Figure 1.-- The Philippines became the linchpin in the road to war. The war in Japanese eyes became necessary after the United States embargoed oil. The oil the Japanese needed was available in the Dutch East Indies and the Dutch could not prevent the Japanese from seizing it. The problem for the Japanese was that the American-held Phillipine Islands lay astride the sea routes between the Home Islands and the Resource Area of Southeast Asia tht the military leaders who goverened Japan saw as 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 the powerful Imperial Navy. Ultimately the largest naval battle in history would be fought off the Philippines--the Battle of Leyte Gulf.

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 Philippines became the linchpin in the road to war. The war in Japanese eyes became necessary after the United States embargoed oil. The oil the Japanese needed was available in the Dutch East Indies and the Dutch could not prevent the Japanese from seizing it. The problem for the Japanese was that 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 intrinsic 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. Ultimately the largest naval battle in historywouldbe fought off the Philippines--the Battle of Leyte Gulf.

Aleutian Islands

The Aleutians streach out from Alaska toward Siberia. The Japanese militarists were concerned about possible American attacks from the Aleutians on northern Japan which at the time included part of Sakalin. This fear was jightened by the Doolittle Raid (April 1942). To win approval of his Operation MI (the invasion of Midway Island and final destruction of the Amrican Pacific Fleet). Admiral Yamanoto had to agree to include the invasion of Attu and Kiska inthe westetern Aleutians. Yamamoto optimistically thought it might create a diversion. In fact, it diverted Japanese carriers to cover the invasion. Carriers that could have made a huge difference at Midway. Japanese carrier aircraft from Junyō and Ryūjō bombed Dutch Harbor on Unalaska Island (June 3, 1942). The Japanese invaded Kiska (June 6)and and Attu (June 7). Most of the native population had been evacuated before the invasion and interned in camps in the Alaska Panhandle. Logistics was key to the Aleutian campaign. The United States had only limited military resources in Alaska but rushed the Trans-Alaskan Highway to compltion to facilitate the movement of men and materials. The U.S. Navy deployed a cruiser/destroyer force to interdict Japanese supply convoys The result was the Battle of the Komandorski Islands. After which the Japanese stopped surface supply efforts and reverted to submarines. This was both inadequate and a wasteful use of the subs. The United States built an air base on Adak Island from which Kiska could be bombed (August 1942). The United Stated launched the invasion to retake Attu (May 11, 1943). It proved to be a bloody, prolonged campaign. The Japanese garrison fought to the death. An inconclusive naval engagement was fought west of Kiska--the Battle of the Pips (July 27). The Japanese abandoned Kiska (July 28). The terrible weather conditions in the Aleutians were such that the Americans did not even notice. An American invasion force landed expecting another bitter fight (August 7). Guadacanal in the Solomons was one of the few Pacific islands that the Japanese did not defend to the death. Kiska in the Aleutians was another island abandoned by the Japanese. The Ameicans began a sustained bombing campaign against the Kuriles. The primary target was the Japanese base at Paramushiro. The principal imact was to diveet 500 Japanese aurcraft and 41,000 army troops.

Carolines

The Caroline Islands in the Central Pacific were one of the former German islands taken by the Japanese in World War I (1914). The League of Nations awarded the islands to Japan after the war as a trusteeship. The Japanese built a huge naval base at Truk. Japanese forces frim Truk played an important role in the Japanese offensive that carved out a huge empire after Pearl Harbor. They referred to Truk as the Gibraltar of the Pacific. It was in the first year of the war along with Rabal the principal forward operating base of the Imperial Fleet. Following the launch of the American Central Pacific campaign and the seizure of the Gilberts and Marshalls, the Japanese braced for an American assault on Truk. The Imperial Fleet withdrew most of its combat units, hoping the large garrison and substantial air contingent could defend Truk. The Americans instead odf launching a costly invasion carried out devestating carrier air attacks on Trukand its defenses. These attacks devestated Truk as an effective base. Without command of the sea, the Japanese could not resupply Truk. And without supplies Truk was rendered ineffective, unable to support efforts to defend the Marianas--the critical battle in the Central Pacific campaign. By the time the Japanese surrendered at theend of the War, the Truk garrison was near sarvation.

Dutch East Indies

The Japanese referred to Southeeast Asia as the Southern Resource Area and the most precious resource they needed after the United States embargoes was oil. And oil was available in the Dutch East Indies (DEI). After the German Western offensive, the Dutch and other Europeans were no longer capable of resisting the Japanese in Asia (May-June 1940). The Dutch DEI colonial administration in Batavia recognized the Dutch government-in-exile. After the fall of Singapore (April 1942), the Japanese moved on the DEI (March 1942). The Japanese defeated decisively defeated an Allied fleet cobeled together in the Battle of the Java Sea (March 1). After this the Japanese occupied the DEI with little resistance. Japanese parchute landing seized the all-importantboil fields largely intact. The Japanese , however, benefitted little. The American submarine campaign by 1943 was making it difficult to ship raw material from the DEI and the rest of the Southern Resource Zone to the Japan Home Islands. The American destruction of the Imperial Fleet and reconquest of the Philippines (October 1944) made it virtually imposible. The nationalist DEI political leaders at the time were being suppressed by the Dutch. The Japanese attempted to win the natiionalists over, but without offering independence. The nationalists largely collaborated with the Japanese. The Japanese in the DEI committed terrible attrocities. Despite nationalist collaboration, an estimated 4 million civilians perished during the Japanese occupation.

