University:
Manchester University
Course:
HIST 252 | Comparative Civilization
Academic year:

2020
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112

Pages:

3
Author:

SpaceCadet101

Island-Hopping Lecture Notes  While the Allies were concentrating on invading France, The United States was simultaneously developing a strategy on invading Japan________.  The Americans wanted a two-pronged attack________ against Europe and the Central Pacific.  The two generals leading the attack in the Pacific were General Nimitz and General MacArthur.  The two generals decided to attack the Pacific by hopping from island to island, thus the name Island hopping.  The fall of 1943 the navy was ready to launch the island-hopping campaign against Japan  Tarawa was the first island that the Americans attempted to capture. It was a long and gruesome battle; only one in three American soldiers made it onto shore alive. More than 1,000 marines died on Tarawa.  After the battle of Tarawa, the marines invested in more amphtracs, which were tanks that could roll through coral onto the shore.  The Americans then aimed at taking Saipan, Tinian, and Guam from the Japanese. These islands were crucial because the Americans were planning on stationing B-29 bombers on them to bomb the Japanese mainland.  The Navajo Code Talkers played a crucial role in organizing and defeating the Japanese because their language was so different that the Japanese could not decode it.  General MacArthur began his campaign by attacking Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands.  MacArthur was aiming at taking the Philippines back more so than any other place in the Pacific  In the Leyte Gulf more than 700 American ships and 160,000 American troops took part in the largest naval battle in history.  In this naval battle, the Japanese used Kamikaze pilots, who were pilots that would deliberately crash their planes into American ships.  In the battle for the Philippines, more than 80,000 Japanese died and fewer than 1,000 surrendered.  More than 100,000 native Filipino civilians were killed in the battle  Americans decided to invade Iwo Jima to have an island closer to the Japanese mainland for B-29 bombers to refuel at.  This island had very hard terrain to fight on, with a volcano and very jagged ravines and rocky cliffs, which made it very difficult to invade for the Americans  The Americans sent 60,000 troops to invade Iwo Jima on February 19, 1945 and 6,800 marines were killed during the invasion  The island of Okinawa was the next target for the American military because it was only 350 miles away from the Japanese homeland.  The United States wanted to take Okinawa because they believed the only way to have Japan surrender would be by invading the mainland and Okinawa was the best island to stockpile supplies and build up troops.  Okinawa also had very rugged terrain which made it very difficult for American troops to capture it  More than 12,000 American soldiers died trying to capture Okinawa

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