Topic 3.2:
Strategies Used in the Pacific Theater
Strategies Used in the Pacific Theater
Island Hopping Strategy in the Pacific Theatre
The end of fighting in Europe did not mark the end of the war. The Allies also faced Japan in the Pacific Theater region. By1942, Japan controlled a large part of the western Pacific and eastern Asia. However,in June 1942, the tide began to turn for the Allies when they won the Battle of Midway. The United States used aircraft carriers to take planes far away from land. These planes then attacked and sank four important Japanese aircraft carriers and shot down many Japanese planes. The Allies had more power but the Japanese still controlled many small islands in the Pacific. The Allies began a plan of attack called island hopping. In this plan, Allies skipped over some islands guarded by the Japanese and captured others. The purpose of the island-hopping strategy was to take only strategic Japanese-held islands inorder to move within range of the gasoline capacity of American planes so that they could bomb Japan in preparation for an invasion of the Japanese home islands. The United States captured Guadalcanal, New Guinea, Iwo Jima, and many other islands this way. The Americans had heavy casualties as they fought to take Japanese occupied islands because of the Japanese unwillingness to accept defeat.
*modified from the South Carolina Support Document
*modified from the South Carolina Support Document