World War Two came to America on December 7th, 1941. The focus on America's involvement in the war generally focuses on the European front. What must be remembered is the time and sacrifices made in the Pacific theatre. America's entry into the war on the Pacific was not an immediate success. It took American forces until the summer of 1942 at the Battle of Midway to become properly prepared for the war. The American military learned much from their losses – both through the strengths of the Japanese forces and America's own faults. After these losses were realized, changes were made within the military. These improvements allowed the American forces to turn the war back and begin to have successes in the Pacific. Pearl Harbour was, of course, a devastating opening blow to America when they entered the war. Significant losses continued for a number of months before the American forces were able to turn the tide. From these losses, the American military was able to learn two forms of helpful information: the Japanese strengths and the American weaknesses. Within this, the strengths and weaknesses took three forms: strategic, tactical and technological. Japan was clearly prepared to enter the war with America from well before the incident of Pearl Harbour. Strategically, Japan was well prepared. As the aggressor in the war between the two countries, Japan was able to plan assaults on numerous islands in the Pacific to coincide with the attack on Pearl Harbour. These attacks were unexpected and very successful; they were most often air assaults early in the morning1. Due to the unpreparedness of the Americans, it was noted that “opposition was feeble and damage extensive,”2. These preemptive strikes show the Japan... ... middle of paper ... ...gn in World War II: from Pearl Harbor to Guadalcanal. London: Routledge, 2006. Lundstrom, John B. The First Team: Pacific Naval Air Combat from Pearl Harbor to Midway. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute, 1984. Morton, Louis. The Fall of the Philippines. Washington, D.C.: Office of the Chief of Military History, Dept. of the Army, 1953. Simmonds, Ed. Echoes over the Pacific: an Overview of Allied Air Warning Radar in the Pacific, from Pearl Harbor to the Philippines Campaign. Banora Point, NSW: E.W. & E. Simmonds, 1995 United States Dept. of the Army, Office of Military History. The United States Army in World War II. ser2. v13. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1947. White, William Lindsay. They Were Expendable. New York: Harcourt, Brace and, 1942. Wohlstetter, Roberta. Pearl Harbor; Warning and Decision. Stanford, CA: Stanford UP, 1962.
Stewart R. W. (2005). American Military History (Vol. 1). The United States Army and the
To begin, the attack on Pearl Harbour was devastating to U.S. naval capabilities in the Pacific at the onset of their entry into the war. Japanese officials had grown tired of the U.S. oil embargo, which was meant to limit their territorial expansion and aggression in South-East Asia as well as China, and as negotiations weren’t reaching any conclusions they decided that the only course of action was a first strike on the aircraft carriers at Pearl Harbour to cripple U.S. naval capability in the Pacific (Rosenberg 1). The attack, which lasted about two hours, had resulted in the sinking of four battleships, among ...
Weigley, Russel F. History of the United States Army. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1st Edition, 1984.
"World War II (1939-45)." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Ed. John G. Royde-Smith and Thomas A. Hughes. Encyclopedia Britannica, 5 Dec. 2012. Web. 29 Jan. 2014.
Cameron, R. S. (2003). The army vision: The 4th AD in world war II. Military Review, 83(6), 59-68
Miller, Stuart C. “Letter from New York-Born Soldier.” Benevolent Assimilation: The American Conquest of the Philippines, 1899-1903. New Haven, CT: Yale University, 1982. 88. Print.
While Japan was greedy for more land and industrial materials, no one believed that the Japanese would start war with America by planning an attack on American soil. Another reason that the United States thought that the attack wouldn’t happen so close was because they were confident that Japan would try and take over the the Dutch East Indies, or French
Gailey, Harry. The War in the Pacific: From Pearl Harbor to Tokyo Bay. Novato: Presidio, 1995.
Blair Jr., Clay, (1975). Silent Victory: The U.S. Submarine War Against Japan. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott, p. 78. p. 1072. Buell, Thomas B. -. (1987)
On December 7th 1941, Japanese Planes and submarines attacked the United States Naval base at Pearl Harbor. This event singlehandedly brought the U.S from its then neutral stance in World War Two to a fighting member of the “Allied Powers.” Pearl Harbor was the first of a long series of confrontations between the U.S and the Japanese in an effort to gain control of the Pacific. Unlike the “War in Europe” the Pacific strategy was dominated by naval and aerial battles, with the occasional land-based “Island Hopping” Campaign. As such, one of the most important factors in the war in the pacific was Fleet Size, the more ships a country could send to war, the better. Pearl Harbor was the Japanese’s way of trying to deal with the massive U.S Pacific fleet. However, Pearl Harbor was not the turning point of the war. After December 7th the United States began work on numerous technological developments which would ultimately help them in one of the most important battles of WWII, the largest naval confrontation of the war, The Battle of Midway. The battle, which took place from June 4th to June 7th , 1942 is widely considered the turning point of the Pacific Theater (James & Wells). Through the Post-Pearl Harbor desire for “Revenge” and various technological advantages including code breaking and radar, the U.S were able to outsmart the Japanese at Midway and ultimately win the battle, eventually leading to a victory in the Pacific.
Retrieved from http://www.history.army.mil/books/wwii/okinawa/chapter1.htm
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The United States was engaged in a naval battle with Japan from June 4-7 1942, 6 months after Pearl Harbor (Carson) (Interview). This engagement was The Battle of Midway and the most important naval battle of WWII. The United States was able to take control of the Pacific after the victory. This battle not only determined naval superiority in the Pacific but also was a turning point for the entire World War. (Interview)
Smith, William Ward. Midway: Turning Point of the Pacific. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell, 1966. Print.
In May of 1942, Japanese Admiral Isorosku Yamamoto devised a plan to draw the US Pacific fleet into battle where he could completely destroy it. To accomplish this master plan of his, he sought out the invasion of Midway Island which would provide a base for the Japan troops to attack Hawaii. Unfortunately for Yamamoto, America decrypted Japanese radio transmissions and Admiral Chester Nimitz was able to establish a counter attack against this offensive. Nimitz sent three aircraft carriers, The USS Enterprise, The USS Hornet and The USS Yorktown to destroy the Japanese. This is just a short overview of The Battle of Midway, or as commonly referred to as, the battle that changed the war. People argue that it had no affect on the war, but those critics couldn’t be farther from the truth. The Battle of Midway was the turning point of the war because it fully enters America into the war, it kicked off the Pacific Campaign, and it had Japan on the defensive, thus preventing them from helping The Axis Forces.