So now after a couple precursor posts (see History of Empire of Japan and Second Sino-Japanese War) it's time to get to the main course regarding my recent study of the Pacific War. As I've noted in the previous two posts WWII was the most atrocious events in human history and the conflict was waged on various fronts. The reason we refer to this event as a world war and not simply the Great
European War or the Great Pacific War is because it was a global affair. It involved various alliances and was fought on various geographical locations, known as theaters. So let me emphasis here that the Pacific War was ultimately a theater of World War II.
Now the start of the Pacific War is something that could be up for debate, however is generally accepted to have begun when the United States declared war on Japan on December 7th of 1941. Yet since the Empire of Japan formed an alliance with Nazi Germany in 1936 they had begun a campaign of military aggression in the Pacific. One could make the case that WWII and the Pacific War began on July 7th, 1937 when the Japanese armies invaded China. However this engagement, known as the Second Sino-Japanese War is categorized as a separate military event from the Pacific War. When Japan decided to bomb Pearl Harbor on December 7th of 1941, they began a two front simultaneous war. Against the Chinese on their western front and against the Americans on their eastern front.
The Bombing of Pearl Harbor
The day that lived in infamy, the bombing of Pearl Harbor, was in the works for a while for Imperial Japan. The relationship between US and Japan had taken a sour turn by the mid 1920s with new anti-Asian immigration acts and foreign influence in the Pacific. As Japan began it's new fervor of nationalism in the likes of Germany and Italy, America was seen as the center of the detested system of capitalism. Yet Japan still managed to keep diplomatic ties with the US, until the onset of the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1937. The United States quickly took the side of China in this affair and began sending financial and military supplies to the Chinese armies. From this point on the US and Japan were no longer friends, and the situation reached a boiling point when the US enacted an embargo on Japanese oil in July 26th of 1941.
At the urging of their German allies, the Japanese began their plan as a preemptive strike. Since the US had already been supplying aid to the allies in Europe and in China, the Axis powers presumed they would sooner or later join the conflict. Therefore Japan made a gamble to eliminate America's closest navy base located in Hawaii. By coordinating this surprise attack Japan had hoped to re-exert their dominance in the Pacific region and force the United States into a settlement of neutrality. However this was a total oversight by the Japanese command, who simply poked the sleeping bear into a total war.
The attack on Pearl Harbor was carried out in the early morning of December 7th, 1941 and completely caught the Americans off guard. By using the element of surprise the Japanese were able to inflict heavy damage on the navy base destroying 8 battleships, 188 aircraft, and killing 2403 Americans. Also during this time Japanese waged invasions all throughout the Pacific, including Guam, Hong Kong, the Philippines, and a full scale invasion of Thailand. The United States was infuriated by this devastating attack and declared war upon Japan the following day. Furthermore they declared war upon Japan's ally of Germany the same day. A sudden sentiment of patriotism arose due to this attack, and Japan's idea that America would not fully engage was completely miscalculated.
The Allied Response
The American response finally took action first with the Doolittle Raid on April 18th, 1942. This mission was led by famed American pilot, Lt James Doolittle as a bombardment over Tokyo. While the damage was minimal in comparison to Pearl Harbor, it served it's purpose as a demonstration of power to Japan and a morale boost for America. General Douglas MacArthur was named as the commander of the American invasion of the Pacific. However the first few battles consisted of aerial battles and naval warship engagements such as the Battle of the Coral Sea and the Battle of Midway. The Americans achieved their first major victory as a counteroffensive to Japanese attacks at the Battle of Midway.
The Battle of Midway was a devastating loss for Japan and marked the real beginning of the American offensive. By the summer of 1942 the Americans were able to initiate their landing campaigns in New Guinea and the Solomon Islands. The first land engagement between the Americans and the Japanese took place at the Battle of Guadalcanal in August of 1942. This battle in the jungle had heavy causalities on both sides including 7100 dead Americans and 19200 dead Japanese soldiers. After nearly 6 months of intense fighting the American allies had secured the island and forced the Japanese to retreat. The battle for New Guinea however was not so easily won and would last for another several years.
