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Pearl Harbor
Japan and the United States had earlier come into conflict over French Indochina. Japan also forged an alliance with Germany and Italy, and Japan's new prime minister, Hideki Tojo, was hostile toward the United States. Pearl Harbor was home to the U.S. Navy's Pacific Fleet. The Japanese plan called for aircraft carriers to approach the island of Oahu from the north. Americans had known it was a possibility. As the sun rose on Sunday morning, the strike force went into action. Most fighter planes -
Pearl Harbor Continued
in Hawaii never got off the ground. Hundreds were severely damaged or destroyed where they sat. The Japanese attack lasted barely two hours. By the time it was over, the Pacific Fleet was a mess. All eight battleships suffered damage, four were sunk. Nearly 200 aircraft were completely destroyed, and more were damaged. Some 2,400 Americans were dead. Japan only lost a handful of subs and fewer than 30 aircraft. On Dec. 8, Roosevelt declared war. -
Battle of Java Sea
In early 1942, with the Japanese rapidly advancing south, the Allies attempted to mount a defense of Java in an effort to hold the Malay Barrier. To take the island, the Japanese formed two major invasion fleets. Sailing from Jolo in the Philippines, the Japanese Eastern Invasion Fleet was spotted by ABDA aircraft on February 25. This led Helfrich to reinforce Rear Admiral Karl Doorman's Eastern Strike Force at Surabaya the next day with several ships from the Royal Navy. Upon their arrival, -
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force, protected by two heavy cruisers (Nachi & Haguro), two light cruisers (Naka & Jintsu), and fourteen destroyers, under Rear Admiral Takeo Takagi, slowly moved towards Surabaya. At 1:57 PM on February 27, a Dutch scout plane located the Japanese approximately 50 miles north of the port. Receiving this report, the Dutch admiral, whose ships were beginning to enter the harbor, reversed course to seek battle. After a brief exchange of fire and torpedoes, the two fleets separated again, with -
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Doorman taking his ships inshore along the Java coast in another attempt to circle around the Japanese. Sailing on with his four remaining cruisers, Doorman moved north and was spotted by lookouts aboard Nachi at 11:02 PM. Obeying Doorman's final orders, Houston and Perth fled the scene without stopping to pick up survivors. The Battle of the Java Sea was a resounding victory for the Japanese and effectively ended meaningful naval resistance by ABDA forces. -
Battle of Java Sea Continued
Doorman held a meeting with his captains to discuss the upcoming campaign. Departing that evening, Doorman's force consisted of two heavy cruisers (USS Houston & HMS Exeter), three light cruisers (HNLMS De Ruyter, HNLMS Java, & HMAS Perth), as well as three British, two Dutch, and four American (Destroyer Division 58) destroyers. Sweeping the north coast of Java and Madura, Doorman's ships failed to locate the Japanese and turned for Surabaya. A short distance to the north, the Japanese invasion -
Loss of Philippines & Bataan Death March
After the U.S. surrender of the Bataan Peninsula on the main Philippine island of Luzon to the Japanese during World War II, approximately 75,000 Filipino and American troops on Bataan were forced to make an arduous 65-mile march to prison camps. The marchers made the trek in intense heat and were subjected to harsh treatment by Japanese guards. Thousands perished. The surrendered Filipinos and Americans soon were rounded up by the Japanese and forced to march some 65 miles from Mariveles, on -
Loss of Philippines & Bataan Death March Continued
the southern end of the Bataan Peninsula, to San Fernando. The men were divided into groups of approximately 100, and the march typically took each group around five days to complete. It is believed that thousands of troops died because of the brutality of their captors, who starved and beat the marchers, and bayoneted those too weak to walk. Survivors were taken by rail from San Fernando to prisoner-of-war camps, where thousands more died from disease, mistreatment and starvation. -
Doolittle Raid
(Tokyo Raid) On this day, 16 American B-25 bombers attack the Japanese mainland. It hurt the Japanese government’s prestige. Believing the air raid had been launched from Midway Island, approval was given to Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto’s plans for an attack on Midway–which would also damage Japanese “prestige.” Doolittle was eventually awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. -
Island Hopping Strategy
“Island Hopping” is the phrase given to the strategy employed by the United States to gain military bases and secure the many small islands in the Pacific. The attack was lead by General Douglas MacArthur, Commander of the Allied forces in the South west Pacific, and Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, Commander-in-chief of the Pacific fleet. The US troops targeted the islands that were not as strongly defended by the Japanese. They took control of those islands, and quickly constructed landing strips -
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Japanese territory. It was a bloody fight that last 36 days, and cost the US 6, 381 men. Nearly 20,000 Japanese soldiers perished. In April came the invasion of Okinawa, the bloodiest battle of the war in the Pacific in which the Japanese launched massive Kamikaze attacks on the US invasion fleet. The island hopping strategy was very costly. The US soldiers were not used to the guerilla style of fighting, and the Japanese had the advantage of controlling many of the islands. -
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and small military bases. MacArthur met with Admiral William “Bull” Halsey, and the two devised a plan. On April 26th, 1942, they laid out the plan; a two-pronged offensive codenamed “Cartwheel”. They aimed to corner Japanese troops on Rabaul Island, with MacArthur’s troops advancing along the northern coast of New Guinea, and Halsey’s troops driving north from Guadalcanal, and taking control of the Solomon Islands. In February 1945 US troops invaded Iwo Jima; the first American landing on -
Battle of Coral Sea
