Figure 1.--. |
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Quite a number of small islands or island groups played importat roles in World War II. Unlike the battlefields of Europe, the islands in many cases were places were vurtually unknown to the general public before the War. These islands at the time were not countries, but the territorial pssessions or proivinces of the various beligerant powers, although a few were possessions of neutral countries. Most but not all were Pacific islands. Several were the scene of major battles involving some of the most bitter fighting of the War. Others played important supporting roles. Few of the islands had vital natural resources. For the most part what was important was their strategic location. Many of these islands since the War have become independent countries.
The two critical battlefields of World War II were the savage conflict on the Eastern Front and the desperate naval struggle to control the Atlantic. The Battle of the Atlantic was cricial for the Western Allies. After the fall of France (1940), only the intervention of the United states with its emense manpower and resources could save Britain and liberate the occupied countries of Western Europe from the NAZI tyranny. And for this to occur, Britain and the United States had to defeatvthe U-boat threat and control the sea laes from America to Britain. Prime Minister Churchill was to save after the War that it was te Battle of the Atlantic that he was really concerned with during the War. And here several islands played important roles. Key to the Allied victory was establish air cover for the convoys carrying ams and supplies from America to Britain. And islands provided air cover for major portions of the Atlantic. As the Battle of the Atlantic developed, it was in the mid-ocean gaps where the Battle of the Atlantic was fought out by the American, British, and Canadian navies and the German U-boats. Most of the Battle of the Atlantic wasfought out in the North Atlantic, but there were a few Sout tlantic islands of sime umportance.
Ascension Island is one of the most isolated places in the world. Its location in the South Atlantic mnade it a valuable Allied air base in the campaign against the German U-boats.
German Führer Adolf Hitler conceived of seizing the Azores an Canaries early in the war, but was disuaded from this adventure by his naval staff who realized that Germany did nit have the naval strength that would be needed to supply the island and hold them. The British and Americans turned the islands into aey air base for operations against German U-boats.
The Duke of Winsor was assigned to France during the first moths of the War. With the German invasion (May 1940), his behavior was of deep concern to the British Government. Finally he was made Govenor General of the Bahamas where he was safely out of the way for the remainder of the War.
German Führer Adolf Hitler conceived of seizing the Azores an Canaries early in the war, but was disuaded from this adventure by his naval staff who realized that Grmany did nit have the naval strength that would be needed to supply the island and hold them.
The Channel Islands were the only pieces of British territory occupied by the Germans during World war II. Hitler considered them important for prpaganda reasons. He was determined that the British would never get them back. He ordered a massive construction program to build coastal defenses. The project consumed vast quantities of cement and other critical materials and proved of no military value. The ptogram was so massive that its main impact was to delay the much more important construction of the Atlantic Wall.
The NAZIs invaded Denmark (April 1940). Danish authorities on Greenland asked for American protection.
celand in the medieval era became a dependency of Norway ans subsequently the Danish crown. The Danish monarchy granted Iceland a constitution (1874). Denmark through the Act of Union recognized Iceland as a separate state with unlimited sovereignty. The country, however, retained its ties to Denmark as it continued to be nominally under the Danish monarchy. Iceland like Denmark and many other countries wsanted to remain neutral as Europe moved toward war. NAZI Germany requested landing rights for Lufthansa trans-Atlantic flights (1939). The Icelanders denined the request. After the War began, NAZI Germany invaded and occupied Denmark (April 1940). King ??? remained it Denmark and did what he could to support his people. The NAZI action shocked Icelanders. The Germans in World War I respected Danish neutrality. The British after the NAZI invasion of Denmark requested bases to ensure that the NAZIs would not also take over Iceland. The Icelandic Goverrnment was still determined to remain neutral and rejected the British request. The British hard-pressed in the North Atlantic proceeded to occupy Reykjavík (May 10, 1940). A German airbase in Iceland would have meant defeat for Britain in the Battle of the Atlantic. Most Icelanders were displeased, but understood the British action. Many were in a sence releaved that it was the British, unlke the NAZIs in Denmark. The British wanted to ensure that the Germans would not be able to use the country as an air and naval base in the Battle of the Atlantic. Iceland in British hands played a key role in closing the air gap in which German U-boats could opperate. After the NAZI invasion of the Soviet Union (June 1941), some of the Arctic convoys ferrying supplied to that embatteled country were formed off Iceland. President Roosevelt ordered the American Marines (1st Marine Brigade) to replace the British (June 1941) even before America entered the War. The Brigade took responsibility for the defense of Iceland which released the British troops for duty elsewhere where the British were actively fighting the Germans. The Icelandic Government maintained an official neutral status during the War, but in fact cooperated closely with the Allies. A popular referendum voted for complete independence from Denmark which was confirmed by the Althing, the Icelandic parliament (June 17, 1944).
