WWII in the Pacific

The focus of this project was the World War II (WWII) Battle of Peleliu that began on September 12, 1944. The project was limited to the Peleliu invasion beaches to approximately 30 meters (100 ft.) inland. Seaward, it included the lagoon, the reef, and the immediate area just beyond the reef. This was the first effort to study the Peleliu WWII invasion beaches and the offshore battlespace. The historical analysis of the assault, research undertaken to identify landscape modification and post-war salvage, KOCOA analysis, and the invasion beach site visit, provided a framework for understanding and modeling the loss locations and the remains documented in 2018.

People often overlook the fact that WWII started in China on July 7, 1937, more than two years before the German invasion of Poland. This course will introduce students to the political, social, and cultural history of WWII in the Pacific. By placing WWII in the context of the build-up of tensions between China, the Japanese Empire and the United States starting in the nineteenth century, we will explore broad themes such as imperialism, colonialism, nationalism, transnationalism, Pan-Asianism, and racism. We will also look at the war through a variety of historical perspectives including environmental and nuclear history, gender history, espionage and military history, as well as refugee and internment history. Using a wide range of historical sources including movies, novels, first-hand accounts, news clips, and propaganda posters, the course will help students to develop empathy for everyone whose lives were affected by the war. Examining the deep and lasting scars left by the incredible destruction on both the land and people involved will also develop a deeper understanding of some of the tensions that persist between the countries involved in WWII in the Pacific.

Florentino Rodao enlarges our knowledge of a neglected subject in this chapter on  Japanese diplomatic relations with neural nations. As military solutions to Japan's problems began to wane during the last half of 1944, Japan turned toward an increasingly pragmatic course of action. The Foreign Mnistry assumed greater importance as Japanese elites came to the conclusion that military victory was no longer possible. Japan, for instance, regognized communists in China in an effort to end the intractable war in Asia, and sought to influence the timing of Soviet's entry to Japan's own postwar benefit. Rodao argues that relations with neutral nations -Spain, Portugal, Turkey, Sweden and Switzerland- demanded pragmatism because neutrals, like Japan himself, found themselves with decreasing negotiable assets as the war neared its end.  Rodao discussed the preliminary United Nations Conference in San Francisco in light of this fact.

For Japan, diplomatic relations with neutrals provides opportunities to explore negotiations and gather intelligence. The stoy of Japan's diplomacy with neutral countries takes some unforeseen turns and holds much interest. In relations with Portugal, for example, the Japanese used the possibility of a Portuguese occupation of East Timor to ensure Portugal's continuing neutrality and hold Australia at bay. Rodao finds that Japanese diplomatic relations with neutrals provided continuity with the postwar situation, a conclusion that questions the usual terms of a sharp cleavage between war and postwar. - Michael  W Myers

The focus of the project is the WWII battle for the island of Peleliu and the scattered material remains present in the submerged battlefield. The goal was to locate and photogrammetrically record sites, characterize coral growth and impacts, and to examine the reef substrate and its coral communities to determine if the scars from U.S. military blasting for access to the lagoon is visible after more than 74 years.