Battles in Asia and the Pacific

Battles in Asia and the Pacific

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  Intro
  
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    Before 1941 the US was inching toward greater involvement in the war
    
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      After Japan invaded China in 1937, Roosevelt called for a quarantine on aggressors (fell on deaf ears)
      
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      As war broke out in Europe and tensions with Japan increased, the US took action
      
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      In 1939 it instituted a cash-and-carry policy of supplying the British
      
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        Paid in cash, carried the materials on their own ships
        
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      More significant was the lend-lease program began in 1941
      
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        The U.S. “lent” destroyers and other war goods to the British in return for the lease of naval bases
        
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        The program later extended such aid to the Soviets, the Chinese, and many others
        
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  Pearl Harbor
  
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    German victories over the Dutch and the French in 1940 and GB’s precarious military position in Europe and Asia encouraged the Japanese to project their influence into SE Asia
    
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      Particularly attractive was the Dutch East Indies and British-controlled Malaya
      
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        Rich in raw materials such as tin, rubber, and petroleum
        
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      In Sep 1940, moving with the blessings of the German-backed Vichy govt of France, Japanese forces began to occupy French Indochina
      
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      The gov’t of the US responded by freezing Japanese assets in the US and by imposing a complete oil embargo
      
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        Supported by the allies and colonial govts in Asia
        
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    Economic pressure did not persuade the Japanese to accede to US demands
    
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      Included the renunciation of the Tripartite Pact and the withdrawal from China and SE Asia
      
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      To Japanese militarists, given the unappealing alternatives of succumbing to US demands or going to war with them, war seemed the lesser of two evils
      
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      In oct 1941, defense minister Tojo Hideki assumed the office of prime minister
      
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        Set in motion plans for war against GB and the US
        
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    The Japanese hoped to destroy American naval capacity in the Pacific with an attack at Pearl Harbor
    
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      Wanted to clear the way for the conquest of SE Asia and the creation of a defensive Japanese perimeter that would thwart the Allies’ ability to strike at Japan’s homeland
      
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      On 7 Dec 1941, more than 350 Japanese bombers, fighters and torpedo planes sunk or disabled 18 ships and destroyed more than 200 aircraft at the naval base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii
      
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      Except for the US aircraft carriers (out at sea), the US naval power in the Pacific was devastated
      
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    On 11 Dec 1941, Hitler and Mussolini declared war on the US
    
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      Provided the US with the only reason it needed to declare war on Germany and Italy
      
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      The US, GB, and USSR came together in a coalition that linked two vast and interconnected theaters war, the Euro and Asian-Pacific theaters
      
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        Ensured the defeat of Germany and Japan
        
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  Japanese Victories
  
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    After Pearl Harbor the Japanese swept on to one victory after another
    
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      Coordinated their strike against Pearl Harbor with simultaneous attacks against the Philippines, Guam, Wake Island, Midway Island, Hong Kong, Thailand, and British Malaya
      
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      For the next year the Japan military maintained the initiative in SE and the Pacific
      
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        Captured Borneo, Burma, the Dutch East Indies, and several Aleutian Islands
        
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        Australia and New Zealand were in striking distance
        
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      The Japanese navy was almost unscathed after these campaigns
      
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        The surrender of British-held Singapore in Feb 1942 dealt a blow to British prestige
        
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        Shattered any myths of European military invincibility
        
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    Singapore was a symbol of European power in Asia
    
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      Japan pursued Asian expansion as “Asia for Asians”, implying the Japanese would lead Asian peoples to independence from the Euro imperialists
      
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      Japan required the region’s resources and sought to build a Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere
      
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    The appeal to Asian independence at first struck a responsive chord
    
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      Conquest and brutal occupations made it obvious that the real agenda was “Asia for the Japanese”
      
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      Proponents of the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere advocated Japan’s expansion in Asia and the Pacific
      
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        Cloaked their territorial and economic designs with the idealism of Asian nationalism
        

1. Defeat of the Axis Powers

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  Intro
  
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    The entry of the Soviet Union and the US into the war in 1941 was decisive
    
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      Personnel reserves and industrial capacity were the keys to Allied victory
      
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      Despite the brutal exploitation of conquered territories, neither German nor Japanese war production matched that of the Allies, who outproduced them at every turn
      
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        The US automotive industry produced 4 million armored, combat, and supply vehicles of all kinds during the war
        
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      Not until the US joined the struggle in 1942 did the tide in the battle in the Atlantic turn in favor of the Allies
      
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        The US produced more “Liberty Ships” than the Germans could sink
        
