We Did Our Duty: War in the Pacific

In the years leading up to World War II, the United States, Britain, and other countries with economic interests in Asia watched with growing concern as Japan made incursions into China to expand its empire. In an attempt to stop them, the United States ended its trade agreement with Japan in 1939, instituted trade embargoes on fuel and scrap metal, and closed the Panama Canal to Japanese shipping.

In 1940 the Japanese joined Germany and Italy in signing the Tripartite (Axis) Pact, ensuring mutual cooperation in an effort to "establish and maintain a new order of things" in the world. The United States, while trying to remain neutral in the growing world conflict, implemented the largest peacetime military draft in its history. When Japan invaded Indochina in 1941, the U.S. responded by freezing Japanese assets in the U.S., thereby placing an embargo on crucial oil shipments to Japan. These measures failed to impede Japan's aggression in Asia, and diplomatic talks reached a stalemate.

On the morning of Sunday, December 7, 1941 two waves of Japanese bombers and fighter plans swooped down in a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, home of the U.S. Pacific fleet. Ships in the harbor and planes at nearby Wheeler Army Air Field were destroyed, with a loss of 2,403 military and civilian lives. The following day, the U.S. and Great Britain declared war on Japan.

The Pearl Harbor attack gave the Japanese a temporary advantage in the Pacific. They seized the opportunity to take control of Guam, Wake Island, the Philippines, the Dutch East Indies, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Burma. The advance was stopped in part by British, Australian and New Zealander forces, and by the U.S. victory in the Battle of Midway in the summer of 1942.

The United States began to systematically push the Japanese back from one island stronghold to another, winning important victories at Guadalcanal in the Soloman Islands and at Saipan, Tinian and Guam in the Marianas before reaching the Philippines late in 1944. The decisive battles of the Philippine Sea and Letye Gulf effectively put the Japanese Navy out of commission, clearing the way for an invasion of the island of Iwo Jima to the north, and of Okinawa in the Japanese home islands. By June 1945 both islands were taken after long battles and significant casualties on both sides.

Meanwhile, American forces had arrived in mainland China and Burma in 1942. The Japanese continued to control conquered territory there, keeping American, Chinese and British troops on the defensive. In August 1944 the tide began to turn as the Burmese capital city of Myitkyina fell to American and Chinese Nationalist forces, although the Japanese successfully maintained their defense into 1945.

As the Allies anticipated an invasion of the home island of Japan, a top secret project was reaching its conclusion in the United States that would effectively end the war with Japan. On July 16, 1945 the U.S. government successfully tested the first atomic bomb (Trinity). Two bombs were sent to the island of Tinian. On July 26th an ultimatum was issued to Japan, requiring an immediate, unconditional surrender or face annihilation. Japan refused. The first bomb, nicknamed "Little Boy," was dropped from the B-29 bomber Enola Gay on the city of Hiroshima, Japan on August 6th. "Fat Man" was dropped three days later over Nagasaki. The death toll from the two bombs would reach more than 200,000.

On August 14, 1945 the Empire of Japan unconditionally surrendered, and "V-J Day" - Victory over Japan - was officially declared. The formal surrender agreement ending the Second World War was signed aboard the U.S.S. Missouri in Tokyo Bay on September 2.

Citations:

• Panama Canal. Google Maps, 2007.
• Tripartite Pact. Wikipedia.org, 2007.
• Attack on Pearl Harbor. Wikipedia.org, 2007.
• Remembering Pearl Harbor. National Geographic, 2001.
• Photo: Planes and hangars burning at Wheeler Army Air Field, Oahu, soon after it was attacked in the morning of 7 December 1941, as seen from a Japanese Navy plane.
• Battle of Guam (1941). Google Maps, 2007.
• The Battle of Wake Island. Wikipedia.org, 2007.
• Battle of the Philippines. Wikipedia.org, 2007.
• South West Pacific theatre of World War II. Wikipedia.org, 2007.
• Battle of Hong Kong. Wikipedia.org, 2007.
• Battle of Singapore. Wikipedia.org, 2007.
• Burma. Wikipedia.org, 2007.
• Battle of Midway: 4-7 June 1942. Department of the Navy, Navy Historical Center, 2005.
• Guadalcanal Campaign. Wikipedia.org, 2007.
• Battle of Saipan. Wikipedia.org, 2007.
• Battle of Tinian. Wikipedia.org, 2007.
• Battle of Guam (1944). Wikipedia.org, 2007.
• Battle of the Philippine Sea. Wikipedia.org, 2007.
• Battle of Leyte Gulf. Wikipedia.org, 2007.
• The Battle for Iwo Jima. U.S. Department of Defense, 2007.
• Appleman, Roy E., James M. Burns, Russell A. Gugeler, and John Stevens Okinawa: The Last Battle. The United States Army, 2001.
• Myitkyina. Wikipedia.org, 2007.
• World War II: Asiatic-Pacific Theater, 1941-1946. Department of the Navy, Navy Historical Center, 2000.
• Trinity. Los Alamos National Laboratory, 2006-2007.
• China Burma India Theater of World War II. Wikipedia.org, 2007.
• Little Boy and Fat Man. National Atomic Museum, 2003.
• VJ Day. Minnesota Historical Society: Minnesota's Greatest Generation, 2005.