Ih2

War in the Pacific

By mmbez

  • Doolittle Raid

    Doolittle Raid
    Lieutenant Colonel James Doolittle led 16 bombers in
    the attack. The next day, Americans awoke to headlines that
    read “Tokyo Bombed! Doolittle Do’od It.” Pulling off a Pearl
    Harbor–style air raid over Japan lifted America’s sunken
    spirits .
    Doolittle Raid

  • Battle of Coral Sea

    Battle of Coral Sea
    In May 1942 the US succeeded in stopping the Japanese drive toward Australia in the Battle of the
    Coral Sea. During this battle, the fighting was done
    by airplanes that took off from enormous aircraft carriers. Not a single shot was fired by surface ships. Naval battles fought with aircraft carriers came to characterize the war in the Pacific. This battle marked the first time since Pearly Harbor that a Japanese invasion had been turned back.

  • Battle of Midway

    Battle of Midway
    The US broke the Japanese code and knew the next attack was at Midway. The Americans sent torpedo planes and dive bombers to the attack. The Japanese lost 4 aircraft carriers, a cruiser, and many planes. This put a stop to Japanese growth in the Pacific and for many "avenged Pearl Harbor."

  • Battle of Guadalcanal

    Battle of Guadalcanal
    The first Allied offensive began in August 1942 when 19,000 troops stormed Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands. By the time the Japanese abandoned it six months later, they called it the Island of Death. Fighting was fierce and it was the first time the Japanese were defeated on land.

  • MacArthur Returns to the Philippines

    MacArthur Returns to the Philippines
    Forced to abandon the Philippines in 1942, General MacArthur declared "I shall return". In 1944 he fulfilled that promise. He landed at Leyte and stated "“People of the Philippines: I have returned." Only one-third of the men MacArthur had left behind survived to see his return. To the Japanese, if they lost Leyte, the rest of the Philippines would follow. Their reaction led to World War II's biggest and most complex sea fight, the multi-pronged Battle of Leyte Gulf.

  • Battle of Leyte Gulf

    Battle of Leyte Gulf
    The Battle of Leyte Gulf was the largest naval battle in modern history. The Japanese tested a new tactic, the kamikaze, or suicide-plane, attack in which Japanese pilots crashed their bomb-laden planes into Allied ships. Despite this, the Japanese lost and the Imperial Navy only played a minor role in the rest of the war.