"From now on the curricvulum is changed. The main emphasis will be on comtering U.S. tactics, and wil become the 'A' course. If any one can teach this course, go ahead because frankly I don't know a damn thing about it."

-- Instructor at Rikugun Daigakko (Army bWar Collerge), Summer 1943

The second phase of the Pacific War began with the U.S. Pacific Fleet launching the Central Pacific campaign and the invasion of Tarawa in the Gilberts. It was like releasing a coiled spring. The Navy unleashed its new advanced Hellcat fighters and Essex-lass carriers on the Japanese. The Japanese who had already suffered serious defeats in the South Pacific now faced a whole new front and was unprepared for it. American forces were no longer operating on a shoe-string. They were armed and equipped like no other fighting force in history with the full support of the American Arsenal of Democracy. At he sane time, he American submarine force was finally overcoming its torpedo and command problems and began to destroy the Japanese merchant fleet--the Marus. The Japanese still held possessions with vital raw materials including oil, but were rapidly losing the ability to transport those resources to the war factories on the Home Islands. The Army had prepared for a fight with the Soviet Red Army, bow fond itself primarily fighting the Americans. The generals saw the Pacific War as a naval war, but now came to see the U.S. Army and Marines as their major enemy now that the new B-29 Bombers could reach Japan. The Japanese when they launched the Pacific War assumed that Japan could not be bombed because of the limited range of existing bombers. But the B-29s changed this calculation. Because of this, the Imperial Navy after a year of inactivity, finally came out and their carrier force was destroyed in the Battle of the Philippines Sea (June 1944). Then there surface units were largely destroyed in the Battle of Leyte Gulf (October 1944). The new advanced American aircraft now dominated the skies. The Japanese had to turn to Kamikaze suicide tactics. The Japanese finally developed Plan B. They cold no longer defeat the Americas, but they would make the island hopping campaign so bloody that the Americans would finally agree to a negotiated peace to end the War. And the final campaigns were indeed bloody--Iwo Jima (February and March 1945) and Okinawa April-July 1945). America had been bombing Japan's industrial cities relentlessly. The fire bombing of Tokyo was the deadliest air raid of the War. The Japanese showed o sign of surrendering. After the first atomic bomb test was successful (July 1945), President Truman approved the use of the atom bombs to force the Japanese to surrender. His primary reason was the huge American casualties expected from an invasion of the Home Islands. The bombs were doped (August 1945). A shocked Emperor Hirohito broke the deadlock in the War Cabinet. Japan formally signed the surrender document under the big guns of the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay (September 1945).

The American Submarine Commerce Campaign

Japan has almost no natural resources beyond its hard working, industrious population. Yet to wage war it needed raw materials in prodigious quantities, not only strategic materialism (oil, rubber, and metals), but also rice and other food as Japan was not self sufficient in food production. Japan went to war to secure the Southern Resource Zone (Southeast Asia) which had the resources Japan lacked and desperately needed to wage war. But to be of any use to Japan, these resources had to be transported back to the Home Islands and the country's war industries. But Japan had a merchant marine (Maru fleet) that was basically adequate in war time and war requires even greater transport capabilities. The largely unescorted marus constituted a tempting target, just as the Germans had targeted the British merchant ships in the Atlantic. As a result, a day after Pearl Harbor, Washington ordered the Pacific Fleet to wage unrestricted submarine warfare against Japan. The problem with this, is that American submarine crews commanders were not trained for this. Nor were selected for their warrior spirit (like Germ an and Japanese commanders, their boats had limited range, they did not have radar to help find the marus in the vast Pacific. And to make matters worse, their torpedoes did not work. The Japanese aviators who attacked Pearl Harbor had such a low regard for submarines that the subs and their facilities were left untouched. Yet the U.S. Navy would master all of these problems and turn the submarine force into the most effective weapon in the American naval arsenal. By the end of the War they had destroyed the maru fleet and completely cut Japan off from the resources it had conquered in Southeast Asia leaving Japanese factories idled and its people near starvation.

