Figure 1.--American GIs befriended children throughout the Pacific. This Philippino boy made friends with GIs stationed with the 345th Bomb Group at Dulang on Leyte in late 1944. |
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The Japanese military during the 1930s gained almost complete control over the government. The depression of the 1930s hit Japan hard. The militarists decided that the solution to the economic crisis was to carve out an empire. This meant war. Japan withdrew from the League of Nations as a resulted of the criticism of her military operations in Manchuria (1933). Japan invaded China proper, launching the Second Sino-Japanese War (July 1937). The well equipped Japanese forces rapidly occupied almost the entire Chinese coast and then moved up rivers and railroad lines into the interior. The Japanese in the process committed war atrocities on an unpresidented level against the Chinese civilian population. Despite the Japnese onslaught, the Chinese government never surrendered. America funelled supplies to the Chinese through Burma. A covert operation set up the Flying Tigers to provide the Chinese a creditable air capability. Japan joined the Axis powers Germany and Italy which since 1939 had been at war with Britain. Hoping to avoid war in the Pacific, the United States and Britain responded to the Japanese actions with an oil boycott. The Japanese militarists were unwilling to change their policy. The only force standing between the Japanese and thecresources of Southeast Asia was the United States Pacific Fleet and the British garison at Singapore. A Japanese carrier taskforce on December 7, 1941, executed a surprise attack on the American base at Pearl Harbor. It was a brilliant tactical victory for Japan, but perhaps the greatest mistake in modern military history as it brought a suddenly united America into the War. The American carrier victory at Midway dealt a severe setback to the previously invincble Imperial Navy June 1942). American shipyards were turning out the new Essex clss carriers that would engage the weakened Imperial Navy in 1943. These carriers in 1943 and 1944 destroyed the Imperial Fleet. With new island bases wressled from the Japanese, the United States begins the stratehic bombardment of the Japanese mainland. The United States dropped two atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki on August 6 and 9, 1945 and the Soviet Union entered the war against Japan on August 8. The success of the Soviet Army convinced evebn many hard-line military officers that defeat was inevitable. Emperor Hirohito on August 14 decided to surrender unconditionally. The formal surrender was held underneath the guns of the battleship USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay.
The Japanese military during the 1930s gained almost complete control over the government. Civilian politicians attempting to resist the military were assassinated. Communists were persecuted. The military introduced a highly nationalistic indoctrination program in the schools. Censorship of the media was intensified. Navy and army officers occupied most of the key offices in the government, including the office of prime minister. The depression of the 1930s hit Japan hard. The militarists decided that the solution to the economic crisis was to carve out an empire in Manchuria, China, and southeast Asia. This meant war. The Japanese Kwantung Army occupied Manchuria using as a pretext a faked incident on the main railroad (1931). Japan then decalared "Manchukuo" an independent state,
Japan in the late 19th century as it began to develop a modern military, followed the precedent set by Western nations and forced China to sign economical and political treaties. The First Sino-Japnese War (1895) resulted in Japan's seizure of Taiwan. Japan's victory in the Russo-Japanese War (1904-05) strengthened Japan's influence in Manchuria. The Japanese Kwantung Army occupied Manchuria, a Chinese province, using as a pretext a faked incident on the main railroad (1931). Japan then decalared "Manchukuo" an independent state, setting up Pu Yi, the last Manchu Emperor of China as puppet Emperor (1932). Anti-Japanese disturbances broke out in Shanghai. The Japanese bombed the unprotected city to quell the disturbances. This was the first of many Japanese terror bombings of civilian populations. Japan withdrew from the League of Nations as a resulted of the criticism of her military operations in Manchuria and China (1933). Japan invaded China proper in July 1937, launching the Second Sino-Japanese War. The Japanese Kwantung Army turned a small incident into a full scale war. The well equipped Japanese forces rapidly occupied almost the entire coast of China and then moved up rivers and railroad lines into the interior. The Japanese in the process committed war atrocities on an unpresidented level against the Chinese civilian population. The most savage of these explosions of barbarity was the Rape of Nanking, after the fall of the capital Nanking. Here European diplomats and missionaries witnessed the brutality of the Japanese. Despite the Japnese onslaught, the Chinese government never surrendered. America even before entering the war against Japan funelled supplies to the Chinese through Burma. A covert operation set up the Flying Tigers to provide the Chinese a creditable air capability. The Chinese achieved no real military victories, but the Japanese were never able to defeat them. They moved further inland, setting up a new capital Kumintang. The War continued on a lower scale, but envolving the continued deployment of the bulk of the Japanese Army.
