World War II: The Pacific

The Pacific War began on December 7th 1941, when the Imperial Japanese Navy bombed Pearl Harbor in the United states. This attack occurred at approximately 7:48 A.M. Hawaiian time. The strike was intended to prevent the United States Pacific fleet from interfering with Japan's plan to attack Southeast Asia, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and the United States. The attack involved 353 Japanese fighters, bombers and torpedo planes. All of the eight United States Navy battleships were damaged, four of those were sunk. The also destroyed three cruiser ships, three destroyers, a training ship and 188 planes. The attack resulted in 2,402 Americans killed and 1,282 wounded. Franklin D. Roosevelt, president at the time, declared December 7th, 1941 as "a date which will live in infamy" and announced the start of the Pacific War.

The Pacific War was fought in East Asia, Southeast Asia and the Pacific Ocean. Some of the important and final battles of the war were the Battle of Iwo Jima and the Battle of Okinawa. Iwo Jima occurred in February of 1945. Iwo Jima is an island between Tokyo and the Mariana Islands. During most of February and March 1945 the Americans pushed north and had taken two-thirds of the island. Finally on March 26th, the battle had ended. 6,800 Marines were killed and 20,000 were wounded. The Japanese lost well over 20,000 men and 1,083 prisoners were taken.

The largest and bloodiest battle of the Pacific was the Battle of Okinawa. It lasted from April to June of 1945. It resulted in over 100,000 Japanese casualties and about 38,000 allies wounded and 12,000 killed. There were more than 26,000 non-battle casualties. Thirty-four allied ships had been sunk by kamikazes. Okinawa was the last chance for the Japanese and it resulted in an allied victory. On August 6, 1945 the  atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, Japan and on August 9th, 1945 the second atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki, Japan. On August 14, 1945 the Japanese agreed to an unconditional surrender and the war finally ended on September 2, 1945.