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Doolittle's Raid
-launched from the aircraft carrier Hornet and led by Lieutenant Colonel James H. Doolittle
-April 2, 1942 Hornet went to sea and headed west across Pacific
-joined mid-ocean on 13 April Vice Admiral William F. Halsey's flagship Enterprise would provide air cover during the approach
-planes to take off around 8 AM while over 600 miles out
-16 B-25s attacked Tokyo area (damage was modest)
-none of the planes reached the Chinese airfields (though a few crewmen survived) -
Coral Sea
-took place on Solomon Islands and eastward from New Guinea ---was the first of the Pacific War's six fights between opposing aircraft carrier forces
-action resulted from Japanese operation to capture Port Moresby
-operation included two seaborne invasion forces,land-based airpower & two aircraft carriers Shokaku and Zuikaku
-Japanese tactical victory & Allied strategic victory
-the Japanese were forced to cancel their Port Moresby seaborne invasion -
Battle of Midway
-fought over & near U.S. mid-Pacific base at Midway atoll
-Japanese Combined Fleet commander Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto planned to destroy Midway's defenses and establish a Japanese air base there
-Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, the U.S. Pacific Fleet commander, established an ambush by having his carriers ready and waiting for the Japanese
- though damaged by Japanese attack, Midway remained operational & later became a vital component in the American trans-Pacific offensive
-American victory -
Guadalcanal
- August 1942 -February 1943 -U.S. First Marine Division landed Aug.7, 1942 to seize a nearly-complete airfield at Guadalcanal's Lunga Point and an anchorage at nearby Tulagi -U.S. and Australian navies suffered a serious defeat in the Battle of Savo Island -U.S. Marines and Soldiers, & a few colonial authorities, demonstrated the fatal weaknesses of Japanese ground combat -U.S. victory -the Japanese were harshly shoved into a long and costly retreat
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Battle of Saipan
-U.S. Marines stormed the beaches of Japan
-fighting brutal around Mount Tapotchau "Purple Heart Ridge" & "Death Valley"
-July 9 U.S. flag raised for victory over Saipan
-Saipan was declared secure on June 22 -
Iwo Jima
-was the first American attack on the Japanese Home Islands
-"Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima" historic photograph taken on February 23 1945 by Joe Rosenthal
-U.S. victory
-Ended March 26 1945 -
Okinawa
-Codenamed Operation Iceberg
-largest amphibious attack in the Pacific War of WW2
-Lasted 82 days from early April until mid July
-Battle nicknamed "Typhoon of Steel" for the ferocity of fighting
-resulted in the largest number of casualties in the Pacific Theatre (Japan=100,000 & Allied=65,000),while simutaneously thousands of local were murdered or commited
suicide
-Allied victory
-Japan surrendured & Allied victory
