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U.S Declares War on Japan
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General Douglas MacArthur
-As the Japanese advanced on Pacific Islands, 80,000 American and Filipino troops battled the Japanese together for control of the Philippines.
-General Douglas MacArthur was in control of the Allied Forces in the islands. Eventually, Americans and Filipinos had their backs facing the wall of Bataan and President Roosevelt ordered MacArthur and his troops to leave.
-On March 11th, 1942, MacArthur left the Philippines. -
Battle of the Coral Sea
-Most Allied Forces in the Pacific were either American or Australia.
-In a five day battle, the succeeded in stopping the Japanese advance on Australia.
-Fighting was done in airplanes; a Japanese invasion had been stopped for the first time since Pearl Harbor. -
Admiral Chester Nimitz and the Battle of Midway
-The Japanese' next target was Midway Island.
-Admiral Chester Nimitz commanded forces to defend the island.
-He sent planes to scout the Japanese. The Japanese fleet was found with planes still found on deck's of their carriers.
-The Japanese were lost four aircraft carriers, a cruiser, and 250 planes.
-"Pearl Harbor was avenged." -
Guadalcanal
-The Allied Forces first took the offensive when they sent 19,000 troops to storm Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands.
-The hot, humid, conditions of the island were considered "hell" by many.
-The Japanese were defeated on land for the first time here, but it would not be it's last time. -
Philippine Sea
-The Mariana Islands had been valuable to Japan; America had been battling them there.
-Admiral Raymond Spruance was sending his forces from the Marshall Islands to the Marianas to back up other American forces.
-Japanese General Ozawa Jisaburo decided to challenge the fleet, and sent over 400 planes to attack. However, the Americans detected the planes on radar and ending up shooting down 300 of them.
-It was described as a "turkey shoot."
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/ -
Yalta Conference
-It was a wartime meeting between U.K leader Winston Churchill, US President Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Soviet leader Joseph Stalin.
-They agreed to demand Germany's surrender. Stalin agreed to enter the Asian war against Japan with the promise of a return of lands from the Russo-Japanese war.
-Agreements had been kept secret. http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/yalta-conference -
Iwo Jima
-The island of Iwo Jima was critical to the USA because it had a base with heavily loaded bombers.
-It had 20,700 Japanese troops in it's tunnels and caves.
-Around 6,000 marines died in this battle, and only 200 Japanese survived.
-Now there was only one island in between the Allies and an assault on Japan. -
Okinawa
-The US Marines invaded Okinawa in April 1945. The Japanese sent out 1,900 kamikaze attacks during the Okinawa campaign, killing 5,000 seamen.
-By the end of the fight, over 7,600 Americans died, and over 110,000 Japanese men died.
-Two Japanese Generals had committed suicide so they wouldn't have to be put through murder. -
Hiroshima
-The US decided that there would be two large of a loss of life if they invaded Japan.
-In the Manhattan Project, they conducted research to create and test an atomic bomb.
-The US warned Japan that it would face huge destruction if it did not surrender at once. Japan didn't surrender.
-On August 6th, an aircraft known as the "Enola Gay" dropped an atomic bomb code named "Little Boy" on Hiroshima, Japan. The entire city ceased to exist after the bombing. -
Nagasaki
-After Hiroshima, Japan still did not surrender.
-Three days after Hiroshima, the US dropped another atomic bomb, this time on Nagasaki. It was code named "Fat Man" and was dropped by the aircraft "Bockscar."
-Half of the city was leveled, and Emperor Hirohito finally surrendered.
-After the bombings, an estimated 200,000 people died due to the bomb or radiation. -
V-J Day
