Pacific War
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The Pacific War, sometimes called the Asia–Pacific War or the Pacific Theater,
The Second Sino-Japanese War between the
The Pacific War saw the
Japan surrendered unconditionally on 15 August 1945 and was occupied by the Allies. Japan lost its former possessions in Asia and the Pacific and had its sovereignty limited to the four main home islands and other minor islands as determined by the Allies.[48]
Overview
Names of the war
In Allied countries during the war, the "Pacific War" was not usually distinguished from World War II, or was known simply as the War against Japan. In the United States, the term Pacific theater was widely used. The US Armed Forces considered the China Burma India theater to be distinct from the Asiatic-Pacific theater during the conflict.
Japan used the name Greater East Asia War (
Participants
Allies
The major Allied participants were
The Soviet Union fought two short, undeclared
Axis powers and aligned states
The
Japan conscripted many soldiers from its colonies of Korea and Taiwan. Collaborationist security units were also formed in Hong Kong, Singapore, the Philippines, the Dutch East Indies, British Malaya, British Borneo, former French Indochina (after the overthrow of the French regime in 1945), as well as Timorese militia.
Theaters
Between 1942 and 1945, there were four main
In the Pacific, the Allies divided operational control of their forces between two supreme commands, known as
The Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) did not integrate its units into permanent theater commands. The Imperial Japanese Army (IJA), which had already created the Kwantung Army to oversee its occupation of Manchukuo and the China Expeditionary Army during the Second Sino-Japanese War, created the Southern Expeditionary Army Group at the outset of its conquests of South East Asia. This headquarters controlled the bulk of the Japanese Army formations which opposed the Western Allies in the Pacific and South East Asia.
Historical background
Conflict between China and Japan
In 1931, without declaring war,
In 1939, Japanese forces tried to push into the
The war entered a new phase with the unprecedented defeat of the Japanese at the
By 1941 the conflict had become a stalemate. Although Japan had occupied much of northern, central, and coastal China, the
Japan sponsored several
Japanese strategic bombing efforts mostly targeted large Chinese cities such as Shanghai, Wuhan, and Chongqing, with around 5,000 raids from February 1938 to August 1943 in the later case. Japan's strategic bombing campaigns devastated Chinese cities extensively, killing 260,000–350,934 non-combatants.[65][66][page needed]
Tensions between Japan and the West
As early as 1935, Japanese military strategists had concluded the Dutch East Indies were, because of their oil reserves, important to Japan. By 1940 they had expanded this to include Indochina, Malaya, and the Philippines within their concept of the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere. Japanese troop build-ups in Hainan, Taiwan, and Haiphong were noted, IJA officers were openly talking about war, and Admiral Sankichi Takahashi was reported as saying a showdown with the US was necessary.[67]
In an effort to discourage Japanese militarism, Western powers including Australia, the US, Britain, and the
Japanese preparations
The Japanese
Japanese planning was for a limited war where Japan would seize key objectives and then establish a defensive perimeter to defeat Allied counterattacks, which in turn would lead to a negotiated peace.[74] The early war was divided into two operational phases. The First Operational Phase was further divided into three separate parts in which the major objectives of the Philippines, British Malaya, Borneo, Burma, Rabaul and the Dutch East Indies would be occupied. The Second Operational Phase called for further expansion into the South Pacific by seizing eastern New Guinea, New Britain, Fiji, Samoa, and strategic points in the Australian area. In the Central Pacific, Midway was targeted as were the Aleutian Islands in the North Pacific. Seizure of these key areas would provide defensive depth and deny the Allies staging areas from which to mount a counteroffensive.[74]
By November these plans were essentially complete, and were modified only slightly over the next month. Japanese military planners' expectation of success rested on the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union being unable to effectively respond to a Japanese attack because of the threat posed to each by Germany; the Soviet Union was even seen as unlikely to commence hostilities.
The Japanese leadership was aware that a total military victory in a traditional sense against the US was impossible; the alternative would be negotiating for peace after their initial victories, which would recognize Japanese hegemony in Asia.[75]
Japanese offensives, 1941–42
Following prolonged tensions between Japan and the
Attack on Pearl Harbor
In the early hours of 7 December (Hawaiian time), Japan launched a major surprise carrier-based air strike on Pearl Harbor in Honolulu without explicit warning, which crippled the US Pacific Fleet, left eight American battleships out of action, destroyed 188 American aircraft, and killed 2,403 Americans.[76] The Japanese had gambled that the Americans, faced with such a sudden and massive blow, would agree to a negotiated settlement. This gamble did not pay off. American losses were less serious than initially thought: the three American aircraft carriers were at sea, and vital naval infrastructure, submarine base, and signals intelligence units were unscathed, and the fact the bombing happened while the US was not officially at war[h] caused a wave of outrage across the US.[76] Japan's fallback strategy, relying on a war of attrition, was beyond the Imperial Japanese Navy's capabilities.[77][78]
Opposition to war in the US vanished after the attack. On 8 December, the United Kingdom,[i][79] the United States,[j][80] Canada,[81] and the Netherlands[82] declared war on Japan, followed by Australia[83] the next day.
South-East Asian campaigns of 1941–42
Thailand, with its territory already serving as a springboard for the
Hong Kong was attacked on 8 December and fell on 25 December 1941. American bases on Guam and Wake Island were lost at around the same time. British, Australian, and Dutch forces, already drained of personnel and
Following the
In January, Japan invaded British Burma, the Dutch East Indies, New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and captured Manila, Kuala Lumpur and Rabaul. After being driven out of Malaya, Allied forces in Singapore attempted to resist the Japanese during the Battle of Singapore, but were forced to surrender to the Japanese on 15 February 1942; about 130,000 Indian, British, Australian and Dutch personnel became prisoners of war.[87] The pace of conquest was rapid: Bali and Timor fell in February.[88][89] The rapid collapse of Allied resistance left the "ABDA area" split in two. Wavell resigned from ABDACOM on 25 February, handing control of the ABDA Area to local commanders and returning to the post of Commander-in-Chief, India.
Meanwhile, Japanese aircraft had all but eliminated Allied air power in Southeast Asia and were making
At the Battle of the Java Sea in late February and early March, the IJN inflicted a resounding defeat on the main ABDA naval force, under Admiral Karel Doorman.[91] The Dutch East Indies campaign subsequently ended with the surrender of Allied forces on Java and Sumatra.[92][93]
In March and April, a powerful IJN carrier force launched a
In Burma, the Japanese captured
Within China, cooperation between the Chinese Nationalists and the Communists had waned from its zenith at the Battle of Wuhan, and the relationship between the two had gone sour as both attempted to expand their areas of operation. The Japanese exploited this lack of unity to press ahead in their offensives.
Philippines
On 8 December 1941, Japanese bombers struck American airfields on Luzon. They caught most of the planes on the ground, destroying 103 aircraft, more than half of the US air strength.
The main Japanese landings on Luzon took place on 22 and 24 December. As the Japanese troops converged on Manila, General
Threat to Australia
In late 1941, as the Japanese struck at Pearl Harbor, most of Australia's best forces were committed in the
The Australian Government ... regards the Pacific struggle as primarily one in which the United States and Australia must have the fullest say in the direction of the democracies' fighting plan. Without inhibitions of any kind, I make it clear that Australia looks to America, free of any pangs as to our traditional links or kinship with the United Kingdom.
— Prime Minister John Curtin
Australia had been shocked by the speedy and crushing collapse of British Malaya and the
In early 1942 elements of the IJN proposed an invasion of Australia. The IJA opposed the plan and it was rejected in favour of a policy of isolating Australia via blockade by advancing through the South Pacific.[101] The Japanese decided upon a seaborne invasion of Port Moresby, which would put Northern Australia within range of Japanese bomber aircraft.
