Unit 1: War in the Pacific

Question 1

Japanese Advances

Answer 1

•Japanese empire dwarfs Hitler’s 3rd Reich
•The fall of the Philippines-March 1942
-General MacArthur in command of Allied troops
-Japanese victorious
-MacArthur…“I shall return.”

Question 2

Bataan Death March

Answer 2

•Forced march of 75,000 American POWs to prison camps
•50,000 murdered
-Kicked/beaten, starved, bayoneted
•Treated same way as Native Americans during the Trail of Tears
•Later considered a Japanese war crime

Question 3

Doolittle’s Raid

Answer 3

• Spring 1942
• Bombing raid on Tokyo and surrounding cities
• Most daring campaign to date; some bombers killed or captured
• Boosts American morale, lowers Japanese

Question 4

Battle of Coral Sea

Answer 4

•May 1942
•American and Australian carriers vs. Japanese Imperial Navy
•Successful at stopping Japanese advance to take Australia, eliminate 2 Japanese carriers
-Damaged Japan’s naval capability at Midway
•All-Air Battle
-All planes launched from aircraft carriers
-No shots fired from surface ships

Question 5

Battle of Midway

Answer 5

•June 3, 1942
•Strategic location northwest of Hawaii
•Allies stop the Japanese
•ALLIES HAD BROKEN JAPAN’S NAVAL CODE
-Anticipated the attack
•Allies under the command of Admiral Chester A. Nimitz
-Helped to locate the Japanese fleet and dive bomb them
•TURNING POINT IN THE PACIFIC WAR!
-Bulk of Japanese fleet destroyed
-Japanese forced to retreat and play defense
•Result: allies begin to “island hop”

Question 6

Allies on the Offensive

Answer 6

•Battle of Guadalcanal, 1944
  -19,000 Allied troops storm the island
  -Marks Japan's first defeat on land
  -Secured Australia from Japanese occupation and protected American-Australian sea route
•Battle of Leyte Gulf, 1944
  -Japan's "Battle of the Bulge"
  Entire Japanese fleet involved
     •Largest naval battle of WWII
  -Appearance of Kamikaze
  -Japan defeated, compete disaster
  -Last major Japanese naval engagement in the war

Question 7

Battle of Iwo Jima

Answer 7

•Japan to stop U.S. advance to stop mainland invasion
•Allies face fierce opposition
-Fanatical fighting (Samurai mentality)
-Fighters entrenched in tunnels and caves
•Iwo Jima’s location crucial to U.S.
-Heavy-loaded bombers could reach Tokyo
•6,000 U.S. Marines killed
-Most in any pacific battle to that point
•U.S. gains control of the island
•Only 200 of 20,000 Japanese troops survive

Question 8

Battle of Okinawa

Answer 8

•April 1945
•U.S. Marines invade, challenge Japanese occupation of the island
•Massive Kamikaze attacks
-1,900 attacks kill 5,000 U.S. sailors, sink 30 ships and damage 300 more
•Fiercer opposition than Iwo Jima
•110,000 Japanese killed in action
•Allies see this as a premonition of invasion of Japan
-Churchill estimates 1 million U.S. and 500,000 British deaths if Allies invade Japan

Question 9

The Atom Bombs

Answer 9

•The Manhattan Project
-Over 600,000 Americans involved
-Led by J. Robert Oppenheimer
•Truman orders planes to use the bombs
-Churchill warned of Allied deaths if war continues
-Japanese warned of super weapon
•Engola Gay drops Little Boy over Hiroshima
-Japan still won’t surrender
•Three days later, U.S. drops Fat Man on Nagasaki
-MacArthur accepts Japan’s official surrender on September 2, 1945 on the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay
•End of war