What was island hopping in the pacific

In launching this war, Japanese leaders sought to neutralize the U. The Pacific Ocean theater officially came into existence on March 30, , when U. General Douglas MacArthur. Both Nimitz and MacArthur, overseen by the U. Forces led by Admiral Chester Nimitz, with a smaller land force and larger fleet, would advance north toward the island and capture the Gilbert and Marshall Islands and the Marianas, going generally in the direction of the Bonin Islands. The southern prong, led by General MacArthur and with larger land forces, would take the Solomons, New Guinea, the Bismarck Archipelago, advancing toward the Philippines.

Leapfrogging was based on both seaborne and air attacks to blockade and isolate Japanese bases, weakening their garrisons and reducing the Japanese ability to resupply and reinforce them. It began to be implemented in late in Operation Cartwheel.

While MacArthur claimed tohave invented the strategy, it initially came out of the navy. Leapfrogging had a number of advantages. It would allow U. It would also give the Allies the advantage of surprise and keep the Japanese off balance. Roosevelt middle. Chester Nimitz, fleet admiral of the U.

Nimitz was selected commander in chief of the U. Pacific Fleet with the rank of admiral. Assuming command at the most critical period of the war in the Pacific, Nimitz, despite the losses from the attack on Pearl Harbor and the shortage of ships, planes, and supplies, successfully organized his forces to halt the Japanese advance.

On March 24, , the newly formed U. Six days later, the U. Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz : Nimitz was a five-star admiral of the U. As rapidly as ships, men, and material became available, Nimitz shifted to the offensive and defeated the Japanese Navy in the Battle of the Coral Sea May 4—8, , in the pivotal Battle of Midway June 4—7, , and in the Solomon Islands campaign.

Prior to the Battle of the Coral Sea, Nimitz and and his staff discussed deciphered messages and agreed that the Japanese were likely initiating a major operation in the Southwest Pacific in early May with Port Moresby as the probable target.

Nimitz, after consultation with Admiral Ernest King, commander in chief of the U. As a result, Nimitz knew that the Japanese had negated their numerical advantage by dividing their ships into four separate task groups, all too widely separated to be able to support each other. This dispersal resulted in few fast ships being available to escort the Carrier Striking Force, limiting the numbers of anti-aircraft guns able to protect the carriers.

Nimitz calculated that the aircraft on his three carriers, plus those on Midway Island, gave the U. His fleet forces isolated enemy-held bastions of the Central and Eastern Caroline Islands and secured, in quick succession, Peleliu, Angaur, and Ulithi. In the Philippines, his ships turned back powerful task forces of the Japanese fleet, a historic victory in the multiphased Battle for Leyte Gulf from October 24—26, , the largest naval battle of World War II.

Fleet Admiral Nimitz culminated his long-range strategy by conducting successful amphibious assaults on Iwo Jima and Okinawa. In addition, Nimitz also ordered the U. By an act of Congress, approved December 14, , the grade of fleet admiral of the U. Navy, the highest grade in the navy, was established and the next day, President Franklin Roosevelt appointed Admiral Nimitz to that rank. It aimed at militarily neutralizing the major Japanese base at Rabaul New Guinea.

Nimitz—advanced through the Solomon Islands toward Bougainville. Japanese forces had captured Rabaul, on New Britain, in the Territory of New Guinea, from Australian forces in February and turned it into their major forward base in the South Pacific, and the main obstacle in the two Allied theaters.

Admiral Ernest J. King, the chief of naval operations, proposed a plan with similar elements but under navy command. In the battle, U. Of the Japanese garrison, only seventeen Japanese soldiers remained alive at the end of the fighting along with Korean laborers.

Using the lessons learned at Tarawa, U. The first target in the chain was Kwajalein. Beginning on January 31, , the islands of the atoll were pummeled by naval and aerial bombardments.

Additionally, efforts were made to secure adjacent small islands for use as artillery firebases to support the main Allied effort. These were followed by landings carried out by the 4th Marine Division and the 7th Infantry Division. These attacks easily overran the Japanese defenses, and the atoll was secured by February 3. As at Tarawa, the Japanese garrison fought to nearly the last man, with only of nearly 8, defenders surviving.

As US amphibious forces sailed northwest to attack Eniwetok , the American aircraft carriers were moving to strike the Japanese anchorage at Truk Atoll. A principal Japanese base, US planes struck the airfields and ships at Truk on February 17 and 18, sinking three light cruisers, six destroyers, over twenty-five merchantmen, and destroying aircraft.

As Truk was burning, Allied troops began landing at Eniwetok. Focusing on three of the atoll's islands, the effort saw the Japanese mount a tenacious resistance and utilize a variety of concealed positions. Despite this, the islands of the atoll were captured on February 23 after a brief but sharp battle. With the Gilberts and Marshalls secure, U. Comprised primarily of the islands of Saipan , Guam, and Tinian, the Marianas were coveted by the Allies as airfields that would place the home islands of Japan within range of bombers such as the B Superfortress.

