TODAY’s OBJECTIVES: Explain how Japanese expansionism led to war with the Allies in Asia

TODAY’s OBJECTIVES:• Explain how Japanese expansionism led to war with the Allies in Asia.• Explain the importance of the Allies’ strategy in turning the tide of war against Japan.

An airplane destroyed during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941

JAPAN SEEKS A PACIFIC EMPIRE

1920s : A country overcrowded and short of raw materials Military Leaders begin to seek an Empire

1931 : Japan takes over Manchuria

1937 : Japan invades China – Chinese resistance causes prolonged war; Plan to pursue resources in European colonies of Southeast Asia

The Japanese military

documented the brutality

in Nanjing.

1940 : U.S. cracks Japanese secret code and discovers plan; fears loss of U.S.-controlled Philippines & Guam

T.W. Loessin, Akins H.S.

1941 : Jan. - U.S. begins to aid Chinese June – Japan moves into French Indochina July – U.S. President Roosevelt cuts off oil shipments to Japan

Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto,

Japan’s great naval strategist,

argued that the U.S. fleet in Hawaii was

“a dagger pointed at our throat,”

and must be destroyed.

Although Yamamoto argued for the attack on Pearl Harbor, he held no illusions about the war’s final outcome. He admitted to an aide,

“In the first six to twelve months of a war with the United States and Britain, I will run wild and win victory after victory. After that, I have no expectation of success.”

Video clip, America in the 20th Century: World War II: The Road to War / Japanese Attack Pearl Harbor


Japanese Approach to Pearl Harbor: Dec. 7, 1941 The Imperial Japanese Navy fleet attacking Pearl Harbor launched a total of 423 aircraft in two waves against American military targets on the Hawaiian Island of Oahu.


Attack on Pearl Harbor: Dec. 7, 1941 Commander Fuchida led the first wave of torpedo bombers against the US Pacific Fleet ships at anchor in Pearl Harbor. Their first objective was to strike at the

battleships.


1. Bombing of Pearl HarborU.S. Casualties:

2,400 killed1,100 wounded

a? Japanese launched a surprise attack, sinking or damaging almost the entire U. S. Pacific fleet.

b! U.S. declares war on Japan.

CONNECTING PAST & PRESENT

Following the Terrorist Attack of September 11, 2001, many in the United States found obvious comparisons

with the attack on Pearl Harbor sixty years earlier.

In both instances, the United States admitted knowing from coded messages

that such an attack might come.

But they did not know when or where it would occur.


“December 7, 1941…


A Day That Will Live in Infamy.”~ President Franklin D. Roosevelt

declaring War on Japan before the U.S. CongressDecember 8, 1941.

2. Fall of Southeast Asian colonies.Hong Kong, Malaya,

Dutch Indonesia, Singapore, Burma

a? Through a planned series of attacks in the Pacific, Japan seized control of rich European colonies.

b! Helped Japan replenish depleted resources and cut China off from its supply route through Burma.

Before they moved in and conquered,the Japanese dropped leaflets proclaiming their anti-colonialist message, “Asia for Asians.”

After victory, however, the Japanese quickly made it clear that they had come as conquerors…in fact, native Asian people often received the same treatment as western POWs…such as those taken on the Bataan Death March.

Textbook, p. 828


Bataan Death March

Known as “The Rock,” the island fortress of Corregidor in Manila Bay was the last U.S. position in the Philippines to surrender to the Japanese.

For a month after the fall of Bataan, 13,000 American and Filipino troops held out in a concrete cave called Malinta Tunnel.


Video clip, teacher’s personal library, “The Bataan Death March”

. . . Bataan Death March

At dawn April 9, 1942, Major General Edward P. King, Jr., surrendered more than 75,000 starving and disease-ridden American soldiers, sailors, and Marines and their Filipino allies, to overwhelming Japanese forces.

He inquired of the Japanese colonel to whom he tendered his pistol whether the Americans and Filipinos would be well treated.

The Japanese aide-de-camp indignantly replied: “We are not barbarians.”

The next 14 days would prove otherwise.


August, 1942

The men were marched 65 miles into Japanese Prisoner-of-War camps.

(See “A Voice from the Past,” text p. 828)

The 75,000 prisoners of war were bound, beaten, or killed by their Japanese captors. Some were bayoneted when they fell from exhaustion. Some were forced to dig their own graves and were buried alive.

Only 56,000 prisoners reached camp alive. Thousands of them later died from malnutrition and disease.

In August, 1945, the Russian Army liberated the prison camp.

. . . Bataan Death March


3. Doolittle’s raid on Japan.

April, 1942

a? As revenge for Pearl Harbor, U.S. sent sixteen B-25 bombers to bomb Japanese cities..

b! Showed that Japan could be attacked and raised American morale.


James H. Doolittle 1896–1993, American aviator, b. Alameda, Calif.

After serving in World War I as a flier he returned to school and earned a Sc.D. from MIT. He then became noted for his speed flying (world record, 1932) and also engaged in commercial aviation as the head of Shell Oil's aviation department.

In 1940 he was recalled to the U.S. Army Air Corps. Doolittle commanded the first bombers that raided Tokyo and other Japanese cities (Apr. 18, 1942) from the aircraft carrier Hornet.

He later headed the North African Strategic Air Forces and led the 8th Air Force in its massive attacks on Germany.

CORAL SEA

May, 1942

An American fleetwith Australian support intercepts a Japanese strike force on its way to Port Moresby in the Coral Sea…

(see textbook map, p. 828)

…the United States had installed a critical Allied air base here…

should the Japanese take it, they could easily take Australia.


