The Allies Strike Back: Japan!

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The Allies Strike Back Japan!
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Battle of Midway

• June 1942
• Japanese fleet planned to attack Midway Island, a
  US base
• US had broken the final Japanese code
• US planes attacked, sank 4 aircraft carriers
• Greatly weakened Japans offensive capability

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Battle of Guadalcanal

• Aug. 1942 Feb. 1943
• Japan was building an air base
• US Marines and Navy attacked
• The Island of Death harsh jungle conditions,
  fierce Japanese resistance
• US won first victory over Japanese ground
  troops
• The start of island hopping

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Battle of Leyte Gulf

• Oct. 1944
• Island hopping was working the US was closing
  in on Japan
• Japanese Navy and kamikazes attacked the US fleet
  headed to the Philippines
• A last desperate attempt to stop US advances
• US won and recaptured the Philippines
• Last Japanese offensive of the war

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General MacArthur I have returned!
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Battle of Iwo Jima

• Feb. Mar. 1945
• Island close to Japan (within bombing range for
  US planes)
• Volcanic rock and ash
• Heavily defended by Japanese in caves and tunnels
• US won

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Battle of Okinawa

• Mar. June 1945
• Last island US attacked
• Closest island to Japan
• Largest battle of the Pacific War
• Defended by hundreds of thousands of soldiers and
  civilian reserves
• A dress rehearsal for the invasion of Japan
• 100,000 US troops, heavy casualties
• Made the US decide not to invade Japan

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Quickwrite

• Imagine you could save the lives of hundreds
  of thousands of American soldiers by killing
  millions of foreign civilians.
• How well does the benefit (saving our soldiers)
  outweigh the cost (deaths of foreign civilians)?

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Discussion

• If you had been President of the U.S., what would
  you have decided? Why?
• How would you have felt knowing you were
  responsible for the devastation and deaths of so
  many civilians?

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Strategic Bombing of Japan

• Late 1944 Aug. 1945
• US B-29s bombed Japans factories and cities
• Almost every major city was destroyed
• 100,000 people killed in Tokyo
• Japans industries were crippled
• Japans leaders still refused to surrender

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B-29 Bomber
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The firebombing of Tokyo
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Atomic Bombs

• Aug. 6, 1945 Hiroshima. 140,000 killed
• Aug. 9, 1945 Nagasaki. 80,000 killed
• Aug. 15, Japanese request a cease fire (VJ
  Day)
• Sept. 2, Japan officially surrendered! The end
  of WWII!

Hiroshima Dropping the Bomb
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Results of World War II

• Over 60 million people killed
• Europe left in ruins
• Germany divided into two countries
• Japan occupied by the US
• United Nations established to prevent wars
• Israel established as a homeland for Jews
  (Holocaust survivors)
• US and USSR became superpowers
• Led to The Cold War!