The Allied Offensive
By capturing the Solomon Islands and winning various naval battles in the Pacific the American allies were able secure a base of operations. However despite the Japanese retreating they still waged various aggressive campaigns on their eastern front against China at this time. By the summer of 1943 the Japanese had secured their conquest of Burma against the Chinese and British allies. At this point the Americans came to the realization that China was not going to offer them much offensive help on the eastern front. Therefore the definitive course of the war against Japan was fought in the Pacific rather than in China.
By the winter of 1943-1944 the American navy furthered it's territorial control in the Pacific by occupying the Gilbert and Marshall Islands. They also began a new campaign of submarine warfare in the Pacific sinking many Japanese navy and merchant ships. This eventually gave way to the Mariana and Palau campaigns in June of 1944. The Battle of the Philippine Sea marked a major turning point in the Pacific War where the Americans were able to finally crush Japanese' naval carrier force. Thru this victory the Americans were able to establish a presence on the island of Guam and prepare for their landings on the Philippine islands.
The Philippines Campaign
As Japan continued to lose more territory in the Pacific theater, in 1944 they launched their largest offensive yet in China known as Operation Ichi-Go. The goal of this operation was to strengthen their occupied territory along the eastern coast of China. They deployed 500,000 men to solidify this control and build a railway connecting northeast China to the Indochina region. While the operation was a success for the Japanese by December of 1944, they had simultaneously lost control of the Burma region to the Chinese/British allies around the same time.
Following the American victory at the Battle of the Philippines Sea the Americans were able to begin their Philippines Campaign in October of 1944. The naval Battle of Leyte Gulf was just as massive as the Battle of the Philippines and is considered the largest naval battle in history. This included many warships and the dawn of Japan's infamous kamikaze aerial tactics. The use of Japanese suicide bombers truly demonstrates the madness the Japanese armies had reached. While completely barbaric, this kamikaze tactic proved effective at sinking many American warships. Despite all this the Americans were able to win the battle and further devastate Japanese' naval control.
Following this battle the Americans began landing on various islands throughout the Philippines, such as Leyte, Mindoro, and Luzon. This land campaign to recapture the occupied islands of the Philippines was lead by the famous American general Douglas MacArthur. The US was aided by Philippines resistance forces during this operation. Some of the most deadly land battles of the Pacific War occurred during this campaign, primarily at the Battle of Luzon. This battle became a drawn out guerrilla engagement throughout the jungles of the Pacific and did not fully conclude until the end of WWII.
Battles of Iwo Jima and Okinawa
Now two of the most famous battles of the Pacific War took place on the islands of Iwo Jima and Okinawa. These were the bloodiest conflicts the Americans fought against the Japanese. While the war was practically won in Europe and just about over in the Pacific, the Japanese still refused to ease off. By this point the Japanese army had instilled a fight-until-death mentality despite the minimal odds that they would be victorious. Suicide missions became a new tactical norm for the Japanese military. This certainly must have been a dark reality for Japanese soldiers who knew they were fighting without any chance of survival.
In February of 1945 the Americans began their Operation Detachment to establish a base near mainland Japan The island of Iwo Jima was designated as ideal for military staging operations and thus the Americans began their attack. However the island was considered very sacred to the Japanese and they were unwilling to hand it over without a fight. The Japanese army built a strong bunker resistance within the mountain of Suribachi. From here they were able to withstand the naval bombardment of the Americans for nearly 5 weeks. Extremely outnumbered however the Americans eventually captured the island at the atrocious cost of nearly 7000 American soldiers and 18,000 Japanese.
This battle became most iconic for the photograph of Americans raising the flag on Mount Suribachi. The photograph instantly became famous and was used as a marketing tool for publicity yet also a patriotic rally cry. The Battle of Iwo Jima was no doubt yet another major victory for the Americans, however it is often considered a controversial decision. After the battle was won, the island hardly served much of a strategic purpose for the remainder of the war. One could certainly make the case that the operation in Iwo Jima was not worth the lives lost.