Norway's Spitsbergen Archipelago is known as Svalbard in Norway. The northerly latitudes, rugged mountains, sweeping tundra, ice caps and glaciers made the islands a forbodeing place for both the Allies and Germans. It was the scene of the most northerly battleground durng World War II, located only 600 miles from the North Pole. The German Kriegsmarine set up a weather station at Sördalsbukta. Reports from this station served as the basis for important German decesions during the War. Here the Allies had an advantage with access to weather information from much wider sources. The British anticipating a German invasion to seize the importantb coal mines, landed a raiding party on Spitzbergen (September 1941). Rather than encountring determined NAZI soldiers they found a hardy group of Norwefgians and Russians happy to see them. The British proceeded to blow up the mines and fired the piles of alreay mined coals. They also destroyed the coal-loading machinery, set afire the oil supplies, and destroyed the cattle and other food stocks to make sure that the Germans could not eaily get the mines operational. The British then evacuated the entire civilian population. This included the Soviet miners who were the bulk of the population and brougtout 0.5 million tons of coal annually for their Arctic Fleet. ["Spitsbergen party"]
The Bahamas is actually located north of Cuba outside the Caribbean, but it is so close to the Caribbean that for our purpses makes more sence to consider as a Caribbean Island. The Duke of Windsor was sidelined from the British war effort by being made Govenor General of the Bahamas.
Martinique was one of the two principal French Caribbean possessions. The other was Guadelupe. After the fall of France, Martinique authorities remained loyal to Marshall Petain's Vichy government. Elements of the French fleet, including an aircraft carrier, were interned at Marinique. The situation on the island, however, as volitile. Unlike France itself, support for Vichy seems limited on Martinque. Vichy was neutral in the War, but in many ways cooperated with the NAZIs. This was of considerable concern tamong American authorities over Martinique because of the security of the Panama Canal, vital in American defense strategy. French French support grew on the island. At for a time an insurection was possible. The United States prepared to intervene. The United States organized a joint Army-Marine Corps task force on Puerto Rico (the 295th Infantry and the 78th Engineer Battalion). American intervention proved unecessary when Martinique authorities decided to recognize the French Committee of National Liberation.
Greek, British and Commonwealth forces withdrawing from Greece, attempted a stand on nearby Crete. There they were reinforced by fresh New Zealand, British and Australian forces. Hitler ordered an airborn invasion of Crete. General Kurt Student's parachutists attacked (May 20). The assault was daring, but very costly. In the period before Barabrossa, the Germans were still accustomed to largely light casualties. The Crete invasion nearly failed but the British after heavy fighting had to abandon Crete as well. The invasion of Crete had two consequences. The Germans suffered such heavy losses that Hitler would never again allow a parachute assault. (Many military historians see the operation as aimed at the wrong island. Malta would have been a more strategically important prize.) The Allies were so impressed with the German paratroopers that they formed their own parachute units that would play important roles, most prominatey to support the D-Day invasion.
