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WWII in the Pacific
pearl harbor and more
9
History
Undergraduate 4
04/21/2009

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Cards

Term
General Douglas MacArthur
Definition
  • general in the Philippines when it is attacked
  • 9 hrs after pearl habor on Dec 8 1941
  • he made serious errors
    • sent airforce in the air to look for japs
    • then called all of them in at the same time for refuelling and lunch and the japs came when they were all lined up and pilots having lunch destroyed 100/104 aircrafts
    • worst damage then in Pearl harbor
  • then they land attacked phil. 4 months to take over dec 10-april
  • Mistake he made in land
    • he had 60,000 troops vs. 200,000 jap troops
    • should have moved food and supplies to a small contained area within the first 24 hrs but left it scattered around the country
    • japs win and the pacific opens
  • march 1943 he left phil. for Aussie to plan the pacific war efforts and he famously says " I shall return (to phil)" and he does!
Term
Pearl Harbor
Definition
  • Pacific fleet stationed there
  • 2400 american causualties
  • significant distruction but could have been worse
    • 1/2 of aircrafts destroyed
    • 7 battleships
  • impact in short term: japs win but long term: americans win but they did suceed in shocking the US and got them in the war 
Term
Battle of Midway
Definition
  • Background:
    • end of may 1942 jap military is concerned with how quickly the USA recovered from the attack at P. habor; most of the destruction has been repaired
    • they wanted USA outta the picture in Asia but not to interfere
  • this is the most western island in the hawaiian chain
  • navel battle to drive the USA out
  • the japs thought they would take over hawaii and the US would leave them alone and have a diplomatic agreement with them
  • Turning point of the war: first victory for the Allies/USA  cuz they were more technologically advanced and luck (US caught the fleet b4 attack cuz they were refuelling)
  • Jap losses
    • 4 of their largest aircraft carriers, 150 airplanes, 307 ppl but japan can not replace their losses VERY IMPORTANT
    • econ is failing and they can't get resources
  • occured on June 7 1942
Term
Admiral nimitz
Definition
  • moves through tthe pacific to take back the islands the japs have taken
  • end in Okinawa
  • part of the two pronged attack
Term
Battle of Tarawa
Definition
  • nov 1943
  • SIGNIFICANT OF ISLAND HOPPING with nimitz
  • they don't go island to island they skip a few so it will be more of a suprise attack and less carnage
  • japs won't surrender easily even though it will obvious allied/usa win
  • Nimitz discovers that they have to kill them all to get them to surrender
Term
Battle of Okinawa
Definition
  • April-june 1945
  • importance it is only 360 miles from mainland japan and a good logical base for the USA
  • causualites:
    • Jap 85% military 110,000
    • USA 12,000
  • Significance of this battle:
    • Some war planners find if the USA land attacked japan that 2 million americans would die and this is too alarming for them and the japs never surrender so this is used as a justification for the dropping of the Atomic bombs
Term
Kamikaze
Definition
  • Suicide missions where aircrafts and submarines would crash into ships to destroy them
  • increased in the summer of 1945
  • belief that they are doing service for the emperor and will go to paradise
Term
Hiroshima & Nagasaki
Definition
  • Hiroshima (august 6 1945)
    • 334,000 population
    • death toll
      • Jap 240,000
      • USA 120,000
      • After radiation the jap account is closer
      • Huge amt of suffering
      • 60% cease to exist
  • Nagasaki (august 9 1945)
    • population 250,000
    • 100,000 death tolls
    • why 2nd bomb? official military cuz
      • the japs haven't surrendered yet  but they didn't have time to react
      • also for fear of soviets entering japan
        • they declared war on japan on aug 8th 1945, starting of cold war
Term
Emperor Hirohito
Definition
  • He orders the surrender of japan
  • august 15 1945
  • he went on the radio and the country was SHOCKED cuz most japs never heard the emperor and they thought he was going to tell them to continue to fight but he said they surrendered
  • mass suicide of military men
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