3. War in the Pacific: 1937 to 1945 Fdr4freedoms 2

fdr4freedoms 1 All during the late 1930s, President Franklin D. Roosevelt 3. War in the Pacific: watched with intense concern as fascists marched across Europe. But the provocation that finally brought America into World War II came not from a German submarine trawling the 1937 to 1945 Atlantic, but from Japanese bombers winging across the Pacific to bomb Pearl Harbor. And the bloodiest war in history would finally end not with the surrender of Nazi Germany in May 1945, but three months later, after the United States dropped nuclear bombs on Japanese cities. The Axis Pact of September 1940, in which Imperial Japan had pledged alliance with Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini, was a matter of expediency as much as shared values. But the aggressor nations had this in common: they wanted to acquire territory and the resources that came with it. The Japanese strike on Pearl Harbor was only the most destructive of several simultaneous attacks that took place Japanese diplomat Saburo ¯ Kurusu, Nazi leader Adolf Hitler, and Italian foreign minister Galeazzo Ciano at the signing on December 7, 1941. As FDR noted the next day in his famous of the Axis Pact in Berlin on September 27, 1940. With this “date of infamy” speech, the Japanese also attacked Malaya, agreement, the three authoritarian governments threw in their lots together, pledging to help one another achieve a Hong Kong, Guam, Wake Island, and the Philippines. Their goal “new order” in both Europe and Asia. © IWM (HU 75995) was to advance from these initial assaults over a wide area IV. Statesman & Commander in Chief: FDR in World War II 3. War in the Pacific: 1937 to 1945 fdr4freedoms 2 A map of Imperial Japan at the height of its success in conquest, the result of a swift offensive campaign in the Pacific that began with the December 7, 1941, attacks on Pearl Harbor, Malaya, Hong Kong, Guam, Wake Island, and the Philippines. In the lower right of the Japanese territory is Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands, whose recapture by the Americans in February 1943 would be a first step in their struggle toward the Japanese mainland. of the Pacific, from Burma and the Aleutian In the Philippines, American forces under and, thanks to the closure of the Burma Road Islands in the north to Fiji and New Caledonia the initial command of General Douglas by which China received needed supplies, in the south, seizing the resource-rich Dutch MacArthur managed to hold out on the possibly even to neutralize that longtime foe. East Indies in the process. The Japanese Bataan Peninsula and the Island of Corregidor The massive Japanese offensive that hoped this stunning blow delivered to the U.S. for some months, but in early May, after followed Pearl Harbor put the United States fleet at Pearl Harbor, combined with the rapid FDR ordered MacArthur to leave, they, on the defensive in the Pacific War. But the seizure of a vast territory, would so debilitate too, succumbed to the Japanese advance. vigorous military buildup FDR had initiated the American military and demoralize the Perhaps the most humiliating defeat of all, in 1939 ensured that the balance of naval American public that the United States would however, took place at the British island power would soon turn in America’s favor. sue for peace, leaving the Japanese empire base of Singapore, where more than seventy Though FDR continued to insist on a strategy to enjoy the spoils of a sweeping domain its thousand British and Commonwealth troops of defeating “Germany First,” the United leaders called “the Greater East Asia Co- fell to a Japanese force of roughly half that States would prove capable of sending Prosperity Sphere.” number in mid-February 1942. reinforcements to the Pacific—and launching Japanese forces swiftly achieved nearly Having secured most of Burma and the offensive operations in that theater much all of their initial goals. By the end of January, northern coast of New Guinea by the end of earlier than expected. Malaya was in their hands; by the end of May, the Japanese were now in a position to February, they held the Dutch East Indies. threaten India, Australia, and New Zealand, IV. Statesman & Commander in Chief: FDR in World War II 3. War in the Pacific: 1937 to 1945 fdr4freedoms 3 A America Strikes Back: The Doolittle Raid The first hint that the United States might be far out to sea that it would be impossible for The flight deck of the U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS Hornet able to mount offensive operations in the them to return to the ship after completing crowded with B-25 bombers and smaller dive bombers during Pacific came with the so-called Doolittle Raid. their mission. Instead, they were expected to