Pacific Theatre in World War II

On 1 kinfolk 1939 the country of Germ each led by Adolf Hitler invaded Poland make exercise of blitzkrieg tactics or in some other words lightning struggle. As Germany is capturing Europe one country at a time japan is doing the uni give except with Asia and Japan is also preparing for the snipe of the joined States naval arse on the island of Oahu c exclusivelyed free fall Harbor. The fervor on cliff Harbor caused the unite States to declare kingdom of cont finish on Japan, break isolationism and get profoundly baffling in World state of contend II.On 7 declination 1941 at 730 am army privates George Elliot and Joseph Lockard were operating in a radio detection and ranging station when they noticed a bountiful amounts of aircraft incoming just they did not dense the alarm because there was supposed to be a group of B-17 goers due to fall Harbor (Michael 10). At 800 am the words Tora Tora Tora sounded e genuinelyplace Nipponese radios inwardness that th e Nipponese pitch get hold ofd complete impress on the Americans and that the attack was a go and the dive bombarders started to drop their deadly warheads on the American airfields, aiming specifically for join States war planes (Michael 11).As the Nipponese attacked the airfields they also simultaneously attacked the declare with more dive bombers and shot planes sum with torpedoes specially made for the shallow waters of the harbor (Michael 12). During all of the chaos a dive bomber dropped its deadly payload on to the USS Arizona, with a single bomb hit to the magazine, the whole bow of the institutionalize was severed from the rest and 1,000 work force died instantly (Michael 12). At 845 am even more Nipponese torpedo planes and dive bombers attacked the harbor targeting repair yards and any other ships that the pilots saw.The attack was planned months beforehand 7 celestial latitude, the Japanese build a model of the actual harbor to second prepare for the attack and they practiced on it until each and e real(prenominal) pilot knew just which target to hit and how to hit it and until they could achieve an 80% hit rate on the American ships (Michael 47). The task fury the Japanese used consisted of 6 aircraft newsboys each equipped with hundreds of planes and 20 other ships including trothships, heavy cruisers, deflowerers and a few submarines (Michael 49).The attack killed 2,388 Americans and injured another(prenominal) 2,000, the attack destroyed 21 ships unwrap of 92 total in the harbor, closely 300 American aircraft were destroyed and inviolately(prenominal) 29 Japanese aircraft were destroyed (Reid 219). The Americans were ferocious with the attack, they felt as if they were vulnerable and they valued the joined States government to declare war on Japan. On 8 December 1941 President Franklin D. Roosevelt makes a speech to relation abide asking them to declare a state of war on Japan. Later that daylight with a vote of 388 to 1 the unite States is at war with Japan.The industry skyrocketed as the get together States prepares for war everything from food to weapons is circumscribe and made in a manner called mass production. On 9 December 1941 Germany and Italy declare war on the linked States. The United States is now deeply involved in World state of war II, save the United States has a knockout ending to make whether or not they should foreshorten their effectivenesss over in Europe to turn on the Italians and Germans or concentrate their forces in the peaceful and get revenge on the Japanese and avenge Pearl Harbor.On 8 April 1942 police lieutenant Colonel James H. Doolittle launched an air attack consisting of B-25 culture medium clench bombers. The attack was designed to subvert damage on capital of Japan and to destroy the Japanese morale and avenge Pearl Harbor. The plan was for 16 B-25s to be launched come to the coast of Japan and their mission was to bomb the city of Tokyo and land on American air bases in china. nigh of the 16 B-25s, each with a five-man crew, attacked the Tokyo area, with a few hitting Nagoya (The Doolittle wear).However none of the planes made it to China and approximately of the crews were trip upd, but this attack was considered a achiever because it deeply embarrassed the Japanese eminent Command and it greatly boosted the morale of the Americans, this attack would lead to the desire of the Japanese to altogether destroy the American aircraft letter mailmans and would lead to the Japanese defeat in Midway a month afterwards. The scrap of Midway was fought over and near the tiny United States mid-pacific base at the Midway island atoll.The objective of the Japanese was to draw give away and destroy the Unites States aircraft bearer striking forces which had embarrassed the Japanese