President
Allies re-group, 1942–43
In early 1942, the governments of smaller powers began to push for an inter-governmental Asia-Pacific war council. The Pacific War Council was formed in Washington DC on 1 April 1942, with President
Japanese strategy and the Doolittle Raid
The
Concurrently, the
Admiral
Coral Sea
The attack on Port Moresby was codenamed MO Operation and was divided into several parts. Tulagi would be occupied on 3 May; the carriers would then conduct a sweep through the Coral Sea to find and destroy Allied naval forces, with the landings conducted to capture Port Moresby scheduled for 10 May.[107] The MO Operation featured a force of 60 ships led by two carriers, and 250 aircraft.[107] However, the actual battle did not go according to plan; although Tulagi was seized on 3 May, the following day, aircraft from the American carrier Yorktown struck the invasion force.[107] The element of surprise was lost due to the success of Allied codebreakers. From the Allied point of view, if Port Moresby fell, the Japanese would control the seas to the north and west of Australia and could isolate the country. An Allied task force under the command of Admiral Frank Fletcher, with the carriers USS Lexington and Yorktown, was assembled to stop the Japanese advance. On 7 May, the Japanese carriers launched a full strike on a contact reported to be enemy carriers, but the report turned out to be false. The strike force found and struck only an oiler, the Neosho, and the destroyer Sims.[108]
The American carriers also launched a strike with incomplete reconnaissance, and only located and sank the light aircraft carrier Shōhō. On 8 May, the opposing carrier forces finally found each other and exchanged air strikes. Aircraft from the two Japanese carriers succeeded in sinking the carrier Lexington and damaging Yorktown. In return the Americans damaged Shōkaku. Although Zuikaku was left undamaged, aircraft and personnel losses to Zuikaku were heavy and the Japanese were unable to support a landing on Port Moresby. As a result, MO Operation was cancelled,[109] and the Japanese were forced to abandon their attempts to isolate Australia.[110]
Although they managed to sink a carrier, the battle was a disaster for the Japanese, as all three carriers that were committed to the battle would now be unavailable for the operation against Midway.[109] After Coral Sea, the Japanese had four fleet carriers operational—Sōryū, Kaga, Akagi and Hiryū—and believed that the Americans had a maximum of two—Enterprise and Hornet. Saratoga was undergoing repair after a torpedo attack, while Yorktown had been damaged at Coral Sea and was believed by Japanese naval intelligence to have been sunk. She would sortie for Midway after just three days of repairs.
Midway
Admiral Yamamoto viewed the operation against Midway as the potentially decisive battle of the war which could lead to the destruction of American strategic power in the Pacific,
However, in May, US intelligence
The battle began on 3 June, when American aircraft from Midway spotted and attacked the Japanese transport group 700 miles (1,100 km) west of the atoll.
However, beginning at 10:22am, American
New Guinea and the Solomons
Japanese land forces continued to advance in the
On New Guinea, the Japanese on the Kokoda Track were within sight of Port Moresby but were ordered to withdraw to the northeastern coast. Australian and US forces attacked their fortified positions and after more than two months of fighting in the Buna–Gona area finally captured the key Japanese beachhead in early 1943.
Guadalcanal
Allied forces became aware through coastwatchers of a Japanese airfield under construction at Guadalcanal.[119] On 7 August 1942, 16,000 US Marines landed on Guadalcanal and Tulagi in the Solomons. Vice Admiral Gunichi Mikawa, commander of the newly formed Eighth Fleet at Rabaul, quickly sailed to engage the Allied force off the coast of Guadalcanal. On the night of 8–9 August, Mikawa's quick response resulted in the Battle of Savo Island, a brilliant Japanese victory during which four Allied heavy cruisers were sunk,[117] while no Japanese ships were lost. It was one of the worst Allied naval defeats of the war.[117] The victory was mitigated only by the failure of the Japanese to attack the vulnerable transports. Had they done so, the first American counterattack in the Pacific could have been stopped. The Japanese originally perceived the American landings as nothing more than a reconnaissance.[120]
With Japanese and Allied forces occupying parts of the island, over the following six months both sides poured resources into an escalating battle of attrition. US air cover based at
During the campaign, most of the Japanese aircraft based in the South Pacific were redeployed to the defense of Guadalcanal. Many were lost in engagements with the Allied air forces. Japanese ground forces launched repeated attacks on heavily defended US positions around Henderson Field but suffered appalling casualties. To sustain these offensives, resupply was carried out by Japanese convoys, termed the "Tokyo Express" by the Allies. The convoys often faced night battles with enemy naval forces in which they expended destroyers that the IJN could ill-afford to lose. Fleet battles involving heavier ships and even daytime carrier battles resulted in a stretch of water near Guadalcanal becoming known as "Ironbottom Sound" from the multitude of ships sunk. However, the Allies were much better able to replace these losses. The Japanese evacuated the island and withdrew in February 1943. In the six-month war of attrition, the Japanese had lost as a result of failing to commit enough forces in sufficient time.[121]
By late 1942, Japanese headquarters had decided to make Guadalcanal their priority. Contrarily, the Americans, most notably,
Stalemate in China and Southeast Asia
China 1942–1943
In
After the Doolittle Raid, the IJA conducted the
On 2 November 1943, Isamu Yokoyama, commander of the Imperial Japanese 11th Army, deployed around 100,000 troops to attack Changde.[127] During the seven-week Battle of Changde, the Chinese forced Japan to fight a costly campaign of attrition. Although the Japanese captured the city, the Chinese were able to pin them down long enough for reinforcements to arrive and encircle them. The Chinese then cut Japanese supply lines, provoking a retreat and Chinese pursuit.[127][128] During the battle, Japan used chemical weapons.[129]
Burma 1942–1943
In the aftermath of the Japanese conquest of Burma, there was widespread disorder and pro-Independence agitation in eastern India and a disastrous famine in Bengal, causing up to 3 million deaths. Wavell (commander-in-chief in India) was nevertheless eager to mount counterattacks into Burma.
One attack was an
Most officers accepted that the fiasco resulted from inadequate training for jungle warfare.
In August 1943 the Allies formed a new
In 1943, the Thai
Allied offensives, 1943–44
Midway proved to be the last great naval battle for two years. The US used the ensuing period to turn its vast industrial potential into increased numbers of ships, planes, and trained aircrew.[133] At the same time, Japan, lacking an adequate industrial base or technological strategy, a good aircrew training program, or adequate naval resources and commerce defense, fell further and further behind. In strategic terms the Allies began a long movement across the Pacific, seizing one island base after another. Some Japanese strongholds like Truk, Rabaul, and Formosa, were neutralized by air attack and bypassed. The goal was to get close to Japan itself, then launch massive strategic air attacks, improve the submarine blockade, and finally (only if necessary) execute an invasion.
The US Navy did not seek out the Japanese fleet for a decisive battle, as Mahanian doctrine would suggest (and as Japan hoped); the Allied advance could only be stopped by a Japanese naval attack, which oil shortages (induced by submarine attack) made impossible.[134][page needed][135][page needed]
Allied offensives on New Guinea and up the Solomons
In the South Western Pacific the Allies seized the strategic initiative for the first time during the War and in June 1943, launched Operation Cartwheel, a series of amphibious invasions to recapture the Solomon Islands and New Guinea and ultimately isolate the major Japanese forward base at Rabaul. Following the Japanese Invasion of Salamaua–Lae in March 1942, Cartwheel began with the Salamaua–Lae campaign in Northern New Guinea in April 1943, which was followed in June to October by the New Georgia campaign, in which the Allies used the Landings on Rendova, Drive on Munda Point and Battle of Munda Point to secure a secretly constructed Japanese airfield at Munda and the rest of New Georgia Islands group. Landings from September until December secured the Treasury Islands and landed Allied troops on Choiseul, Bougainville and Cape Gloucester.
These landings prepared the way for Nimitz's island-hopping campaign towards Japan.
Invasion of the Gilbert and Marshall Islands
In November 1943 US Marines sustained high casualties when they overwhelmed the 4,500-strong garrison at Tarawa. This experience drove the Allies to improve their techniques of amphibious landings, implementing changes such as thorough pre-emptive bombings and bombardment, more careful planning regarding tides and landing schedules, and better coordination. Operations on the Gilberts were followed in late-January and mid-February 1944 by further, less costly, landings on the Marshall Islands.
Cairo Conference
On 22 November 1943 US President Franklin D. Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and ROC Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek, met in
Submarine warfare
US submarines, as well as some British and Dutch vessels, operating from bases at
The Japanese military claimed its defenses sank 468 Allied submarines during the war.[137] In reality, only 42 American submarines were sunk in the Pacific due to hostile action, with 10 others lost in accidents or as the result of friendly fire.[138][page needed][139] The Dutch lost five submarines due to Japanese attack or minefields,[140] and the British lost three.
American submarines accounted for 56% of the Japanese merchantmen sunk; mines or aircraft destroyed most of the rest.[138][page needed] American submariners also claimed 28% of Japanese warships destroyed.[141] Furthermore, they played important reconnaissance roles and rescued hundreds of downed fliers.
