The Battles for the Pacific. Japanese Advances Within Six months after Pearl Harbor, Japan dwarfed...
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Transcript of The Battles for the Pacific. Japanese Advances Within Six months after Pearl Harbor, Japan dwarfed...
Japanese Advances Within Six months after Pearl Harbor, Japan
dwarfed the German Empire by taking the following:
Hong KongFrench Indochina
MalayaBurma
ThailandHalf of China
FormosaDutch East Indies
GuamWake
Solomon Islands2 Aleutian Islands
Japan takes the Philippines
December 1941 to May 1942
Gen. MacArthur held out for 4 months w/ 31,000 US troops and 110,000 under-trained and ill-equipped Filipino troops as 200,000 Japanese troops invaded
MacArthur abandoned, he and officers escaped to Australia, as he left he stated:“I shall return.”
American and Philippine troops suffered 14,000 KIA, 48,000 wounded, and approx. 80,000 endured cruel imprisonment or execution at the hands of the Japanese
Battle of Coral Sea
May 1942
America/Australia intercepted info that Japan was going to leave from New Guinea to invade Australia
Significance: First battle where ships never saw each other, airplanes
played large role First Halt of Japanese since Pearl Harbor
Allies lost more ships, but Japan ran out of fuel to continue to Australia
543 American causalities
Battle of Midway June 1942
US intercepted messages of Japanese naval force (largest assembled in history) heading toward Midway
Goal: continue to finish off Pearl Harbor
US was outnumbered 4 to 1 in ships and planes, but the US commander prepared a surprise reception
Battle of Midway By the end, Japan lost:
4 “irreplaceable” aircraft carriers A cruiser 322 Planes
American Casualties - 307
US StrategyCan go hundreds of miles without seeing
land
Japanese dug in on hundreds of islands scattered over thousands of miles of ocean
Too costly to storm each one
Strategy: Bypass Japanese strongholdsSeize well fortified Islands, build
airfields, cut off enemy supply lines
Battle of Guadalcanal August 1942
Significance: First US land offensive First Japanese defeat on land
6 months until Japanese abandoned island, known as “Island of Death.”
US had 6,000 casualties, 1600 dead
Battle of Guam July 1944 (Mariana Islands – includes
Saipan and Tinian)
Guam was formerly a US possession until Japan took it in 1941
Strategic Importance great for Airbases Almost can fly from Guam to Tokyo
Approx. 3,000 Americans killed; 7,122 wounded
Second Battle of the Philippines: Battle for Leyte Gulf October 1944
Significance: MacArthur wanted revenge for 1st battle
“People of the Philippines, I have returned.”
First testing of the Kamikaze (suicide plane), 424 Kamikaze planes sank 16 ships, damaged 80
Disaster for Japanese – huge loss of naval force (3 ships, 13 cruisers, 400 planes)
Arguments over necessity cut off Japan from western possessions Did not really use it for US military purposes cost well over 2,000 American lives
Battle of Iwo JimaFeb 19-March 26, 1945
“Ugly, smelly glob of cold lava squatting in a surly ocean.”
Strategic Importance: critical as an air base from
which heavily loaded bombers could reach Japan.
Kamikazes would not be able to depart from here
Emergency landing strip from Mariana Islands to Japan
Iwo Jima Contd. Most heavily defended spot on earth 20,700
Japanese troops deeply entrenched in tunnels and caves. U.S. personnel 6,821 Killed 19,217 Wounded 2,648 Combat Fatigue Total 28,686
Japanese approx. 20,000 killed
Battle of Okinawa “Operation Iceburg”
April 1, 1945-June 22, 1945 April 12, 1945 – FDR dies
4 airfields on the island that America needed to control Location ½ the distance to Japan than of Iwo Jima much closer for invasion of Japan
Land and Naval fights Kamikazes did serious damage sank over 30 allied ships and killing 5,000 Navy men.
Okinawa – The Bloodiest US losses
50,000 casualties 12,000 KIA Huge rate of Non-Combat losses ie.
Stress
Japanese losses ~107,000 KIA
Civilian losses estimates around or above 100,000