WW2: The War in the Pacific

Lamar Johnson
The title, The War in the Pacific generally refers to fighting that went on in Sino (geographical
name for the country known today as The Peoples Republic of China) and Japan, though there
were fights going on farther into in the pacific, like during the island hopping campaign to get
into Japan in the first place. Another name for this particular war is the Pacific Theater, while
Japanese officials officially referred to it as The Greater East Asia War. The main cause of the
U.S entering this war, and World War 2 in general, to be exact, was the Japanese attack on the
American Navy at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on December 7, 1941.While this is mainly known as
the day American started getting into the military war effort, this day is also known as the official
start of the War in the Pacific. On this day, Japan also invaded Thailand, and attacked the British
owned lands of Malaysia, Singapore, and Hong Kong. The war lasted almost 4 years, and
wouldnt end until (officially) September 2, 1945. This incident rang throughout the country,
and actually ended up in the internment of multiple innocent Japanese citizens living in America,
but this is a story for another time, and/or essay. This wars main feature was the Allied Powers
(Mainly Chinese forces) going up against Japan, an Axis Power. The Chinese, led by Chiang
Kai-shek and Mao Zedong, brought the most men by sheer numbers to the Japanese battlefield,
with an astounding fourteen million man strong army, compared to the U.S. army of one million
two hundred and fifty thousand, the British army of two million four hundred thousand, and the
soviet army of one million six hundred sixty nine thousand five hundred. Australia, The
Philippines, the Netherlands, New Zealand and Canada also assisted in the war, but in much,
much smaller numbers.

There were many conditions ripe for havoc present before the war even began. The starting
condition would have to be the Japanese commanded invasion of a geographical area shared
between the countries of Russia and China known as Manchuria, their subsequent hostile
takeover, and the renaming of it to Manchukuo. While this caused the world opinion of Japan to
shift into Condemnation, nothing was really done about it in response, that is, until the Japanese
decided go ahead and attack the Russian (soviet) eastern front from Manchuria. They were
pushed back in the battle of Khalkhin Gol by a combined Russian and Mongolian force, led by a
man named George Zukov. The Japanese stopped their attempts to advance into the north after
this failure, but the Soviets ended their giving of aid to China due to the neutrality pact the USSR
held with Japan. Afterwards, in the September of 1940, the Japanese invaded and took over the
Indochinese Peninsula (made up of countries like todays Thailand, Laos, Myanmar, and of
course Vietnam) which was at the time occupied by the French. The Japanese of course, won,
and by the 27th of that September had officially joined the Axis Powers of Germany and Italy. In
the period of grace for the Japanese before further assault, they set up multiple puppet
governments secretly led by Japanese officials in places that they had taken over, and conducted
multiple bombing raids on Chinese cities. 1.
After being threatened by the Embargos and ceasing of diplomatic relations with other countries,
and driven by the need to keep their conquered territories along with preventing an economic
collapse, the Japanese military forces decided to go ahead and attack the U.S. Pearl Harbor is the
most obvious base that was attacked, though bases on Guam and Wake Island (of course, also
owned by the U.S at this time) were attacked as well. The train of thought was that the sudden
and unexpected destroying of our navy might convince us to assist, or at least, hand over most of
Asia to Japan to prevent further damages. This, of course, did not even come close to working,

and the Japanese general Isoroku Yamamoto is quoted as saying that I fear all we have done is
to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve. Germany and Italy, in something
else widely known as a massive mistake, decided to declare war on the U.S. immediately
afterwards. Confronted with the failure of attacking America, the Japanese decided to continue
their fights in Southeast Asia. Australia also ended up being a major target during this time, with
most of their men off and occupied fighting in Germany.
The Pacific War Council was founded and formed in Washington D.C. on April 1st, 1942.
President FDR, his advisor Harry Hopkins, and representatives from Britain, China, Australia,
the Netherlands, New Zealand, and Canada were the original members of said council.
Representatives from India and the Philippines were added to the organization later on. This
council never had any direct control, though, and it was mainly controlled by the U.S and U.K
heads of staff. The strength of this council gradually grew, though.
The turning point of the war in the pacific is commonly accepted as the Battle of Midway. The
Battle of the Coral Sea was a large, defining battle that also took place around this time, and
pushed back Japanese forces, preventing some of them from interfering in Midway. Specific
ships lost by the Japanese were the Shoho, which sunk, and the Shokaku and Zuikaku ships,
which were critically damaged. Another crushing factor was that Japan lacked the actual ability
to fill in new pilots and ship captains. After the battle of Coral Sea, yet before Midway, was an
attempt to set up a trap led by Japanese Marshal-Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto. His plan was to
lure American military might upwards to the Aleutian islands, while sending his main force
towards Midway, to destroy the remaining carriers and establish Japanese control over the central
pacific region, which would been irrefutably invaluable to the Japanese war effort and strategy.