Within hours of Pearl Harbor, in retribution against Japan, Roosevelt promulgated a new doctrine:
As the war turned against Japan, IJN submarines increasingly served to resupply strongholds which had been cut off, such as Truk and Rabaul. In addition, Japan honored its neutrality treaty with the Soviet Union and ignored American freighters shipping military supplies from San Francisco to Vladivostok,[143][144] much to the consternation of its German ally.[citation needed]
The US Navy, by contrast, relied on commerce raiding from the outset. However, the problem of Allied forces surrounded in the Philippines in early 1942 led to diversion of boats to "guerrilla submarine" missions. Basing in Australia placed boats under Japanese aerial threat while en route to patrol areas, reducing their effectiveness, and Nimitz relied on submarines for close surveillance of enemy bases. Furthermore, the standard-issue
Only in 1944 did the US Navy begin to use its 150 submarines to maximum effect: installing effective shipboard radar, replacing commanders deemed lacking in aggression, and fixing the faults in the torpedoes. Japanese commerce protection was "shiftless beyond description",[l] and convoys were poorly organized and defended compared to Allied ones, a product of flawed IJN doctrine and training. The number of American submarines patrols (and sinkings) rose steeply: 350 patrols (180 ships sunk) in 1942, 350 (335) in 1943, and 520 (603) in 1944.[147] By 1945, sinkings of Japanese vessels had decreased because so few targets dared to venture out on the high seas. In all, Allied submarines destroyed 1,200 merchant ships – about five million tons of shipping. At critical stages of the Guadalcanal, Saipan, and Leyte campaigns, thousands of Japanese troops were killed or diverted from where they were needed. Over 200 warships were sunk, including a battleship and no fewer than eight carriers.[citation needed]
Underwater warfare was especially dangerous; of the 16,000 Americans who went out on patrol, 3,500 (22%) never returned, the highest casualty rate of any American force in World War II.[148] The Japanese losses, 130 submarines in all,[149] were higher.[150]
Japanese offensives in Asia, 1944
Japanese counteroffensives in China, 1944
In mid-1944 Japan mobilized over 500,000 men[151] and launched a massive operation across China under the code name Operation Ichi-Go, their largest offensive of World War II, with the goal of connecting Japanese-controlled territory in China and French Indochina and capturing airbases in southeastern China where American bombers were based.[152] Though Japan suffered about 100,000 casualties,[153] these attacks, the biggest in several years, gained much ground for Japan before Chinese forces stopped the incursions in Guangxi. Despite major tactical victories, the operation overall failed to provide Japan with any significant strategic gains. A great majority of the Chinese forces were able to retreat out of the area, and later come back to attack Japanese positions at the Battle of West Hunan. The constant defeats the Japanese suffered in the Pacific meant that Japan never got the time and resources needed to achieve final victory over China. Operation Ichi-go created a great sense of social confusion in the areas of China that it affected. Chinese Communist guerrillas were able to exploit this confusion to gain influence and control of greater areas of the countryside in the aftermath.[154]
Japanese offensive in India, 1944
After the Allied setbacks in 1943, the South East Asia command prepared to launch offensives into Burma on several fronts. In early 1944, the Chinese and American troops of the
The Japanese launched a long-planned offensive, codenamed Operation U-Go, into India in mid-March.[155] Lieutenant General Slim, commanding Fourteenth Army, and his forward commander, Lieutenant General Geoffry Scoones, planned to withdraw into the Imphal plain and force the Japanese to fight with their communications stretching over scores of miles of jungle trails. However, they were slow to respond when the attack was launched and did not foresee some Japanese objectives.[156] Some British and Indian units had to fight their way out of encirclement, but by early April they had concentrated around Imphal. Several units were flown from the Arakan to reinforce them. A Japanese division which had advanced to Kohima in Nagaland cut the main road to Imphal and isolated a small British garrison, but failed to capture the whole of the defences at Kohima. During April, the Japanese attacks against Imphal failed, while fresh Allied formations relieved the garrison of Kohima and drove the Japanese from the positions they had captured on Kohima ridge.
As many Japanese had feared, their inadequate lines of communication and the failure of Mutaguchi's gamble on an early victory meant that their troops starved. Once the monsoon rains descended in mid-May, they also succumbed to disease in large numbers. During May, while Mutaguchi continued to order attacks, the Allies advanced southwards from Kohima and northwards from Imphal. The two Allied attacks met on 22 June, breaking the Japanese siege of Imphal. The Japanese finally broke off the operation on 3 July. They had lost over 50,000 troops, mainly to starvation and disease—the worst defeat suffered by the IJA to that date.[157]
Although the advance in Arakan had been halted to release troops and aircraft for the Battle of Imphal, the Americans and Chinese had continued to advance in northern Burma, aided by the reinforced Chindits operating against the Japanese lines of communication. In mid-1944 the Chinese Expeditionary Force invaded northern Burma. They captured a fortified position at Mount Song.[158] By the time campaigning ceased during the monsoon, the Northern Combat Area Command had secured a vital airfield at Myitkyina after a prolonged siege, which eased the problems of air resupply from India to China over "The Hump".
Beginning of the end in the Pacific, 1944
In May 1943, the Japanese prepared
In February 1944, the US Navy's
Marianas and Palaus
On 12 March 1944, the Joint Chiefs of Staff directed the occupation of the Northern Marianas, with a target date of 15 June. All forces for the Marianas operation—535 warships and auxiliaries together with a ground force of over 127,500 troops—were to be commanded by Admiral Raymond A. Spruance.[163] For the Americans, the Marianas operation would provide the interruption of the Japanese air pipeline to the south; the development of advanced naval bases; the establishment of airfields to base B-29s from which to bomb Japan; and the choice among several possible objectives for the next phase of operations, which would keep the Japanese uncertain. It was also hoped that this penetration of the Japanese inner defense zone might force the Japanese fleet out for a decisive engagement.[164] The ability to plan and execute such a complex operation in the space of 90 days was indicative of Allied logistical superiority.
On 15 June, the 2nd and 4th Marine Divisions supported by a naval bombardment group landed on Saipan. However, Japanese fire was so effective that the first day's objective was not reached until Day 3. After fanatic Japanese resistance, the Marines captured Aslito airfield on 18 June.
A month after the invasion of Saipan, the US recaptured Guam and captured Tinian. Saipan and Tinian were used extensively by the US military as they finally put mainland Japan within round-trip range of American B-29s. Japanese forces attacked the bases on Saipan and Tinian from November 1944 to January 1945. The United States Army Air Forces based out of these islands conducted an intense strategic bombing campaign against Japanese cities of military and industrial importance, including Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka, and Kobe.
The invasion of Peleliu in the Palau Islands on 15 September, was notable for a drastic change in Japanese defensive tactics, resulting in the highest casualty rate amongst US forces in an amphibious operation during the Pacific War.[167] Instead of the predicted four days, it took until 27 November to secure the island. The strategic value of the landings is still contested.[168]
Philippine Sea
When the Americans landed on
On 19 June, a series of Japanese carrier air strikes were shattered by strong American defenses. The result was later dubbed the Great Marianas Turkey Shoot. All US carriers had
Although the defeat at the Philippine Sea was severe in terms of the loss of the three fleet carriers, the real disaster was the annihilation of the carrier air groups.[170] The Japanese had spent the better part of a year reconstituting their carrier air groups, and the Americans had destroyed 90% of it in two days. The Japanese had only enough pilots left to form the air group for one of their light carriers. The Mobile Fleet returned home with only 35 aircraft of the 430 with which it had begun.[161] The battle ended in a total Japanese defeat and resulted in the virtual end of their carrier force.[171]
Leyte Gulf, 1944
The disaster at the Philippine Sea left the Japanese with two choices: an all-out offensive or allow the Americans to cut the sea lanes between Japan and Southeast Asia. Thus the Japanese devised a plan to force a decisive battle by utilizing their last remaining strength – the firepower of its heavy cruisers and battleships – against the American beachhead at Leyte. The Japanese planned to use their remaining carriers as bait to lure the American carriers away from Leyte Gulf long enough for the heavy warships to enter and to destroy any American ships present.[172]
The Japanese assembled four carriers, nine battleships, 14 heavy cruisers, seven light cruisers, and 35 destroyers.[172] They split into three forces: the "Center Force", under the command of Vice Admiral Takeo Kurita, which included the battleships Yamato and Musashi; the "Northern Force", under the command of Ozawa, which had four carriers and two battleships partly converted to carriers; and the "Southern Force", containing one group under the command of Shōji Nishimura and another under Kiyohide Shima. The Center Force would pass through the San Bernardino Strait into the Philippine Sea, turn southwards, and then attack the landing area. The Southern Force would strike at the landing area through the Surigao Strait, while the Northern Force would lure the main American covering forces away from Leyte. Japanese carriers embarked just 108 aircraft.[172]
However, after Center Force departed from
Off Cape Engaño, 500 miles (800 km) north of Leyte Gulf, the Americans launched over 500 aircraft sorties at the Northern Force, followed by a surface group of cruisers and destroyers. All four Japanese carriers were sunk, but the Japanese had succeeded in drawing the American carriers away from Leyte Gulf.[173] On 25 October the final major surface action fought between the Japanese and the American fleets occurred off Samar, when Center Force fell upon a group of American escort carriers escorted only by destroyers and destroyer escorts. Both sides were surprised, but the outcome looked certain since the Japanese had four battleships, six heavy cruisers, and two light cruisers leading two destroyer squadrons. However, they conducted a largely indecisive gunnery duel before breaking off. Japanese losses were extremely heavy, with four carriers, three battleships, six heavy cruisers, four light cruisers and eleven destroyers sunk,[174] while the Americans lost one light carrier and two escort carriers, two destroyers and two destroyer escorts. The Battle of Leyte Gulf was the largest naval battle of World War II and arguably the largest naval battle in history. For the Japanese the defeat at Leyte Gulf was catastrophic—its navy's greatest ever loss of ships and men in combat.[175] The inevitable liberation of the Philippines also meant that the home islands would be virtually cut off from the vital resources from Japan's occupied territories in Southeast Asia.[175]
Philippines, 1944–1945
On 20 October 1944 the
On 15 December 1944 landings against minimal resistance took place on the southern beaches of the island of Mindoro, a key location in the planned Lingayen Gulf operations, in support of major landings scheduled on Luzon. On 9 January 1945 General Krueger's Sixth Army landed its first units on the western coast of Luzon. Almost 175,000 men followed within a few days. With heavy air support, Army units pushed inland, taking Clark Field, 40 miles (64 km) northwest of Manila, in the last week of January.
