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US Declares War on Japan
-War declared because of Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor -
Battle of The Coral Sea
-Five day battle fought with airplanes
-Allied forces: Australia & America wanted to stop the Japanese drive toward Australia
-Fought against the Japanese
-The Allied forces stopped Japan for the first time since Pearl harbor
-Battle ended on May 8th 1942 -
The Battle of Midway
-Japan thrusted at Midway (a strategic island laying west of Hawaii)
-Allies (America & Australia) stopped Japan because they broke Japan's code which included the information that Midway was the next target
-Turning point of the Pacific War, Japanese were devastated
-Japanese official said- at Midway the Americans had avenged Pearl Harbor"
-Battle ended on June 7th 1942 -
Guadalcanal
-First Japanese defeat on land
-America was victorious, then kept leapfrogging across the Pacific to Japan
-Allied forces landed on Leyete Island in the Philippines in October 1944
-General MacArthur announced: "People of the Philippines: I have returned"
-Ended on September 9th 1943 -
The Phillipine Sea
-Japanese put entire Navy into Leyte Golf & had a new tactic: kamikaze (a suicide plan where Japanese pilots crashed their bomb-laden planes into Allied ships)
-Sunk 16 ships, damaged 80 others, but was a disaster for Japan
-Japan lost 3 battleships, 4 aircraft carriers, 13 cruisers, and almost 500 planes in 3 days
-From there on the Imperial Navy wasn't frequently used for Japan's defense -
Yalta Conference
-In Soviet Union: Winston Churchill, Roosevelt & Stalin met
-Discussed fate of Germany & what the post-war world will look like
-Stalin wanted a harsh approach-Churchill strongly disagreed so Roosevelt was the mediator
-Compromised: divided Germany into 4 zones Allies would occupy
-Stalin decided to help America fight Japan
-Lasted 8 days, ended on February 11th -
Iwo Jima
-Allies attacked after conquering the Philippines
-Iwo Jima was critical to the US because of the bombers that could reach Japan
-Japanese guarded the small island heavily by entrenching tunnels & caves
-6,000 Marines were killed: the highest death toll in the Pacific war (up to that point)
-Ended March 26th 1945 -
The Battle For Okinawa
-US marines invaded Okinawa, Japan unleashed more kamikaze attacks
-Allies faced fierce opposistion
-Was known as "a taste of war in Japan" because this could be how it would play out on their turf
-At the end 7,600 Americans were lost, but 110,000 Japanese were dead
-Battle ended on June 22nd -
Hiroshima
-Enola Gay released an atomic bomb ("Little Boy") was unleashed on the Japanese military camp (Hiroshima)
-Everything turned to dust, Hiroshima then ceased to exist
-Japan was still hesitant to surrender -
Nagasaki
-Three days after Hiroshima, Bockscar released another atomic bomb ("Fat Man") on the city Nagasaki
-The bomb leveled 1/2 of the city and left 200,000 dead
-Emperor Hirohito then decided it was time to end the war to save civilian lives -
V-J (Victory in Japan) Day
-Emperor Hirohito surrendered after the second atomic bomb was released on Nagasaki
