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Bombing of Pearl Harbor
Japanese planes attacked Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. This was the United States Navy's main Pacific base and their hope was to weaken our Pacific Fleet. The attack killed more than 2,500 people and destroyed much of our air and naval fleets. This attack on U.S. soil spurred us into the second world war. -
Battle of Coral Sea
This battle was between Imperial Japanese naval and air forces from the U.S. and Australia. This was the first battle which aircraft carriers engaged each other and neither sides ships fired. Both sides suffered heavy losses. -
Battle of Midway
In this decisive naval battle the Japanese hoped to destroy the few U.S. Aircraft carriers. The U.S. cryptographers determined the date and location of the planned attack and prepared their own ambush against the Japanese. The Americans won in the end. -
Battle of Guadalcanal
This was the first major offensive made by the allies. This battle took place in the Southern Solomon Islands in the South Pacific Ocean. The Japanese occupied an airfield on July 6, 1942 on the Guadalcanal. 6,000 U.S. marines landed on the island on August 7 and seized the airfield. 44,000 U.S. troops were on the island in January and in February the 12,000 remaining Japanese troops were forced to leave. -
Battle of Tarawa
The Battle of Tarawa took place 2,500 miles south of Hawaii on the Gilbert Islands, Betio. The U.S. planned naval and air bombardments, but the Japanese had the island secured with 100 pillboxes, seawalls, and an extensive trench system and an airstrip. This was a very bloody battle, 17 of the 4,500 Japanese troops survived. -
Battle of Leyte
The battle began by a U.S. assault on the central Philippine island of Leyte. The Japanese responded with Sho-Go (victory operation), a plan to decoy the U.S. Third Fleet north. As Japanese forces moved into position, U.S. Seventh Fleet discovered their first attack and sank two heavy cruisers. The next two attacks by the Japanese were withdrawn. This crippled Japanese fleets and reinforced the Allies' control of the Pacific. -
Battle of Iwo Jima
U.S. needed a base near the Japanese coast. 23,000 Japanese army and navy troops fought from a network of caves, dugouts, and tunnels. After a month of fighting, U.S. troops wiped the Japanese forces. U.S. air and naval bombardment. U.S. had 5900 dead and 17,400 wounded. -
Battle of Okinawa
The largest battle on Pacific war. The Japanese lost 100,000 men and thousands of civilians. The U.S. lost 50,000 troops. The air bases were vital to the projected invasion of Japan. Japanese nave and army made amass air attack by planes on "suicide" missions - kamikaze. Commanding generals on both sides died. The U.S. general died by artillery and the Japanese general died by suicide. -
Bombing of Hiroshima
An American B-29 bomber dropped the world's first deployed atomic bomb over Hiroshima. The bomb wiped out 90% of cities and killed 80,000 immediately, and thousands more later died from radiation. -
Bombing of Nagasaki
This was the second bomb that the B-29 dropped. This bomb killed 40,000 men and women. This led to the Japanese emperor, Hironito, surrendering on August 15.