Two more major landings followed, one to cut off the Bataan Peninsula, and another, that included a parachute drop, south of Manila. Pincers closed on the city, and on 3 February 1945 American forces pushed into Manila. The month-long battle for Manila resulted in over 100,000 civilian deaths and was the scene of the worst urban fighting by American forces in the Pacific theater. As the advance on Manila continued from the north and the south, the Bataan Peninsula was rapidly secured. On 16 February paratroopers and amphibious units assaulted the island fortress of Corregidor, and resistance ended there on 27 February.
In all, ten US divisions and five independent regiments battled on Luzon, making it the largest campaign of the Pacific War, involving more troops than the US had used in North Africa, Italy, or southern France. Forces included the Mexican
The
The US Eighth Army moved on to its first landing on Mindanao (17 April), the last of the major Philippine Islands to be taken. Then followed the invasion and occupation of
Final stages
Allied offensives in Burma, 1944–1945
In late 1944 and early 1945, the Allied South East Asia Command launched offensives into Burma, intending to recover most of the country, including Rangoon, the capital, before the onset of the monsoon in May. The offensives were fought primarily by British Commonwealth, Chinese and American forces against Japan, assisted to some degree by Thailand, the Burma National Army and the Indian National Army. The Commonwealth land forces were drawn primarily from the United Kingdom, British India, and Africa.
The Indian XV Corps (including two West African divisions)[179] advanced along the coast in Arakan Province, at last capturing Akyab Island. They landed troops behind the retreating Japanese, inflicting heavy casualties, and captured Ramree Island and Cheduba Island, establishing airfields used to support the offensive into Central Burma. The Chinese Expeditionary Force captured Mong-Yu and Lashio,[180] while the Chinese and American Northern Combat Area Command resumed its advance in northern Burma. In late January 1945, these two forces linked up at Hsipaw. The Ledo Road was completed, linking India and China, but too late in the war to have any significant effect.
The
During February, the Fourteenth Army secured bridgeheads across the Irrawaddy. On 1 March, mechanised units of IV Corps captured the supply centre of Meiktila, throwing the Japanese into disarray. While the Japanese attempted to recapture Meiktila, XXXIII Corps captured Mandalay. The Japanese armies were heavily defeated, and with the capture of Mandalay, the Burmese population and the Burma National Army (which the Japanese had raised) turned against the Japanese.
During April, Fourteenth Army advanced 300 miles (480 km) south towards Rangoon, but was delayed by Japanese rearguards 40 miles (64 km) to the north. Slim feared that the Japanese would defend Rangoon house-to-house during the monsoon, which would commit his army to prolonged action with disastrously inadequate supplies, and in March he had asked that a plan to capture Rangoon by an amphibious force, Operation Dracula, which had been abandoned earlier, be reinstated.[181] Dracula was launched on 1 May, to find that the Japanese had already evacuated. The troops that occupied Rangoon linked up with Fourteenth Army five days later, securing the Allies' lines of communication.
The Japanese forces which had been bypassed by the Allied advances attempted to break out across the Sittaung River during June and July to rejoin the Burma Area Army which had regrouped in Tenasserim in southern Burma. They suffered 14,000 casualties, half their strength. Overall, the Japanese lost some 150,000 men in Burma. Only 1,700 Japanese soldiers surrendered and were taken prisoner.[182] The Allies were preparing to make amphibious landings in Malaya when word of the Japanese surrender arrived.
Iwo Jima
Although the Marianas were secure and American bases firmly established, the long 1,200 miles (1,900 km) range from the Marianas meant that B-29 aircrews bombing Japan found themselves ditching at sea if severely damaged. Attention focused on the small island of Iwo Jima, about halfway between the Marianas and Japan. American planners recognized the strategic importance of the island. The island was used by the Japanese as an early-warning station against impending air raids on Japanese cities.[183] Japanese aircraft based on Iwo Jima were able to attack the B-29s on their bombing missions, and even to attack installations in the Marianas themselves.[183] The capture of Iwo Jima would provide emergency landing airfields for B-29s and a base for P-51 fighter escorts[184] as well as land-based air support to protect US naval fleets in Japanese waters.[185] However, the Japanese had also come to realize the strategic value of Iwo Jima, and Lt. General Tadamichi Kuribayashi was assigned command of the island in May 1944. The Japanese began constructing elaborate defenses, making the best possible use of the island's natural caves and uneven, rocky terrain. The island was transformed into a massive network of bunkers, hidden guns, and underground passageways leading from one strong point to another.[186] The Japanese also went to great lengths to construct large underground chambers, some as much as five stories deep to serve as storage and hospital areas with thick walls and ceilings of reinforced concrete.[186] A series of strong points covering the landing areas were also built, most covered with sand and carefully camouflaged. Well-camouflaged 120mm and 6-inch guns were emplaced so that their fire could be directed to the beaches. Smaller-caliber artillery, antiaircraft guns, and mortars were also hidden and located where only a direct hit could destroy them.[187] The Japanese were determined to make the Americans pay a high price for Iwo Jima and were prepared to defend it to the death. Kuribayashi knew that he could not win the battle but hoped to inflict severe casualties so costly that it would slow the American advance on Japan and maybe give the Japanese bargaining power.[186] In February, a total of 21,000 Japanese troops were deployed on Iwo Jima.[186]
The American operation ("Operation Detachment") to capture the island involved three Marine divisions of the V Amphibious Corps, a total of 70,647 troops,[188] under the command of Holland Smith. From mid-June 1944, Iwo Jima came under American air and naval bombardment, until the days leading up to the invasion.[187]
An intense naval and air bombardment preceded the landing but did little but drive the Japanese further underground, making their positions impervious to enemy fire. The hidden guns and defenses survived the bombardment virtually unscathed. On the morning of 19 February 1945, 30,000 men under the command of Maj. General Harry Schmidt landed on the southeast coast near Mt. Suribachi, where most of the island's defenses were concentrated. As soon as the Marines pushed inland they came under devastating machine gun and artillery fire. By the end of the day, the Marines reached the west coast, but their losses were severe: almost 2,000 men killed or wounded. On 23 February, the 28th Marine Regiment reached the summit of Mt. Suribachi, prompting the now famous Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima photograph, often cited as the most reproduced photograph ever and the archetypal representation of the Pacific War. For the rest of February, the Americans pushed north, and by 1 March, had taken two-thirds of the island. It was not until 26 March that the island was secured.
Iwo Jima was one of the bloodiest battles fought by the Americans during the Pacific War. American casualties were 6,821 killed and 19,207 wounded.[189] The Japanese losses totaled well over 20,000 men killed, with only 1,083 prisoners taken.[189] Historians debate whether it was strategically worth the casualties sustained.[190]
Okinawa
The largest and bloodiest battle fought by the Americans against the Japanese came at Okinawa. The seizure of islands in the Ryukyus was to have been the last step before the actual invasion of the Japanese home islands. Okinawa, the largest of the Ryukyu Islands, was located 340 miles (550 km) from Kyushu.[191] The capture of Okinawa would provide airbases to intensify aerial bombardment of Japan and for direct land-based air support of the invasion of Kyushu. The islands could also allow for tightening the blockade of Japanese shipping and be used as a staging area and supply base for any invasion of the home islands.[192]
The Japanese troops defending Okinawa, under the command of Lieutenant General Mitsuru Ushijima, totaled some 75,000–100,000, augmented by thousands of civilians. American forces for the operation totaled 183,000 troops in seven divisions (four US Army and three Marine) under the Tenth Army.[193] The British Pacific Fleet operated as a separate unit; its objective was to strike airfields on the chain of islands between Formosa and Okinawa, to prevent the Japanese reinforcing Okinawa.
After an intense seven-day bombardment the main landings on Okinawa took place on 1 April 1945, on the Hagushi beaches of the island's west coast.[194] However, there was little opposition at the beaches as the Japanese had decided to meet the Americans farther inland out of range of naval gunfire. About 60,000 American troops landed on the first day, seizing the two nearby airfields and pushing across the narrow waist of the island.