Large scale clashes occurred beginning May 1939 between Japanese and Soviet forces on the Mongolian plains along the border with Japanese-held Manchuria (Manchukuo). Neither side declared war. The Japanese released photographs of captured Soviet soldiers (July 1939). The conflict was little reported in the West. An offensive planned and executed by Marshall Zukov ended in a decisive voctory for the Soviets. The Japanese were forced to seek an armistace (September 1939). The clash was, however, of imense strategic significance, significantly affecting the strategic conduct of World War II. It was undoubtedly a factor encouraging Stalin to respond favorably to NAZI initiatives for a Non-Aggression Pact (August 1939) to ensure that the Soviet Union would not face a two-front war. Hitler ignored the Soviet performance and instread saw the inept Red Army offensive in Finland as evidence that the Soviets could be easily defeated. The Japanese Army concluded that further attacks on the Soviets were unwise. This was an important factor in attacking south in 1941 at America rather than north at the Soviet Union. It was also a major factor in refusing entrities from Hitler in 1942 to attack the Soviet Union, feeing the Red Army from what may have been a disastrous two-front war.
After Germany's defeat of France (June 1940), Japan occupied French Indochina (Vietnam) in 1940. America in response to began to take economic sanctions against Japan.
The Tripartite Pact was signed September 27, 1940. The agreement allied Germany and Italy (which were at war with Britain) and Japan (which was at war with China). Germany and Italy has since 1939-40 been at war with Britain. Japan since 1937 had been at war with China. The alliance did not require the partners to join these wars, but it did require them to come to each other's aid if attacked. The alliance became known as the Berlin-Rome-Tokyo Axis alliance, or commonly the Axis. The three Axis partners German hegemony over most of urope; Italian hegemony in the Mediterranean, and Japanese hegemony in East Asia. After the Axis agreement was signed, several German allies joined the Axis, notably Vichy France and Fascist Spain refused to do so. Japan had no Asian allies, except or the puppet state of Manchukuo.
Hoping to avoid war in the Pacific, the United States and Britain responded to the Japanese actions with an oil boycott. The result was an oil shortage. The Japanese militarists were unwilling to change their policy of war in China and the oil embargo had the affect of convincing them that they needed to seize the oil rich Dutch East Indies (DEI) (Indonesia) to guarantee fiture supplies of oil. The DEI was virtually defenseless, but the small Dutch garison there was loyal to the Dutch Government in exile. The only force standing between the DEI and the Japanese was the United States Pacific Fleet and the British garison at Singapore.
Japan in 1941 had the largest, most advanced caarier force in the world. The commander of the Imperial Fleet, Admiral Yamamoto, was a proponent of naval aviation. The Imperial Navy had 13 carriers. It was not just that the Japanese had more carriers, but they had higher performance aircraft and more experienced pilots. The carriers had Mitsubishi Zero fighters which out performed any fighters available to either the U.S. Navy or the U.S. army Air Corps had. Japanese carrier pilots went through a rigorous training program. Many had combat experience from operations over China. The Japanese pilots were the most skilled naval aviators in the world. The U.S. Navy Pacific fleet had two carriers, Lexington and Yorktown. Rising tensions in the Pacific caused the Navy to shift Enterprise to the Pacific to join them. The significance of this disparity in forces was not fully appreciated in 1941 because most naval planners still considered the battleship to be the capital ship. Also most Americans did not consider the Japanese to be capable of building hogh quality ships or planes or the Japanese to be effective fighters.
The Japanese decided on a "southern advance" policy with the understanding that this could lead to war with the United States. Japan had earlier acted to safeguard its northern territories by signing a neutrality pact with the Soviets (April 13, 1941). The NAZI invasion of the Soviet Union (June 22) provided further assurance that there would be no danger of interference from the Soviets if Japan moved south.
Rarely in the history of war have two great nations moved toward war with such huge eronious preconceotions about each other. The misconceptions include both individual maters as well as industrial and scientific capabiliies and for the Japanese the importance of industry and science. One very important matter to understand is the importance of race. America in the 1940s was a racist country, but country that was changeing and not a country that was willing to kill on a racial basis. American racism caused the United States to underestimate the Japanese, it did not push America to war. Japan on the other hand was a virulently racist country and this racism led to brutal colonial policies like in Korea and horific attricities like the Rape of Nakig (1937). Racist attitudes led America to view the Japanese as a people small in stature with terrible eyesight. Japanese victories in night time naval battles during the Solomon Campaign (1942) came as a shock to the Americans as did the effectiveness of Japanese aviators during the first year of the War. The Japanese for their part viewed the Americans as soft and whose women would never allow them to fight a long war. The fundamental miscalculation was Japan's failure to understand the full potential of America's industrial an scientific might. America underestimated Japan's industrial capability, but this underestimation was small in comparison of the collosal miscalculation of the Japanese militarists who launched the War.