Malta was the cornerstone of the British campaign in the Western Desert. British possession of Malta and the invaluable naval and air bases there played a major role in interdicting Italian and Germany supply convoys to Libya. And it was supply shortages that played a key role in defeating Rommel and the Afrika Korps. Malta became the most bombed place on earth. German and Italian air forced relentlessly pounded the island. The island somehow managed to with tand the fiercest air assault of the War. The Italians began bombing Malta in 1940. The Luftwaffe joined in the campaign (January 1941) even before Rommel arrived in North Africa. Malta by March 1942 was enduring an average of 10 air raid alerts daily and there had been 117 straight days of bombing. The bombing was devestating. It also prevented supplies, food, and fuel from reaching the island. At one point Malta was near to capitulation, left virtual no fuel, food, or fighters. It was a convoy with an American carrier that finally succeeded in getting needed supplies through. Civilians suffered teribly. They had to move underground. Newsreels in Britain and America showed school children moving rapidly into undergrond bunkers when the air raids sireens sounded. The population was near starvation at one point. The Axis did not, however, launch a parachute assault on the island. They had the capability as shown in Crete. Senior Axis commanders advised just sych an action. After the German terrible losses suffed by the German parachute units on Crete, however, Hitler demured, After the War, historians have taken to summrizing the assul on Cretr as "the wrong island". The Axis seige was not fully lifted until July 1943 after the Axis surrender in Tunis and the invasion of Sicily. [Holland] Operaions from Malta also played an important role in interducting Axis supply lines to Tunis, fforcing the surrender there. Some orphaned children were sent to Australia.
Martinique
One of these least noted naval campaign was the Indian Ocean engaements during early 1942. Admiral Nagumo with the First Air Fleet entered the Indian Ocean with a force of five carriers and four fast battleships as well as cruisers and destroyers (March 26, 1942). The purpose appears to have been to support Army operations in Burma and escort a convoy to Rangoon and then strike the Btitish naval base in Ceylon (Sri Lanka) where the Royal Navy had been building a substantial naval force. Incredibly this was a larger carrier force than deployed two months later against Midway. The force succeeded in sinking the British light carrier HMS Hermes, two cruisers, and smaller ships. The Royal Navy was asonished with the power of the Japanese carrier force. At this stage of the War, the Japanese carrier aircraft were far superior to the British carrier aircraft. After the engagement the Royal Navy retired from the eastern Indian Ocean. It is unclear what the value of this campsign was. At the time the only creditable threat to Japan was the badly mauled American Pacific fleet and its four priceless carriers. Any assessment of the military situation would suggest that Japan should have focused on bringing the Pavific fleet to battle to get at those carriers. It is unclear what the purpose of this powerful force was. They could have seized Ceylon or even attacked British facilities in India. While Nagumo had considerable success against the Royal Navy force, the Royal Air Force from bases in Ceylon had downed or damaged a substantial number of Japanese planes. Nagumo had dispersed the British threat, but the American Pacific fleet carriers were still a threat and the British had impaired the combat effectiveness of the First Air Fleet
After the fall of France (June 1940), French authorities on Madagascar remained loyal to Vichy.
The French do not interfere with German U-boats and Japanese submarines operating in the Indian Ocean from obtaining supplies on the island. The British land forces at Ambarartra Bay (May 5, 1942). The area was held by French French Senegalese troops. The lndings were not heavily resisted. Swordfish torpedo planes from HMS Illustrious sink a French armed merchant cruiser and the submarine Beveziers. More modern Sea Hurricanes and F4F Martlet (Wildcat) fighters from HMS Indomitable and Illustrious destroy the French aircraft on the island. The British rapidly press forward to Diego Suarez, at the northern tip of the island defended by the Antsirane Fort. The fort is defended by 75mm artillery which destroy some of the British tanks. Welch Fusiliers seized the fort. The British occupation of the island make it much more difficult for U-boats to operate in theIndian Ocean and hlp to secure the supply lines to the British 8th Army locked in a desperate strugglwith the Afrika Korps in the Western Desert.