Central Pacific (November 1943-July 1944)

Japanese Army planners estimated that the United States would not be able to amass the forces for an offensive until mid-1943. Many Japanese were convinced that America would not have the stomach for fight even then. The Japanese war plan had been premised on a German victory over the Soviet Union which would have forced the United States to use most of its limited military strength in Europe. This of course not only did not occur, but America was about to generate military power more quickly and in greater strength than Japanese planners had anticipated. The fact that a cross-channel invasion was put off until 1944 meant that considerable forces could be directed to the Pacific. Japan was shocked with the American invasion of Guadalcanal and naval forces committed to the Solomons Campaign. Here the Imperial Navy did not inform the Army of the full extent of the Midway debacle. The Imperial Army and Navy was still attempting to stop the American advances in the South Pacific when Admiral Nimitz strengthen by the new Essex Carriers and Hell Cat fighters opened a new front in the Pacific War--the Central Pacific. MacArthur had opposed this being concerned about diversion of resources. In fact, the Central Pacific campaign aided his operations. From this point of the War, the Japanese were never sure where the Americans would strike next. Thus they were never sure where to deploy their limited resources. The Central Pacific Campaign brought 20th century war to the tranquil island of the South Pacific. Americans had never heard of most of these islands. And the local people were unaware of the mas dive forces being mobilized in far away Japan and America. The Imperial Fleet was withdrawn o recover from losses in the Sollomons. They hoped that a well-armed and entrenched island garrison could repel an amphibious landing. The Marines proved at Tarawa that they could not without naval support. The Marines paid a terrible price, but learned from the experiences. Losses at Kwajelin were a fraction of those at Tarawa. Only when the U.S. attacked the Marianas did the Imperial Fleet intervene. The Marianas brought the Home Islands into the range of the new B-29 Superforts. The Imperial fleet intervened, but after the Marianas Turkey Shoot, the rest if the Imperial fleet withdrew. On Saipan the Americans encountered the first Japanese civilians. The Japanese finally decided to throw all of their remaining naval strength to defending the Philippines, leading to the greatest naval battle in history--the Battle of Leyte Gulf. The American victory at Leyte, meant that the liberation of the Philippines could proceed, a long and bloody fight.

Burma (1943-45)

Once reaching India, the British and American commanders began to assess just what had happened and to plan how to not only defend India, but to retake Burma. For the Allies, the China, Burma, India Theater (CBI) was the most remote and lowest priority. The focus from the beginning was on defeating NAZI Germany and even in the campaign against the Japanese the CBI was of low priority. Even so, the far greater resources of the Allies meant that more resources were available to the Allied forces than to the Japanese who were hard pressed to move men and equipment forward to the front. The major British interest was taking back their colony. The Americans who attached an importance to the Chinese Nationalists with the British did not share were intent on reopening the Burma Road to Chunking China. The British planed a series of drives into Burma using mostly Indian units. They believed as a result of their experience in Burma that their own units needed training in jungle fighting. The 14th Indian Division attacked along the southern coast (January 1943), but failed to dislodge heavily entrenched Japanese troops at Akyab. Stilwell's CAI was among the most effective in the Nationalist Army. While Chaing's poorly led and supplied Army in China itself declined to attack the Japanese, the CAI was both well led and well supplied. They proved themselves a competent force. It was composed of units left in Burma after the Japanese cut the Burma Road. Stillwell was an irascible, but effective commander. He spoke Chinese and earned the respect of his Chinese soldiers. Stillwell trained the CAI along American lines. Officers were expected to train as well as men and he emphasized discipline. He also ma\de sure that commanders did not engage in corrupt practices. Thus the men were well equipped and fed. The officers as well as the men were Chinese, unlike the British Indian Army. Given the effectiveness of the units, conflict developed between Chaing and Stillwell. Field Marshal Sir Archibald Wavell decided that the British troops needed to learn to fight with the Japanese in the jungle. He gave an eccentric British officer, Orde Wingate, the opportunity to carry out a jungle warfare campaign behind Japanese lines in Burma, The force became known as the Chindits, these were the name of the stone tigers that guarded temples in Burma. The Chindits adopted classic guerrilla tactics. They attacked Japanese forces where they were unprepared and did not expect an attack. Along with the British were the Gurkhas, expert at hand to hand combat. The Chindits used deep-penetration tactic. They operated in small groups and were supplied by air. The Americans formed a comparable force. The Chindit operations seemed to have convinced the Japanese that remaining static in Burma made it vulnerable . They decided on an offensive which aimed to attack Imphal, a strategic position where the British were building up their supplies for the planned drive into Burma. The fighting around Imphal was some of the most vicious of the War, Although cut off, the British refused to surrender, In the end the attacking Japanese force was decimated. This was followed by the invasion of Burma. The British.Indian Army attacked in the south and the American/Chinese Army in the north, This eventually the Americans managed to build the Ledo Road which reached the northern part of the Burma Road and reopened overland supply deliveries to China. The British after hard fighting reached Mandalay.

