The course and practices of WW2 in Asia

Question 1

The course of the war in the Pacific- key aspects

Answer 1

• Japan in the ascendancy 1941
• The USA fights back successfully and turns the course of the war 1942
• The USA and its allies defeat Japan 1943–5
• Atomic bombs and the Japanese surrender, 6–9 August 1945

Question 2

Immediate effects of Pear Harbor on Japan

Answer 2

• Japan enjoyed huge military success.
• By May 1942, the Japanese occupied much of east Asia, bringing hundreds of millions of people under their rule.
• They called their empire the Greater Asia Co-prosperity Sphere.
• Puppet governments were created to rule over the conquered territories.

Question 3

Japanese victories and losses in the Philippines

Answer 3

• The largest US-held territory in Asia
• The capture of the Philippines was one the biggest defeats in US history in terms of troop losses, with over 25,000 soldiers killed, 21,000 wounded and 100,000 captured
• Japanese losses were 9000 dead and just over 13,000 wounded

Question 4

Japanese victories in Guam and Wake Island

Answer 4

• Guam was a junction for undersea cables linking the USA and the Philippines, so its capture by Japan disrupted US communications
• Wake Island was of strategic importance, and its fall gave Japanese aircraft control over a large area of the Pacific Ocean

Question 5

Japanese victories in Burma (aka Myanmar)

Answer 5

• British forces were pushed out of Burma by a rapid Japanese invasion, and they fled into eastern India
• Japan now controlled Burmese oilfields and their vast areas of rice paddies

Question 6

Map showing Japanese military conquests from December 1941 to May 1942

Answer 6

Question 7

Give an overview of the USA successfully fighting back against Japan and turning the course of the war in 1942

Answer 7

• In the second half of 1942, the USA turned the tide of the war against Japan in three major battles.
• By the end of these battles, the USA was in ascendancy, thanks in large measure to its successful code-breaking efforts.
• Japan’s capacity to hold on to the vast tracts of land it had gained was fatally undermined, and it was not able to recover from these three major losses.

Question 8

When did the USA turn the tide of the war against Japan in fighting back successfully?

Answer 8

1942

Question 9

What are the three major battles that turned the tide of the war against Japan?

Answer 9

• Battle of the Coral Sea
• Battle of Midway
• Battles at Guadalcanal

Question 10

When was the Battle of the Coral Sea?

Answer 10

May 1942

Question 11

What were the reason for and outcome of the Battle of the Coral Sea?

Answer 11

Reason: Japan wanted to capture Port Moresby, New Guinea, to gain control of the sea around northern Australia, allowing it to launch sustained attacks on Australian targets.

Outcome: The Japanese were defeated.

Question 12

Events of the Battle of the Coral Sea

Answer 12

• The USA had managed to decode the Japanese naval signals and was aware of their invasion plan, and that the Japanese had three aircraft carriers in their attack fleet. Crucially, they also knew where these carriers were in the seas.
• In preparation for the Japanese attack, the Americans moved two of their carriers, and supporting ships, into the region.
• The Japanese were not aware of such a strong US presence in the region. The Japanese lost one carrier and two were badly damaged, which delayed their invasion of Port Moresby.
• Australian troops secured the port, preventing an invasion of Australia for the rest of the war.

Question 13

When was the Battle of Midway?

Answer 13

June 1942

Question 14

What were the reason for the Battle of Midway?

Answer 14

The Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) planned to occupy Midway and lure the US fleet from Pearl Harbor, where it was now well protected by aircraft.

Question 15

Events of the Battle of Midway

Answer 15

• US code breakers had deciphered Japanese cyphers and were aware of the IJN’s movements. US forces moved to intercept the IJN before it could establish its own aircraft at Midway.
• Aircraft from the four Japanese carriers attacked Midway Atoll and the US carrier Yorktown, but the Japanese did not realize that there were two other US carriers in the region.

Question 16

Japanese losses in the Battle of Midway

Answer 16

Japan lost all four of its carriers, 240 aircraft, a cruiser and 3000 men.

Question 17

American losses in the Battle of Midway

Answer 17

The USA’s losses were lighter: one carrier, 150 aircraft, a destroyer and 300 men.

Question 18

Why is the Battle of Midway seen by historians as a turning point in the war in the Pacific?

Answer 18

• It was the first major victory that the US navy achieved against the IJN.
• The battle left Japan with only six carriers in the Pacific and it lacked the industrial capacity and resources to rebuild the lost ships quickly enough.
• The Japanese loss of highly trained military personnel with great expertise, such as pilots, mechanics and carrier crews, significantly hindered their war effort.
• The carrier losses prevented Japan from launching any major new attacks on US forces for months, which allowed the USA to begin its own offensive operations, notably at Guadalcanal two months after the Battle of Midway.

