As the war progressed and the American military was able to advance across the Pacific, the fighting became more vicious. The penultimate battle of the war took place in February of on the island of Iwo Jima. What made this engagement so significant was it was the first time that the United States was fighting the Japanese on ancestral Japanese soil.
All the other battles had been on islands that the Japanese had conquered. Not Iwo Jima. The ferocity by which the Japanese defended this island was unlike anything the United States military had seen. Over 23, Japanese soldiers were ensconced on the island prior to the invasion. Over 21, died in its defense. These numbers would be eclipsed several months later during the largest battle of the Pacific war.
Okinawa was another ancestral Japanese island. The difference was the scale. Three Japanese-held islands, A, B, and C, are situated roughly in a row; all have formidable defenses and some naval and airborne offensive capabilities. Allied air and amphibious forces begin by successfully subduing island A. Seabees and army engineers prepare an airfield and harbor for the forces massing on island A. Meanwhile, Allied land- and carrier-based aircraft attack and destroy the Japanese air and naval forces on island B, thus isolating the base and depriving its garrison of any offensive capability.
Finally, when sufficient forces are available on island A, Allied forces leapfrog island B and strike at island C. Allied campaigns in the southwest and central Pacific alternated between hopping from island to island and leapfrogging an island.
After the naval victories in the Battles of the Coral Sea and Midway earlier in , the island-hopping strategy was used in New Guinea and the Solomon Islands from late into These islands were close to one another and thus easily lent themselves to island-hopping as well as base-hopping.
For six months, the fighting on Guadalcanal raged as both the U. On the island, the 1st Marine Division stubbornly held a defensive position around Henderson Field, the all-important air base for success in island-hopping.
Meanwhile, ongoing battles occurred in the air above and in the seas around Guadalcanal. Allied air-power and sea power gradually cut the Japanese supply lines and denied support to the enemy forces remaining on this island. Guadalcanal was under Allied control by the end of Allied forces then progressed to the northwest through the Solomon chain in a campaign to take the Japanese stronghold at Rabaul on the island of New Britain.
Together, operations on Guadalcanal and New Guinea served as preludes to a planned attack on Rabaul. Located on New Britain in the Bismarck Archipelago, off the northern coast of New Guinea, Rabaul possessed powerful naval, air, and land forces which included more than , Japanese combatants. This base also controlled surrounding area and consequently blocked the Allied advance through the Solomons.
Initially, Rabaul was to be captured under Operation Cartwheel. However, at the Quebec Conference in August , it became apparent that such an action would be much too costly in time, manpower, and materiel. The obvious solution was a modified Operation Cartwheel which called for leapfrogging or isolating Rabaul. In the battles that followed, Allied forces successfully encircled Rabaul by taking Bougainville, the Admiralty Islands, and other islands in the Bismarcks.
Allied bombers and their fighter escorts traveled only miles from Bougainville and pulverized the Japanese forces at Rabaul. In addition, Allied prizes such as the Admiralties served as important staging points for future operations. The plutonium was then chemically separated from the uranium. Following a firebombing campaign that destroyed many Japanese cities, the Allies prepared for a costly invasion of Japan. American President Harry S. In Hiroshima, an area of approximately 4. About 70, to 80, people, of whom 20, were Japanese combatants and 20, were Korean slave laborers, or some 30 percent of the population of Hiroshima, were killed immediately, and another 70, injured.
The resulting explosion had a blast yield equivalent to 21 kilotons of TNT but was confined to the Urakami Valley and a major portion of the city was protected by the intervening hills, resulting in the destruction of about 44 percent of the city.
Overall, an estimated 35,—40, people were killed and 60, injured. Estimates vary greatly, but within the first two to four months of the bombings, the acute effects of the atomic bombings killed 90,—, people in Hiroshima and 39,—80, in Nagasaki. Many died from the effect of burns, radiation sickness, and other injuries, compounded by illness and malnutrition.
In both cities, most of the dead were civilians, although Hiroshima had a sizable military garrison. Following the bombings, Emperor Hirohito intervened and ordered the Supreme Council for the Direction of the War to accept the terms the Allies had set down in the Potsdam Declaration for ending the war.
In the radio address, he announced the surrender of Japan to the Allies. Atomic bombing of Japan : Atomic bomb mushroom clouds over Hiroshima left and Nagasaki right.
By the end of July , the Imperial Japanese Navy was incapable of conducting operations and an Allied invasion of Japan was imminent. The Soviets, meanwhile, were preparing to attack the Japanese, in fulfillment of their promises to the United States and the United Kingdom made at the Tehran and Yalta Conferences.
Truman, respectively. The terms of the declaration specified the matters of Japanese authorities e. Contrary to what had been intended at its conception, the declaration made no direct mention of the Emperor. On August 6, , the United States dropped an atomic bomb on the city of Hiroshima. Late in the evening of August 8, , in accordance with Yalta agreements but in violation of the Soviet-Japanese Neutrality Pact, the Soviet Union declared war on Japan, and soon after midnight on August 9, , it invaded the Japanese puppet state of Manchukuo.
Later that day, the United States dropped an atomic bomb on Nagasaki. The combined shock of these events caused Emperor Hirohito to intervene and order the Big Six to accept the terms for ending the war that the Allies had set down in the Potsdam Declaration. In the radio address, he announced the surrender of Japan. On August 28, , the occupation of Japan by the supreme commander of the Allied powers began. After the formal surrender, investigations into Japanese war crimes began.
At a meeting with MacArthur later in September, Emperor Hirohito offered to take blame for the war crimes, but his offer was rejected, and he was never tried. Japanese forces in Southeast Asia surrendered on September 12, , in Singapore. It was not until that all prisoners held by America and Britain were repatriated. As late as April , China still held more than 60, Japanese prisoners. The logistical demands of the surrender were formidable.
Japan and the Soviet Union formally made peace four years later, when they signed the Soviet-Japanese Joint Declaration of Privacy Policy. Skip to main content. Search for:. The War in the Pacific. Learning Objectives Explain the military strategy behind Allied leapfrogging in the Pacific. Key Takeaways Key Points Leapfrogging was a military strategy that entailed bypassing and isolating heavily fortified Japanese positions while preparing to take over strategically important islands.
It originated from island hopping. Both Nimitz and MacArthur applied leapfrogging and island hopping as major strategies. Leapfrogging would allow U. It entailed taking over an island and establishing a military base there. Nimitz was selected to serve as commander in chief, U.
Pacific Fleet, with the rank of admiral. As rapidly as ships, men, and material became available, Nimitz shifted to the offensive and defeated the Japanese Navy in the Battle of the Coral Sea, the pivotal Battle of Midway, and in the Solomon Islands campaign. In the final phases in the war in the Pacific, Nimitz attacked the Mariana Islands, inflicting a decisive defeat on the Japanese fleet in the Battle of the Philippine Sea, and capturing Saipan, Guam, and Tinian.
Nimitz culminated his long-range strategy with successful amphibious assaults on Iwo Jima and Okinawa. Navy decisively defeated an Imperial Japanese Navy attack against Midway Atoll, inflicting irreparable damage on the Japanese fleet.
Battle for Leyte Gulffrom : Generally considered to be the largest naval battle of World War II and, by some criteria, possibly the largest naval battle in history. Although a tactical victory for the Japanese in terms of ships sunk, the battle would prove to be a strategic victory for the Allies.
Chester W. Nimitz : A five-star admiral of the U.
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