Pacific Strategy Conference (July 1944)

The two American offensives in the Pacific came to a conclusion at the same time. The U.S. Army under Douglas MacArthur in the South Pacific had neutralized Rabaul and defeated or bypassed Japanese forces in the Solomons and northeastern New Guinea. At the same time, the U.S. Navy under Admiral Chester Nimitz after driving through the Central Pacific (the Gilberts and Marshalls) and finally seized the Marianas after the great naval victory in the Philippines Sea. But this brought to the fore the still unanswered question of 'where next?' There were two targets on the table. MacArthur was adamant about the answer--the Philippines. Since departing Corridor he had repeated his goal, 'I shall return.' His argument was largely political and moral--we owed it to the Filipino people as the Philippines at the time was American territory. Admiral Earnest King believed that Formosa (Taiwan) made more strategic sense, largely because it would more more effectively interdict the delivery of raw materials from the Southern Resource Zone to the Home Islands. A difference of such magnitude between such senior American commanders could only be resolved by President Roosevelt. The President summoned his commanders at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii to settle the issue of the direction of the advance on Japan (July 26-27). MacArthur made his and the Army's case. Nimitz made the case for the Navy. The choice would be the Philippines leading to the greatest naval battle in world history--the Battle of Leyte Gulf.

Liberating the Philippines (October 1944)

The Filipino people suffered grievously under Japanese occupation. This helped fuel an effective Resistance campaigns carried out by guerillas which had achieved control of substantial areas. The Japanese, however, controlled the population centers, especially on Leyte and Luzon. The Navy preferred targeting Formosa (Taiwan), but MacArthur eventually prevailed with his insistence that America must return to the Philippines. He considered his vow to return a pledge to the Filipino people that had to be honored. Some how his vow, "I shall return." seems less appropriate 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 invasion of Mindanao was considered unnecessary and the decision was made to strike first further north at Leyte. It was in this engagement that the Kamikazes first appeared, although still in relatively small numbers. MacArthur President Sergio Osmeña 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 resistance occurred at sea. The resulting naval engagement following on Battle of the Philippines 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).

Figure 2.--Civilians suffered terribly during the Okinawa campasgn. Because of the nature of the campaign there were huge losses of civilans caught in the middle of the fighting. Then it got worse because the Japanese soldiers expected the civilians to commit suiside along with them. When they refused the Japanese soldiers woud murder them. Here an American Marine escorts Japanese children to safty beyond the war zone. Their parents are probzblky dead.

Japanese Change in Tactics (October 1944)

The loss of the Marianas and Philippines transformed the Pacific War (1944). Possession of the Marianas mean that the Americans could bomb the Home Islands. Possession of the Philippines meant that the Americans had cut Japan off from the Southern Resource Zone (SRZ). This was already being done by the American submarine campaign. Possession of the Philippines meant that virtually no raw materials were s getting through to the war factories on the Home Islands. Remember, it was the American Philippines that meant that the Japanese could not just seize the British and Dutch colonies in the SRZ in 1941. They had to destroy the United States Pacific Fleet. In addition, the Battle of the Philippines Sea, part of the Marianas Campaign showed that the Japanese air capability was no longer effective. The Great Marianas Turkey Shoot shocked the Japanese. It meant that existing air and naval tactics could not stop the Americans. Japanese tactics in the Battle of Leyte Gulf were essentially a naval Kamikaze attack. Failure at Leyte meant ghat there would be no Kantai Kerssen. This lead to a radical change in Japanese tactics and strategy. It was now clear even to the the fiercely committed Japanese military that they could not win the war. The War was continued with the hope that they could avoid losing the war disastrously and most importantly prevent the occupation of Japan. Japanese strategy became very simple--kill as many Americans as possible, hoping this would dissuade the United States from pursuing the War. This led to the birth of the the Kamikazes which seemed mad to the Americans, but by 1945, the only successes achieved by the Japanese were ships sunk by Kamikazes. And naval and land tactics were not unlike the Kamikazes. Japanese defended positions like Iwo and Okinawa were designed not to hold the island, but to kill as many Americans as possible. And the final voyage of Yamato was essentially a Kamikaze attack. At the end of the War, the Japanese defense of Kyushu was to blood the Americans even more than had been the case on Okinawa.
<2>Strtegic Bombing

