Module 20, Lesson 6: The War in the Pacific - William Manchester's Experience

William Manchester's Story

• William Manchester left college after Pearl Harbor to join the marines.
• Manchester had a deep-seated horror of violence as a child, but had to confront it when he killed a Japanese sniper in face-to-face combat.
• He described the experience in his memoir "Goodbye Darkness: A Memoir of the Pacific War".

The Pacific War

• The Pacific War was a savage conflict fought with raw courage.
• The war was fought on many islands, with both sides suffering heavy losses.

Japanese Advances

• The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 gave them a strategic advantage.
• The Japanese conquered a vast empire, including Hong Kong, French Indochina, Malaya, Burma, Thailand, and parts of China.
• They also captured the Dutch East Indies, Guam, Wake Island, and the Solomon Islands.

The Philippines

• General Douglas MacArthur led Allied forces in the Philippines.
• The Japanese invasion of the Philippines in 1941 was part of a larger offensive strategy.
• MacArthur's troops were outnumbered and outgunned, and they were eventually forced to retreat to the Bataan Peninsula.
• The Bataan Death March followed, in which thousands of Allied prisoners were forced to march with little food or water, resulting in many deaths.

Fortunes Shift in the Pacific

• The Allies began to turn the tide against the Japanese in the spring of 1942.
• Doolittle's Raid on Tokyo and other Japanese cities lifted American spirits and dampened Japanese morale.
• The Battle of the Coral Sea was a strategic victory for the Allies, as it stopped the Japanese drive toward Australia.

Battle of Midway

• The Japanese plan to attack Midway Island was discovered by American naval intelligence, who then prepared an ambush.
• The American fleet sank four Japanese aircraft carriers, a cruiser, and 250 planes, while losing only one aircraft carrier and several planes.
• The Battle of Midway was a turning point in the Pacific War, as it crippled the Japanese navy.

The Allies Go on the Offensive

• The Allies began to take the fight to Japan, starting with the capture of Guadalcanal.
• The Battle of Guadalcanal was a brutal and costly fight, with both sides suffering heavy losses.
• The Allies eventually secured the island and began to "island hop" towards Japan.

Code Talkers

• Hundreds of Native Americans, including Navajo, worked as code talkers, translating messages into a coded version of their language.
• The Japanese were never able to decipher the code, allowing the Allies to transmit vital military information securely.

Battle of Leyte Gulf

• The Allies converged on Leyte Island in the Philippines, with General MacArthur wading ashore to announce "I have returned".
• The Japanese threw their entire fleet into the battle, but suffered heavy losses, including three battleships, four aircraft carriers, and 13 cruisers.

Iwo Jima and Okinawa

• The Allies then turned to Iwo Jima and Okinawa, both heavily fortified islands.
• The battles for these islands were brutal and costly, with the Allies suffering heavy losses, but ultimately securing the islands.

The End of the War

• The Allies finally closed in on Japan, with the Soviet Union declaring war on Japan on August 8, 1945.
• The atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki followed, and Japan surrendered on August 15, 1945.### The Attack on Pearl Harbor
• The Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor in 1941, missing the Pacific Fleet's submarines and aircraft carriers, which were out at sea.
• The attack dealt a significant blow to the U.S. Pacific Fleet, but it took months to recover.

Japanese Advances

• In the first six months after Pearl Harbor, the Japanese conquered a vast empire, including:
  • Hong Kong, French Indochina, Malaya, Burma, Thailand, and parts of China on the Asian mainland.
  • The Dutch East Indies, Guam, Wake Island, the Solomon Islands, and other outposts in the Pacific.
  • Two islands in the Aleutian chain, part of Alaska.
• The Japanese conquests gave them control of rich oil reserves and strategic bases.

The Philippines

• The Japanese targeted the American-controlled islands of the Philippines as part of their larger offensive strategy.
• General Douglas MacArthur led a small force of American and Filipino troops, totaling around 80,000, against the 200,000 Japanese invaders.
• The Japanese gained ground, and MacArthur planned a retreat to the Bataan Peninsula, where they held out for four months.
• After the fall of Bataan, MacArthur left the Philippines, vowing to return.

Fortunes Shift in the Pacific

• The Allies began to turn the tide against the Japanese in the spring of 1942.
• Doolittle's Raid on Tokyo and other Japanese cities in April 1942 lifted American spirits and dampened Japanese morale.
• The Battle of the Coral Sea in May 1942 marked the first time the Japanese were stopped and turned back.

