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U.S Organization and Pacific Actions

This article explores the actions of the U.S. in the Pacific during World War II, including the controversial internment of Japanese-Americans. It also highlights the fall of the Philippines and the Bataan Death March.

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U.S Organization and Pacific Actions

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  1. U.S Organization and Pacific Actions

  2. Proclamation of Roosevelt • New Production Goals • Increase production of airplanes, tanks, AA, machine guns, and merchant shipping • Increased emphasis on air superiority

  3. Belligerent Internment • Internment of aliens from all belligerent nations planned for • Prevented possibility of sabotage and espionage • Main controversy came with internment of U.S. citizens

  4. Japanese Internment • Spurred by fear and racism • Accused of being the “5thColumn” of Japanese army • Little to no real evidence • Army pressured from California delegation and Roosevelt

  5. Executive Order 9066 • Mass evacuation of those with Japanese ancestry • Japanese interned in “relocation centers” • No real justification for citizen internment • Compensation provided…in 1988

  6. Japanese in Hawaii • Response not as draconian • No massive internment (still about 1300 by 1942) • Japanese-Americans flock to support U.S. in battalions and infantry units

  7. Strategic Position

  8. “Fortress Europe”

  9. Grand Strategy for WWII • Military dilemma • Main focus should be on Japanese expansion • Soviet and British appear on verge of collapse in Europe • Main effort: Defeat Germany

  10. Grand Strategy for WWII • Goal is to tighten ring around Europe • 1942 operations: defensive/preparatory/limited • Not prepared for offensives until 1943 • Landings would be: • Across Mediterranean into Balkans • Western Europe

  11. New Organization • Introduction of Combined Chiefs of Staff (CCS) • Military chiefs from Britain and U.S. • Highest authority in U.S. military were Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) • “Joint” actions between military branches • Subordinate committees for logistics, planning, and surveying • Each theater led by single commander • Task Forces created for specific operations and campaigns

  12. Chief of Army Air Corps Henry H. Arnold Pres. Chief of Staff William D Leahy Chief of Naval Ops. Harold R. Stark Army Chief of Staff: George Marshall

  13. Division of Responsibility Combined Ops Chiang Kai-shek GB JCS U.S. JCS

  14. Pacific Ocean Area (POA): General Douglas MacArthur Further division of POA in N, C. and W SW Pacific Area (SWPA): Admiral Chester Nimitz

  15. European Theater of Operations commanded by Gen. Dwight Eisenhower • Followed after landings in N. Africa

  16. Actions in the Pacific

  17. Actions in the Pacific • Navy salvaging wreckage in Pearl Harbor • Desperately bolstering important positions • ABDA Command created (American-British-Dutch-Australian)

  18. Continued Japanese Expansion • Japanese continue unabated into Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore • Mass number of surrendering troops in Singapore and Netherlands Indies • U.S. Asiatic Fleet destroyed piecemeal in Philippines • By 1942- Burma, Malaya, Thailand, French Indochina, Netherlands Indies, and Malay Archipelago, New Guinea, Solomons, and New Britain had fallen

  19. Fall of the Philippines • Only territory left in 1942 • 31,000 U.S. troops supported by Regular Filipino Army • Air and naval support virtually non-existent

  20. Fall of the Philippines • Japanese invasion begins Dec. 22 • MacArthur unable to destroy beach invaders • Withdraw to Bataan Peninsula • Casualties heavy for attackers (and Allies)

  21. Fall of the Philippines • U.S. troops surrender in April after artillery destroys American lines • Led to transfer POWs to Cabanatuan • 60+ miles • Death, executions, torture • Now known as the Bataan Death March

  22. Ben Skardon- 100 years old

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