The first major Japanese counterattack occurred on 6 and 7 April, in the form of attacks by kamikaze aircraft and a naval operation, called Ten-Go. Under the command of Admiral Seiichi Itō, the battleship Yamato, the light cruiser Yahagi and eight destroyers were assembled as bait to draw away as many American carrier aircraft as possible, in order to leave Allied naval forces vulnerable to large-scale Kamikaze attacks. As a consequence of Japanese fuel shortages the Yamato had only enough to reach Okinawa. Off Okinawa it was planned to beach the battleship and use her 18.1-inch (46 cm) guns to support fighting on the island.[195] After being sighted by an American submarine and reconnaissance aircraft, naval attack aircraft sunk the Yamato, Yahagi and four of the destroyers.[196] Mass Kamikaze attacks intensified during the following three months, with 5,500 sorties being flown by the Japanese.[197]
In the northern part of Okinawa American troops only met light opposition, and the area was seized within about two weeks. However, the main Japanese defenses were in the south. There was bitter fighting against well-entrenched Japanese troops, but US forces slowly made progress. The seizure of
The battle for Okinawa proved costly and lasted much longer than the Americans had expected. The Japanese skillfully utilized terrain to inflict maximum casualties.[200] Total American casualties were 49,451, including 12,520 dead or missing and 36,631 wounded.[201] Japanese casualties were approximately 110,000 killed, and 7,400 taken prisoner.[201] 94% of the Japanese soldiers died along with many civilians.[202][page needed] Kamikaze attacks also sank 36 ships, damaged 368 more and killed 4,900 US sailors, for the loss of 7,800 Japanese aircraft.[203]
China, 1945
After Japanese victories in Operation Ichi-Go, Japan was losing the battle in Burma and facing constant attacks from Chinese Nationalist forces and Communist guerrillas in the countryside. The IJA began preparations for the Battle of West Hunan in March 1945, mobilizing 80,000 men to seize Chinese airfields and secure railroads in West Hunan by early April.
Borneo, 1945
The Borneo campaign of 1945 was the last major campaign in the
The campaign opened with a landing on the small island of
Although the campaign was criticized in Australia as a "waste" of the lives of soldiers, it achieved a number of objectives, such as increasing the isolation of significant Japanese forces occupying the Dutch East Indies, capturing major oil supplies and freeing Allied prisoners of war, who were being held in deteriorating conditions.[207] At one of the very worst sites, around Sandakan in Borneo, only six of 2,500 British and Australian prisoners survived.[182]
Landings in the Japanese home islands (1945)
Hard-fought battles on the Japanese islands of Iwo Jima, Okinawa, and others resulted in horrific casualties on both sides but finally produced a Japanese defeat. Of the 117,000 Okinawan and Japanese troops defending Okinawa, 94 percent died.[177] Faced with the loss of most of their experienced pilots, the Japanese increased their use of kamikaze tactics in an attempt to create unacceptably high casualties for the Allies. The US Navy proposed to force a Japanese surrender through a total naval blockade and air raids.[208][page needed] Many military historians believe that the Okinawa campaign led directly to the atomic bombings as a means of avoiding the ground invasion of Japan. This view is explained by Victor Davis Hanson: "because the Japanese on Okinawa... were so fierce in their defense (even when cut off, and without supplies), and because casualties were so appalling, many American strategists looked for an alternative means to subdue mainland Japan, other than a direct invasion. This means presented itself, with the advent of atomic bombs, which worked admirably in convincing the Japanese to sue for peace [unconditionally], without American casualties."[209][page needed]
Towards the end of the war as strategic bombing became more important, a new command for the United States Strategic Air Forces in the Pacific was created to oversee all US strategic bombing in the hemisphere, under General Curtis LeMay. Japanese industrial production plunged as nearly half of the built-up areas of 67 cities were destroyed by B-29 firebombing raids. On 9–10 March 1945 LeMay oversaw Operation Meetinghouse in which 300 B-29s dropped 1,665 tons of bombs, mostly napalm-carrying M-69 incendiary bombs, on the Japanese capital.[210][page needed] This attack is seen the most destructive bombing raid in history and killed between 80,000 and 100,000 people in a single night, destroying over 270,000 buildings and leaving over 1 million homeless.[210][page needed] In the ten days that followed, almost 10,000 bombs were dropped, destroying 31% of Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka and Kobe.
LeMay also oversaw Operation Starvation, in which the inland waterways of Japan were extensively mined by air, which disrupted the little remaining Japanese coastal sea traffic. On 26 July 1945, US President Harry S. Truman, Chiang, and Churchill issued the Potsdam Declaration, which outlined the terms of surrender for Japan as agreed upon at the Potsdam Conference. This ultimatum stated that, if Japan did not surrender, it would face "prompt and utter destruction".[211]
Atomic bombs
On 6 August 1945, the US dropped an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima in the first nuclear attack in history. In a press release issued after the bombing, Truman warned Japan to surrender or "expect a rain of ruin from the air, the like of which has never been seen on this Earth".[212] On 9 August, the US dropped another atomic bomb on Nagasaki. More than 140,000–240,000 people died as a direct result of these two bombings.[213] The necessity of the atomic bombings has long been debated, with detractors claiming that a naval blockade and incendiary bombing campaign had already made invasion, hence the atomic bomb, unnecessary.[214] However, other scholars have argued that the atomic bombings shocked the Japanese government into surrender and helped avoid Operation Downfall, or a prolonged blockade and conventional bombing campaign, any of which would have exacted much higher casualties among Japanese civilians.[213] Historian Richard B. Frank wrote that a Soviet invasion of Japan was never likely because they had insufficient naval capability.[215]
Soviet entry
In February 1945 during the Yalta Conference the Soviet Union had agreed to enter the war against Japan 90 days after the surrender of Germany.[216] At the time Soviet participation was seen as crucial to tie down the large number of Japanese forces in Manchuria and Korea, keeping them from being transferred to the Home Islands to mount a defense to an invasion.[216]
On 9 August, exactly on schedule, the Soviet Union entered the war by invading Manchuria. A battle-hardened, one million-strong Soviet force, transferred from Europe,[217] attacked Japanese forces and landed a heavy blow against the Japanese Kantōgun (Kwantung Army).[218]
The Manchurian strategic offensive operation began on 9 August 1945, with the Soviet invasion of the Japanese puppet state of Manchukuo. This was the last campaign of the Second World War and the largest of the 1945 Soviet–Japanese War which resumed hostilities between the USSR and Japan after almost six years of peace. Soviet gains on the continent were Manchukuo, Mengjiang (Inner Mongolia) and northern Korea. The USSR's entry into the war was a significant factor in the Japanese decision to surrender as it became apparent the Soviets were no longer willing to act as an intermediary for a negotiated settlement on favorable terms.[219]
In late 1945, the Soviets launched a series of successful invasions of northern Japanese territories, in preparation for the possible invasion of Hokkaido:
- Invasion of South Sakhalin(11–25 August)
- Maoka Landing (19–22 August)
- Invasion of the Kuril Islands (18 August to 1 September)
- Battle of Shumshu (18–23 August)
Surrender
The effects of the American air and naval attacks,[220] two atomic bombings, and the Soviet entry were profound. On 10 August 1945, Japanese Prime Minister Kantarō Suzuki and his Cabinet decided to accept the Potsdam terms on one condition: the "prerogative of His Majesty as a Sovereign Ruler". At noon on 15 August, after the American government's intentionally ambiguous reply, stating that the "authority" of the Emperor "shall be subject to the Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers", the Emperor Hirohito broadcast the rescript of surrender.[221]
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.
