When most people think about the Second World War, their minds will probably go to films like Saving Private Ryan (1998), The Longest Day (1962), A Bridge Too Far (1977), Inglourious Basterds(2009), or Schindler's List (1993). These were all great films which show a similar message, that the Good Guys would wipe up the floor with the Nazi goons.
What they do not convey is that there was just as much importance, just as much bloody fighting, and just as much drama happening on the other side of the world. For many Americans, the War started on December 7, 1941, when the Japanese snuck up on us at Pearl Harbor, and then we proceeded to kick Hitler's butt.
Roosevelt and Churchill had agreed on a "Europe First" strategy from the get-go. The Allies would share the fight with the Japanese after things were settled on the continent, but for now, the Pacific Theater would be a "holding action".
Unfortunately, the Empire of Japan was not interested in waiting for a "holding action". This meant that the US had to fight across two oceans; and across the biggest ocean, they would be fighting mostly on their own.
A serious student of history might point out that the War did not begin with Pearl Harbor but had been going on since Hitler invaded Poland on September 1, 1939. This is also short-sighted. The Japanese had been at War with China since the Marco Polo Bridge Incident on July 7, 1937.
This meant, among other things, that when the Americans joined the fighting, the Imperial Japanese military had experience and the inertia of victory. The December 7 attack on Pearl Harbor was only part of a greater plan. The Philippines, Guam, and Wake Island, and the British territories of Malaya, Singapore, and Hong Kong were also attacked on that day, with victory going to the Japanese.
In the weeks following December 7, the Japanese had several victories, including the sinking of British capital ships, the take-over of Hong Kong, and the conquest of British Burma, Malaya, and Singapore. The Japanese Air Forces also began a psychologically devasting, although militarily insignificant bombing of Darwin, Australia.
The Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) handed the Allied fleet a disastrous defeat in late February at the Battle of the Java Sea. The tide of War began to turn with another militarily insignificant air raid; the Doolittle Raid in April 1942, launching B-25 bombers from the deck of an American carrier did little real damage but gave the Allies an important morale boost.
Admiral Yamamoto, who had planned the Pearl Harbor attack, came up with a plan to destroy the American Fleet at Midway Atoll. However, before the IJN General Staff would sign off on the plan, Yamamoto was compelled to allocate a carrier division to support an attack on Port Moresby, New Guinea, and include a simultaneous attack on the Aleutian Islands as part of the Midway operation.
The US learned of the Port Moresby attack through signals intelligence and assigned two U.S. Navy carrier task forces and a joint Australian-American cruiser force under the command of Admiral Frank Fletcher to oppose the IJN invasion. This became the Battle of the Coral Sea in early May 1942, the first naval action in which the opposing fleets neither sighted nor fired upon one another.
In terms of ships sunk and damage done, Coral Sea was a tactical victory for the IJN, albeit a small one. On the other hand, the carriers that the IJN assigned to the operation were too heavily damaged to participate in the upcoming Midway attack.
Yamamoto was convinced that the element of surprise would lead to victory at Midway and bring the Allies to negotiate for peace. The surprise element was lost when US Navy code breakers discovered the planned attack in May. On June 3, 1942, aircraft from Midway spotted the IJN Fleet.
The Battle of Midway took place on May 4 and involved a series of heroic aviators making attacks on the enemy, often finding their targets by accident in the confusion of combat. Although the US Navy lost a destroyer, around 150 aircraft, and an aircraft carrier, the IJN losses included four fleet carriers sunk, one heavy cruiser sunk and another damaged, two destroyers damaged, and almost 250 aircraft lost.
The one bright spot of the Midway campaign for the Empire of Japan was the successful occupation of Kiska and Attu Islands in the Aleutians. Just six months after the Attack on Pearl Harbor, the IJN was nearly broken as a fighting force. The US had to face a highly experienced and aggressive Japanese Army in the upcoming "Island Hopping" campaign.
Coast Watchers reported that the Japanese were building an airfield on Guadalcanal Island in the Solomons. 16,000 US Marines landed on Guadalcanal and Tulagi Island on August 7, 1942. A quick response by IJN Admiral Gunichi Mikawa led to a victory at the Battle of Savo Island, sinking four Allied cruisers but failing to engage the transports carrying troops to Guadalcanal.
