolittle was in command of this
  operation.
• On April 18th, 1942 bombs fell on Tokyo, which
  led to a change in strategy among the Japanese
  leaders.

Lt. Col. James Doolittle
B-25s off to Tokyo
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Change in Japanese Strategy

• Japanese leaders were rattled by the raidsbombs
  might have killed the emperor!!
• The American fleet, they decided, had to be
  destroyed!
• They wanted to cut off their supply lines to
  Australia.
• They decided to attack Midway Islandthe last
  American base west of Pearl Harbor.

Bombs falling on Tokyo.
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The Battle of Midway

• Code-breakers heard the plan.
• At the Battle of Coral Sea, the Yorktown and the
  Lexington fended off a Japanese attack on New
  Guinea and preserved Australia.
• Code-breakers learned of plan to attack Midway
• Admiral Nimitz used this as an opportunity to
  ambush the Japanese fleet.
• Japanese plans were hit with antiaircraft fire,
  shooting down 38 planes.
• Japan lost 100 pilots which hurt their Air War.
• American planes caught carriers by surprisetheir
  fuel, bombs, and aircraft were exposed.
• Four Japanese carriers were sunk, destroying the
  heart of the navy.
• This hit the Japanese hardit halted Japanese
  expansion in the Pacific.

Fighting at the Battle of Midway
Badly damaged Yorktown
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Battle of Midway IslandJune 4-6, 1942
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Battle of the Coral SeaJune 4-6, 1942
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Gen. MacArthur Returns to the Philippines!
1944
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Japanese Kamikaze PlanesThe Scourge of the
South Pacific
Kamikaze Pilots

• The last 2 years of the war, the Japanese
  resorted to suicidal bombers or Kamikaze
  bombers to destroy the American Navy.
• Approximately 2,800 Kamikaze attackers sunk 34
  Navy ships, damaged 368 others, killed 4,900
  sailors, and wounded over 4,800.

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map/japan

• TURNING POINT BATTLES
• 1944
• Battle of Leyete Gulf, recaptured the Philippines
• 1945
• Iwo Jima and Okinawa
• Put the US 500 miles from mainland Japan
• Began bombing mainland Japan

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US Marines on Mt. Surbachi,Iwo Jima Feb. 19,
1945
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potsdam
POTSDAM CONFERENCE

• Big Three
• Churchill, Truman and Stalin meet in Potsdam,
  Germany in July 1945.
• Truman informed of successful test of bomb.
• Demanded unconditional surrender from Japanese or
  a new weapon would be used.

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potsdam
POTSDAM CONFERENCE

• Some suggest that Truman was warning Stalin.
• If he didnt follow through with the decisions at
  Yalta, it could happen to the Soviet Union.