— Emperor Hirohito, The Voice of the Crane: The Imperial Rescript of 15 August 1945[222]
In Japan, 14 August is considered the
Casualties
Allied
United States
American casualties were 107,903 battle deaths[224] and 208,333 wounded.[20][225] The figure for battle deaths include Army prisoners who died in Japanese captivity, this is the standard itemization of for US deaths in the Pacific War. However, historian John W. Dower notes that there are inconsistencies within the official US statistics themselves.[224] Over half of all American losses suffered in the Pacific occurred between July 1944 and July 1945.[226] Combined, the US and allied navies lost nearly 200 warships, including 4 battleships, 12 aircraft carriers, 25 cruisers, 84 destroyers and destroyer escorts, 63 submarines, and nearly 30,000 aircraft. This gave the Allies a 2–1 exchange ratio with the Japanese in terms of ships and aircraft.[17][227]
The US protectorate in the Philippines suffered considerable losses. Military losses were 27,000 dead (including POWs), 75,000 living POWs, and an unknown number wounded, not counting irregulars that fought in the insurgency.[23] Between 500,000 and 1,000,000 Filipino civilians died due to war-related shortages, massacres, shelling, and bombing.[31]
China
- Chinese state media outlet China Daily lists the total number of military and non-military casualties, both dead and wounded, at 35 million.[228] Duncan Anderson, Head of the Department of War Studies at the Royal Military Academy, states that the total number of casualties was around 20 million.[229]
- The official account of the war published in Taiwan reported that the Nationalist Chinese Army lost 3,238,000 men (1,797,000 wounded, 1,320,000 killed, and 120,000 missing) and 5,787,352 civilians casualties putting the total number of casualties at 9,025,352.[230][231] The soldiers of the Chinese Communist Party suffered 584,267 casualties, of which 160,603 were killed, 133,197 missing, and 290,467 wounded. This would equate to a total of 3.82 million combined NRA/CCP casualties, of which 1.74 million were killed or missing.[230]>[231]
- An academic study published in the United States estimates Chinese military casualties as 1.5 million killed in battle, 750,000 missing in action, 1.5 million deaths due to disease and 3 million wounded; civilian casualties: due to military activity, killed 1,073,496 and 237,319 wounded; 335,934 killed and 426,249 wounded in Japanese air attacks.[232][page needed]
- According to historian Mitsuyoshi Himeta, at least 2.7 million civilians died during the "kill all, loot all, burn all" operation (Three Alls Policy, or sanko sakusen) implemented in May 1942 in north China by general Yasuji Okamura.[235]
- The property loss suffered by the Chinese was valued at 383 billion US dollars according to the currency exchange rate in July 1937, roughly 50 times the gross domestic product of Japan at that time.[236][page needed] The war created 95 million refugees.[237]
Commonwealth
Between the Malayan Campaign (130,000 discounting some 20,000 Australians),
Australia incurred losses of 45,841 not including natural deaths: 17,501 killed (including POW deaths in captivity), 13,997 wounded, and 14,345 living POWs.[243] New Zealand lost 578 killed, with an unknown number wounded or captured.[244] Eight Royal Australian Navy warships were sunk: 3 cruisers (Canberra, Perth, and Sydney), 2 destroyers, and 3 corvettes.[242]
Others
Between Lake Khasan, Khalkin Gol, advisors deployed to China, and the 1945 operations in Manchuria and the Kuriles, Soviet casualties against Japan totaled 68,612: 22,731 killed/missing and 45,908 wounded.[245] Material losses included some 1,000 tanks and AFVs, 5 landing ships, and 300 aircraft.[246][247][248][249] Mongolian casualties were 753.[25]
The entire 140,000-strong Royal Dutch East Indies Army was killed, captured, or missing by the conclusion of the East Indies Campaign. 1,500 colonial and 900 Dutch soldiers were killed in action.[250] Most of the colonial soldiers were freed on the spot or deserted. Of the ethnic Dutch troops, 900 were killed in action and 37,000 became prisoners. 8,500 of these POWs would die in Japanese captivity.[241] Dutch naval losses in the Pacific numbered 2 cruisers, 7 destroyers, 5 submarines, 7 minelayers, and 7 minesweepers.[251] About 30,000 Dutch and 300,000 Indonesian forced laborers died during the Japanese occupation of the East Indies,[252] while 3 million Indonesian civilians perished in famines.[253]
Similar to the Dutch, the 65,000-strong French colonial army in French Indochina (16,500 European French and 48,500 colonial) disintegrated at the end of the Japanese invasion. 2,129 European French and 2,100 Indochinese colonial troops were killed, while 12,000 French and 3,000 colonial troops were kept as prisoners. 1–2 million deaths occurred in French Indochina during the Japanese occupation, mostly due to the
Axis
Eight hundred thousand Japanese civilians and over two million Japanese soldiers died during the war. According to a report by the Relief Bureau of the Japanese Ministry of Health and Welfare in 1964, combined Japanese Army and Navy deaths during the war (1937–1945) numbered approximately 2,121,000 men, mostly against either the Americans (1.1+ million), or against Chinese factions (500,000+). The losses were broken down as follows:[255]
Location | Army dead | Navy dead | total |
---|---|---|---|
Japan | 58,100 | 45,800 | 103,900 |
Bonin Islands | 2,700 | 12,500 | 15,200 |
Okinawa | 67,900 | 21,500 | 89,400 |
Formosa (Taiwan) | 28,500 | 10,600 | 39,100 |
Korea | 19,600 | 6,900 | 26,500 |
Sakhalin, the Aleutian, and Kuril Islands | 8,200 | 3,200 | 11,400 |
Manchuria | 45,900 | 800 | 46,700 |
China (incl. Hong Kong) | 435,600 | 20,100 | 455,700 |
Siberia | 52,300 | 400 | 52,700 |
Central Pacific | 95,800 | 151,400 | 247,200 |
Philippines | 377,500 | 121,100 | 498,600 |
French Indochina | 7,900 | 4,500 | 12,400 |
Thailand | 6,900 | 100 | 7,000 |
Burma (incl. India) | 163,000 | 1,500 | 164,500 |
Malaya & Singapore | 8,500 | 2,900 | 11,400 |
Andaman & Nicobar Islands | 900 | 1,500 | 2,400 |
Sumatra | 2,700 | 500 | 3,200 |
Java | 2,700 | 3,800 | 6,500 |
Lesser Sundas | 51,800 | 1,200 | 53,000 |
Borneo | 11,300 | 6,700 | 18,000 |
Celebes | 1,500 | 4,000 | 5,500 |
Moluccas | 2,600 | 1,800 | 4,400 |
New Guinea | 112,400 | 15,200 | 127,600 |
Bismarck Archipelago | 19,700 | 10,800 | 30,500 |
Solomon Islands | 63,200 | 25,000 | 88,200 |
Totals | 1,647,200 | 473,800 | 2,121,000 |
General George C. Marshall put Japanese "battle dead" against the Americans at 965,000 (South Pacific: 684,000, Central Pacific: 273,000, Aleutians: 8,000), with 37,308 captured, from 7 December 1941 to 30 June 1945 (the war had yet to conclude). These are juxtaposed with the losses in the theater of the US Army alone, suggesting Japanese naval casualties were not included. His figure for Japanese "battle dead" in China was 126,000 in the same period.[256]
The IJN lost over 341 warships, including 11 battleships, 25 aircraft carriers, 39 cruisers, 135 destroyers, and 131 submarines, almost entirely in action against the US Navy. The IJN and IJA together lost 45,125 aircraft.[257]
Germany lost ten submarines and four auxiliary cruisers (Thor, Michel, Pinguin, and Kormoran) in the Indian and Pacific oceans.[242]
War crimes
By Japan
During the Pacific War, Japanese soldiers killed millions of non-combatants, including
The Nanjing Massacre is the most infamous example of Japanese atrocities against civilians during the war.[262] According to the International Military Tribunal for the Far East, more than 200,000 Chinese civilians were killed,[263] while the Nanjing War Crimes Tribunal concluded that over 300,000 died. The Manila massacre killed over 100,000 Filipino civilians.[264][page needed] Japan also employed biological weapons.
According to the findings of the Tokyo Tribunal, the death rate of Western prisoners was 27%, seven times that of Western POWs under the Germans and Italians.
A widely publicized example of institutionalized sexual slavery are "comfort women"—200,000 women and girls, mostly from Korea and China, who were forced to serve in Japanese military camps.
By the Allies
The firebombing of Tokyo has been described by writer Jonathan Rauch as a war crime.[266] A United States Strategic Bombing Survey estimated that 84% of the attacked area was residential, mostly inhabited by women, children and the elderly;[267] the over 100,000 victims constitute the deadliest aerial bombing raid in history.
American soldiers commonly collected the body parts of dead Japanese soldiers as trophies.[28][page needed] American soldiers are alleged to have committed rapes during the Battle of Okinawa.[268]
Tribunals
The International Military Tribunal for the Far East in Ichigaya from 29 April 1946 to 12 November 1948 tried those accused of the most serious war crimes. Military tribunals were also held throughout Asia and the Pacific.[269][270]
See also
- Dissent in the Armed Forces of the Empire of Japan
- European theatre of World War II
- Hull note
- Japanese-American service in World War II
- Japanese holdouts
- Japanese in the Chinese resistance to the Empire of Japan
- Nanshin-ron
- Pacific Theater aircraft carrier operations during World War II
- Pacific War campaigns
- War Plan Orange
- Yasukuni Shrine
- Wallis and Futuna during the Second World War
Notes
- ^ Fighting an undeclared war against Japan since 7 July 1937, declared war on 9 December 1941.[1]
- invading and occupying China since 1937, war was not officially declared. Japan would later attack Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941, which brought the contained war in China into the wider global conflict.[1]
- ^ Until April 1945
- ^ Until July 1945
- ^ Until July 1944
- ^ "For fifty-three long months, beginning in July 1937, China stood alone, single-handedly fighting an undeclared war against Japan. On 9 December 1941, after Japan's surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, what had been for so long a war between two countries now became part of a much wider Pacific conflict."[1][2]
- ^ : "It was not an official term, but a term of incitement used by the Japanese media, under the guidance of the military, in order to stir up the Japanese people's sense of crisis..."[68][69]
- ^ The Neutrality Patrol had US destroyers fighting at sea, but no state of war had been declared by Congress.