A Japanese carrier taskforce composed of six carriers on December 7, 1941, executed a surprise attack on the American Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor. It was a brilliant tactical victory for Japan, but perhaps the greatest mistake in modern military history as it brought a suddenly united America with its vast industrial capacity into the War. The Japanese launched 360 aircraft which in 2 hours struck Peal Harbor just as the American sailors were waking up on a sleepy Sunday morning. The strike sunk or heavily damaged six of the eight American battleships, thrre cruisrs, three destroyers, and most of the Army Air Corps planes on the island. America was at war.
The Japanese led by Admiral Yamaoto were the first to realize the full potential of naval aviation. They demonstrated this at Peal Harbor and their sweep across the Pacific in 1942. Yamamoto was correct in his assessment of the importance of the carrier. He also warned the Imperial Givernment that he could guarantee naval dominance only for 6 months. Japnese leaders had no concept of how quickly America could build new carries. In the end, the Pacific War was won by the carriers, but it was the American carriers. The primary target of the Japanese at Part Harbor were the three carriers of the Pacific fleet. By mere chance, none were at Pearl. Admiral Nimitz who after the strile was ordered to Pearl was given command of the Fleet. He had to develop a strategy to hold off the Japanese with those three carriers while America built a powerful new fleet. The United States began an emense effort to build a vast naval armada. Priority was given to 40 new carriers-many of which were the Essex class fast carriers. These enorous fighting ships were over 800 feet long and totaled 27,000 tons. These carriers, however, would not begin to arrive until 1943.
A glance at the map of the Pacific makes it clear that if Japan was to have an empire in Southeast Asia, it also needed the Philippines which sat astride the sea routes, Japan thus only a few hours after the attack on Pearl Harbor attacked the American forces in the Philippines. Bombers from Formosa (Taiwan) destroying most of the Air Corps planes on the ground at Clark Field, the center of American air power on the Philippines. Even though MacArthur had reports of the attack on Pearl Harbor several hours before the Japanese struck, no measure were taken to prepare for the Japanese attack. The Philippines was considered to be beyond the range of Japanese land-based air craft. As a result, the American and Philipino forces were able to offer little resistance to the Japanese invasion ar Llingaoan Gulf to the north of Manila. MacArthur decided to base the defense of the Philippines on Batan. He declared Manila and open city and concentrated his forces there. Tragically there was no time to transfer the needed supplies for his forces. The American and Philippino forces in Batan put up a valliant defense, but ran out of food and amunition. The devestated Pacific Fleet was unable to resupply them. President Roosevelt ordered MacArthur to Australia before General Wainright was forced to surrender. America soon learned of Japanese attrocities during the Battan Death, further fueling American hatred of the Japanese.
Singapore was the keystone of Britain's military position in the Pacific. Japan took the large well supplied British garison at Singapore with surprising ease. British General Percival has been sharplycriticized. The defense of Singaport was bady planned. The Japanese offensive down the Malay Peninsula briliantly executed. The key factors were that the Japanese were able to achieve aerial and naval mastery that was never anticipated in defense plans. Pearl Harbor left the American fleet unable to respond. Two of Britain's most powerful battleships Prince of Wales anf Repulse were sent without air cover and sunk by Japanese bombers. [Gilbert] Churchill was outraged and Percival's surender. It was Percival's seming willingness to so quickly surrender that enraged Churchill. The British Division 8th Division had been rushed to Singapore after it was already too late. The fall of Singapore was a military catastrophy of emense proportions. Japanese forced within 6 months moved through Burma to the border of India in the West and New Guinea in the South. Australian trrops had garisoned Singapore, after previosly sending forces to North Africa, left the country virtually undefended. The Japanese conquest of Malay also presented the Allies with a critical problem. The world's rubber production was centered on the Malay Peninsula. And rubber was a vital war material. Singapore's fall even had consequences after the War. The prestige of the British Empire has been irreperably damaged.
