2. Although for much
1944 the focus had
been busy, too. Island
by island, the allies
moved closer and
closer to Japan. This
strategy was know as
“island hopping”
Some islands that
were heavily guarded
by Japanese were
passed over.
3. The Philippine
people had suffered
terribly during the
years of the Japanese
occupation. Like the
Nazis when they had
occupied other
countries, the
Japanese threw
people out of their
homes, stole and
destroyed property,
and raped and killed
as a way of
reminding the
Filipinos who was in
power.
4. The second battle for
the Philippines raged
from 0ctuber 20,
1944 to September 2,
1945. the fighting was
particularly brutal
and deadly. Japan
had now begun using
Kamikaze (Japanese
for “divine wind”)
pilots in an all-out
attempt to regain
the upper hand in
battle.
5. These suicidal
missions were nearly
impossible to predict
or stop. The planes
would come
screaming in at such
great speeds that the
anti-aircraft guns
were practically
useless. They
terrorized the Allies
and cost the lives of
hundreds of
American Soldiers.
6. Now the Allies took
aim at two small
islands that were
part of Japan. The
country of Japan
was actually made
up of Japan. The
country of Japan
was actually made
up of about 7,000
islands, stretching
from the Soviet
Union to South
Korea. Many of
these islands were
very small, and
some were even
uninhabited.
7. Heavy B-29
bombers were now
attacking Japan daily.
Japanese civilians
had no bomb
shelters and nowhere
to run. When the
bombs fell,
thousands died . In
Tokyo, a monstrous
firestorm swept
through the crowded
city when nearly
1,700 tons of
incendiary bombs
were dropped in a
single night.
8. The Japanese
military’s only
response to this was
to train old men,
women, and
children(all the
young men were
either fighting or
dead) how to use
sharpened bamboo
poles to kill the
enemy. A land
invasion had not
happened yet, but
when it did, the
military encouraged
civilians to spear as
many Allied soldiers
as possible.
9. By 1945 , the atomic
bomb had been
created at the giant
nuclear weapons
plant in Oak Ridge,
Tennessee. Scientists
then gathered at a
desolate desert
location in New
Mexico on July 16,
1945, to test their
creation. In the early
morning, before
daylight, the bomb
was detonated.
Scientists and
military officials
watched from more
than ten miles away.
10. News of the successful
test of the atom bomb
was rushed to
President Truman.
Now he and Churchill
had to decide whether
to use this powerful
new weapon. The
decision, however,
Truman would later
explain, “was no great
decision….. It was
purely a military
decision”. In other
words, both he and
Churchill Knew they
would have to use the
bomb to force Japan’s
surrender.
11. On August 6, 1945, an
atomic bomb
nicknamed “ Little Boy”
headed toward the
Japanese industrial city
of Hiroshima aboard a
B-29 bomber.
Hiroshima was chosen
because it was a
military manufacturing
center and because it
had never been
bombed before. A
previously untouched
target would allow
analysts to gauge just
how much damage an
atomic bomb would
really do. Likewise, it
would clearly show the
Japanese how terrible
this new weapon was.
12. As a result, three
days later a much
larger atomic bomb,
dubbed “Fat Man”,
was dropped on the
big port city
Nagasaki. The
mountains
surrounding
Nagasaki blocked
some of the wall of
roaring fire from
the bomb, but ,
again, about 70,000
people were killed
immediately, and
nearly a third of the
city was leveled.
13. Two weeks later, on
September 2, 1945,
representative of the
Empire of Japan
boarded a United
States battleship to
be the site of the
surrender ceremony
because they feared
that the Japanese
military, still angry
about admitting
defeat, might spring
a surprise attack if
the meeting took
place Tokyo.