The Battle of the atlantic was an Allied effort. The Pacific War was a largely American effort as two great naval forces gave battle over the tractless Pacific. The war in Japanesec yes became necessary because the American-held Phillipine Islands lay astride the sea routes between the Home Islands aqand the Resource Area of Southeast Asia tht the military leaders who goverened Japan saw a necssary for Japan to complete its conquest of China. Not only did the Philippines present a barrier to Japanese expansion, but the United States possessed
the only naval force in the Pacific capable of opposing thepowerful Imperial Navy. Of particular importance was the Dutch East Indies which had the petroleum resources that Japan lacked. Japan launched the War by a carrier attack on the Haiwaiian Islands, the base of the U.S. Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor. This launched the Pacific War in which America and Japan fought out naval engagements in the vast Pacific, but amphibious invasions of islands that the people of the two contrie had never even heard about before the War. Unlike the DutchEast Indies, these islands had little intrnsic value in terms of resources, only theirgeographic location made them strategically important. These islands ranged from the frigid Alutians in the North Pacific to the steemy jungle islands of the South Pacific.
Fiji was one of several targets of the Japanese FS Operation designed to seize the French South Pacific
South Pacific islands east of Australia. This would have cut Australia off from America. Unfortunately for the Japanese, the Midway disaster changed the naval balance in the Pacific. America proved to have just enough naval power to prevent the Japanese from moving beyond the Solomons. In addition, the United States garisoned the island with 10,000 well equipped Marines. A Japanese invasion would not face the small poorly equipped force they found on Wake and Guam immediately after Pearl Harbor.
The Haiwaiian Islands were Americ's primary Pacific territory. By the ime of World war II, the United States had already decided to grant independence to the Philippines and plans for this were well advanced. There were, however, only limited militaryvfacilities on the Islands. This changed as the Japanese took increasingly meancing steps in thevPacific. Japan seized French Indo China and joined the Axis. In response the Roosevelt Administratuon tightened trade restrictions and moved the g=headquarters of the U.S. Pacific Fleet from San Diego to Pearl Harbor (1940).
Iwo Jima was an unihabited volcanic island south of Japan. Virtually no one had ever heard of the island before World War II. It suddenly became important because it was half way between Tokyo and the Marianas where the Americans were building air bases. The Japanese conceived of using the island as part of the their air defense. The Japanese thus turned the island into a massive underground forttress. This was an emense construction project that was caried out undergroujd and thus not dected by American inteligence. The Japanese plans for Iwo proved impractical because of the altitude at which the B-29s could fly and the limited capabiliyies of Japanese air craft. The island still proved to be of major importance because the United States needed it for its air campaign. It was too small for an important bomber base. It was, however, valuable for both a fighter/escort base and a mid-ocean refuge for bombers having engine trouble or damagd by Japanese air defenses.
The Marianas were unique in that they were divided beteen the United States and Japan before World war II. The Americans obrained Guam from Spain as a result of the Spanish-merican War (1898). The Japanese seized Sipan and Tinian from Germany during World war I (1914-18). Durng the inter-War era by international agreement, the islands were jot to be fortified. The Japanese began to militaize their islands, the United States did not. Japan immedietly after Pearl Harbor seized Guam which had only a small Marine detachment with small arms (Scember 1941). Later in the War, the Marianas became a major battlefield of the War. The Navy's Central Pacific campaign was unoppsed by the Imperial Fleet. The Japanese hoped that fortified islands could resist amphibious invasions without the Fleet intervening. After the Ameicans took the Marshalls, Gilberts, and Caolines, it was clear that they could not. For the Japanese the stakes were very high. The Marianas brought the Japanese Home Islands within range of the new B-29 bombers. So when the American landings on the Marianas began, the Imperail Fleet did intervene, setting up one of the climatic battles of the Pacific War--the Battle of the Phillipine Sea (1944). As the Marine and Army troops were going ashore, the B-29 bombers were coming off the assembly line at American aircraft plants.
Midway Atol is the tiny U.S. mid-Pacific base which until the Marines arrived was unpopulated. It represented high water mark of Japan's offensive in the Pacific War. Midway is an atol that is in actually the eastern-most point of the Hiwaian Islnds.