- ^ See United Kingdom declaration of war on Japan.
- ^ See United States declaration of war on Japan.
- Nuremberg War Crimes Trials of violating international law through unrestricted submarine warfare; the court acquitted them after they proved that Allied merchant ships were legitimate military targets under the rules in force at the time.[citation needed])
- ^ Chihaya went on to note that when the IJN belatedly improved its ASW methods, the US submarine force responded by increasing Japanese losses.[146]
- ^ Strength of the US Military in Asia and the Pacific as of war's end: Army: 1,770,036,[4] Navy (excluding Coast Guard and Marines): 1,366,716,[5] and Marine Corps: 484,631.[6] These figures do not include the Coast Guard or naval personnel in the China-Burma-India theater.[7]
- ^ These numbers do not include the Royal Netherlands Navy.
- ^ Estimates of 1 to 6 million Chinese civilian deaths (1937–1945);[19] around 4 million civilian deaths from the Dutch East Indies;[28][page needed], 1–2 million Indochinese civilians;[29] around 3 million[30] Indian civilian deaths in the Bengal famine of 1943; 0.5 to 1 million[31] Filipino civilian deaths; 91,000[20] to 1,000,000[32] Burmese civilian deaths; 50,000[33] East Timorese civilian deaths; and hundreds of thousands of Malayan, Pacific and other civilian deaths.[28][page needed]
- ^ 2,133,915 Japanese military deaths 1937–1945,[36] 1.18 million Chinese collaborator casualties 1937–1945 (432,000 dead),[37] 22,000 Burmese casualties,[citation needed] 5,600 Thai troops killed,[38] and 2,615 Indian National Army (Azad Hind) killed/missing.[39]
- ^ 460,000 Japanese civilian deaths (338,000 in the bombings of Japan,[40] 100,000 in the Battle of Okinawa, 22,000 in the Battle of Saipan), 543,000 Korean civilian deaths (mostly due to Japanese forced labor projects),[41] 2,000–8,000 Thai civilian deaths[42]
References
Citations
- ^ a b c Ch'i 1992, p. 157.
- ^ a b Sun 1996, p. 11.
- ^ Hastings 2008, p. 205.
- ^ Coakley & Leighton 1989, p. 836.
- ^ US Navy Personnel in World War II Service and Casualty Statistics, Naval History and Heritage Command, Table 9.
- ^ King, Ernest J. (1945). Third Report to the Secretary of the Navy p. 221
- ^ "US Navy Personnel in World War II Service and Casualty Statistics", Naval History and Heritage Command, Footnote 2.
- ^ a b Hastings 2008, p. 10.
- ^ "Chapter 10: Loss of the Netherlands East Indies". The Army Air Forces in World War II. HyperWar. Retrieved 31 August 2010.
- ^ Cherevko 2003, Ch. 7, Table 7.
- ^ Cook & Cook 1993, p. 403.
- ^ Harrison p. 29 Retrieved 10 March 2016
- ^ Australia-Japan Research Project, "Dispositions and Deaths" Retrieved 10 March 2016
- ^ Meyer 1997, p. 309.
- ^ Jowett 2005, p. 72.
- ^ "Losses", Nav source. Retrieved 25 July 2015. Allies' warships, Uboat. Retrieved 25 July 2015; "Major British Warship Losses in World War II". Retrieved 25 July 2015; Chinese Navy Retrieved 26 July 2015.
- ^ a b c Hara 2011, p. 299.
- ^ USSBS Summary Report, p. 68. Retrieved 26 May 2023. US aircraft losses only. Includes 8,700 in combat and the rest operational.
- ^ a b "Chinese People Contribute to WWII". Retrieved 23 April 2009.
- ^ a b c d Clodfelter 2017, pp. 527.
- ^ Dower 1986, p. 364.
- ISBN 978-0-19-280670-3.
- ^ a b Gruhl 2007, p. 65.
- ^ "Honouring NZ's Pacific War dead". Beehive. 15 August 2005. Archived from the original on 25 May 2012. Retrieved 31 October 2010.
- ^ a b "Russia and USSR in Wars of the 20th Century". И. И. Ивлев. Archived from the original on 5 May 2008. Retrieved 11 July 2008.
- ^ "Leyte Gulf: The Mexican Air Force". Avalanche Press. Retrieved 1 December 2015.
- ^ MacLeod 1999, p. 51.
- ^ a b c Dower 1993.
- ^ "Vietnam needs to remember famine of 1945". Anu. Archived from the original on 19 October 2017. Retrieved 31 October 2010.
- ^ Sen 1999, p. 203.
- ^ a b Gruhl 2007, pp. 143–144.
- ^ a b McLynn 2010, p. 1.
- ^ Ruas, Óscar Vasconcelos, "Relatório 1946–47", AHU
- ^ Hara 2011, p. 297.
- ^ USSBS Summary Report, p. 67. Retrieved 5/26/23. Approximately 20,000 in combat and 30,000 operational.
- ^ Bren, John (3 June 2005) "Yasukuni Shrine: Ritual and Memory" Japan Focus. Retrieved on 5 June 2009.
- ^ Rummel 1991, Table 5A.
- ^ Murashima 2006, p. 1057n.
- ^ Clodfelter 2002, p. 556.
- RJ Rummel, University of Hawaii.
- ^ Gruhl 2007, p. 19.
- ^ E. Bruce Reynolds, "Aftermath of Alliance: The Wartime Legacy in Thai-Japanese Relations", Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, v21, n1, March 1990, pp. 66–87. "An OSS document (XL 30948, RG 226, USNA) quotes Thai Ministry of Interior figures of 8,711 air raids deaths in 1944–45 and damage to more than 10,000 buildings, most of them totally destroyed. However, an account by M. R. Seni Pramoj (a typescript entitled 'The Negotiations Leading to the Cessation of a State of War with Great Britain' and filed under Papers on World War II, at the Thailand Information Center, Chulalongkorn University, p. 12) indicates that only about 2,000 Thai died in air raids."
- ^ Murray & Millett 2001, p. 143.
- ^ MacLeod 1999, p. 1.
- ^ Drea 1998, p. 26.
- ^ Costello 1982, p. 129–148.
- ^ Japan Economic Foundation, Journal of Japanese Trade & Industry, Volume 16, 1997
- ^ Takemae 2003, p. 516.
- ^ Jansen 2002, p. 626.
- ^ "WW2 People's War – Timeline". BBC. Archived from the original on 19 March 2011. Retrieved 31 October 2010.
- ^ "World War II and the founding of the Vietnamese state". Encyclopædia Britannica (Online ed.). Retrieved 25 August 2021.
- ^ "The Hukbalahap Insurrection: World War II and Huk Expansion". US Army. Retrieved 25 August 2021.
- ^ Sandler 2001, pp. 1067–1068.
- ^ Sandler 2001, p. 945.
- ^ "Map of the Pacific Theater". Archived from the original on 9 January 2009. Retrieved 31 October 2010.
- ^ Harmsen 2013.
- ^ Harmsen 2015.
- ^ Olsen 2012.
- ^ MacKinnon 2008.
- ^ Drea 2005.
- ^ Lin 2010, p. 55.
- ^ Garver 1988, p. 120.
- ^ Jansen 2002, p. 636.
- ^ Fairbank & Goldman 1994, p. 320.
- ^ Lind 2010, p. 28.
- ^ Rummel 1991.
- ^ "Japans desperate gamble". Aberdeen Journal. 18 November 1940. Retrieved 6 May 2015 – via British Newspaper Archive.
- ^ Kokushi Daijiten ("Historical Dictionary"), 1980
- ^ Cited by Christopher Barnard, 2003, Language, Ideology and Japanese History Textbooks, London & New York, Routledge Curzon, p. 85.
- ^ "The Effects of Strategic Bombing on Japan's War Economy", United States Strategic Bombing Survey, Washington December 1946, Table B-2. From 1942 to 1945, 92,511,000 yen was spent on the IJA and 59,766,000 yen was spent on the IJN.
- ^ Stille 2014, p. 23.
- ^ a b Evans & Peattie 1997.
- ^ Willmott 1983.
- ^ a b Stille 2014, p. 28.
- ^ Boog et al. 2001, p. 175.
- ^ a b Evans & Peattie 1997, p. 488.
- ^ Evans & Peattie 1997, p. 113.
- ^ Parillo 1993, p. 60.
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- Toland, John (2003). The Rising Sun: the Decline and Fall of the Japanese Empire. New York: Random House. ISBN 0-8129-6858-1.
