The War in the Pacific
1941-1945
 United States
The Players
 England
 Japan
 Australia
 New Zealand
 China
Philippines
Background
 Japanese imperial expansion begins in
1931
 Need for oil and other natural resources
Japanese War Mentality
 Death before surrender
 Bushido Code meaning “Way of the
Warrior-Knight”, is a Japanese code of
conduct and a way of the samurai life
 If you surrender you disgrace your family
and ancestors
 All other Asians are inferior
Dec 1941
 Attack on Pearl Harbor
Dec 7th
 Dec 8th Japan invades US
held territory of the
Philippines
 The US has only one
hope: the aircraft carrier
(3 survived Pearl Harbor)
Early 1942
 Japan invades various
other Pacific Islands
 US garrison in the
Philippines surrenders
to Japanese forces in
April 1942
 Bataan Death March:
 60 miles
 76,000 POW
 12,000 are Americans
 5,000 die in a week
US/Allied Strategy
 Reclaim the Pacific: Island hopping
Campaign: one island at a time, clear it and
use it as a base of operations for the next
island.
 Must clear the oceans of the Japanese
Navy first!
(Large challenge with a crippled Navy and
only 3 Aircraft carriers!)
Japanese Strategy
 Make the war so horrible the US will give
up
 They dug into tropical islands, built
underground bunkers and fortresses.
 heavy artillery, suicide attacks
 Bleed the enemy dry, Japanese rarely
surrender but die to the last man!
Early 1942: The US strikes back
 Doolittle raid
 May 1942: Battle of
Coral Sea, first ever
carrier vs. carrier
battle- US looses an
Aircraft carrier
 TURNING POINT:
Battle of Midway June
1942
Midway June 4, 1942
 US lost one of two
carriers
 Japanese lost four
irreplaceable aircraft
carriers in five
minutes!
 The Japanese would
be on the defensive
for the rest of the war.
South West Pacific
‘The Kokoda Track’
The Kokoda Track
 In July 1942 Australia had a small number of Militia in Port
Moresby. These were 2nd line soldiers used for home
defence: very young (18 & 19), inexperienced, poorly trained
and equipped. BUT led by very good officers.
 In that month the Japanese landed troops (1500 later
growing to 5000) at Buna and Gona on the Papuan north
coast and in the following month they landed another force
at Milne Bay.
 The barrier between the Japanese forces in the north and
Port Moresby on the south coast was the Owen Stanley
Range - a steep, rugged series of mountains crossed only by
a few foot tracks, the most important of which was the
Kokoda Track. Initially at the end of June, 600 Militiamen
later growing to around 1000, (‘Maroubra’ force) were
ordered to hold Kokoda and its airfield against any possible
Japanese attack - but this proved an impossible task.
 By the end of July the Militia were carrying out a
fighting retreat and it was not until late in August that
reinforcements from the 7th Division A.I.F. began to
reach them.
 ‘Ragged Bloody Heroes’
 The A.I.F. men, trained for desert warfare, found the
country more frightening than they found the
Japanese. Confusion was created by Japanese
advances through the trackless jungle on the flanks
of positions the Australians were prepared to
defend.
 By mid-September the
Australians had dug in
at Imita Ridge, fifty
kilometers from Port
Moresby, and were
ordered to hold that
position. A fight to the
death was expected
but the Japanese,
lacking sufficient
supplies and fearing
an American attack on
their base at Buna,
began to withdraw.
Island Hoping: The first step:
Guadalcanal
 Invaded by the US
Navy and Marines
August 1942
Took the Marines 6
months to take the
island from Japan
Allies lost 7,100 men
Japan lost 31,000 killed
A list of “D-Days”
 Nov 1943 Bouganville
 Nov 1943 “ Bloody” Tarawa
 June 1944 Siapan
 July 1944 Guam and Tinian
 Oct 1944 Allies invade the Philippines
 Feb 1945 Iwo Jima
 April 1945 Okinawa (falls in June)
Soldier’s Lives
 HARSH
 Subtropical diseases
 Humid, sticky, and
always hot.
 Average age was 19
 Death was around
every corner.
Japan’s desperation
 Oct 1944 U.S. warships in
Leyte Gulf faced their first
Kamikaze attacks
 2,257 Japanese aircraft
were destroyed in these
suicide missions during
the war.
 Kamikaze: Divine Wind
 Kamikaze
A most famous Photo
 Taken on Iwo Jima
 February 23, 1945
 On March 16, when
Iwo Jima was declared
secured, 6,821
Americans and 21,000
Japanese (the entire
force) had died
 Iwo Jima - Flags of our
Fathers/Letters from
Iwo Jima
 Iwo Jima - The Pacific
Planning for the end
 May 1945 Allied forces
plan Operation Olympic,
the invasion of Japan
itself in Nov.
 US planners feared
casualty estimates of one
million!
 Japan was desperate but
unwilling to surrender!
Atom bomb
“Little Boy” and “Fat Man” are
unleashed
 August 6, 1945- Hiroshima
 August 9, 1945 - Nagasaki
 killed an estimated
110,000 Japanese
 injured another
130,000.
 By 1950, another
230,000 Japanese had
died from injuries or
radiation.
VJ Day
(Victory over Japan day)
 August 14, 1945 Japanese accepts
unconditional
surrender
 Celebration parties
erupt throughout
every allied country!
The End
 September 2, 1945 Formal Japanese
surrender ceremony
on board the
MISSOURI in Tokyo
Bay as 1,000 carrierbased planes fly
overhead.
 The most destructive
conflict in human or
world history ends.
 The world is forever
changed.
 Millions have died.
 100s of cities
destroyed
 Millions are homeless
 US & USSR are
WORLD powers