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Pearl Harbor
In order to try and secure their dominance in the South Pacific, Japan had a surprise attack on the United States Pacific fleet that was docked at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. This devestating blow to the US Naval forces gave Japan an upperhand for months and gave way to many early Japanese victories. The US lost 200 aircrafts and 2,400 Americans died. -
Loss of Philippines
With Japan's quick advances on Hong Kong, the Dutch East Indies, Singapore, and Pearl Harbor the Japanese offensive reached it's goal: the American-controlled Philippines. General Douglas MacArthur led the defense of the island chain. Although they fought valiantly, the defense was no match for the Japanese, especially with their lack of food and medicine. General MacArthur was forced from the island and 10,000 Americans and 60,000 Filipinos were captured by the Japanese. -
Battle of Java Sea
A combined force of American, British, Dutch, and Australian allied forces attempted to guard the island of Java. The Japanese swept through this force and had a resounding victory, badly damaging Allied navies. -
Bataan Death March
After the huge defeat that Americans and Filipinos went through, losing the Philippines, the Japanese forced the already starving and sick soldiers to march for five days and nights. The Japanese would beat or shoot anyone that fell out of line. Thousands died because the Japanese didn't provide sufficient food or water. Those that survived were held in Japanese prison camps and suffered. -
Doolittle Raid
James Doolittle led a group of 16 American bombers on a mission to bomb Tokyo and a few other Japanese cities. Although the bombs really had little effect on the cities themselves, they gave hope to the American people and made the Japanese angry, something that would cause them to make more military mistakes down the road. -
Battle of Coral Sea
When Japanese forces were attempting to invade British controlled Port Moresby, US Admiral Chester Nimitz sent two aircraft carriers, survivors of Pearl Harbor, on the attack. Although the US lost one aircraft carrier and the aircraft they carried, the Japanese attack failed and the Japanese advance had been halted. -
Battle of Midway
Japanese forces wished to destroy what remained of the US Pacific fleet and hoped to lure them into a large naval battle with a strike on the US held Midway Island. The US, having broken their code, knew about the attack and were ready, fending off the initial air attack and responding with their own air raid on the 4 Japanese aircraft carriers that were leading the attack. All four eventually were blown up and destroyed. Admiral Nimitz had taken another victory over the Japanese forces. -
Guadalcanal
After the victory at Midway, the Americans began to put their plans into action. Their first step was to win control of territory in the Solomon Islands because the Japanese presence there threatened the Australians. Americans attacked the island of Guadalcanal. They battled the Japanese in bloody combat on land, sea, and air. This was a key moment in the war when Japanese forces withdrew. The tide of the war in the Pacific had turned in favor of the Americans. -
Island Hopping Strategy
After the success at Guadalcanal, Nimitz and MacArthur planned to use extreme land, water, and air forces together to take islands and Japanese weak spots that would become stepping-stones for future military actions. American industrialization proved vital after both sides lost hundreds of ships, the US could produce more while Japan couldn't. US also used Navajo Native Americans in the marines as code talkers to talk about troop movements and enemy positions. Japanese never broke this code. -
Battle of Leyte Gulf
MacArthur and his troops sailed for the Philippines to fulfill his promise of returning. The first major encounter was in Leyte Gulf where the largest naval battle took place, involving over 300 ships. Japan lost four carriers, three battleships, and a number of other vessels. The Japanese fleet was basically destroyed and would have no effect on the rest of the war. Kamikazes became a new tactic in the battle, suicidal pilots who load their planes full of bombs and wreck it into enemy ships. -
Battle of Iwo Jima
In order to have better bases to launch bombing missions on Tokyo from, Americans were determined to capture the volcanic island of Iwo Jima, the first Japanese soil Americans would be fighting for. When US Marines took the island's tallest point, Mt. Suribachi, many Americans thought the battle was over. However, fighting raged for another few weeks with 7,000 American deaths and nearly 19,000 Japanese deaths. -
Battle of Okinawa
Only 350 miles from Japan, the island of Okinawa was to be the launching pad for the final invasion of the mainland. The bloodiest battle of the Pacific, the Japanese forces used the caves and tunnels skillfully to kill over 12,000 Americans. The Japanese lost over 110,000 troops in fighting. The US took control of the island with stunning amounts of Japanese casualties and were prepared for the final steps of the war. -
Atomic Bomb on Hiroshima
In an attempt to end the war without even larger casualties from storming the Japanese mainland, President Harry Truman decided that it would be better to drop the atomic bomb. An American B-29 named Enola Gay dropped the atomic bomb codenamed "Little Boy" on the city of Hiroshima, killing 80,000 residents and 2/3 of the city's buildings. Japan's leaders made no movements to stop the war effort. -
Atomic Bomb on Nagasaki
Despite the harsh losses at Hiroshima, Japanese forces continued fighting. For three days leaders in the US debated their next step. However, the US decided to drop a second bomb on the city of Nagasaki. 40,000 died due to the bomb there and even then it took six days after that for the Japanese to surrender. -
VJ Day!!
Even after two atomic bombs dropped on their mainland, the Japanese wanted to continue fighting. When the emperor, Hirohito, announced he favored surrender, he had to fight off a military coup and finally, six days after Nagasaki, the Japanese surrendered.