The Battle of Midway

• The Japanese planned to attack Midway Island to lure the Americans into a sea battle and destroy their naval forces.
• The Americans, however, had broken the Japanese code and were prepared for the attack.
• The Battle of Midway was a decisive victory for the Allies, with the Japanese losing four aircraft carriers, a cruiser, and 250 planes.

The Allies Go on the Offensive

• The Allies decided to take the fight to Japan, starting with the capture of Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands.
• The battle took place on land, at sea, and in the air, with both sides winning small victories until the Japanese finally abandoned Guadalcanal six months later.
• The Allies then began "island hopping," bypassing heavily fortified islands and capturing less-defended ones to move closer to Japan.

Code Talkers

• Hundreds of Native Americans from the Navajo nation worked as code talkers, translating messages into a coded version of their own language.
• The Navajo language was so complex that the Japanese never deciphered it, allowing for secure transmission of vital military information.

The Battle of Leyte Gulf

• The Allies continued to push toward Japan, with some 178,000 troops and 738 ships converging on Leyte Island in the Philippines.
• The Japanese threw their entire fleet into the battle and tested a new tactic, the kamikaze, or suicide-plane, attack.
• Despite the damage done by the kamikazes, the Battle of Leyte Gulf was a disaster for Japan, with the loss of three battleships, four aircraft carriers, 13 cruisers, and almost 500 planes.

Iwo Jima and Okinawa

• The Allies turned to Iwo Jima, a critical island for the United States as a base from which heavily loaded bombers might reach Japan.
• The Japanese defended the island fiercely, but the Allies eventually took it, with more than 6,000 marines dying in the battle.
• The Battle of Okinawa was a chilling foretaste of what the Allies imagined the invasion of Japan's home islands would be, with the Japanese paying a heavy price in lives, including two generals who chose ritual suicide over surrender.### Japanese Advances After Pearl Harbor
• The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 missed the Pacific Fleet's submarines and aircraft carriers, which were out at sea.
• The attack dealt a significant blow to the U.S. Pacific Fleet, taking months to overcome.
• Japanese pride was boosted, leading to continued assault on territory in Asia.
• In the first six months after Pearl Harbor, the Japanese conquered a vast empire, including:
  • Hong Kong, French Indochina, Malaya, Burma, Thailand, and much of China on the Asian mainland.
  • Dutch East Indies, Guam, Wake Island, Solomon Islands, and other outposts in the Pacific.
  • Two islands in the Aleutian chain, part of Alaska.

The Philippines

• The Japanese targeted the American-controlled islands of the Philippines as part of their larger offensive strategy.
• General Douglas MacArthur led Allied forces on the islands, consisting of 80,000 troops, including poorly trained and equipped Filipino soldiers.
• The Japanese invaded with 200,000 troops in December 1941, and MacArthur planned a retreat to the Bataan Peninsula.
• The Allies held out for four months, but eventually surrendered, leading to the Bataan Death March and thousands of deaths.

Fortunes Shift in the Pacific

• The loss of the Philippines was a low point for the United States in the Pacific war.
• In the spring of 1942, the Allies began to turn the tide against the Japanese.
• Doolittle's Raid on April 18, 1942, lifted American spirits and dampened Japanese morale.
• The Battle of the Coral Sea in May 1942 stopped the Japanese drive toward Australia and marked a strategic triumph for the Allies.

The Battle of Midway

• Japanese leaders planned to lure the Americans into a large sea battle to destroy U.S. naval forces.
• The Americans had broken the Japanese code and knew the planned attack on Midway Island.
• The Allies succeeded in stopping the Japanese, and the Japanese lost 4 aircraft carriers, a cruiser, and 250 planes.
• The Battle of Midway was a turning point in the Pacific War, and the Allies began to take the fight to Japan.

The Allies Go on the Offensive

• The first step in the new Allied strategy was to win control of territory in the Solomon Islands.
• The capture of Guadalcanal Island began in August 1942, with 19,000 troops storming the island.
• The battle took place on land, at sea, and in the air, and the Japanese finally abandoned the island six months later.

Island Hopping

• The Allies chose to bypass heavily fortified islands and instead targeted strategically important but less-well-defended islands.
• Island by island, they won territory back from the Japanese, moving closer to Japan.
• American diversity and ingenuity aided their progress, including the use of Navajo code talkers.
• The Allies took advantage of their vast resources, producing planes and ships at a tremendous rate.
• Gains in Europe allowed the Allies to send more troops and resources to the Pacific.

The Battle of Leyte Gulf

• In October 1944, some 178,000 Allied troops and 738 ships converged on Leyte Island in the Philippines.
• The battle marked a significant push towards Japan, with the Allies continuing to leapfrog across the Pacific.