war in the pacific to atomic bomb

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World War II Victory in Asia

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Page 1: War in the pacific to atomic bomb

World War II

Victory in Asia

Page 2: War in the pacific to atomic bomb

Pacific Offensives

• Island-hopping– U.S. strategy to only attack strategic

Japanese Islands instead of all of them– Began in November 1943 in the Gilbert

Islands

• Island of Tarawa– More difficult to capture due to highly fortified

coral reef surrounding the island– Used as a vital airstrip for future landings

Page 3: War in the pacific to atomic bomb

Saipan & Guam

• Faced fierce Japanese defenders

• U.S. forces suffered high casualties (16,000 injured, 3,400 dead)

• Important U.S. victories, they provided strategic airfields to launch bombing missions from.

Page 4: War in the pacific to atomic bomb

Recapturing the Philippines

• MacArthur led U.S. and Australian forces in June of 1943

• Fall 1944- the U.S. was ready to invade the Philippines

• Battle of Leyte Gulf– The last and largest naval engagement by the

Japanese• They lost 4 aircraft carriers, two battleships, and several

cruisers

• Filipinos assisted allied troops as the troops fanned out across the Philippines – MacArthur and the allies entered Manila in Feb. 1945

Page 5: War in the pacific to atomic bomb

Victory in the Pacific

• U.S. captured Japanese islands that they used as airbases

• March 1945 Tokyo was bombed which caused major destruction to the city

• Japan’s military leaders would still not surrender

Page 6: War in the pacific to atomic bomb

The Battle of Iwo Jima

• February 1945– Lasted 6 weeks

• U.S. troops faced fierce resistance• Several thousand U.S. troops were killed• 20,000 Japanese soldiers died• U.S. Marines struggled to take Mount Suribachi • Famous photo of Marines planting flag taken by

Joe Rosendahl

Page 7: War in the pacific to atomic bomb

The Battle of Iwo Jima

Page 8: War in the pacific to atomic bomb

The Battle of Okinawa

• April 1945- the largest landing force in the Pacific invaded Okinawa

• Japan chose to retreat to the southern tip of the island and wait

• U.S. Marines captured one airfield in 5 hours without a shot being fired

• FIVE DAYS LATER

Page 9: War in the pacific to atomic bomb

The Battle of Okinawa

• 700 Japanese planes attacked the beach and the navy off-shore

• 350 of the 700 planes were “kamikaze” or suicide planes

• Six U.S. ships were sunk• 135 kamikaze pilots were killed• Admiral Nimitz stated that the only thing

surprising about the war was the tactics of the kamikaze pilots

Page 10: War in the pacific to atomic bomb

The Battle of Okinawa

• Probably the bloodiest battle of the war in the Pacific

• Japanese hid in caves and fought till the very end

• U.S. troops used flamethrowers to clear the caves

• 49,000 U.S. troops were killed or wounded

• 100,000 Japanese died in the fighting

Page 11: War in the pacific to atomic bomb

The Death of Roosevelt

• Occurred on April 12, 1945

• Harry Truman becomes President

• Truman faces the huge decision on how to deal with the Japanese

• Despite repeated bombings in Japan, they are still strong and will fight to the end

• Truman will be the one who makes the decision to use the atomic bomb

Page 12: War in the pacific to atomic bomb

The Atomic Bomb

• Manhattan Project led by Leslie Groves• Other participants

– Albert Einstein– Enrico Fermi (Italian physicist) –created first

atomic chain reaction in 1942– J. Robert Oppenheimer- director of Los Alamos

lab in New Mexico• His team worked on building the 1st atomic bomb

• Successfully tested on July 15, 1945 in Alamogordo, New Mexico

Page 13: War in the pacific to atomic bomb

Reasons for using the atomic bomb

1. Truman saw that the Japanese were still capable of fighting after Iwo Jima and Okinawa

2. A full scale invasion of Japan would cost many U.S. lives and Japanese lives

1. Estimates projected up to 1 million U.S. lives could be lost

3. The atomic bomb would bring a quick end to the war.

4. Truman wanted an unconditional surrender5. The use of the atomic bomb may have been

show of force to the Soviet Union

Page 14: War in the pacific to atomic bomb

The Dropping of the Bomb

• August 6, 1945– The Enola Gay flown by Paul Tibbits dropped

the atomic bomb on Hiroshima– Hiroshima was flattened and the bomb killed

75,000 people

• August 9, 1945– A second atomic bomb was dropped on

Nagasaki killing approximately 125,000 people

Page 15: War in the pacific to atomic bomb

HIROSHIMA

Page 16: War in the pacific to atomic bomb

Nagasaki

Page 17: War in the pacific to atomic bomb

Japan’s Surrender

• After seeing the destruction caused by the two bombs, Japan decides to surrender.

• V-J Day August 15, 1945

• The formal surrender took place aboard the USS Missouri on September 2, 1945

Page 18: War in the pacific to atomic bomb

What Do You Think?

• Was Truman’s decision a good one?

• Should we have launched a full-scale invasion of Japan?

• What are your feelings?