in the Doolittle Raid. The Japaneses plan was to move over up the defenses on Midway, invade it, capture the island and hope tha t the United States would come out with their aircraft carriers in order to take support the island and the Japanese would the quickly destroy them and yield a decisive achievement.However, the United States had smart as a whip code breakers and knew exactly when, where and how the Japanese were going to strike so the Americans were waiting. On 7 June 1942, the Japanese with a force of 4 aircraft carriers, 2 strifeships, 15 fight back ships and 248 carrier based aircraft started the attack. Starting with onslaught the American base the Japanese werent able to soften up the American defenses well enough because the Americans had knew in bring home the bacon that Japanese were coming so they built up their defenses and brought in additional reinforcements.As the Japanese were focusing their attacks on the island, the American aircraft carrier strike force consisting of 3 carriers, 7 heavy cruisers, 1 anti-aircraft cruiser, 15 destroyers, 233 carrier based aircraft and 16 subma rines attacked the Japanese forces. afterwards 4 days of bitter combat, the Americans had only illogical 1 carrier, 1 destroyer, cl aircraft, and 307 sailors and airmen, while on the Japanese side, they had befogged 4 carriers, 1 cruiser, all of their aircraft, and 3,057 sailors and airmen ( contest of Midway).The date of Midway was a huge success in American code breaking and proving that the use of the aircraft carrier would definitely be a zippy resource in the Pacific athletic field ( fight of Midway). triad months later the Americans pressed forward setting their look on a near Australia called Guadalcanal. This battle would be the archetypical allied repellent on the Empire of Japan. On 7 grand 1942 American forces landed on the islands of Guadalcanal, Tulagi, and Florida in the southern Solomon Islands with the objective of denying their use by the Japanese to threaten the supply and communication routes between the US, Australia, and New Zealand.The associate al so intended to use Guadalcanal and Tulagi as bases to support a course to at foresightful last capture or neutralize the study Japanese base at Rabal on New Britain ( competitiveness of Guadalcanal). Powerful United States naval forces had supported the gets. Surprised by the Allied dysphemistic, the Japanese made several(prenominal) attempts between August and November 1942 to retake Henderson Field. Three major land battles, seven super navalbattles, and continual, almost daily aerial battles culminated in the decisive Naval Battle of Guadalcanal in early November 1942, in which the last Japanese attempt to bombard Henderson Field from the ocean and land with enough troops to retake it was defeated. In December 1942, the Japanese creaky further efforts to retake Guadalcanal and evacuated their re of importing forces by 7 February 1943 in the face of an offensive by the US Armys XIV Corps, securing the island to the Allies.The Americans primitively started with a strength of 60,000 men and woolly 7,100 while the Japanese forces were almost exclusively wiped out, starting out with only 36,200 they had lost 32,000 (Battle of Guadalcanal). The Guadalcanal campaign was a probative strategicalalal combined arms victory by Allied forces over the Japanese in the Pacific theatre The Battle of the Filipinos was the American campaign that lasted from 1944-1945 and the objective was to in all expel the Imperial Japanese Forces occupying this want chain of islands that was captured by the Japanese during the first half of 1942.The Battle of the Philippines started on 20 October 1944 with the amphibious landings on the eastern Philippine island of Leyte. The operation would last through the end of the war in august of 1945. During this campaign the Japanese showed how desperate they were in not giving up when they started utilizing kamikaze attacks where they would purposely flee planes equipped with explosives into the American forces. This campaign was very successful however, because the Americans had driven out the Japanese and liberated the Philippines.The Battle of Iwo Jima fought on 19 February through 26 surround 1945 was a major battle in which the United States Armed Forces fought for and captured the island of Iwo Jima from the Japanese Empire. The American usurpation had the goal of capturing the entire island, including its three airfields, to provide a present area for attacks on the Japanese main islands. This five-week battle comprised some of the fiercest and bloodiest fighting of the contend in the Pacific of World fight II.After the heavy losses incurred in the battle, the strategic value of the island became controversial. It was abortive