the Doolittle Raid on April 18, 1942. The aircraft would not Eager to restore the American public’s morale fly on to air bases in China. return to the carrier after attacks on Tokyo and other cities, but fly on to China. The Doolittle Raid, though it inflicted after the devastating Japanese assault on On April 18, 1942, the planes, flown by little damage, salved American indignation after Pearl Harbor. Pearl Harbor, Franklin D. Roosevelt urged his volunteers under the command of Lieutenant National Museum of the USAF commanders to find a way to quickly strike Colonel James Doolittle, took off from back at the enemy. In response, the Joint the carrier and staged a surprise strike on Chiefs of Staff, an executive body comprising Tokyo and four other cities. Though the raid the top U.S. military leaders, put together a inflicted little damage, it did boost Americans’ daring plan to ferry sixteen B-25 bombers confidence, much as FDR had hoped. Of the aboard an aircraft carrier to the western eighty aircrew involved, all but nine survived Pacific, where they would carry out a bombing after either crash-landing their planes in raid on Japan. To avoid Japanese patrols or China or bailing out (making an emergency radar, the bombers, which were not designed escape by parachute) over Chinese territory. for use on carriers, had to be launched so IV. Statesman & Commander in Chief: FDR in World War II 3. War in the Pacific: 1937 to 1945 fdr4freedoms 4 Top: Bombs drop from a U.S. Army Air B Force plane onto Japanese targets on Kiska in Alaska’s Aleutian Islands, 1942. The Japanese had seized Kiska and another U.S.-owned island, Attu, Turning Point: in early June 1942—the same time they were launching a major strike far to The Battle of Midway the south, at Midway Island. Though Allies won the Battle of Midway in four days in a major turning point of the war, it would take them more than a The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, while year to eject the Japanese from their devastating, had nevertheless failed to inflict Aleutian occupation. LOC any damage on America’s aircraft carriers, Middle: Black smoke pours from a U.S. which were by chance out at sea that day. Navy aircraft carrier, the USS Yorktown In an effort to annihilate this force and (CV-5), after hits from Japanese dive bombers in the Battle of Midway, June complete the job of destroying America’s 4, 1942. Americans tried to salvage offensive capability—perhaps even force the the damaged carrier, but a Japanese United States into a negotiated settlement— submarine torpedo attack sunk it on June 6. Its airplanes had played Japanese commanders devised an elaborate an important part in sinking the four plan to lure what remained of the American aircraft carriers Japan brought to fleet into a decisive battle. bear at Midway. The Yorktown was the only U.S. carrier lost in an otherwise The plan involved a minor attack on decisive victory. U.S. Navy National Alaska’s Aleutian Islands that would divert a Museum of Naval Aviation portion of what remained of the U.S. fleet Bottom: Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, to the northern Pacific, and a major strike at commander of the Pacific Fleet. Midway Island, where the American aircraft Following the Battle of Midway, Nimitz would lead American forces from carriers would be engaged and destroyed. Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands But thanks to U.S. naval intelligence, which up through the central Pacific to the had cracked Japan’s naval radio code, the Marianas. © IWM (OEM 1979) Americans were aware of the Japanese plans. Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, was thus able to set a trap of his own. He sent substantial reinforcements to Midway and secretly concentrated America’s naval forces near the island. On June 4, 1942, the Americans surprised the approaching Japanese armada, sinking all four Japanese aircraft carriers in the strike force. In subsequent engagements, the Japanese would lose two additional cruisers, while the Americans lost just one carrier, the USS Yorktown, and a destroyer, the USS Hammann. The Battle of Midway was a severe defeat for the Japanese navy. It marked a major turning point in the Pacific War, making it possible for the United States to put its enemy on the defensive. IV. Statesman & Commander in Chief: FDR in World War II 3. War in the Pacific: 1937 to 1945 fdr4freedoms 5 C The Fight for Guadalcanal Having fought Japanese naval forces to a draw in the Battle of the Coral Sea in May 1942 and inflicted severe damage to the Japanese fleet at the Battle of Midway in June, Franklin D. Roosevelt and his military chiefs turned their attention to stopping the Japanese advance in the Solomon Islands.

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