The Home Islands (1945)

Japan began its aggression by invading Chinese Manchuria (1931). Here and fir 14 years the Japanese invaded other countries and territories. And even after they were stopped at Guadalcanal, they fought the war at locations far away from the Japanese Home Islands. The little white boxes came home to Japanese mothers and rationing became more severe, but the actual fighting was still in distant lands. This changed dramatically in 1945. It should not have been a surprise to any Japanese people reading a map. But one catastrophe after another began to unfold. The American took Iwo Jima (February 1945). Iwo was the first Japanese territory to fall to the Americans. This was followed by the first really destructive air raids (March 1945). In the ensuing months, the United States would burn the heart out of industrial Japan. Than the Americans landed on Okinawa, another actual Japanese territory. The Generals assured the Emperor that this would be the decisive battle and the Americans would be finally defeated. They had made the same prediction about other major battles. After Okinawa fell--the Emperor with Tokyo burning before his eyes lost all confidence in the military. It was clear that the Americans were next preparing to invade the Home Islands and the Military realized that the blow would begin in southern Kyushu which was within range of the newly won air bases in Okinawa. The Japanese began a massive buildup of men and material in Kyushu. Units were drawn down from China and Manchuria to prepare for the invasion. Not only were military resources deployed, but the Japanese organized civilians, including children, to stop the Americans. All of the Japanese islands are mountainous, including Kyushu. This provided like Okinawa, enumerable defensive positions to kill Americans. This was a strategy the Japanese adopted beginning with Tarawa in the Gilberts. The Japanese believed that if the killed enough Americans that the United States would tire of the War and make peace. Unfortunately for the Japanese it failed on Pacific island after another. It not only filed, but convinced the Americans that the atomic bomb had to be used to avoid the terrible bloodletting that would result from an invasion. The Americans might have used the bomb anyway, but the terrible losses on Iwo and Okinawa made the use of the bomb inevitable.

Atomic Bomb (August 1945)

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 other refugees fleeing the NAZIs made a major contribution to the success of the Manhattan Program. The first bomb was successfully tested at Alamogordo, New Mexico on July ??, 1945. The Allies met in a Berlin suburb after the NAZI surrender to make decisions 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 Japanese military was prepared to fight on rather than surrender. The Japanese Government responded to the Potsdam Declaration with "utter contempt". The Japanese military continued feverish plans to repel the American invasion of the Home Islands. Many Wehrmacht generals at the end of the War were anxious to surrender to the Americans. 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 expressing similar sentiments. Truman was not anxious to use the atomic bomb. He was anxious to end the War and limit American casualties. 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 articles published in both Japan and America about the atomic bomb. Japanese scholars have researched the decision making process that led to the dropping of the atomic 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.

Soviet Declaration of War (August 1945)