Most accounts of World War II find that the Pacific War was fouught more savagely than the European War, especially the fighting between the Germans and Western Allies. The differences can be exagerated. Tere were German attrcities in the West (Oradour-surGlane and Malmedy). Both the Germans and Allies carried out air raids on cvilian populations. There are, however, reasons to conclude that the fighting in the pacific Gheater reached a level of savergy not normally experienced in the Western Front of the European War. A range of explanations have been offered to explain the savagery of the conflict. Race certainly was a factor. The overwealmin factor, however, appears to be the Japanese martial code (Bushido) and the assumtion as in the case of the NAZIs that the War was won and Japan would never have to answer for the attrocities committed. In fct Japan has a nation has never come to terms with the attricities committed by the Imperial army in its name.
Specially trained American aviators in B-25s took off from the carrier Wasp to strike Japan. It was the first blow to the Japanese home islands. The raid was led by Lt. Col. Jimmy Doolittle. The physical damage was inconsequential, but the psychological impact was immense. Most of the Amrican aviators crash landed in China and were helped to reach saftey by Chinese Nationalist guerillas. The Japanese reprisals were savage. A estimated 0.5-0.7 million Chinese civilians were murdered. The Japanese Navy was so embarassed th hey rushed forward plns to bring the desimated American Pacific Fleet to battle at Midway Island.
Allied intelligence in breaking the Japanese codes had a substantial impact on the Pacific War, especially at the Coral Sea (1942) and Midway (1942). As the initaitive shifted to the Americans, learning of Japanese intentions became less important. The code breakers did develop information that lead to an air strike which succeeded in killing Admiral Yamamoto (1943). The Americans never launched a major military deception campaign in the Pacific, in sharp contrast to the operations in Europe. One historian explains that the American assessment. The Americans believed that the Japanese Empire was "... too incompetent to understand what was being told them, and stood to low in the estimation of the decessionmakers for it to have done much good if they had." [Holt] The Americans did carryout one important deception effort--Operation Bluebird. This was designed to convince the Japanese that southern China and Formosa (Taiwan) were to be invaded rather than Okinawa.
The Japanese in only a few stunning months after Pearl Harbor carved out a huge empire in the Pacufic and Southeast Asia. And it looked for a time that it might not only be a permanent situation, but perhaps be expanded to include Australia and India. In fact, the Japanest conquests lasted only 2-3 years. While the Japanese East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere lasted only a few years, the impact for Asia was nothing short of monentous. The Japanese conquests has a stunning impct on Asian nationalism. Asia at the time of World War II was largely colonized or strongly influenced by European countries (Britain, France, the etherlands, and Portugal). Nationalist movements within the European empires were, except for India, weak anf poorly organized. There were no Europeam plans to grant independence. Only in the Phillipines was the United States moving toward independence. Britain was moving Ceylon and India toward domestic self rule, but not indepencence. Thus the Japanese conquests were seen in Asia in a very different light than the NAZI conquests in Europe. It also explains why resistance movements (except in Indochina and the Philippines) were weak and of little impact on the War. And the Japanese were able to orgnize local military formations (Burma, India, and Indonesia) to fight the Allies. The outcome was a notable impetus to nationalist movements throughout Asia. And within a few years after the War, the European colonial powers had granted independence to their former colonies.
The first importantAllied effort to stop the Japanse sweep through the Pacific occurred in the Coral Sea. The Japanse vplanned to seize Port Moreseby, completing their conquest of New Guinea. Port Moresby would have also posed a threat to Australia itself. A Japanese naval task force en route to seize Port Moresby was intercepted by an American carrier force, alerted by code breakers. It was the first carrirer to carrier engagement in history. The Japanese succeeded in sinking Lexington and heavily damaging Yorktown. The Japanese lost a light carrier and another carrier was heavily damaged. Despite the American losses, theJapanese invasion force turned back, the first major Japanese reversal of the War.
Admiral Yamamoto was convinced that the remaining American carriers could be brought to battle and destroyed at Midway. The Japanese plans were based on achieving an element of curprise and on the fact that two American carriers had been destoyed in the Coral Sea, in fact the Yorktown, although heavily damaged had not been sunk. American code breakers had alerted the Ameicans to the Jaspanese plans. Admiral Nimitz positioned Enterprise and Hornet, along with the hastily patched up Yorktown northwest of Midway to ambush he Japanese. The American carrier victory at Midway dealt a crippling blow to the Imperial Navy. The Americans sank four first-line Japnese carriers, killing most of the well-trained crews. While the Imperial Navy still held an advantage, it was no longer an overwealming one. Meanwhile American shipyards were turning out the new Essex clss carriers that would engage the weakened Imperial Navy in 1943.