It is a 2.4 square mile atoll in the North Pacific. It is about one-third of the way between Honolulu and Tokyo. The name comes from the fact that the atol was about midway between America and Asia. The atol is made up of a a ring-shaped barrier reef and several sand islets. The two significant land areas are Sand Island and Eastern Island which until the arival of the Marines primarily provided habitat for a large seabird population. The Mrines built an airfield on both. The Japanese did not seize Miday after Pearl Harbor when they did seize Wake Island and Guam further east. After the Doolittle raid on Tokyo and the Battle of the Coral Sea, Admiral Yamamoto advanced the time table for completing the destruction of the U.S. Pacific Fleet. For some reason, afer Pearl the Jaoanese engaged in a series of tangental operatins such as a foiray into the Indian Ocean instead of utilizing their substabtial naval advantage to finsing abnd destoying the American carriers. Yamamoto finally decided that this ws the priority goal. The plan was to use Miday to force the Americans to commit their carriers to battle. The ensuing Battle of Midway (June 4, 1942) proved to be the turning point of the Pacific War.
New Caledonia was one of several French terrioties in the South Pacific. Luckily for the French, they were located just outside the area the Japanese managed to seize after Pearl Harbor. And after Midway, the United states had just enough naval power to prevent the Japanese from reaching the French islands. One of the most important was the relatively large iland of New Caledonia. It was located south of Guadacanal and 680 miles northeast of Sydney. The island was not a typical South Pacific island. It had important nickel and chromium mines and much of the output was exported to Japan before the War. About 1,300 Japanese nationals worked the mines. When World War II began in Europe (1939), the Japanese increased their orders, apparently anticipating that supplies might be cut off. The island was added to the Japanese objectives, both because of the mines and the strategic location. The islands could play a very important role in severing the sea lanes between Australia and the United States. The Japanese offensive to seize the islands were part of the FS Operation and included the seisure of Fiji and the Samoa Islands. Cut off from America and with its Army in North Africa, the Japanese believed that Australia would be forced to surrender. The FS Operation, however, required Japanese naval dominance and Midway (June 1942) had significantly altered the balance of naval forces. New Caledonia played a major in the Solomons campaign. Noumea and the southerntip of the island, became the principal American base for the naval operations that were fought to protect the Marines who seized Guadacanal (August 1942). Nomea proved to have just enough facilities to keep Enteprise patched up after it became the single operational American carrier. After the Americans began moving up the Solomon Islands toward Rabaul, New Caledonia became a remote, but important rear area of the War.
he invasion of Okinawa was the first American attack on Japanese territitory. Okinawa, in the Ryukyu Island chain was strategically located between Kyushu, the southernmost Japanese island and Taiwan (called Formosa by the Japanese). American strategists saw Okinawa as a necessary base from which an American invasion of the Japanese home islands could be staged. Okinawa had several air bases and the only two important harbors between Formosa and Kyushu. The American invasion was code named Operation Iceberg. The greatest naval force in histoy was assembled for the invasion. Admiral Raymond A. Spruance's 5th fleet included more than 40 aircraft carriers, 18 battleships, 200 destroyers and hundreds of support ships. Over 182,000 troops participated in the invasion. The American invasion forced was surprised when the beach landings were unopposed. Okinawa was defendened by the 32nd Japanese Army and a garrison of about 110,000 men. The Japanes had drawn back from the onvssion beaches. The Japanese strategy was to bring as many ships as possible in close to the island to support the invasion. it was then that a major Kamakazi attack was unleased on the invasion fleet. The Japanese on April 6-7 employed the first massed formations of hundreds of kamikaze aircraft. The Japanese during the Okinawan campaign flew 1,465 kamikaze flights from Kyushu. They succeedd in sinking 30 American ships and damaged 164 others. Other ships were attacked nearer Kyushu and Formosa. The Army Air Corps had rejected a request to havily bomb these air fields as it was seen as a diversion from the strategic bombing campaign. One third of the invasion force was killed or wounded. Over half of the 16,000 Americans killed were sailors on the ships attacked by the Kamakazis. Virtually the entire Japanese garison died in the Okinawa campaign. Few Japanese soldiers surendered even after defeat was certain. Large number of civilans were also killed. The Jaoanese military reserved available food and supplies for its use and in many cases forced civilians to commit suicide. The American military saw Okinawa as a dress rehersal for an invasion of the Japanese Home Islands and anticipated even fiercer resistance. The extent of the casualties was a major factor in the American decission to use the atomic bombs.