However, allied codebreakers had discovered his intentions previously, and didnt fall for the
said trap. This battle ended with Yamamotos four carriers, the Soryu, Kaga, Akagi, and Hiryu all
destroyed, and a net gain for the allied forces in the Pacific.
Budding off of the Japanese conquest of Burma, otherwise known as Myanmar, FDR, Winston
Churchill, and Chiang Kai-Shek held a meeting in Egypt, called the Cairo Conference, to discuss
a strategy to defeat Japan. The end result to this meeting was a document called the Cairo
Declaration. It basically stated that the three allied nations (U.S., Britain, and China) along with
the rest of the United Nations, would continue to be united in their goal of achieving the
unconditional surrender of Japan. 2.
Midway was the last great pacific naval battle for the two years: the remainder of the battles
were usually fought with submarine warfare. Eventually, the U.S. began using its 150
submarines to maximum effect, causing a large increase in patrols and sinkings of enemy ships.
Near the end, Japanese losses only decreased because so few ships would dare venture out into
the dangerous, American controlled waters. The Japanese forces total loss was around 130
submarines, much higher than the Americans 52.
The beginning of the end for the Japanese forces involved a renewed invasion into Asian
countries. An excursion into China, referred to as Ichi-Go (literally 15 or one-five, but can also
be translated to strawberry depending on the kanji) was stopped at Guangxi, China, and failed to
give the Japanese any notable gains. An offensive was also launched into India, by the name of
U-Go, and ended in the loss of over 50,000 Japanese soldiers due to starvation and disease
brought on by the Indian Monsoon. This was the worst defeat their army had suffered to date.
Next, the battle of Saipan, a major Japanese stronghold that was of their upmost imperative to

remain in control of, was lost after vicious fighting, and resulted in the Japanese Navy Carrier
Force being effectively destroyed. The battle of Leyte Gulf, considered the largest Naval battle in
history was next, and was the absolute biggest of world war two. A Japanese force consisting of
five battleships, twelve cruisers and thirteen destroyers, including the two largest battleships
every built, the Yamato and the Musashi, faced off against a U.S. force of two main carriers and
around 260 planes, launched from said carriers, their names being the USS Intrepid and the USS
Cabot. A third U.S. fleet, made up of seventeen cruisers, sixty-three destroyers and a grand total
of one thousand planes. With their forces being completely outmanned and outgunned, this battle
resulted in a Japanese loss and a U.S. gain in securing the beachheads of Leyte and opening up a
way to get closer to Japan.
The end of the war was marked by its bloodiest battles. Iwo Jima, an island off of the coast of
Tokyo, ended in 6,800 marines dying and nearly 20,000 wounded, with the Japanese having
20,000 killed and 1,083 taken as prisoners of war. Though, as cited by the famous picture, it was
an American victory, and the flag was successfully raised. Later, the Japanese would attempt to
invade Burma, and they would lose some 150,000 men before surrendering prior to more allied
forces even arriving there. The bloodiest battle was that of Okinawa, though, with 75,000
Americans being injured, wounded, or dead and 110,000 Japanese being killed. The ending of
this war, was of course marked by the use of nuclear weaponry. Hiroshima and Nagasaki; Fat
Man and Little Boy absolutely demolished these two cities, and along with them the hopes and
spirit of the militant Japanese intent on fighting until the very last breath taken by the very last
man, woman, or child standing.

In their surrender, Emperor Hirohito stated that, and I quote Should we continue to fight, it would
not only result in an ultimate collapse and obliteration of the Japanese nation, but also it would lead
to the total extinction of human civilization.3.

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_War
2. http://2001-2009.state.gov/r/pa/ho/time/wwii/107184.htm
3. http://www.ioc.u-tokyo.ac.jp/~worldjpn/documents/texts/docs/19450814.O1E.html