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U.S. declares war on Japan
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General Douglas MacArthur
-80,000 American and Filipino troops battled the Japanese for control in the Philippines.
-General Douglas MacArthur was in command of the Allied forces on the islands, but President Roosevelt ordered him to leave. MacArthur and his family left on March 11,1942.
-Roosevelt ordered MacArthur to leave because at the time, the Allied forces were struggling to fight on Bataan.
-MacArthur famously promised to liberate the Philippines when he left, and in 1944 he did just that. -
The Battle of Coral Sea
-Allied forces in the Pacific successfully stopped Japanese drive toward Australia by battling them for five days with only airplanes.
-The Allied forces in the Pacific mainly consisted of Americans and Australians; they were the ones responsible for stopping the Japanese.
-The Battle of Coral sea happened to stop Japan from taking over Australia.
-It impacted the war because it was the first time since Pearl Harbor that a Japanese invasion had been successfully stopped and turned around. -
The Battle of Midway
-To prevent Japan from gaining control over the island of Midway, the U.S. attacked their fleet by catching them off guard, and won.
-The man responsible for the American victory was Admiral Chester A. Nimitz, his scout planes found the fleet, and prompted the attack.
-The Battle of Midway happened to prevent Japan from gaining a strategic advantage over the United States.
-After Midway, the Allies began "island hopping", in which from island to island they won back Japanese territory. -
Guadalcanal Campaign
-19,000 Allied troops invaded Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands in August 1942, causing the Japanese to abandon the island six months later.
-Those responsible for the invasion were the Allied troops, who were brave enough to fight Japanese troops in the dangerous island.
-Guadalcanal was the first Allied offensive, and was part of the Allies' "island hopping" strategy.
-It was Japan's first defeat on land, and would not be the last, as the Allies continued to push further toward Japan. -
The Battle of Philippine Sea
-A carrier based battle in which the U.S. destroyed most of the Japanese fleet; it was known as the "Great Marianas Turkey Shoot."
-Japanese Amiral Ozawa Jisaburo challenged the American fleet, commanded by Admiral Raymond Spruance and Admiral Mitscher.
-The U.S. continued to secure lands once controlled by Japanese forces, and the Mariana Islands contained airbases vital to Japan.
-This was described as the turning point of the Pacific War, as the U.S. controlled more Japanese territories. -
Yalta Conference
-It was the second wartime meeting of Britain, the Soviet Union and the U.S.. The nations agreed to demand Germany's unconditional surrender and plans for a postwar world.
-The meeting consisted of FDR, Winston Churchill and Joseph Stalin.
-As WWII was winding down, the leaders of three of the major Allied powers had to agree on how to assess the situation.
-Most of the agreements were kept secret, but as the Cold War set in, the agreements became highly controversial when they were revealed -
Iwo Jima
-The U.S. invaded the island of Iwo Jima and fought the Japanese for control over it.
-Three divisions of the U.S. Marine Corps fought roughly 21,000 Japanese soldiers, who hid in caves, dugouts and underground tunnels.
-The U.S. needed to secure the island to build an air force base from which their bombers could easily reach Japan and return back to.
-A photograph of some marines lifting up the American flag over Mt. Suribachi became famous for its enduring and inspiring image. -
The Battle of Okinawa
-The U.S. invaded the island of Okinawa against a strong Japanese defense, encompassing air, land and sea.
-287,000 soldiers of the U.S. Tenth Army fought roughly 130,000 troops of the Japanese Thirty-Second Army.
-The U.S. needed to gain control of the island in order to secure air bases integral to the invasion of Japan.
-Thousands upon thousands of soldiers died on each side, along with roughly 100,000 civilian casualties, making Okinawa the bloodiest battle of the Pacific War. -
Bombing of Hiroshima
-The U.S. dropped an atomic bomb code named "Little Boy" from a B-29 Bomber named Enola Gay on the Japanese military center of Hiroshima.
-The bomb was developed under the Manhattan Project, and it was President Truman who decided that Hiroshima would be the target.
-Instead of invading Japan, the U.S. chose to drop the atomic bomb, after Japan refused to surrender.
-Hiroshima was wiped off the face of the Earth, and a new phase of warfare initiated by the bomb came to be. -
Bombing of Nagasaki
-The U.S. dropped another atomic bomb, code named "Fat Man", on the Japanese shipbuilding center of Nagasaki.
-After Hiroshima Japan still refused to surrender, so the U.S. decided to drop another bomb to induce the country to.
-Major Charles W. Sweeney was the pilot in charge of the B-29 bomber, named "Bock's Car", which dropped the bomb on Nagasaki.
-After this second bombing, Emperor Hirohito of Japan could stand the destruction no longer, and ordered for the surrender of Japan. -
V-J Day
