Unit 6: Notes #6 War in the Pacific

1. Unit 6: Notes #6War in the Pacific

2. **** I. In 1937, Japan continued expanding by invading Mainland China • When war came to Europe in 1939, Japan allied with Germany and Italy. • Japan advanced into French Indochina and the Dutch East Indies for their rubber, oil and tin. • The U.S. banned the sale of war materials to Japan.

3. ***II. In 1941 the U.S. and Japan were holding peace Talks • On December 7, 1941 General Tojo ordered the attack of Pearl Harbor • A large part of the U.S. Pacific Fleet was destroyed, but aircraft carriers were not in the harbor.

4. Do Now You have learned about the war in Europe and how it was fought across Europe and Africa with tanks and planes. Now think about the war with Japan. President Roosevelt has just put you in charge of the American forces against Japan. What weapons are going to be the most valuable in the Pacific against Japan? Why?

5. How would you go about getting to Japan? You are in possession of Hawaii. What is the best strategy to defeat your enemy?

7. With the U.S. weak Japan was able to sweep across the pacific winning a series of battles

8. ***III. Japan Advances through Pacific • The Japanese fleet seized the Philippines and many other American islands in the Pacific. • Also take British colonies of Hong Kong, Burma, and Malaya. • At the beginning of 1942 Japan and the other Axis powers were at the high point of their success.

9. Notes #7: America Strikes Back In Asia (copy the black print) I. With the pacific fleet rebuilt the U.S. began to fight many battles on both the sea and land. A. Battle of Coral Sea: May, 1942 1. Kept Japan out of Australia, losses on both sides. B. In June of 1942 the U.S. scored its first major victory at the Battle of Midway. C. The Japanese fleet was severely damaged the Japanese lost 4 aircraft carriers, 264 aircraft.

10. USS Yorktown at Pearl Harbor days before the battle.

11. America Strikes Back In Asia II. This allowed the U.S. to begin its campaign of Island hopping. A. Island hopping involved attacking islands that had weaker Japanese forces while blockading the stronger islands.

12. America Strikes Back In Asia III. The Japanese refused surrender at any cost. A. The U.S. began its final march to the Japanese home land in 1945. B. There were two major battles on this path to invasion. (Iwo Jima & Okinawa) Despite heavy losses the Japanese Army was still over 2 million men strong at the start of 1945

13. Iwo Jima Invasion February-March 1945

14. At the Island of Iwo Jima over 6,000 U.S. marines were killed Of the 21,000 Japanese soldiers present at the beginning of the battle, over 20,700 were killed and only 216 taken prisoner.

15. The Island of Okinawa was seen as the last stop before the final invasion of Japan. • The U.S. looked at this Japanese stronghold as a rehearsal for the final invasion • Almost 200,000 lives were lost an the battle of Okinawa. -12,500 were U.S. soldiers

16. 12,000 of these lives belonged to U.S. Soldiers

17. Japanese battleship Yamoto explodes. Aircraft prepare to take off from carrier. Civilian losses between 75,000 and 140,000.

18. IV. At this battle many young Japanese pilots became Kamikazes. A. They fly their planes into U.S. targets in order to protect their homeland. • According to a the U.S. Air Force: 2,800 Kamikaze attackers sunk 34 Navy ships, damaged 368 others, killed 4,900 sailors, and wounded over 4,800. 14% percent of Kamikazes survived to score a hit on a ship; nearly 8.5 percent of all ships hit by Kamikazes sank

19. Kamikaze Pilot

20. Kamikaze attack on Carrier USS Bunker Hill.