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Island Hopping
Island Hopping: A military offense strategy used by the Allies in the Pacific. Involved seizing islands that were not well defended but were closer to Japan, and skipping over the islands that would be hard to conquer. By: Hannah Spray, Jane Boone, Grace Hummel, Kylie Turner, Clare Ferguson, Irina Kratz, Maria Rivero, Katherine Selness -
Invasion of China
The Japanese controlled railway was sabotaged supposedly by the Chinese soldiers which gave Japan a reason to attack. The Chinese didn’t fight back to try to keep them from invading Manchuria. Japan invaded anyways even when the Japanese government told them to stop. They captured Shanghai in May 1932, and all of Manchuria by February 1932. They set up a Japanese controlled Manchukuo and the Japanese soldiers killed thousands of Chinese soldiers and civilians. -
Pearl Harbor
• Hundreds of Japanese fighter planes attacked the American naval base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii in a surprise attack
• Destroyed nearly 20 American naval vessels, 8 battleships, and more than 300 airplanes
• Left 2,000 American soldiers and sailors dead and 1,000 wounded
• After the attack, FDR asked congress to declare war on Japan
• Three days later, Japan allies Germany and Italy also declared war on the US
• No one believed that Japan would start war with an attack on American territory -
Philippines Campaign
In January 1942, the Japanese marched into the Philippine capital of Manila. The Philippine government moved to the island of Corregidor, and American and Filipino forces defended the Bataan Peninsula. After three months of fighting, the Japanese took the Bataan Peninsular in April and a month later Corregidor. -
Battle of Coral Sea
• Four day battle marked the first air-sea battle in history
• The Japanese wanted to take control of the Coral Sea with an invasion of Port Moresby in southeast New Guinea
• The Allied forces made victory in this battle when they attacked the Japanese, leaving them without enough aircrafts to follow through with their original plan -
Battle of Midway
Admiral Chester Nimitz, commander in chief of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, knew a Japanese force was heading towards the island thanks to allied codebreakers. Admiral Yamamoto, commander of the Japanese fleet, hoped the attack would draw the U.S. Fleet from Hawaii. It was an air battle. Many Japanese planes were still on the decks of the aircraft carriers (defeated before they even used all of their planes). The U.S. Pacific Fleets' strategy was a success. The Battle of Midway turned the tide of war. -
Battle of Guadalcanal
General Douglas MacArthur planned to "island-hop" past the Japanese strongholds in order to seize weakly defended islands closer to Japan. On the morning of August 7th, thousands of U.S. Marines, with the help of Australian troops, landed on the island of Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands. The Allies struck fast and seized Guadalcanal's airfield but the battle continued on for six months until the Japanese abandoned the "Island of Death". -
Battle of Leyte Gulf
• Decisive and the largest air and sea battle of WWII
• Crippled Japanese Combined Fleet
• Permitted U.S. invasion of Philippines and reinforced Allies' control of the Pacific
• Enemy ships collided causing hundreds of fleets to battle for control of Gulf of Leyte in 3 battles
• October 26: remaining Japanese fleets retreated and left allies in control of Pacific Ocean
• After the battle, Allies bombed the Japanese home islands, which forced the Japanese to finally surrender in August of 1945 -
The Battle of Iwo Jima
Battle fought on a small volcanic island about 700 miles south of Tokyo. The US Marines in invaded the island in order to use it as an emergency landing site for B-29 bombers. The Japanese soldiers protected this sacred ground for their culture. All but 216 Japanese soldiers died in the actions, and it is the bloodiest battles in Marine Corp history. It ended on March 16, 1945. -
The Battle of Okinwa
The Battle of Okinawa was the last and biggest of the Pacific island battles of World War II. Kamikaze attacks were experienced by the American Navy. It was known as Operation Iceberg and resulted in over 100,000 Japanese casualties and 50,000 casualties for the allies. -
Works Cited
http://www.nationalww2museum.org/focus-on/iwo-jima-fact-sheet.pdf
http://www.johndclare.net/EL5.htm
http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/battle-of-coral-sea
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/battle-of-leyte-gulf-ends
https://www.quora.com/How-did-Japan-defeat-China-in-WW2
http://www.johndclare.net/EL5.htm
http://www.nationalww2museum.org/focus-on/iwo-jima.html
http://www.britannica.com/event/Pearl-Harbor-attack
http://www.britannica.com/event/Pearl-Harbor-attack