This battle featured the part of the Pacific Fleet that didn't get badly damaged at Pearl Harbor - the aircraft carriers. It took place as the Japanese were prepareing to invade Port Moresby controlled by Britain, on the island of New Guinea. U.S. Admiral Chester Nimitz sent two aircraft carriers to prevent the attack. American and Japanese both suffered damage. For the first time, Japanese advance was halted. -
Battle of Midway
Six months after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States defeated Japan in one of the most decisive naval battles of World War II. Thanks in part to major advances in code breaking, the United States was able to preempt and counter Japan’s planned ambush of its few remaining aircraft carriers, inflicting permanent damage on the Japanese Navy. The victory allowed the United States and its allies to move into an offensive position. -
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Admiral Yamamoto Isoroku, Japanese fleet commander, chose to invade a target relatively close to Pearl Harbor to draw out the American fleet, calculating that when the United States began its counterattack, the Japanese would be prepared to crush them. Instead, an American intelligence breakthrough–the solving of the Japanese fleet codes–enabled Pacific Fleet commander Admiral Chester W. Nimitz to understand the exact Japanese plans. Nimitz placed available U.S. carriers in position to surprise -
Battle of Midway Continued
the Japanese moving up for their preparatory air strikes on Midway Island itself. The Americans sank four fleet carriers–the entire strength of the task force–Akagi, Kaga, Soryu, and Hiryu, with 322 aircraft and over five thousand sailors. The Japanese also lost the heavy cruiser Mikuma. American losses included 147 aircraft and more than three hundred seamen. -
Guadalcanal
The World War II Battle of Guadalcanal was the first major offensive and a decisive victory for the Allies in the Pacific theater. With Japanese troops stationed in this section of the Solomon Islands, U.S. marines launched a surprise attack in August 1942 and took control of an air base under construction. The Japanese suffered a far greater toll of casualties, forcing their withdrawal from Guadalcanal by February 1943. -
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When Japanese troops arrived on Guadalcanal on June 8, 1942, to construct an air base, and then American marines landed two months later to take it away from them, few people outside of the South Pacific had ever heard of that 2,500-square-mile speck of jungle in the Solomon Islands. But the ensuing six-month Guadalcanal campaign proved to be the turning point of the Pacific war. -
Guadalcanal Continued
By the end of the battle on February 9, 1943, the Japanese had lost two-thirds of the 31,400 army troops committed to the island, whereas the U.S. Marines and the U.S. Army had lost less than 2,000 soldiers of about 60,000 deployed. The ship losses on both sides were heavy. But by far the most significant loss for the Japanese was the decimation of their elite group of naval aviators. -
Battle of Leyte Gulf Continued
combat in a classic crossing of the “T” on the night of October 24-25. Japanese losses included four aircraft carriers, three battleships, six heavy and four light cruisers, and eleven destroyers, along with several hundred aircraft and over 10,500 sailors. Allied losses were one light carrier, two escort carriers, two destroyers and one destroyer-escort. Japanese showed that they could still attack the Allied armada and gain advantages. -
Battle of Leyte Gulf
This World War II clash followed the Allied landing at the Philippine island of Leyte in October 1944. The Japanese sought to converge three naval forces on Leyte Gulf, and successfully diverted the U.S. Third Fleet with a decoy. At the Suriago Strait, the U.S. Seventh Fleet destroyed one of the Japanese forces and forced a second one to withdraw. The third successfully traversed the San Bernadino Straight but also withdrew before attacking the Allied forces at Leyte. With much of its surface -
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fleet destroyed in the battle, Japan was hamstrung in its ability to move resources from Southeast Asia to the home islands. The aerial and naval battle conducted as Allied forces invaded the Philippines began with Leyte Island on October 20. Headed toward the Philippines, the naval command suggested that Admiral Kurita Takeo of the battleship unit detach an element of his fleet to enter Leyte Gulf through the Surigao Strait. He did send a force that way, which was annihilated in surface naval -
Battle of Iwo Jima
Early in this battle, marines managed to capture the island's tallest point, Mount Suribachi. Some thought the capture meant the battle was over, but the Japanese refused to surrender. By the time it was over, nearly 7,000 Americans were dead. More than 20,000 Japanese defenders were on Iwo Jima when Americans landed. All but 1,000 fought to their death. -
Battle of Okinawa
This island was to be the launching pad for the final invasion of Japan itself. This battle is the bloodiest task Americans would face in the Pacific. Allied troops invaded the island on April 1, and five days later, Japanese forces attacked. Japanese soldiers used the caves and tunnels skillfully to hide and to launch deadly assaults. Over 12,000 Americans died. The Japanese lost 110,000 fighting. Americans finallt gained control of the island in June. -
Atomic Bomb on Hiroshima
V.P. Truman formed a group to debate whether the Japanese should be warned, but soon decided to drop the bomb on Japan with no warning. They gave the Japanese one last chance to avoid the bomb by issuing a demand for surrender. Failure to surrender would lead to "prompt and utter destruction." They didn't respond, and on Aug. 6, American B-29 Enola Gay dropped its atomic bomb killing 80,000 immediately. Some 35,000 were injured, and two-thirds of the city's 90,000 buildings were destroyed. -
Atomic Bomb On Nagasaki
Three days after Hiroshima, still with no response from Japan, the U.S. dropped another bomb, killing 40,000. Still no end to the war. Japanese emperor Hirohito favored surrender, but military leaders resisted. -
VJ Day
Japanese emperor Hirohito announced the end of the war in a radio broadcast. It was the first time the Japanese people had ever heard his voice. The United States had won.
