Important Battles of WW2 Japanese Front

Battle of the Java Sea (Feb 1942)

• Allies (USA, Great Britain, Netherlands, Australia) fought Japanese to prevent Japan from getting the Dutch East Indies

• Japanese easily defeated them

  • Sank 3 of their destroyers and 2 cruisers

  • Killed 2300 men

Battle of Midway (June 1942)

• Japan attacked Aleutian islands as a distraction

  • real target was the Midway Atoll

• American codebreakers figured out the plan

• US won a decisive victory

• Japan now on the defensive for the rest of the war

• first battle where the carriers of both sides did not see each other

Battle of Guadalcanal (Aug 1942)

• American amphibious landing and seized airfield in southern Solomon Islands

• heavy Allied losses

• Japan lost and stopped expansion and attempts to disrupt American and Allied supply and communication routes

Battle of Saipan (June 1944)

• US attacked the Mariana Islands to have an airbase that could strike Japan

• many troops and civilians killed themselves or were killed in battle

• Americans won the battle and got a naval base but lost 13,000

Battle of Iwo Jima (Feb 1945)

• Americans invaded Iwo Jima to get airstrips

• fighting over a month

• famous picture of US Marines putting American flag on an island

• American victory but both sides suffered high losses

Battle of Okinawa (Apr 1945)

• Americans attacked Okinawa (southernmost tip of Japan)

• established an air raid base and practice runs to invade mainland Japan

• Americans won with high troops and civilian casualties

• Japan had double the number of troop casualties

• the high casualties led Truman to approve the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki