Bataan Death March, Midway & Island Hopping

Bataan Death March, Battle of Midway & Island Hopping

I can analyze major military events of WWII such as fighting the war on multiple fronts, military advancement through the Bataan Death March, the Pacific Islands, and the Battle of Midway. I can identify reasons for U.S. involvement in World War II such as Pearl Harbor.

Bataan Death March

• Several hours after the bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, the Japanese attacked the Philippines, which was then a U.S. territory. 

Bataan Death March

The combined forces of American troops and Filipino soldiers attempted to resist the Japanese invasion of the island. With lack of naval and air support, the embattled soldiers retreated to the Bataan Peninsula. The Battle of Bataan ended on April 9,1942 with Filipino and American soldiers surrendering to the Japanese. 

Bataan Death March

• About 12,000 Americans and 63,000 Filipinos became prisoners of war. (POW)

Open Ended

Making Predictions!!!

What do you think will happen to the POW’s under Japanese control?

Sentence Stem: I think what will happen to the POWs under Japanese control is _____________

Bataan Death March

• Tens of thousands of U.S. and Filipino soldiers were forced to become prisoners of war to the Japanese. The soldiers were deprived of food, water, medical attention, and were forced to march 65 miles through the scorching jungles of the Philippines to confinement camps. Thousands died and those who survived faced the hardships of prisoner of war camps and the brutality of their Japanese captors. The POWs would not see freedom until 1945.

Watch a Bataan Death March Survivor Video here:

https://youtu.be/fPbAd1TUGJA

Battle of Midway

The Battle of Midway is often described as the turning point of World War II in the Pacific. 

Battle of Midway

• The Japanese Pacific fleet commander had devised a plan to lure (bring in) the U.S. Pacific fleet into a battle near Midway, a tiny mid-Pacific island, where he believed he could destroy them.

•  However, the U.S. Navy could decipher (figure out) Japanese secret codes and knew that a surprise attack by the Japanese fleet was at hand. 

Battle of Midway

• Here, American forces dealt a decisive blow to the Japanese Navy, sinking four of its aircraft carriers, downing over 200 aircraft, and inflicting more than 3,000 casualties.

• These Japanese losses could not easily be replaced, and allowed the U.S. to take the offensive in the Pacific.

Battle of Midway

• Not only did we cripple their fleet, we forced the Japanese to start retreating towards Japan, something they hadn’t done the entire war. 

• Chester Nimitz, U.S. Navy Admiral, played an important role in this victory.

The key to Allied victory was the island hopping campaign, which required the military to fight for control of small, unknown islands across the vast Pacific Ocean. 

Island Hopping

• Island Hopping was a strategy designed to enable the Allies to reach Japan without having to conquer every island held by the Japanese. The Allies picked strategically important islands, attacked them, and set up bases to support future attacks. 

• This enabled the Allies to “hop” over more fortified Islands and cut the defenders off from supplies while minimizing losses of men and supplies. The Island Hopping strategy gave the Allies the ability to surprise the Japanese on any given island.

Island Hopping & War in the Pacific Video

To finish up and summarize island hopping and the War in the Pacific including the turning point of midway,

Watch this video, 8 mins long:

https://youtu.be/tqptbdyga3w 

Admiral Chester Nimitz - Pacific Front

From Texas. In December 1941, he was designated as Commander in Chief, Pacific Fleet and Pacific Ocean Areas, where he served throughout the war. He led an island hopping campaign. September 2, 1945, was the United States signatory to the surrender terms aboard the battleship USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay.

Gen. Douglas MacArthur - Pacific Front

On December 8, 1941, his air force was destroyed in a surprise attack by the Japanese, who soon invaded the Philippines. MacArthur’s forces retreated to the Bataan peninsula, where they struggled to survive. In March 1942, on orders from the President, MacArthur, his family and members of his staff fled. Shortly afterward, MacArthur promised, “I shall return.” U.S.-Philippine forces fell to Japan in May 1942. In April 1942, MacArthur was appointed supreme commander of Allied forces in the Southwest Pacific. He spent the next two and a half years commanding an island-hopping campaign in the Pacific before famously returning to liberate the Philippines in October 1944.

READY TO PRACTICE?!?!

• Use your testing strategies!!!

• Process of elimination, placing the question and answers in the era, is the question Economic, Social, Political, or eNvironmental?

Multiple Choice

Date: April 9, 1942

Headline: Japanese Forces Occupy Bataan Peninsula

Many U.S. Soldiers involved in the event mentioned in this headline -

• remained in the trenches and resisted the Japanese invasion

• were exchanged for Japanese prisoners of war

• escaped and redeployed to the European Theater

• died during a forced march to a prison camp in the Philippines

Fill in the Blank

What is the event known as where U.S. & Filipino soldiers were mistreated, neglected, and marched through the Philippines, even to death?

Multiple Choice

Why did the United States seize Pacific islands during World War II?

• to gain access to vital natural resources

• to fulfill commitments to military alliances

• To protect shipping routes for neutral countries

• To establish military bases for use in further attacks

Fill in the Blank

Which battle was a turning point in the Pacific front of WWII?

Poll

Was island hopping an effective strategy?

• Yes

• No

• Kind of

• I could think of better ones

Poll

Level of understanding of today's lesson on a scale of one to five:

1) Barely 2) Kind of 3) Okay 4) Pretty good 5) Great

• 1: Barely

• 2: Kind of

• 3: Okay

• 4: Pretty good

• 5: Great