The first America land offensive in the Pacific occurred on the virtually unknown island of Guadacanal in the Solomons. Allied coast watchers reported the Japanese were building an air strip on Guadacanal. From that base, the Japanese could threaten the sea lanes to Australia. A marine invasion force was rapidly assembled. It was a risky operation from the onset. Although dealt a serious blow at Midway, the Imperial Navy still dominatd the Pacific and outnumbered the American Pacfic fleet in virtually every class of warship--including carriers.
The Japanese landed along the northern coast of New Guinea and moved south in an effort to take Portb Moresby. They were blocked by Australian troops in the first land victory over the Japanese of the War. An effort to take Port Moresby by sea was blocked by American carrirers in the Coral sea (May 4-8, 1942). After the American victory in the Solomons, MacArthur launched a series of attacks along the northern coast of New Guinea, bypassing and isolating many Japanese bases. Buna was the first New Guinea base taken (January 2, 1943).
The Gilbert Islands had been a British possession. There were 16 islands. Tarawa was the largest atol and Bacio was the largest island in the Tarawa Atol. The Japanese assaulted the Islands the day after Pearl Harbor (December 8, 1941) and quickly took the lightly defended islands. American raids on the Gilberts, espedcially a Marine assault by submarine caused the Japanese to fortify the islands, especially the largest atol--Tarawa. The American carrier victory at Midway forced the Japanese to change strategy. They could no longer rely on naval superority to defend their Pacific islands bases. They began to heavily fortify the islands believing that the islands could be made impregnable. As the Gilberts were the cornerstone of the outline of island defenses, the Japanese correctly assumed that the American blow would fall on the Gilberts. Special attention was given to fortify Tarawa because the airstrip there dominated the Gilberts. Defenses included naval artillery, sand covered concrete bunkers, 500 pillboxes, and concrete and barbed-wire beavh defenses.
The Japanese garrison consisted of a mixed force. There were 4,800 navy troops on the island, included 2,600 men of the Special Naval Landing Force, commonly referred to as Japanese Marines. The Japanese recognizing the importance of the islkands also assigned highly skilled artillery trainers to the island.
All this on a area smaller than Central Park in New York City. The Japanese Commander General Shibasaki boasted that a million Americans could not take Tarawa in a 100 years. Tarawa was the beginning of the American offensive in the Central Pacific. It was the first test of the evolving Japanese strategy of heavily fortifying island bases as a defensive shield. The 2nd Marine Division which had fought on Guadacanal was assigned the task. The Navy subjected the Japanese defenses to withering artillery and air craft strikes. After the naval gunfire ceased, the Marines went ashore (November 20, 1943). The were horrified to find that thed Japanese defenses were largely in tact. The result was what the Marines refer to as "Bloody Tarawa". Virtually the entire Japanese garison fought to the death. Only 13 Japanese surrendered in addition to Korean slave laborors. The Marines took Tarawa, but the losses were shocking. About 1,000 Americans died. In terms of casualties per area it was the most expensive American operation of World War II. President Roosevelt had to decide whether or not to release the casualty information and films of the battle. He decided to do so. After Tarawa the merican people were fully aware of what the Pacific War would mean in terms of casualties. The Navy learned valuable lessons for the island campaign to come. The Navy also studied the Japanese defenses to determine why the naval gunfire had been so ineffective. The Imperial Japanese Navy stung by losses in the Coral Sea, Miday, and the Sollomons did not contest the landings. They were hoping that the island defenses would be sufficient.
The penetration of the outer shell of Japanese islands in the south was followed by assauilts on the outer shell of Japanese islasnd defenses in the Central Pacific. The Japanese throuhhout 1943 were reiforing their island bastions and strenghtening their defenses. The first major American offensive after Guadacanal was the amphibious assault on the Marshall and Gilbert Islands. New carriers and planes were beginning to reach the fleet.