Fiji

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.

Gilberts

The Gilbert Islands in the Central Pacific were one of the former German islands taken by the Japanese in World War I (1914). The League of Nations awarded the islands to Japan after the war as a trusteeship. After Parl Harbor, Makin in the Gilbers was tge target of an American raid. The Ameirican carriers had escaped destruction at Pearl, but tey were not ready to take on the Japanese. The Japanese not only had more carriers, but their pilots were better trained and had superior aircraft. Nimitz used the carriers in hit and run raids aimed in part at giving the American carrier groups more experience. This included attacks on Japanese bases in the the Gilberts. The United Strates Pacific Fleet under Admiral Nimitz launched the Central Pacific campaign with an assault on the Gilberts (November 1943). The Japanese after the Sollomons campaign had withdrawn the Imperial Fleet to safe bases. They hoped that a well entrenched island garison could resist an American amphibious invasion without naval support. The American Marines at Tarawa proved they could not, but at a terrible cost. The Japanese fought to tghe death. Losses shocked the American public, but President Roosevelt ordered that film footage of the carnage be allowed to be shown in movie news reela (the TV news of the day). Bases in the Gilberts were used to support the subsequnt American assault on the Marshalls.

Haiwaiian Islands

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 headquarters of the U.S. Pacific Fleet from San Diego to Pearl Harbor (1940).

Iwo Jima

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 capabilities 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.

Marshall Islands

The Marshall Islands were not claimed by a European power until Spain claimed them (1874). The Germans at the time were actively building an Empire, but most of Africa and Asia was already claimed by other European powers. Germany also claimed the islands. The Pope helped mediate the dispute between Spain and Germany. The Germans paid the Spanish $4.5 million and Spain in return recognized Germany's claim (1885). The Germans established a protectorate over the islands and opened trading stations on Jaluit and Ebon to develop the copra (dried coconut meat) trade. Marshallese Iroij (high chiefs) continued internal rule supervised by the German colonial administration. The Germans were not very successful. Japan seized the islands during World War I (1914). The League of Nations awarded a mandate to the Japanese after the War. The Japanese set up their administration Jaluit which had been the German administrative center. The Japanese heavily fortified the islands. The Japanese when they launched the war sought to destroy the U.S. Pacific fleet. The Imperial Fleet would then protect the expanded Empire. The elite corps of Japanese carrier pilots were lost during a series of naval engagements (Coral Sea, Midway and the Solomons campaign) during 1942. As a result the Imperial Navy did not oppose the American invasion of the Marshalls, hopeing that well entrrenched and equipped garisons could fend off amphibious invasions. The U.S. Marines and Army forces proved they could not. The Marines and Army supported by the U.S. Navy took both Kwajalein and Eniwetok Atolls in bloody invasions. The Marines landed on Kwajalein atoll (January 31, 1944). The United States quickly took control of the islands.

Mariana Islands

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

Midway Atol is the tiny U.S. mid-Pacific base which until the Marines arrived was unpopulated. It represented the 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 Haiwaian 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 Marines 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 Japanese engaged in a series of tangental operatins such as a forray into the Indian Ocean to deal with the Royal Navy instead of utilizing their substantial naval advantage to complete the destruction of the American Pacific Fleet--in particular the carriers. Yamamoto finally decided that this was the priority goal. The plan was to use Miday (designated MI) 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. American intelligence alerted Admiral Nimitz to the Japanese plans. Even so, the American victory was not a foreone conclusion. The experience of Admiral Nagumo and his staff, the superority of Japanese planes, and the competence of the Japanese pilots provided the Japanese the clear edge in the fighting. The decisive advantage oroved to be Midway itself. The ensuing battle is often seen as basically a carrier battle. In fact, Midway played a crucial role in the battle. The task of destroying the air component on Midway destracted Admiral Nagumo and did the need to recover the Midway strike force and to evade air attacks from Midway. These operations combined to prevent Nagumo once the American carriers to Nagummo's surprise had been detected from laubching a strike on the American carriers that in all liklihood would have been highly successful.

New Caledonia

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.

New Guinea

New Zealand

Okinawa

The 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.

Philippines

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).

Samoans

The Samonan Islands were one of several islands groups east of Australia targeed by the Japanse as part of theoir FS Operation.

Solomons

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.

Taiwan (Formosa)

Wake

Sources

Created: 2:48 AM 4/18/2008
Last updated: 5:07 AM 10/7/2008