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        By the end of the 1943, sonar, aircraft patrols, and escort aircraft from carriers finished the U-boat as a strategic threat
        
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  Allied Victory in Europe
  
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    By 1943, German forces in Russia lost the momentum and faced bleak prospects as the Soviets retook territory
    
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      Moscow never fell, and the battle for Stalingrad, which ended in Feb 1943, marked the first large-scale victory for the Soviets
      
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      Desperate German counteroffensives failed repeatedly, and the Red Army pushed the Germans out
      
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        Fueled by enormous personnel and material reserves
        
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      By 1944 the Soviets had advanced into Romania, Hungary, and Poland
      
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        Reached Berlin in April 1945
        
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        The Soviets had inflicted more than 6 million casualties on the German enemy
        
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      The Red Army had broken the back of the German war machine
      
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    With the eastern front disintegrating under the Soviet onslaught, the US and British attacked the Germans from North Africa and then through Italy
    
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      In August 1944 the Allies forced Italy to withdraw from the Axis and join them
      
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      In the meantime, the Germans also prepared for an Allied offensive in the west, where the British and US forces opened a front in France
      
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      On D-Day, 6 June 1944, British and US troops landed on the French coast of Normandy
      
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        The Germans were overwhelmed despite high casualties on all sides
        
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    With the two fronts collapsing around them and round-the-clock strategic bombing by the US and Britain leveling German cities, German resistance faded
    
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      Since early 1943, Britain’s RAF had committed to area bombing in which centers of cities became the targets of nighttime raiding
      
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        US attacked industrial centers in daytime
        
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      The British firebombing raid on Dresden in Feb 1945 killed 135,000 ppl
      
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    A brutal street-by-street battle in Berlin between Russians and Germans, along with a British and US sweep through Western Germany forced Germany’s unconditional surrender on 8 May 1945
    
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      Hitler had committed suicide a week earlier
      
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  Turning the Tide in the Pacific
  
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    The turning point in the Pacific war came in a naval engagement near the Midway islands on 4 June 1942
    
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      The US prevailed partly because US aircraft carriers had survived Pearl Harbor
      
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      Although the US had few carriers, it did have a secret weapon: a code-breaking operation known as Magic, enabling a cryptographer monitoring Japanese radio frequencies to discover the plan to attack Midway
      
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      36 carrier-launched dive-bombers attacked the Japanese fleet, sinking three Japanese carriers in one five-minute strike (4^th later)
      
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    This victory changed the character of the war in the Pacific
    
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      Although there was no immediate shift, the Allies took the offensive
      
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      They adopted an island-hopping strategy, capturing islands from which they could make direct air assaults on Japan
      
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      Deadly, tenacious fighting characterized these battles
      
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        The Allies retook the Marianas and the Philippines
        
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      In early 1945, moved towards more threatening areas: Iwo Jima and Okinawa
      
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  Iwo Jima and Okinawa
  
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    The fighting on Iwo Jima and Okinawa was brutal
    
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      Innovative US amphibious tactics were matched by the vigor and sacrifice of Japanese soldiers
      
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    On Okinawa the Japanese introduced the kamikaze- pilots who volunteered to fly planes and dive bomb into Allies ships
    
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      In the two-month battle, the Japanese flew 1,900 kamikaze missions, sinking dozens of ships and killing more than 5,000 US soldiers
      
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      The kamikaze and the defense mounted by Japanese forces and the 110,000 Okinawan civilians who died refusing to surrender convinced many Americans that the Japanese would never capitulate
      
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  Japanese Surrender
  
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    The fall of Saipan in July 1944 and the subsequent conquest of Iwo Jima and Okinawa brought the Japanese homeland within easy reach of US strategic bombers
    
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      BC high-altitude strikes in daylight failed to do much damage, military planners changed tactics
      
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    The release of napalm firebombs during low-altitude sorties at night met with devastating success
    
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      The firebombing of Tokyo in March 1945 destroyed 35% of the city’s buildings, killed 100,000 ppl, and made 1 million homeless
      
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    The final blows came on 6 and 9 August 1945, when the US used its new weapon, the atomic bomb, against the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
    
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      The atomic bombs either instantaneously vaporized or slowly killed by radiation poisoning upward of 200,000 ppl
      
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    The Soviet Union declared war on Japan on 8 August 1945
    
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      This new threat, combined with the devastation caused by the bombs, persuaded Emperor Hirohito to surrender unconditionally
      
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      The Japanese surrendered on 15 August 1945
      
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        Officially over on 2 Sept 1945
        

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