The invasion of Saipan was one of the key confrontations of the Pacific War. The Japanese defenses were centered on Saipan abd Rota. Earlier Pacific Island invasions were stepping stones. The Marianas were different. With the new B-29 bomber, air bases in the Marianas would bring the Home Islands wihin range of strategic bombardment and destoy Japan's ability to make war. Conquest of the Marianas would breach the Japanese inner defensive line. It was clearly the tipping point of the War. The Americans knew it and so did the Japannse. And unlike the earlier American landings, this one would be opposed by the Imperial Fleet--the first major Japanese fleet action since the naval bloody actions in the Sollomoons. Previous
landings had made it clear that the Japanese soldiers would not surrender no matter how great the forces availed against them. American planners concluded that if the Japanese would fight to the death on isolated Pacific islands, that they would resist to the end in the defense of the Home Islands. The casualties of an invasion of the Home Islands would be horrendous. It was thus important to bring the Japanese Home Islands within the range of American bombers so that the Japanese war making power could be smashed. There was a Japanese civilian population on Saipan. While the Americans expected the military to resist to the bitter end, they expected the civilians to surrender. Japanese authorities, however, urged the civilians to kill their children and commit suiside. Many did just that. After the Americans secured the island, the Japanese civilians were interned, but in realtively comfortable circumstances.
Peleliu was one of the blodiest of the Central Pacific island invasions and probably the most unnecessary. It was initially seen as needed for a staging area for the invassion of the Philippines. Later planners had second thoughts, but Admiral Nimitz decioded that the planning had gone to far. The Forst Marine Division was told before goinmg ashore thatthere would be a tough fight, bit it would be over in 3 days. The Japanese fought on for 6 weeks in prepared defenses and then caves. The 9,000 Marines suffered 6,500 casualties. About 11,000 Japanese were killed. [Sloan]
The Philippino people suffered greviously under Japanese occupation. This helped fuel an effective Resistance campaigns carried out by guerillas which had achieved control of substantial areas. The Japanese, gowever, controlled the population centers, especially on Leyte and Luzaon. The Navy preferred targetting Formosa (Taiwan), but MacArthur eventually prevailed with his insistence that America must retun to the Philippines. He considered his vow to return a pledge to the Philippinp people that had to be honored. Some how his vow, "I shall return." sems less approaptiate than "We shall return", but it was pure MacArthur and he convinced President Roosevelt. Reports from resistance fighters and American pilots revealed that the Japanese were not heavily defending large areas of the Islands. The inasion of Mindanao was considered unecessary and the decession was made to strike first further north at Leyte. It was in this engagement that the Kamakazis first appeared, although still in relatively small numbers. MacArthur President Sergio Osmeņa waded ashore with the invasion force at Leyte Gulf (October 20, 1944). The American Army forces advanced steadily. The Japanese resisted, but could not match American fire power. The most serious Japanese resistence occurred at sea. The resulting naval engaement following on Battle of the Philippones Sea is commonly referred to as the Battle of Leyte Gulf. It was the largest sea battle ever fought and resulted in the destruction of the Japanese fleet as an effective fighting force. This opened the way for the land campaign. Further landings occurred at Ormoc (December 7, 1944).
American Maines invaded the isolated volcanic island of Iwo Jima in February 1945. Iwo was 600 miles south of the Jpanese Home Islands and was needed as a base forthe fighters covering the bombers involved in the strategic bombing camoaign. It was also needed as a safe haven for damaged bombers unale toreach their bases in the Marianas. For this reason it was heavily forified by the Japanese. It look the Maunes oiver a month to secure the island and they suffered 30 percent casualties. Virtually all of the 22,000 man Japanese garrison perished. The defenders refused to surrender even when the situation was clearly hopeless.
The Japanese kamikaze attacks are geberally seen as crazed attacks by mindless Japnese pilots anxious to die for their Emperor. This is a misunderstanding. The Japanese by 1945 had no effective weapons to use agains the American fleet. There only hope was to exact such casulties that America would tire of the War. In this regard they were effective. The Pacific fleet did sustain serious losses at a relatively light cost on the part of the Japanese. The pilots involved were not anxious to die, but thought theu were making a contribution to the defense of their country. Peer pressure among these young men was a very powerful force. [Spector]
The invasion of Okinawa was the first American attack on Japanese territitory. Okinawa, in the Ryukyu Island chain was strategically located between Kyushu, the southernmost Japanese island and Taiwan (called Formosa by the Japanese). American strategists saw Okinawa as a necessary base from which an American invasion of the Japanese home islands could be staged. Okinawa had several air bases and the only two important harbors between Formosa and Kyushu. The American invasion was code named Operation Iceberg. The greatest naval force in histoy was assembled for the invasion. Admiral Raymond A. Spruance's 5th fleet included more than 40 aircraft carriers, 18 battleships, 200 destroyers and hundreds of support ships. Over 182,000 troops participated in the invasion. The American invasion forced was surprised when the beach landings were unopposed. Okinawa was defendened by the 32nd Japanese Army and a garrison of about 110,000 men. The Japanes had drawn back from the onvssion beaches. The Japanese strategy was to bring as many ships as possible in close to the island to support the invasion. it was then that a major Kamakazi attack was unleased on the invasion fleet. The Japanese on April 6-7 employed the first massed formations of hundreds of kamikaze aircraft. The Japanese during the Okinawan campaign flew 1,465 kamikaze flights from
Kyushu. They succeedd in sinking 30 American ships and damaged 164 others. Other ships were attacked nearer Kyushu and Formosa. The Army Air Corps had rejected a request to havily bomb these air fields as it was seen as a diversion from the strategic bombing campaign. One third of the invasion force was killed or wounded. Over half of the 16,000 Americans killed were sailors on the ships attacked by the Kamakazis. Virtually the entire Japanese garison died in the Okinawa campaign. Few Japanese soldiers surendered even after defeat was certain. Large number of civilans were also killed. The Jaoanese military reserved available food and supplies for its use and in many cases forced civilians to commit suicide. The American military saw Okinawa as a dress rehersal for an invasion of the Japanese Home Islands and anticipated even fiercer resistance. The extent of the casualties was a major factor in the American decission to use the atomic bombs.