to the Army as a theatrical production base and useless to the Navy as a run base however it was of limited use by the United States Army note Force only for emergency landing of planes coming back from missions over Japan. The Japanese positions on the island were hea vily fortified, with a tumescent network of bunkers, hidden artillery positions in the mountains, and nearly 11 miles of underground tunnels.This trespass was the first American attack on Japanese home territory, and the Japanese soldiers and marines defended their positions tenaciously with no thought of surrender. The Americans had a force of 70,000 marines and had high losses of 6,821 killed and 19,217 wounded. The Japanese, however had a smaller force of 22,060 soldiers and lost 18,844, but they had nearly 3,000 in hiding until long past the end of the war and because of their grand network or tunnels and bunkers they were able to cut down heavy damage on the Americans (Battle of Iwo Jima).Later in the summer of 1944 the United States had set their eyes on the biggishst island in the Marianas, Guam. There was a major strategic advantage of Guam because of its very large surface and its location to the Japanese mainland mad it exemplar for the American forces to establish airfields for B-29 Superfortress long range bombers. Guam, ringed by reefs, cliffs, and heavy surf, presents a formidable challenge for an attacker. But in spite of the obstacles, on July 21, the Americans landed on two sides of the Orote peninsula on the western side of Guam, prep to cut off the airfield.By nightfall the Americans had established beachheads about 2,000 meters deep, Japanese counter-attacks were made throughout the first few days of the battle, generally at night, using infiltration tactics. several(prenominal) times they penetrated the American defenses and were driven back with heavy loss of men and equipment. pelting and thick jungle made conditions difficult for the Americans, but after an engagement at Mount Barrigada from August 2 to August 4, the Japanese line collapsed the rest of the battle was a pursuit to the north.As in other battles of the Pacific war, the Japanese refused to surrender, and almost all were killed. On August 10, after 3 long weeks of bloody and ferocious fighting, organised Japanese resistance ended, and Guam was declared secure. The Battle of Okinawa was the largest amphibious assault in the Pacific athletic field. The 82-day-long battle lasted from early April until mid-June 1945. After a long campaign of island hopping, the Allies were approach path Japan,and planned to use Okinawa, a large island only 340 mi away from mainland Japan, as a base for air operations on the planned invasion of Japanese mainland.Okinawa provided a fleet anchorage, troop staging areas, and airfields in close proximity to Japan. The U. S. clean the surrounding waters of mines in operation Zebra, occupied Okinawa, and set up the United States Civil Administration of the Ryukyu Islands, a form of military government, after the battle. The Americans started out with 183,000 men and by the end of the battle 12,000 were killed and 38,000 were wounded.The Japanese started out with 160,000 men and more than 110,000 were killed and 7,000 were captured (The Battle of Okinawa). While the Pacific war rages, the United States had conducted many air raids on Japan during World War II, causing big destruction to the countrys cities and killing anywhere from 241,000 to 900,000 people. From June 1944 until January 1945, B-29s stationed in India staged through bases in China to make a series of raids on Japan, but this effort proved unsuccessful.The strategic battery campaign was greatly grow from November 1944 when bases in the Mariana Islands became available as a result of the Mariana Islands Campaign. The air raids concentrated principally on industrial facilities but the grow bombings were concentrated on the civilian universe since most of the homes were made from paper and woodwind instrument (Skies on fire). With the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 the United States was ultimately forces to break isolationism and get very involve in World War II.From the Doolittle raid in 1942 to the massive bombing campai gns in 1945, from the battle of Midway to the invasion of Okinawa, the United States was very involved in the Pacific theatre and the loss of life was very high. Along with the Pacific Theatre the United States also had a very high death toll in the European Theatre but not as high of one as in the Pacific. Had the Japanese not shake up attacked Pearl Harbor, the turn out of the war could have been so much contrasting and the United States probably would not have gotten involved until late in the war like they did in World War I