8.5 WWII 1942-1945 Flashcards
BATTLE of midway 4-6 June 1942
Yamamotos objective: lure US away and destroy carrier forces, confidently divided his forces
BATTLE OF MIDWAY 4-6 JUNE 1942 US Advantages vs disadvantages
US advantages: airfield on Midway island, unsinkable carrier, decoding of Japanese communications
DISADVANTAGES: heavily outnumbered, aircraft susceptible to attack by Japanese “Zeros”, Japanese technologically superior aircraft
battle of midway 4-6 june 1942 significance
- turning point of the pacific war, naval intelligence paramount
- tacticical/strategic victory for US fleet
- end of Japanese offensive
- allies shifted to offensive
Casualties: Japan: 4 CVs, 1 CA, and 322 A/C lost
allies: 1 CV, 1DD 147 A/C lost
Operation torchNov 1942- May 1943
western Naval task force
Drew German Resources off western front. weakened them from cross channel invasion
D-DAY 8 NOVEMBER 1942
the target is casablanca
Guadalcanal
Tactical: all components of Navy contributed
Operational: both sides suffered heavy losses, US loses more tonnage at sea over 5k sailors, Japan loses more lives and leaves Solomon islands
strategic: King enabled more resources to Pacific, Casablanca talks, Britain concedes that America need focus Pacific, Starts offensive drive in Philippines
south pacific Feb 1942- nov 1943
New Guinea: Navy supported Army leap frog operations w/ limited resources, protect Port Moseby
solomon islands: Joint advance to isolate Japanese base at rabaul, marines & army “island hopped” over Japanese strong holds
Operation Vengeance april 18 1943
Assassination of ADM Yamamoto, success of Naval Intelligence: intercepted yamamoto’s itinerary, dispatched fighter aircraft to intercept Yamamoto’s flight from Japanese hqq to rabaul
operation Husky July 1943
Landings: American (west coast), British (eastern coast) invasion eroded italian support for Germany, Mussolini overthrown
operation Avalanche Sep 1943
Landings: american (salerno) British (toe of italy),
allied forces push German forces to Gustav Line and stalemated at that point
allies gained Naples, italy 1 oct 1943
gilbert islands Tarawa 20 Nov 1943
Objective: gain airfield to launch further attcacks, 1st major island en route to Philippines, 4,500 heavily entrenched Japanese 3 days cost US marines over 3k
marshall islands, Kwajalein 31 Jan 1944
LESSONS learned from tarawa: better intel on reefs and tide, longer pre-invasion bombardment, improved accuracy by giving ships/aircraft specific targets, better command and control of task forces.
total marshall losses less than 1st day of tarawa
operation overlord: D-DAY
6 jun 1944 5k ships, 150k allied troops,
Landings: american utah/omaha omaha faced heavy resistance
British: gold/juno/sword
Operation overlord: Dragooon
6-24 jun 1944
7k allied vessels, over 714k men, 11k vehicles, and 250k tons of supplies, 27 jun 1944: cherbourg captured, allied forces move into northern france
15 Aug 1944: Dragoon, invasion of southern france, troops from italy used
25 Aug 1944 Paris liberated
Mariana islands June 1944
Saipan and Tinian captured: air bases for B-29 raids on japan
“the great marianas turkey shoot”
Battle of Philippine Sea 19-20 June 1944: 346 Japanese planes down, proximity fueses, 3 Japanese carriers sunk by 2 subs
Classic Mahanian engagement