- Willmott, H.P. (2014). Empires in the Balance: Japanese and Allied Pacific Strategies to April 1942 (reprint, 1982 ed.). Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-1-612-51728-5.
- Willmott, H.P. (1983). The Barrier and the Javelin. Annapolis, Maryland: United States Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-092-0.
- Willmott, H.P. (2005). The Battle Of Leyte Gulf: The Last Fleet Action. Indiana University Press. ISBN 0-253-34528-6.
- Willmott, H.P. (2002). The War with Japan: The Period of Balance, May 1942 – October 1943. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. ISBN 1-461-64607-3.
- Y'Blood, William T. (1981). Red Sun Setting: The Battle of the Philippine Sea. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-59114-994-0.
- Wilson, Dick (1982). When Tigers Fight. New York: The Viking Press.
- Xiaobing, Li, ed. (2012). China at War: An Encyclopedia. Abc-Clio. ISBN 978-1-59884-415-3. Retrieved 21 May 2012.
- Yahara, Hiromichi (1997). The Battle For Okinawa. Wiley. ISBN 978-0-471-18080-7.
- United States War Department. TM 30-480 Handbook On Japanese Military Forces, 1942 (1942) online; 384 pp; highly detailed description of wartime IJA by U.S. Army Intelligence.
Further reading
- Bergerud, Eric M. (2000). Fire in the Sky: The Air War in the South Pacific. Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press. ISBN 0-8133-3869-7.
- Buell, Thomas (1976). Master of Seapower: A Biography of Admiral Ernest J. King. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press.
- Buell, Thomas (1974). The Quiet Warrior: A Biography of Admiral Raymond Spruance.
- Craven, Wesley, and James Cate, eds. The Army Air Forces in World War II. Vol. 1, Plans and Early Operations, January 1939 to August 1942. University of Chicago Press, 1958. Official history; Vol. 4, The Pacific: Guadalcanal to Saipan, August 1942 to July 1944. 1950; Vol. 5, The Pacific: Matterhorn to Nagasaki. 1953.
- Cutler, Thomas (1994). The Battle of Leyte Gulf: 23–26 October 1944. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-55750-243-9.
- Dean, Peter J. McArthur's Coalition: US and Australian operations in the Southwest Pacific Area, 1942–1945 (University Press of Kansas, 2018)
- Degan, Patrick (2003). Fighting in World War II: The Battles Between American and Japanese Aircraft Carriers (New ed.). Jefferson: McFarland & Company Inc. ISBN 0-786-41451-0.
- Dunnigan, James F.; Nofi, Albert A.(1998). The Pacific War Encyclopedia. Facts on File.
- Goldman, Stuart (2012). Nomonhan, 1939: The Red Army's Victory That Shaped World War II. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-1-61251-098-9.
- Gordon, David M. (January 2006). "The China-Japan War, 1931–1945". Journal of Military History. 70 (1): 137–182. S2CID 161822140.
- Harries, Meirion; Harries, Susie (1994). Soldiers of the Sun: The Rise and Fall of the Imperial Japanese Army. New York: ISBN 0-679-75303-6.
- Harrison, Simon (2012). Dark Trophies. Hunting and the Enemy Body in Modern War. New York City: Berghahn Books. ISBN 978-0-85745-499-7.
- Hayashi, Saburo and Alvin, Coox. Kogun: The Japanese Army in the Pacific War. Quantico, Virginia: Marine Corps Assoc., 1959.
- ISBN 978-0-553-38512-0.
- ISBN 978-0-345-54872-6.
- Hsiung, James C. and Steven I. Levine, eds. China's Bitter Victory: The War with Japan, 1937–1945 M. E. Sharpe, 1992
- Hsi-sheng, Ch'i. Nationalist China at War: Military Defeats and Political Collapse, 1937–1945 University of Michigan Press, 1982
- Inoguchi, Rikihei, Tadashi Nakajima, and Robert Pineau. The Divine Wind. Ballantine, 1958. Kamikaze.
- James, D. Clayton. The Years of MacArthur. Vol. 2. Houghton Mifflin, 1972.
- Judge, Sean M. et al. The Turn of the Tide in the Pacific War: Strategic Initiative, Intelligence, and Command, 1941–1943 (University Press of Kansas, 2018).
- Kirby, S. Woodburn The War Against Japan. 4 vols. London: H.M.S.O., 1957–1965. Official Royal Navy history.
- Leary, William M. We Shall Return: MacArthur's Commanders and the Defeat of Japan. University Press of Kentucky, 1988.
- Lundstrom, John B. (2005). The First Team and the Guadalcanal Campaign: Naval Fighter Combat from August to November 1942 (New ed.). Annapolis, Maryland: ISBN 1-59114-472-8.
- Matloff, Maurice and Snell, Edwin M. Strategic Planning for Coalition Warfare 1941–1942 Archived 28 May 2015 at the Wayback Machine, United States Army Center of Military History, Washington, D.C., 1990
- McCarthy, Dudley (1959). South-West Pacific Area – First Year. Australia in the War of 1939–1945. Series 1 – Army. Vol. 5. Canberra: Australian War Memorial. OCLC 3134247.
- Miller, Edward S. (2007). War Plan Orange: The U.S. Strategy to Defeat Japan, 1897–1945. US Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-1-59114-500-4.
- Morrison, Samuel, Elliot, History of United States Naval Operations in World War II. Vol. 3, The Rising Sun in the Pacific. Boston: Little, Brown, 1961; Vol. 4, Coral Sea, Midway and Submarine Actions. 1949; Vol. 5, The Struggle for Guadalcanal. 1949; Vol. 6, Breaking the Bismarcks Barrier. 1950; Vol. 7, Aleutians, Gilberts, and Marshalls. 1951; Vol. 8, New Guinea and the Marianas. 1962; Vol. 12, Leyte. 1958; vol. 13, The Liberation of the Philippines: Luzon, Mindanao, the Visayas. 1959; Vol. 14, Victory in the Pacific. 1961.
- Myers, Michael W. Pacific War and Contingent Victory: Why Japanese Defeat Was Not Inevitable (UP of Kansas, 2015) 198 pp. online review.
- Okumiya, Masatake and Fuchida, Mitso. Midway: The Battle That Doomed Japan. Naval Institute Press, 1955.
- Potter, E. B. and Chester W. Nimitz. Triumph in the Pacific. Prentice Hall, 1963. Naval battles
- Potter, E. B.Yamamoto Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. 1967.
- Potter, E. B. Nimitz. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1976.
- Potter, E. B. Bull Halsey Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1985.
- Prados, John (2012). Islands of Destiny: The Solomons Campaign and the Eclipse of the Rising Sun. Dulles, Virginia: Penguin. ISBN 978-1-101-60195-2.
- Prados, John (2016). Storm Over Leyte: The Philippine Invasion and the Destruction of the Japanese Navy. New York: Penguin. ISBN 978-0-698-18576-0.
- Prange, Gordon W. Donald Goldstein, and Katherine Dillon. At Dawn We Slept. Penguin, 1982. Pearl Harbor
- Prange, et al. Miracle at Midway. Penguin, 1982.
- Prange, et al. Pearl Harbor: The Verdict of History.
- Sarantakes, Nicholas Evan. Allies against the Rising Sun: The United States, the British Nations, and the Defeat of Imperial Japan (2009). 458 pp.
- Seki, Eiji (2007). Sinking of the SS Automedon And the Role of the Japanese Navy: A New Interpretation. University of Hawaii Press. ISBN 978-1-905246-28-1.
- Shaw, Henry, and Douglas Kane. History of U.S. Marine Corps Operations in World War II. Vol. 2, Isolation of Rabaul. Washington, D.C.: Headquarters, U.S. Marine Corps, 1963
- Shaw, Henry, Bernard Nalty, and Edwin Turnbladh. History of U.S. Marine Corps Operations in World War II. Vol. 3, Central Pacific Drive. Washington, D.C.: Office of the Chief of Military History, 1953.
- Sledge, E. B., With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa. Presidio, 1981. Memoir.
- ISBN 978-0393080650
- Toll, Ian W. ISBN 978-0393080643
- Toll, Ian W. ISBN 978-0393080650
- Weinberg, Gerhard L. A World at Arms: A Global History of World War II, Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-44317-2. (2005).
- Yenne, Bill (2014). The Imperial Japanese Army: The Invincible Years 1941–42. Osprey Publishing. ISBN 978-1-78200-982-5.
External links
- "The Pacific War Online Encyclopedia" compiled by Kent G. Budge, 4000 short articles
- Film Footage of the Pacific War Archived 6 November 2011 at the Wayback Machine
- Animated History of the Pacific War Archived 24 June 2019 at the Wayback Machine
- The Pacific War Series – at The War Times Journal
- Imperial Japanese Navy Page
- "Japan's War in Colour" on YouTube