The bloodiest of all American battles in the Pacific War occurred in April 1945 at the Battle of Okinawa. This island was designated to be America's central base for it's planned invasion of mainland Japan to be known as Operation Downfall. However once again the Japanese soldiers were stubborn even at the face of defeat and put up a ferocious resistance. The fighting took place in the sea and on land and required heavy use of amphibious battleships and tanks. The kamikazes yet again proved to be devastating for the American ships. After nearly 3 months of ferocious fighting the Americans had secured the island, however it came at a devastating cost of 14,000 dead Americans and 110,000 dead Japanese.
The Bombings of Tokyo, Hiroshima, and Nagasaki
On May 8th, 1945 the allied forces has secured victory in Europe however the war waged on in the Pacific. Despite losing their German allies and being completely surrounded by the Soviet, British, and American armies the Japanese refused to surrender. Around this time the American's had begun to unfold their final Operation Downfall to invade mainland Japan. The base of this operation was secured with the victory at Okinawa however the aerial bombardments had already begun several weeks prior. The infamous bombings of Tokyo, Hiroshima, and Nagasaki eventually forced the Japanese to surrender and thus the full scale invasion never occurred.
The bombing of Tokyo is not quite as well known as the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki yet the immediate death toll was higher. This bombing known as Operation Meetinghouse was carried out on March of 9th of 1945. In the likes of the bombardment of Dresden, Germany, the entire city of Tokyo was engulfed in flames due to the American firebombing. This bombing resulted in approx 100,000 killed Japanese most of which were civilians. It is the most destructive single air attack of the entire World War II.
With the death of President Franklin D. Roosevelt in April of 1945, Harry S. Truman assumed the presidency and was faced with final stages of WWII. Perhaps one of his most difficult and controversial decisions he had to make was to drop the nuclear bombs on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This weapon had been in development under the Manhattan Project since the discovery of nuclear fission in 1938. By the summer of 1945 it had been tested and was prepared to be used in conflict; all that remained was the green light.
The city of Hiroshima was chosen as a target due to it's industrial and military stronghold and became the guinea pig of the newly developed atomic bomb. On August 6th, 1945 the American air-bomber known as the Enola Gay dropped the "Little Boy" over Hiroshima. The explosion created a massive mushroom cloud and resulted in the instantaneous death of 70,000 (which later expanded to 126,000 from the bomb's after effects). Japan and the rest of the world watched in horror as the United States had successfully developed and deployed a weapon of mass destruction.
A day after this bombing Harry S. Truman warned Japan to surrender or they would face further destruction as demonstrated in Hiroshima. However still in defiance Japan refused to surrender assuming that America could not have many more weapons such as this. They were proved wrong however with the bombing of Nagasaki on August 9th which resulted in the sudden death of 35,000 (later 80,000 due to after effects). This attack was carried out by the Bockscar air-bomber who dropped the atomic bomb nicknamed the "Fat Man". As terrible as these civilian causalities were, to be fair the Japanese committed far more civilian massacres in China. Nonetheless this was a terrible showing of power from the United States and remains to this day one of the most controversial decisions in history.
The Surrender of Japan
On the same day of the bombing of Nagasaki, the Soviet Union declared war upon Japan and invaded Manchuria. At this point unable to withstand anymore devastation Japan finally surrendered on August 15th in what became known as Victory in Japan Day. This brought an end to the Second Sino-Japanese War, the Pacific War, and ultimately World War II. Japan officially signed the Potsdam Terms on September 2nd of 1945. This essentially returned all of China's territory back, while Japan was to be occupied by America. General Douglas MacArthur took leadership of the US occupation of Japan which oversaw a period of demilitarization and economic resurgence.The International Military Tribunal for the Far East was held in Tokyo in April of 1946 to decide the fate of Japan's leaders during WWII. Many leaders were sentenced to death or life imprisonment for their war crimes, specifically pertaining to their inhuman invasion of China. Surprisingly at the bidding of Gen MacArthur, the Emperor Hirohito did not have to abdicate his throne and was declared merely a spectator in most of the affair. By 1952 the American occupation had ended with a booming economy and strong relations between the US and Japan. Meanwhile the Soviet Union had become the new superpower in the east which gave way to a long period known as the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union.
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