The Pacific War• Dates: July 7, 1937 - August 14, 1945• Began with the Second Sino-Japanese war,

between China and Japan• Concluded with Japan’s surrender to the Allied

powers

Pearl HarborDec 7, 1941

“a date which will live in infamy”

Americans taken completely by surprise

The first attack wave targeted airfields and battleships

The second wave targeted other ships and shipyard facilities

Pearl Harbor

Mitsubishi A6M “Zero” Fighter B5N torpedo bomber

Aichi D3A dive bomber

Japanese Aircraft

The Attack

The Attack

Tactical Damage

• Eight battleships were damaged, with five sunk • Three light cruisers, three destroyers, three

smaller vessels, and 188 aircraft were destroyed

• 2,335 servicemen and 68 civilians killed • 1,178 wounded

– 1,104 men aboard the Battleship USS Arizona were killed after a 1,760-pound air bomb penetrated into the forward magazine causing catastrophic explosions.

Broader Results

In spite of the tactical success, the attack on Pearl Harbor was an operational and strategic failure for the Japanese The attack failed to destroy the

American aircraft carriers, fleet repair facilities, or fuel reserves

The “sneak attack” galvanized American support for entry into the war

1941

1942

Coral Sea (May 4-8, 1942)• US had been able to intercept

Japanese radio traffic in an operation called “Magic”

• Magic intercepts allowed Admiral Nimitz to position two carriers off the eastern tip of New Guinea

• Both sides suffered heavy losses but the Japanese were forced to call off their amphibious attack on Port Moresby

• Battle waged exclusively via air strikes– Opposing surface ships never

made direct contact Admiral Chester Nimitz, Commander in Chief Pacific

and Pacific Ocean Areas

Battle of Coral Sea

First naval battle carried out entirely by aircraft.

The enemy ships never even came into contact with each other

•May 7, 1942•Strategic Allied victory—halted the Japanese advance on Australia

The Battle Of MidwayJune 4-7 1942

6 months after Pearl Harbour

Yamamoto seeks to capture Midway atoll and thus confront and destroy the US Navy’s carrier forces.

The Battle of Midway• Scouts from the US fleet find the Japanese Fleet first• A delayed scout means the Japanese fleet receives a

warning of US carriers only minutes before the first US planes attack

• After losing many planes in ineffective strikes, US dive bombers manage to set three Japanese carriers on fire.

• A Japanese counterstrike does heavy damage to one US carrier

• Japanese battleships never see combat

The Battle of Midway

US forces:3 carriers, 1 lost~50 support ships, 1 destroyer lost360 aircraft, 98 lost307 dead

Japanese forces:4 carriers, 4 lost7 battleships, 0 lost~150 support ships, 1 cruiser lost264 aircraft, 228 lost3058 dead

1943-1944

Guadalcanal—8/42-2/43• Who: US vs. Japan• Where: Island near Australia—

one of Solomon Islands• What: One of the most vicious campaigns

– Japanese put up a fierce resistance– US has superior air and naval power

• Results:– First time US land troops defeat Japanese– Americans are able to secure the island

Kamikaze.• Kamikaze- ‘Divine Wind’.• It became obvious that

the US possessed more and better war technology

• In desperation Japan ordered her young men to beat the enemy by flying bombs into the enemy (and dying in the process)

• These suicide bombers flew planes, or manned suicide torpedoes.

1944-1945

Iwo Jima

• February-March 1945• Island off the coast of Japan—Japanese soil

– Longest sustained aerial offensive of the war

– More marines sent than in any other battle– 100,000 men fighting on an island the 1/3

the size of Manhattan– Japanese fought from below ground—Allies

rarely saw a soldier– The battle was won inch-by-inch

Iwo Jima

Iwo Jima• Results: US win

– Provides a link in the chain of bomber bases

– By the war’s end, 2,400 B-29 bombers and 27,000 crewmen made emergency landings.

– “4 marines raising US flag”

The USS Indianapolis

• Delivered the first atomic bomb to the US air force in Tinian.• July 30 1945 sunk by Japanese submarine off the Philippines on the way

home.• Because of her ‘special mission’ her journey was ‘secret’.• Of 1200 crew, 900 survived the sinking only to find themselves at sea with

no rescuers even looking for them.• Sharks were quickly attracted and after 4 days only 300 men were left,

mostly terrified out of their minds.• It was the worst US Navy disaster in history.

Nuclear Strikes

Aug 6, 1945. Uranium bomb “Little Boy” dropped on Hiroshima, killing 140,000

Aug 9, 1945. Plutonium bomb “Fat Man” dropped on Nagasaki, killing 74,000

Hiroshima - 90,000 to 100,000 persons were killed immediately - 145,000 persons perish from the bombing by the end of 1945.

NagasakiLeveled Area: 6.7 million square metersDamaged Houses: 18,409CasualtiesKilled------73,884Injured-----74,909Total------148,793(Large numbers of people died in the following years from the effects of radioactive poisoning.)

Japan Surrenders

Representatives of Japan’s Foreign Ministry, Army and Navy appear to sign the surrender aboard USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay

The Cost of War• 2,000,000 Japanese Soldiers dead• 300,000 Allied Soldiers dead• 600,000 - 1,000,000 Japanese civilians dead• 11,000 American civilians dead• 60,000 Korean civilians dead• Mass devastation of Japanese infrastructure• Indigenous people of north and western Pacific

islands devastated by disease, cultural contamination, collateral damage, and atrocities.

Alan AndrewsPearl Harbour

Grace CafferataAtomic bomb

Tamia GrayPictures for poster

Rebekah GrimesMidway

Nicholas HulmeCoral sea

Arzah LaingAtomic bomb

Mateo LopezMap

Matthew LoweSurrender of Japan

Liam McCreaTitle

Andrew OsbornePearl harbour

Thomas PaineCosts of war

Thomas PurvisMap

Lauren RitchieMoving boats

Nicholas RulliIwo jima

Nina SanchezKamikaze

Diane SinghMc Arthur

Artem TarasovGuadalcanal

Nathan TorodeGuadalcanal

Julia TychoniewiczFleet comparison

Uri WilliamsIndianapolis