Question 19

When did the Battles at Guadalcanal take place?

Answer 19

August 1942 to February 1943

Question 20

What was Guadalcanal?

Answer 20

A strategically important island in the Solomon Islands

Question 21

Give an overview of the Battles at Guadalcanal

Answer 21

A series of hard-fought battles was held on and around the island in the air, on the land and at sea.

Question 22

Why are the Battles at Guadalcanal considered a significant turning point in the war by historians?

Answer 22

• This was the first time in the war that Japan was defeated on land, in the air and at sea.
• Japan lost three carriers, 38 ships, 88 aircraft and 31,000 troops. Japan did not have the industrial capacity to replace these losses quickly enough to challenge growing US power.
• The USA suffered losses, but it had the industrial capacity to rebuild, and actually was able to increase its pace of shipbuilding at this point in the war.
• The USA’s capturing of Guadalcanal meant that Australia and New Zealand could be more easily supplied by US ships, preventing their invasion.

Question 23

What was the state of the war in the Pacific by 1943?

Answer 23

• US naval and air superiority was confirmed by early 1943, and the USA was now faced with the difficult task of conquering the territories that Japan had occupied.
• The Japanese were fiercely committed to fighting almost to the last man to defend the territory that they had won.
• The USA discovered thisduring the land battles for Guadalcanal.

Question 24

What did the Americans expect the Japanese would do by 1943 in Guadalcanal?- reword?

Answer 24

• The Americans had expected the isolated Japanese troops to surrender, but instead needed to land 60,000 troops and fight for half a year to take the island.
• As such, they developed a new strategy called island hopping to minimize US casualties.

Question 25

What was island-hopping?

Answer 25

• This involved the US military avoiding direct attacks on major Japanese fortified islands, such as Rabaul.
• Instead, it would bypass them and capture less well-defended surrounding islands, on which they would build airfields.
• The US air force would then destroy any ships sent to resupply the fortified islands.

Question 26

What was the US’s aim in island hopping?

Answer 26

• To steadily move closer and closer to Japan, which would allow it to get bombers in range of the Japanese home islands, which would then be bombed into surrender.
• It was hoped that this would avoid the need to invade Japan.

Question 27

Examples of the major US victories in WW2 between late 1943 and 1945

Answer 27

• Tarawa (Nov 1943)
• Marshall Islands and Truk (Jan-Feb 1944)
• Saipan (June-July 1944)
• Phillipines (June- August 1944)
• Okinawa (April-June 1945)

Question 28

Give some details about the US victory in Tarawa in 1943

Answer 28

• Tarawa Atoll housed an important airfield, and was attacked by the largest US fleet assembled.
• The USA was opposed by 5000 Japanese and Koreans, of whom about half were construction workers. Only 17 Japanese surrendered and the rest died fighting. The USA lost 1700 men.
• The Japanese commitment to fight almost to the last man made the US military wonder what would happen when they reached the Japanese home islands. This hardened the prevailing attitude in the US military that Japan needed to be bombed into surrendering.

Question 29

Give some details about the US victory in the Philippines in 1944

Answer 29

• The USA decided to invade the Philippines as they supplied rubber for Japanese industry, and they were on the shipping route for oil tankers travelling from the Dutch East Indies
• Japan lost 330,000 troops, and the USA and its allies 14,000

Question 30

What was significant about the US’s victory in Okinawa?

Answer 30

• As in other campaigns in the Pacific, most Japanese troops fought to the death, as they felt it was better to die with honour than surrender.
• US military command felt that if Japan defended its main populated islands with the same will to fight to the death as they had on the uninhabited Okinawa, then invading would cost huge US casualties.

Question 31

Why did the US have nuclear bombs at its disposal?

Answer 31

Because of the Manhattan project

Question 32

Why did the US decide to use nuclear bombs?

Question 33

Why did the US decide to use nuclear bombs?

Answer 33

• The Japanese government was refusing to make an unconditional surrender, so it was thought that a dramatic show of force might make it submit.
• Japanese troops had shown a willingness to fight to the death, including suicidal kamikaze attacks, to defend various Pacific islands. The belief in the US military was that they would defend their homeland with the same tenacity.
• An invasion of Japan would be terribly costly in terms of US lives.

Question 34

Descibe what happened in Hiroshima in August 1945

Answer 34

• A US B-29 bomber dropped a nuclear bomb on Hiroshima, which completely destroyed twelve square kilometres of the city.
• Around 80,000 people died instantly and 70,000 were injured.
• The death toll continued to rise in the following months and years due to radiation sickness.
• Japan still refused to surrender unconditionally.

Question 35

When was Hiroshima bombed?