The American Hiroshima attack caused Stalin to order the immediate declaration of war on Japan and invasion of Manchuria least Japan surrender before the Soviets attacked. The Soviet Union, 2 days after the first atomic bomb was dropped, entered the war against Japan (August 8). Stalin as promised at Yalta and Potsdam declared war on Japan. At the time the Japanese were attempting to use the Soviets to mediate an end to the War. He moved the date up after the Hiroshima bombing because he wanted to be in the War before Japan surrendered. Soviet plans included the invasion of Manchukuo (Manchuria), Mengjiang, Korea, the southern portion of Sakhalin, the Kuril Islands, and Hokkaido. All these operations except the invasion of Hokkaido were carried out. The Soviets struck in Manchuria and routed the Japanese forces there. The offensive was in sharp contrast to the campaigns the Americans conducted in the Pacific. The Soviets after declaring war immediately launched a massive invasion--the largest ground operation of the Pacific War. The Red Army rapidly swept over Manchuria. Japanese resistance crumpled. The Soviet invasion is not well covered in Western histories of the War. One question that arises is why the Soviets so quickly succeeded in Manchuria while the United States struggled in Okinawa. I think this is primarily because Okinawa was a small island where the Japanese could concentrate their forces in mountainous terrain. Manchuria was a huge area, much of it a flat plane, idea for tank warfare. The Japanese could not defend it like they were able to do on Okinawa. Perhaps readers more familiar with the Soviet invasion will be able to tell us more. Soviet plans included the invasion of Manchukuo (Manchuria), Mengjiang, Korea, the southern portion of Sakhalin, the Kuril Islands, and Hokkaido. All these operations except the invasion of Hokkaido were carried out. The Soviet invasion was code named Operation August Storm. The massive Soviet invasion swept aside Japanese resistance. The Japanese were surprised and destroyed any illusions among the military that Japan's still substantial army had the ability to resist Allied armies. Some authors believe that the success of the Soviets in Manchuria and the inability of the Japanese army to resist them, had more of an impact on the Japanese military than the two American atomic bombs. One factor that we are not yet sure about is why Japanese resistance in Manchuria collapsed so quickly and why the Japanese military commanders were willing to surrender to the Soviets, but unwilling to surrender to the Americans in Okinawa or the Philippines. The Japanese that surrendered to the Soviets spent years in the Gullag. They were used for years in construction projects in Siberia and Central Asia. [Solzhenitsyn, p. 84.] Only about half survived and ever returned to Japan.

Soviet Invasion of the Kuril Islands (August 1945)

Stalin wanted to share in the occupation of Japan of Japan in the same way that the occupation of Germany was unfolding. While he had assembled a massive force in the Far East and used it to invade Manchuria and Korea (August 8). Invading Japan, however, was a very different matter. The Soviets did not have the sea-lift capability of getting part of its Far East forces to the Japanese Home Islands. The Soviet Manchurian Strategic Offensive Operation included plans to invade Hokkaido, the northern Japanese Home Island. It soon became apparent that the limited Soviet Sea-Lift capability made this impossible. Instead they conducted a an operation to seize the much smaller Kuril Islands extenting from Japan's Hokkaido in a northerly arc to the Soviet Kamchatka Peninsula. The only battle of the Soviet campaign was the Battle of Shumshu. This was to be the beginning of a Soviet effort to seize the Kuril Islands and hopefully northern Japan. It proved to be the only major battle of the Soviet Kuril campaign and one of the last battles of the War. The United States as the war wound down in Europe pressed Stalin to enter the Pacific War against Japan. Stalin wanted to do just that, but his desire to do so. He agreed to do so only after the Germans surrendered and then with a-month lag time to transfer forces east. He also demanded Lend Lease aid for his Pacific forces. The United States complied, including transferring a dozen types of ships and aircraft to the Soviets. The United States secretly transferred 149 ships and aircraft (Spring-Summer 1945). They included vessels needed for amphibious operations. Most were escort vessels, landing craft, and minesweepers (Spring-Summer 1945). The transfer occurred at Cold Bay in Alaska and was named in Project Hula. [Russel, p. 8.] Some historians argue that President Truman because of problems dealing with the Soviets in post-War Germany was not interested in a joint American-Soviet occupation of Japan. [Hasegawa] The Soviets encountered considerable resistance, largely because of their inability to move a substantial force to Shumshu. As a result there was no fighting further south. Victory came only when the Japanese Government convinced their forces on Shumshu to cease resistance (August 23). The Soviets encountered no further resistance in its seizure of the Kuril Islands (completed by September 1). The Soviets given the level of resistance on Shumshu and their limited sea-lift capability abandoned plans to invade Hokkaido.

Surrender (August 14-September 2, 1945)

Most Americans believe that the Japanese surrendered because of the American development and use of the atomic bomb. The bomb was certainly a factor, but not the only factor. The decision to surrender is far more complex and impossible to know with any certainty. The American Pacific Island invasions, naval power, and in particular the Soviet declaration of war and startling success of the their invasion of Manchuria all played major roles. 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 succeeded. On what has become called "Japan's Longest Day" the attempted coup, bombing raid blackout, intrigues, killings, and seppukus determined fate of millions of Japanese people. It was 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 (September 3). Not knowing just what the Japanese were planning, the American carriers were standing at sea off Japan.

Created: 4:46 AM 11/10/2025
Last updated: 4:46 AM 11/10/2025