By the beginning of 1945 the Pacific War had been raging for three years. On the
borders of Burma, the recent Allied victories at Imphal and Kohima had proven a
turning point in the Burma Campaign. Meanwhile in Southeast Asia, Allied naval
victories around the Philippines had crippled both the Japanese navy and the air
force.
The Allies had now turned their attention north, to securing a series of islands that
were situated between the Philippines and the Japanese mainland. These included
the islands of Iwo Jima and Okinawa.
Just as they had done defending islands in previous years (like Peleliu), the
Japanese transformed Iwo Jima and Okinawa into bastions of defence. The Second
World War in Europe may have been coming to a close, but the Pacific War in early
1945 was to be marked by some of the bloodiest military conflicts of the 20th
century.
Any invasion of the Japanese mainland ultimately never came to fruition, partly due
to the dropping of the two atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki 75 years ago
this month (the Soviet declaration of war on Japan on 9 August was also significant).
The Japanese government and Allied forces would sign the Japanese Instrument of
Surrender on 2 September 1945.
From Iwo Jima to the Bombing of Hiroshima this eBook explores the Pacific War
theatre of World War Two in 1945. Detailed articles explain key topics, edited from
various History Hit resources.
Included in this eBook are articles written for History Hit by some of the world’s
leading World War Two naval and aviation historians, including Thomas Cleaver and
Tim Hillier-Graves. Features written by History Hit staff past and present are also
included.