At a. Fighting their way ashore, Smith's men met determined resistance from 31, defenders commanded by Lieutenant General Yoshitsugu Saito. The result of Ozawa's arrival was the Battle of the Philippine Sea , which pitted his fleet against seven American carriers led by Spruance and Mitscher. In the air, American aircraft downed over Japanese aircraft while only losing of their own. On Saipan, the Japanese fought tenaciously and slowly retreated into the island's mountains and caves.

As the Americans advanced, the island's civilians, who had been convinced that the Allies were barbarians, began a mass suicide, jumping from the island's cliffs. Lacking supplies, Saito organized a final banzai attack for July 7. Beginning at dawn, it lasted over fifteen hours and overran two American battalions before it was contained and defeated.

Two days later, Saipan was declared secure. The battle was the costliest to date for American forces with 14, casualties.

Almost the entire Japanese garrison of 31, was killed, including Saito, who took his own life. With Saipan taken, U. Landing with 36, men, the 3rd Marine Division and 77th Infantry Division drove the 18, Japanese defenders north until the island was secured on August 8. As on Saipan, the Japanese largely fought to the death, and only prisoners were taken.

As the fighting was occurring on Guam, American troops landed on Tinian. Coming ashore on July 24, the 2nd and 4th Marine Divisions took the island after six days of combat. Though the island was declared secure, several hundred Japanese held out in the Tinian's jungles for months.

With the Marianas taken, construction began on massive airbases from which raids against Japan would be launched. With the Marianas secured, competing strategies for moving forward arose from the two principal U. Admiral Chester Nimitz advocated bypassing the Philippines in favor of capturing Formosa and Okinawa.

These would then be used as bases for attacking the Japanese home islands. This plan was countered by General Douglas MacArthur, who wished to fulfill his promise to return to the Philippines as well as land on Okinawa. After a lengthy debate involving President Roosevelt, MacArthur's plan was chosen. The first step in liberating the Philippines was the capture of Peleliu in the Palau Islands.

Planning for invading the island had already begun as its capture was required in both Nimitz and MacArthur's plans. These numbers would be eclipsed several months later during the largest battle of the Pacific war. Okinawa was another ancestral Japanese island.

The difference was the scale. Iwo Jima was a rocky outcropping with a volcanic mountain Mt. Suribcahi and no civilian population. Okinawa is a very large island with a sizable population. By the time the battle had ceased, over , Japanese soldiers and civilians were killed. The cost of the war, in terms of human life, weighed heavily President Harry Truman. A breeches buoy is put into service to transfer from a U. The American Navy turned back the Japanese in the battle but lost an aircraft carrier and a destroyer.

These Japanese prisoners were among those captured by U. Japanese-held Wake Island under attack by U. Crouching low, U. Marines sprint across a beach on Tarawa Island to take the Japanese airport on December 2, Secondary batteries of an American cruiser formed this pattern of smoke rings as guns from the warship blasted at the Japanese on Makin Island in the Gilberts before U. Troops of the th infantry, New York's former "Fighting 69th" advance on Butaritari Beach, Makin Atoll, which already was blazing from naval bombardment which preceded on November 20, Sprawled bodies of American soldiers on the beach of Tarawa atoll testify to the ferocity of the battle for this stretch of sand during the U.

During the 3-day Battle of Tarawa, some 1, U. Marines died, and another U. Marines are seen as they advance against Japanese positions during the invasion at Tarawa atoll, Gilbert Islands, in this late November photo. Of the nearly 5, Japanese soldiers and workers on the island, only were captured, the rest were killed. Two of twelve U. A Havoc light bombers on a mission against Kokas, Indonesia in July of The lower bomber was hit by anti-aircraft fire after dropping its bombs, and plunged into the sea, killing both crew members.

Two U. On the left is Pvt. A member of a U. Marine patrol discovers this Japanese family hiding in a hillside cave, June 21, , on Saipan. The mother, four children and a dog took shelter in the cave from the fierce fighting in the area during the U. Dead Japanese soldiers cover the beach at Tanapag, on Saipan Island, in the Marianas, on July 14, , after their last desperate attack on the U. Marines who invaded the Japanese stronghold in the Pacific. An estimated 1, Japanese were killed by the Marines in this operation.

With its gunner visible in the back cockpit, this Japanese dive bomber, smoke streaming from the cowling, is headed for destruction in the water below after being shot down near Truk, Japanese stronghold in the Carolines, by a Navy PB4Y on July 2, Lieutenant Commander William Janeshek, pilot of the American plane, said the gunner acted as though he was about to bail out and then suddenly sat down and was still in the plane when it hit the water and exploded.