4. Battle of the Coral Sea.

May, 1942

a? Following an interception of Japanese attack on Port Moresby, Japanese and American naval fleets fought to a draw.

b! Introduced a new kind of naval warfare, using only airplanes taking off from huge carriers.

The Americans lost more ships than the Japanese, but successfully prevented Japanese expansion

southward.


June, 1942Another Japanese code was broken and their next target was realized – the key American airfield on Midway island. (see textbook map, p. 828)

U.S. Pacific Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitzknew the largest naval force ever assembled, 150 Japanese ships, were heading for Midway to finish off the U.S. crippled fleet –and on the lead Japanese flagship was Admiral Yamamoto himself.


U.S. Pacific Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitzwas outnumbered four to one in ships and planes. Evenso, he set hisambush for the Japanese. On June 4, with American forces hidingbeyond the horizon, Nimitz allowed the enemy to launch the first strike. Once the Japanese planes had lifted off to strike the island, Nimitz ordered American planes to swoop in and attack the Japanesefleet. American pilots destroyed 332 Japanese planes, all four aircraft carriers, and one support ship. Yamamoto and his flagship withdrew.


June, 1942


One of the most respected leaders of the Pacific campaign of World War II was Adm. Chester Nimitz, who was born in Fredericksburg, Texas.

Located in the historic Nimitz Hotel on Main Street in downtown Fredericksburg, is the Admiral Nimitz Museum.

5. Battle of Midway.

“The Americans had avenged Pearl Harbor,”

commented a Japanese official.

a? An American carrier with planes defeated Japanese fleet poised to attack Midway Island, a key American airfield.

b! This battle reversed the tide of war in the Pacific against the Japanese.


American pilots view of the Japanese air raid on Midway Islandbeginning June 4, 1942..


U.S.S. Yorktown after she was hit by dive bombers at the Battle of Midway.







Crew of U.S. Army Air Force First Lieutenant James Muri's B-26, who made a torpedo attack on a Japanese aircraft carrier during the early morning battle.

The plane had more than 500 bullet holes when it landed at Midway following this action.







General Douglas MacArthur was commander of the Allied forces in the Pacific.

Believing that trying to storm each island in the Pacific would be a long, costly effort…

He proposed an “island-hopping” strategy -

he would bypass the Japanese,

seize the islands LEAST heavily defended

but closest to Japan,

establish bases there,

then use air power

to cut Japanese supply lines.

The U.S. learns the Japanese are building a huge naval base on Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands. (see textbook map, p. 828)

They had to strike fast before it was completed.

August 7, 1942

19,000 Marines with Australian support surprise the Japanese who radioed to Tokyo,

“Enemy forces overwhelming! We will defend our posts to the death!”

The battle for the island turned into a savage struggle.

(See “A Voice from the Past,” text p. 830)

February, 1943

After 6 months of fighting on land and at sea,

the Battle of Guadalcanal ended.

After losing 23,000 menout of 36,000, the Japanese abandoned the island they had nicknamked

“the island of Death.”

6. Battle of Guadalcanal

Aug. 1942- Feb. 1943

a? U.S. marines, with Australian support, seized Japanese airfield and fought on land & sea for control of island of Guadalcanal.

b! Forced Japan to abandon Guadalcanal; this began MacArthur’s “island-hopping” counterattack strategy.



Marines survey bodies of

Japanese soldiers covering the

battleground of Edson's Ridge.


Aug. 1942- Feb. 1943




A Guadalcanal native pays tribute to American war

dead on the island.

- August, 1946.


Aug. 1942- Feb. 1943



1. How many of the ships lost were light cruisers?

A. 17 percentB. 22 percentC. 34 percentD. 44 percent

2. Most of the ships lost were – F. BattleshipsG. Light cruisersH. DestroyersJ. Auxillary craft

3. All of the following types of ships were lost except?

A. battleshipsB. light cruisersC. destroyersD. aircraft carriers

4. Fewer auxilliary craft were lost than - F. battleshipsG. light cruisersH. destroyersJ. aircraft carriers

Battleships

Light Cruisers

Destroyers

Auxillary Craft

“You know at Pearl they hit us with a sledgehammer. This raid, even if it makes it through, it'll only be a pinprick... but it'll be straight through their hearts.” – Lt. Col Jimmy Doolittle [Quote from 2001 movie, Pearl Harbor.]

Halsey ordered the cruiser Nashville to dispose of the picket, and launched Doolittle's bombers into the air:

“TO COL. DOOLITTLE AND HIS GALLANT COMMAND, GOOD LUCK AND GOD BLESS YOU – HALSEY ”

The planes managerd to avoid heavy enemy fire, But they were far short of the fuel needed to reach the airfield at Chuchow. One plane turned north, and surprised Russian soldiers by landing near Vladivostok. The remaining fifteen planes crashed or were ditched over China. Remarkably, most of the 80 pilots and crewmen survived the mission.

* TOOL # 1

Of eight airmen who were captured, three were executed by the Japanese, and another died in captivity. Four others were killed during the mission.

The Chinese people were recorded to have sheltered most all of the pilots who’s planes crashed in their villages. The soldiers said that they were treated very kindly and with hospitality.

Ironically, they bore the heaviest cost of the raid. In May 1942, the Japanese army launched operation Sei-Go, with goals of securing Chinese airfields from which raids could be launched against the Home Islands, and punishing villages which might have sheltered Doolittle's airmen after the Raid. As many as 250,000 Chinese civilians were murdered in the Chekiang and Kiangsu provinces.

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TODAY’s OBJECTIVES: Explain how Japanese expansionism led to war with the Allies in Asia