End of WW2 in Asia-Pacific

• Pearl Habour


  7 Dec 1941

  1. Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbour

  2. Crippled USA's Pacific fleet

  3. Simultaneous air attacks on the Philippines, Hong Kong, Malaya and Singapore

  4. By 1942, all the S.E.A. colonies were under Japanese control

  
  

  Impact :

  1. USA's Entry into WW2

  2. Attack on Pearl Harbour led to outrage in the US, USA decided to retaliate

  3. Allies decided to focus on Germany while also defending against Japan

  4. USA's huge resources were now directed towards the war
• Battle of Midway


  1942

  1. Link to Japan (C4) expansionist and aggressive policies

  2. Japan wanted to use Midway islands as a base to threaten Hawaii and US pacific coast

  3. US broke Japan's naval code and was prepared for the attack

  4. US attacked Japan when they were refuelling their planes

  5. Admiral Yamamoto's plan backfired and led to Japan losing 4 aircraft carriers, 300 planes and ¾ of experienced pilots
• Island Hopping

  1. Allies used the island hopping strategy to reclaim territory in the pacific

  2. They skipped heavily fortified islands and focused on seizing poorly defended ones

  3. Isolated the islands and make it difficult for Japan to defend its strongholds as supplies were cut off

  4. Allowed Allies to reduce casualties and advance towards Japanese home islands

  5. Helped Allies retake the Philippines (Oct 1944), Iwo Jima (Feb 1945) and Okinawa (Apr 1945)

  
  

  6. Death Before Dishonour :

  Japanese refused to surrender

  Japanese kamikaze suicide bombers also crashed their planes into Allied ships to sink them