Answer 35

6 August 1945

Question 36

Descibe what happened in Nagasaki in August 1945

Answer 36

• The city of Kokura was originally chosen for the second atomic bomb, but cloud cover on 9 August made it unfeasible as a target, so Nagasaki was bombed.
• The 21-kiloton bomb killed between 40,000 and 75,000 people instantly, and thousands more in the months and years that followed.
• Japan surrendered later that day to the USA, with only one condition: Hirohito was to remain as emperor.

Question 37

When was Nagasaki bombed?

Answer 37

9 August 1945

Question 38

What was the outcome of the bombing of Nagasaki?

Answer 38

Japan surrendered later that day to the USA

Question 39

Elements of the practices of war in Asia and the Pacific

Answer 39

• War production

- Technological developments

Question 40

Which country had superior war production: the US or Japan?

Answer 40

The US

Question 41

Japan’s vs. US’ war production

Answer 41

• US production was perhaps the crucial factor in the USA’s ultimate success against Japan.
• US production was so great that Japan would not have been able to match it, even if it did have access to unlimited raw materials.
• Japan did produce large quantities of aircraft and ships, but not on the scale of the USA, and it lagged behind in terms of raw materials.

Question 42

How many aircrafts did Japan vs. the US have?

Answer 42

Japan: 76,000

USA: 300,000

Question 43

Why was there a disparity between Japan’s and the US’ war production?

Answer 43

• Japanese homelands lacked raw materials, and even when the Japanese gained access to them as they expanded their empire, these materials often had to be sent over huge distances on ships that were vulnerable to attack.
• The USA had been the world’s most industrialized country for decades before 1941, and had access to vast amounts of raw materials, so did not need to rely on imports. For example, it was the world’s largest producer of petroleum.
• In Japan, the government did not fully utilize the labour at its disposal. For example, women were discouraged from work even though factories needed workers.
• The USA had begun organizing its population with the Victory Programme before Pearl Harbor. It employed millions of women to produce war goods.

Question 44

What technological developments were made in the Pacific in WW2?

Answer 44

• Code-breaking
• Aircraft carriers
• Submarines

Question 45

Why was code-breaking a vital aspect of the war in the Pacific?

Answer 45

• As both the Japanese and US armies relied on secret codes to send commands and reports.
• If a code was figured out by cryptanalysts, then the other side would know what the enemy was planning and could counter effectively.
• The USA used the Native American language of the Navajo, which the Japanese could not understand.
• Conversely, the Americans successful at breaking Japanese codes, and this played an important role in their winning major battles.
• They broke two major codes that each had a significant impact in the outcome of the war.

Question 46

What were the two major codes that the Americans broke that had a significant impact on the outcome of the war?

Answer 46

• JN-25

- JN-40

Question 47

Significance of the US breaking the JN-25 code

Answer 47

• This was the main Japanese code for its naval fleet
• It had been broken by US cryptanalysts in May 1942
• This meant that the USA was aware of the move by the IJN to capture Midway
• As a result, the USA was able to destroy four vital Japanese carriers and decisively turn the course of the war in its favour at the Battle of Midway

Question 48

Significance of the US breaking the JN-40 code

Answer 48

• This was a code used by Japanese merchant ships that supplied Japan and its military forces
• It was cracked in November 1942, which allowed the USA to use its submarines to hinder Japan’s capacity to move supplies, weapons and troops.
• This meant that the resource-poor Japanese home islands were slowly being starved of supplies, making the war effort ever more challenging for them.

Question 49

What were aircraft carriers?

Answer 49

• Floating, armed airfields and were the most valuable and important warships of the Second World War in the Pacific Ocean.
• Aircraft launched from these carriers could travel hundreds of kilometres to attack targets.

Question 50

What was the difference between the USA’s and Japan’s number of aircraft carriers and what was the significance of this?

Answer 50

Japan managed to build sixteen fleet carriers during the war, while the USA managed to construct over 160, which was a key reason for the USA’s ultimate victory.

Question 51

What were submarines and torpedoes used for in WW2 and what was the significance of this?

Answer 51

• To destroy enemy shipping
• This had a significant impact on the war e.g. by 1945, US submarines had crippled the Japanese merchant fleet to the point that it could no longer provide the homelands with food or raw materials.

Question 52

US submarines were responsible for destoying ___ Japanese aircraft carriers

Answer 52

8

Question 53

Why was the USA able to make more effective use of submarines than Japan?

Answer 53

• US code breakers had decrypted Japanese codes, so they knew where Japanese targets were.
• The Japanese failed to break the major US codes, so they could not significantly affect the US navy’s ability to conduct the war, although they did destroy two US carriers.
• The USA could produce more submarines. By 1944, it had over 150 submarines hunting Japanese merchant ships.