This collection of resources presents the Pacific theatre of the Second World War (1939-45), which saw the expansion of the Japanese Empire before the USA was brought into the conflict following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941. US and Allied forces steadily liberated Pacific islands like Guadalcanal, Saipan, Guam, and Iwo Jima. The last great battle of WWII was at Okinawa, where all the features of the Pacific War were combined: naval battles, naval and air bombardment of Japanese defences, amphibious landings of US Marines, and desperate jungle-fighting. Japanese cities were repeatedly bombed during the war, but Japan did not surrender until two atomic bombs were dropped, one on Hiroshima and another on Nagasaki in August 1945.
The Pacific War introduced many new features to global warfare, notably the predominance of aircraft carriers and the corresponding demise of battleships, well-coordinated amphibious operations with strong logistics, and the close cooperation of all the armed services, including military intelligence. The Pacific War, known in Japan as the Great East Asia War, became ever more intense and witnessed kamikaze suicide missions, banzai charges, and the first use of nuclear weapons.
At Iwo Jima, the progress of the US Marines was slow but deadly. Tanks, flame-throwing armoured vehicles (known to the troops as "Zippos" after the famous lighter manufacturer), and armoured bulldozers proved much more effective against the well-prepared Japanese positions than artillery fire, although this still rained down anyway, supported by US naval and air bombardments and teams of rocket-firing trucks on the ground. The only effective way to deal with each enemy position was to attack it with napalm, flamethrowers, and TNT explosives. The death toll from such brutal and often hand-to-hand fighting was outrageously high.
