Fighting in the Pacific:
Japan Adances Japan Advances
• Japan captured Hong Kong, Singapore, and the Philippines.
• Japan won the Battle of the Java Sea.
• After General MacArthur left, the Philippines fell to the Japanese.
• He promised that he would return. Japan Advances
• The Allies were able to stop a Japanese advance toward New Guinea.
• The Japanese wanted to capture Midway.
• The Americans had cracked the Japanese communications codes.
• Four Japanese aircraft carriers were sunk.
• The Allies were victorious. Japan Advances
• The Allies captured Guadalcanal after months of fierce fighting.
• The Allies continued moving through the Solomon Islands.
• Admiral Yamamoto was shot down.
• General MacArthur and Admiral Nimitz began a pattern of island
hopping to move closer and closer to Japan. (1880–1964) American
general during World War II
who led the campaign to
free the Philippine Islands
from Japan
Douglas MacArthur a Pacific island on which the Allies won an important
battle against Japan
Midway a ring-shaped coral island or a string of coral islands
atoll Japanese Advances
Map Resources Japanese aircraft carrier (1884–1943) the admiral who
led the Japanese fleet at the
Battle of Midway during World
War II
Isoroku Yamamoto (1885–1966) the commander of
the American forces at the battle
of Midway during World War II;
leader of island hopping campaign
in the Pacific
Chester Nimitz Only one American carrier, the Yorktown, was sunk. a military strategy used in World War II in which the
Allies gradually established bases on undefended islands
in the Pacific in an effort to move closer to Japan’s main
islands
island hopping Allied Advances
Map Resources Review
How did the United States defeat the Japanese at
Midway?
The United States had broken the main Japanese navy
code, and the US Navy knew when and where the
Japanese fleet would be. American aircraft did their job,
sinking four Japanese aircraft carriers and forcing the
Japanese fleet to head back.