Six months of heavy and bloody fighting were required before Guadalcanal could be considered secure. The Naval Battle of Guadalcanal was costly to both sides, including the loss of American carriers to submarines and a nighttime battle where battleships exchanged fire.
Operation Cartwheel advanced the Allied Forces along the northeast coast of New Guinea and through the Solomons until they had to face the Japanese base at Rabaul. Finally, the feared base became isolated and ineffective, and the Island Hopping continued toward the Japanese Home Islands.
Conditions on the Home Islands continued to worsen, thanks in no small part to the actions of Allied submarines. The war against Japan's Merchant Shipping was a decisive factor in the collapse of the Japanese economy. US Navy subs were responsible for 56% of Japanese Merchant Marine losses, despite representing less than 2% of the US Fleet.
The Island Hopping Campaign moved ever closer to the Home Islands, and the closer the Allies came, the stiffer the resistance they faced. Air raids on Japanese cities by USAAF B-29s gained increasing importance, and the Island Hopping campaign had put the B-29 bases within range, but the island of Iwo Jima was needed as an emergency landing field.
The Imperial Japanese High Command also saw the value of the Island and began fortifying its defenses. Although it was generally acknowledged that the defenders could not hold Iwo Jima if they could make its capture costly enough, then the advance might be slowed and perhaps lead to a peace initiative.
30,000 Marines landed on the southeast coast of Iwo Jima on February 19, 1945. The summit of Mt Suribachi was captured on February 23, and the Island was fully secured on March 26. The action cost nearly 6,000 Marines their lives.
The last step before invading the Home Islands was the capture of the Ryukyu Islands, the largest of which was Okinawa. Seen by many as a sort of dress rehearsal for the invasion of the Home Islands, the Battle for Okinawa would prove to be the longest and bloodiest of the Pacific War.
Between 75,000 and 100,000 Japanese troops, augmented by thousands of determined civilians, were assigned to defend the Island. Four US Army divisions and three Marine divisions, totaling 183,000 troops would make up the Invasion Force. After seven days of heavy bombardment, the largest amphibious assault of the Pacific War landed to little opposition.
The Naval portion of the operation faced heavy opposition in the form of kamikaze attacks. Low on fuel, the battleship Yamato was ordered to beach herself and support the defense with her 18.1-inch guns. Before Yamato reached Okinawa, she was spotted by a US Sub and sunk by American aircraft.
The ground forces moved inland and finally met serious resistance in the southern portion of the island where the entrenched Japanese defenders skillfully made use of the terrain to extract maximum casualties. Organized resistance was broken by June 21, but the island was not secured until July 2.
The Battle of Okinawa took place from April 1 until June 22, 1945. During this time, the Germans surrendered on May 8, and the American G.I.s in Europe worried that they would be transferred to the Pacific for the invasion of the Japanese Home Islands. The stiff resistance at Okinawa showed the Allied Command that the Home Islands would be costly to invade.
This must have been an important consideration for the new President of the United States, Harry Truman when he was briefed on the Manhattan Project and the untested but theoretically devastating weapons that the Project had produced.
Modern politics is largely based on the unthinkable notion of using atomic weapons. In 1945, with the costly ground invasion of Japan to look forward to, the unthinkable was worth consideration. The Potsdam Declaration called for unconditional surrender by Japan, the alternative being "prompt and utter destruction".
On August 6, 1945, a USAAF B-29 Superfortress named "Enola Gay" dropped an atomic bomb on the city of Hiroshima. A second atomic attack on the city of Nagasaki occurred on August 9. President Truman threatened "a rain of ruin from the air" if Japan would not capitulate (although there would not be any more atom bombs produced for weeks or perhaps months).
At noon Japan Standard Time on August 15, 1945, NHK Radio broadcast a recording of Emperor Hirohito accepting the terms of surrender. The formal Instrument of Surrender was signed on September 2, 1945, aboard the USS Missouri (BB-63). As Supreme General Douglas MacArthur began the Occupation of Japan, which would last until April 1952.
Old Time Radio is more than an artifact of History, in many cases, OTR is History. The collection of Pacific War Broadcasts will take listeners back to a time of confusion, fear, sacrifice, relief, and ultimate Victory. We have an advantage over the voices in the Collection in that we know how it will all turn out. However, hearing the voices can transport us back to their time, and teach us lessons not only of the past but ones that will guide us into an uncertain future.
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