The air war in the Pacific began as in the European theater with mastery of the skies by the Japanese. The Chinese air force was vityually non-existant. The Japanese conducted terror bombing raid, first on Shanghai and then on other Chinese cities. Japanese aircraft, especially the Mitusubishi Zero, were so effective that they were able to achieve air
superority during land and sea battles against Britain and the Unitd States beginning with the attack on Pear Harbor. This continued throughout much of 1942 and only did the arrival of ne American aircraft in large numbers did the Allies begin to gain the upperhand in the sky. The seizure of the Marianas and the deployment of of the new long range B-29
bombers brought the Japanese homeland within range of strategic bombardment. The initial raids wereinclonclusive. General Curtis LeMay devised a trategy of fire bombing which caused massive destruction in Japanese citis crammed with highly flameable wooden structures. When Japan refused to surender after the Yalta Conference, President Truman ordered the use of tha Atomic Bomb in August 1945. The Japanese surendered in
September.
The last step in the war against Japan was the invasion of the Japanese Home Islands. American military planners forsaw 0.5 million American casulaties. This was based on the tenacious Japanese resistance in every Pacific campaign. The military fully expected the Japanese Army to resist to the death just had they had done on Okinawa. In addition, the Japanese had large numbers of aircraft which could be used in Kamakazi attacks on any invasion fleet. Many Japanese today maintain that Japan was near defeat and ready to surrender. It is cerain true that the military situation for Japan was hopeless and the population approaching starvation. This does not mean, however, that the Imperial Army was preparing to surrender. The Army had not surrendered in any other campaign where the outcome was hopeles. In addition, the Army had incouraged even forced civilians to commit suiside as on Siapan and Okinawa. Some observers are convinced that Japanese civilian casualties in any invasion of the Home Islands would have been the greatest civilian disaster of World War II. Millions of Japanese soldiers and civilians may have died if America had invaded Japan.
The American Manhattan Program was initiated by President Roosevelt when work done by German physicists led to concern that th NAZIs might build an atomic bomb. Jewish and oher refugees fleeing the NAZIs made a major contribution to the success of the Manhattan Program. The first bomb was successflly tested at Alamagordo, New Mexico on July ??, 1945. The Allies met in a Berlin suburb after the NAZI surrender to make dcisions about the occupation of Germany and defeating Japan. The Allied powers 2 weeks after the bomb was tested demanded on July 27, 1945 that Japan surrender unconditionally, or warned of "prompt or utter destruction". This became known as the Potsdam Declaration. The Japnese military was prepared to fight on rather than surender. The Japanese Government responded to the Potsdam Declaration with "utter contemp". The Japanese military continued feverish pland to repel the Ameican invasion of the Home Islands. Many Whermacht generals at the end of the War were anxious to surrnder to the Amreicans. One German General commanding forces as part of Venk's 9th Army west of Berlin after the War said, "We wondered why the Americans didn't come." This was not the attitude of the Japanese military. I know of know memoir written by an important Japanese military officer expresing similar sentiments. Truman was not anxious to use the atomic bomb. He was anxious to end the War and limit Ameican casulties. For Truman, the American casualties on Okinawa and the Japanese response to the Potsdam Declaration made up his mind. There have been many books and aticles published in both Japan and America about the atomic bomb. Japanese scholars have reserched the decission making process that led to the dropping of the atomics bomb. Almost always the focus is on Truman and American military leasers. Rarely do Japanese authors address the role of Japanese political and military leaders. The United States dropped two atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki on August 6 and 9, and the Soviet Union entered the war against Japan on August 8.