The Japanese invaded the Philippines days after the attack on Pearl Harbor. The Philippino people suffered greviously under Japanese occupation. This helped fuel an effective Resistance campaigns carried out by guerillas which had achieved control of substantial areas. The Japanese, however, controlled the population centers, especially on Leyte and Luzaon. The Navy preferred targetting Formosa (Taiwan), but MacArthur eventually prevailed with his insistence that America must retun to the Philippines. He considered his vow to return a pledge to the Philippinp people that had to be honored. Some how his vow, "I shall return." seems less approaptiate than "We shall return", but it was pure MacArthur and he convinced President Roosevelt. Reports from resistance fighters and American pilots revealed that the Japanese were not heavily defending large areas of the Islands. The inasion of Mindanao was considered unecessary and the decession was made to strike first further north at Leyte. It was in this engagement that the Kamakazis first appeared, although still in relatively small numbers. MacArthur President Sergio Osmeña waded ashore with the invasion force at Leyte Gulf (October 20, 1944). The American Army forces advanced steadily. The Japanese resisted, but could not match American fire power. The most serious Japanese resistence occurred at sea. The resulting naval engaement following on Battle of the Philippones Sea is commonly referred to as the Battle of Leyte Gulf. It was the largest sea battle ever fought and resulted in the destruction of the Japanese fleet as an effective fighting force. This opened the way for the land campaign. Further landings occurred at Ormoc (December 7, 1944).
The Samonan Islands were one of several islands groups east of Australia targeed by the Japanse as part of theoir FS Operation.
The Solomon Islands campaign was one of the major campaigns of the Pacific War. It was in the Solomons and the waters and around the Solomons that the Japanese offensive begun at Pearl Harbor was first stopped and then reversed. The Solomons located just east of New Guinea were virtually unknown before World War II. The Germans had briefly occupied the islands north of the Solomons during their colonial outreach and naval building time. These islands since World war I had been admistered by the British and Austrlaians. The Solomons had few resources. What they did have was a strategic location. The Japanese landeds and occupied several areas in the British Solomon Islands and Bougainville, in the Territory of New Guinea (early 1942). A Japanese naval task force to take Port Moresby was turned back by American carriers in the battle of the Coral Sea off the Soplomans (May 1942). The Japanese continued, however, to occupy the Solomons and began the construction of several naval and air bases. They had three objectives. First to protect the flank of opperations in New Guinea. Second to establish a security barrier for the huge naval and air base at Rabaul on New Britain. Third to provide bases for interdicting supply lines between the United States and the principal remaining Allied outposts in Australia and New Zealand. After the devestating Japanese losses at Midway (June 1942), the Japanese Imperial Fleet no longer had the naval force to sever the sea lanes between America abd Australia. Air bases in the Solomons, however, could help with that effort. The Solomons thus became the scene of some of the most furious battles of the War. It was here that American Marines conducted the first Allied offensive in the Pacific and the Japanese Imperial Fleet and American Pacific Fleet fought a series of desperate naval battles. Unlike the subsequent naval actions in the Pacific, the Japanese Imperial Fleet still had the advantage of superial naval forces, but no longer overwealming air superiority. The Japanese at first considered the Solmons a side show to New Guinea and belatedly came to see the importance of the struggle. Despite the initial syperior firces deployed in the area, especially superior naval forces, the Japanese were unable to convert their material advantage into a victorious military campaign.
"Spitsbergen party," Time September 21, 1941.
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