Existing comment:
Rifle:
The Japanese had to defend the islands because from there, American bombers could reach the Home Islands. Saipan was particularly well defended and the fighting was desperate. This rifle was recovered during the battle for control of the island.
On the Offensive:
By November 1943, the United States military presence in the Pacific was powerful enough to launch two lines of attack on Japan. One thrust, under control of US Army general Douglas MacArthur and the Seventh Fleet, would continue the Allied advance up through New Guinea to Manila. The second offensive thrust, under Adm Chester Nimitz with the Third and Fifth Fleets, would advance from the Gilbert and Marshall Islands through the Marianas directly to Japan.
In October 1944, the Third and Seventh Fleets were combined for MacArthur's return to the islands he was forced to leave almost three years earlier. The landings at Leyte Island in the central Philippines would spark a final effort of the Imperial Japanese Navy to counter the Allied advance.
The Central Pacific:
By the end of 1943, American factories were turning out so many ships, aircraft, and arms that a second offensive in the Pacific was possible. General MacArthur continued his drive up the Solomons, to New Guinea, to the Philippines. Admiral Nimitz would neutralize Japanese defenses in the Gilberts, Marshals, and Marianas preparing for the final assault on Japan.
Japanese defense used rings of outlying islands as unsinkable aircraft carriers to attack the US fleet as it sailed towards Japan. The US offensive used a new mode of warfare: instead of land bases, use aircraft carriers (with a train of supply and repair vessels) to range ahead, neutralizing Japanese bases.
The Gilberts -- 20 November 1943:
The first major battle in the Navy's drive into the Central Pacific was the launch of amphibious forces on the cluster of islands that form the Tarawa Atoll.
The operation targeted the 4,800 Imperial Army troops stations on the island of Betio. These soldiers served as the linchpin of the Japanese defense. The bloody Marine assault, commanded by Maj Gen Julian C Smith, demonstrated the basic soundness of amphibious doctrine, but also revealed the need for naval forces to intensify pre-landing bombardment and lend close air support.
The Marshalls -- February 1943:
Action at the Marshall Islands atoll of Kwajalein combined the landing of Army troops on Kwajalein Island and Marines on the twin islands of Roi and Namur. Preliminary bombardments by carrier forces practically eliminated the threat from Japanese land-based air[craft]. The Marines took their objectives in a day. The Army completed its occupation of Kwajalein two days later.
The landings were so successful that naval strategists recommended seizing Eniwetok Atoll immediately. After carriers neutralized the Japanese air bases on Truk, American forces occupied Eniwetok between 19 and 22 February.
The Marianas -- Summer 1944:
At the beginning of June 1944, more men were in motion towards enemy shores than ever before in history. In the English Channel, 714,000 men and 4,000 vessels were breaching the bastions of Nazi-held Europe. In the Pacific, 127,000 men were attacking the outer defenses of Japan. Occupation of the Marianas Islands of Saipan, Guam, and Tinian would put American long-range aircraft within reach of Tokyo.
On 15 June, the Navy landed Marines on Saipan; the Imperial Japanese Navy responded in force, precipitating the last great naval air battle of the Pacific: the Battle of the Philippine Sea (19-20 June). The Japanese had planned to trap the Americans between aircraft launched from island bases and the Imperial Navy. Instead, Americans destroyed most Japanese bases before the battle, and shot down many Japanese planes before they hit their targets.
Within Reach of Tokyo:
The Battle of the Philippine Sea was a decisive victory for the United States Navy. Three Japanese carriers were sunk and several other ships damaged; the United States lost none. More importantly, the Japanese lost nearly 400 aircraft and hundreds of trained pilots -- irreplaceable assets.
The American victory eventually led to Allied occupation of other critical Marina Islands; Guam (21 June) and Tinian (1 August). Tinian would later serve as the base from which the B-29 bomber known as "Enola Gay" flew to Hiroshima, Japan, to drop the first atomic bomb.
Unexpected resistance by the Japanese on Saipan delayed Allied landings on Guam. The island had been a possession of the United States since the Spanish-American War, and liberation of American subjects was seen as a political necessity. Saipan was attacked first because it was the most heavily defended and closest to Japan. |