The success of the Soviet Army convinced even Imperial Army officers and the Ministry of war that defeat was inevitable. Emperor Hirohito on August 14 decided to surrender unconditionally. Even after the atomic bombs and the debacle in Manchuria, there were hardliners that were opposed to surrender. A group calling themselves the Young Tigers seized the Imperial Palace grounds and tried to prevent the Emperor's surrender broadcast. The attempted coup almost succeded. On what has become called "Japan's Longest Day" the attempted coup, bombing raid blackout, intrigues, killings, and sepukus determined fate of millions of Japanese people. It iwas a complicated series of events involving both great heroism and treason by officers convinced that they were behaving honorably. The Commander of the Eastern Army, however, remained loyal to the Emperor, dooming the coup. [PWRS] The formal surrender was held underneath the guns of the battleship USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay. Not knowing just what the Japanese were planning, the American carriers were standing at sea off Japan.
American troops landed in Japan immediately after the Imperial Government surrendered on September 3. The American occupation was completely unlike the Japanese occupation of the countries that it had conquered. Most Japanese were stunded by the final year of the War and the massdive destruction. There was also widespread hunger. Many Japanese had been led to expect a brutal American occupation. The United States oversaw an occupation with fundamentally changed the nature of Japanese society, rooting out Japanese militarism and fomenting the development of democratic political regimes and social structures. Women were enfranchized and labor unions allowed to organize.
The situation in Asia and the Pacific was different after the Japanese surrender than after theGerman surrender in Europe. There was not much left of the NAZI empire (only Norway, Denmark, parts of Bohemia, and pats of Austria). Large areas of the Pacific and Southeast Asia, however, were still in Japanese hands and occupied military forces quite capable and willing to fight. The Japanese still occuppied the Dutch West Indies, parts of Burma, Malaya, Singapore, and Indochina as well as Taiwan and large areas of mainland China. Moving into these areas to acceot the surrender of the Japanese and restablish civil order wee complicated by the large areas involved, the distances, and limitations of transport. The Dutch and Pacific had no substantial forces in place to do this. The problems meant that it would take some time for the Allies to move forces into these areas. A complicating factor was there were now local military forces, both resistance forces and national forces the Japanese had armed to assist them. Asia was different than Europe. Most of the territory conquered by the Japanese were colonies. Thus the local population was generally not overjoyed with the prospect of the old colonial powers (British, Dutch, abnd French) coming back. Only in the Philippines were the Allies (Americans) generally regarded as liberators, and even in the Philippines the resistance movement included a Communist force that was anti-American. The Allies thus in some areas used Japanese troops to keep order until they could reoccupy the areas that the Japanese had conquerred. And in all of the places except Burma where the British pulled out, colonial wars resulted.
The Pacific War was in many regards the birth of modern Asia. One work describes the War as the beginning of the evolution of the Asian colonies to modern independent countries. [Bayly and Harper] Almost all the Asian countries before the War were either European colonies. Much of China was occupied by Japan and its major seaports under the control of European countries. At the time war broke out in Europe, the only country scheduled for independence was the American Commonwealth of the Philippine Islands. German victories in Europe (1940) undercut the Dutch and French colonies. With Pearl Harbor the Japanese lauhed an offensive that brought them to the borders of India. While the Japanese were defeated and the colonial regimes restored, with only a few years, virtually every colony in Asia achieved its independence. Much of it was accomplished by negotiations, most notably the independence of India and Pakistan. In other countries there were wars for independence, most notably the French struggle in Indichina/Vietnam. The War had both stimulate nationalist feelings as well as exposed the limitations of European military power.
Bayly, Christopher and Tim Harper. Forgotton Armies: The Fall of British Asia, 1941-1945 (Belknap/Harvard, 2005).
Gibert, Martin. A History of the 20th Century.
Holt, Thaddeus. The Deceivers: Allied Military Deceptionin the Second World War (Scribner, 2004), 1,148.
Pacific War Research Society (PWRS). Compiler Kazutoshi Hando. Japan's Longest Day.
Sloan, Bill. Spector, Ronald H. At War at Sea: Sailors and Naval Combat in the Twentieth Century (Viking, 2001), 463p.
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Created: November 13, 2002
Last updated: 5:22 AM 4/23/2008