[6] War In The Pacific Flashcards
What was the Lend Lease Act?
The lend-lease allowed Britain to borrow war supplies from the US with the promise to pay later. This would eventually supply over $50 Billion dollars.
Results of Pearl Harbour attacks.
The Americans had now joined the war effort and it made the Japanese rethink their naval efforts and tactics.
What drew America into the war?
On December 7th 1941 the Imperial Japanese Navy and Air-force launched attacks on the US Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbour, Hawaii.There were also attacks at Midway island, Wake Island and Guam in the Pacific and in the Philippines on the island of Luzon US military aircraft were destroyed.
Background to Japanese involvement.
As the 1930s progressed the Japanese invaded and secured large parts of northern and coastal China in Manchuria and established what they called Manchukuo and established a local government firmly under Japanese influence.
At this time the Japanese political process was coming more and more under the control of the military. Japan signed the Anti-Comintern Pact in 1936 with Germany. Internationally Japan was becoming increasingly isolated.
Explain the Sino-Japanese war.
Throughout the Japanese occupation of Manchuria there was resistance to it but it came to a head in the summer of 1937 and would last until August 1945. The Japanese made significant advances in the early part of this conflict with relatively few setbacks taking control of large parts of northern and central China.
Japan faced the problem of having taken control of the territory but having little or no idea as to how to retain control. Some wished to establish an Asian Co-Prosperity League where Japan was a partner with other Asian nations while others including the key military figures like Tojo Hideki wanted Japanese dominance as a prelude to final war with the Western races.
Japan Enters WW2.
The next target for the japanese was the British colony of Burma. As 1942 progressed there were major successes for the advancing Japanese military. But as with their allies the Germans all of this success came at a price. Now they had taken huge swathes of territory they would have to defend it against the inevitable counter attacks.
In the Philippines the American resistance ended in April 1942 and between then and June the process of surrender was completed. The Japanese advances in south-east Asia had been a spectacular a series of successes.
In spite of the overall defeat in these early exchanges of the war in the Pacific the US were able to mount some morale boosting raids on Japanese positions. These were small enough victories for the Americans but they did prevent further advances by the Japanese. On April 18th 1942 there was a US raid on Tokyo known as the ‘Dolittle Raid’ after the leader of the raid Lieutenant Colonel James H Dolittle.
The Coral Sea and Midway.
The Japanese lost an aircraft carrier the Shoho on May 7th. The Americans also lost a carrier the Lexington and had serious damage to the Yorktown. Japanese losses in aircraft were so serious they were forced to abandon their plans. This Battle of the Coral Sea was a serious setback with the loss of the Shoho and the damage to two other carriers and loss of planes meant that they could not assist in the next major operation on the island of Midway. Had these been available to the Japanese at Midway it would have given the Japanese a significant margin of advantage over the Americans.
Prior to the commencement of the campaign on Midway the Americans broke the Japanese code system and were forewarned about the attack. The Americans were ready. They launched a series of attacks which caught the Japanese off guard and sank two of their carriers Kaga and Soryu. The Americans inflicted serious damage on two more Japanese carriers the Hiryu and Akagi and they sank the following day. Between the Coral Sea and Midway the US Pacific Fleet had sunk 6 Japanese aircraft carriers. The Americans had lost two.
The victory at Midway was seen as revenge for Pearl Harbour. Midway was not the decisive battle in the Pacific but certainly swung the initiative back into the favour of the United States and the Allies.
Explain the events which occurred on Guadalcanal.
After Midway the Japanese and Americans paused and readied for the next phase. The US was pre-occupied with Europe and North Africa. The next phase of the Pacific campaign would centre on the island of Guadalcanal which the Americans attacked on August 7th. The Allies were repelled soon after by a counter attack by sea but on land the US Marines won victories and secured the airfield on Guadalcanal. From this point they had the advantage and the Japanese could not over come the American advantage.
There were later actions in August and October in the Eastern Solomons and Santa Cruz respectively but the Japanese didn’t gain any ground.
As time wore on the Japanese plans began to fall apart. Their attempts to take back Guadalcanal from the sea and land failed. They suffered further defeats in November 1942. As they continued to suffer losses in manpower and in ships their high command decided to abandon Guadalcanal in December 1942.
This defeat at Guadalcanal had a knock on effect on the next operation in New Guinea which was another engagement won by a combined force of United States and Australian forces by early 1943. There was action between February 1943 and November but few of the islands in the south Pacific changed hands as a result in the period.
What were the two acts passed by the US?
The lend lease act and the two ocean naval act.
