Transcript Island Hopping Campaign

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War in the Pacific: “Island Hopping”
• By May 1942 the Japanese controlled much of South
Pacific
• 1943-1945: under US General Douglas MacArthur, US
began an “island hopping” campaign to prepare for war
with Japan
• GOAL: recapture some Japanese occupied islands
while bypassing heavily defended ones
• Islands able to be used as airfields and supply bases
captured to advance closer to Japanese home islands
“Island Hopping” Route
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Guadalcanal 1942
Tarawa (Gilbert Islands) Nov. 1943
Kwajalein & Eniwetok (Marshall Islands) Jan.-Feb. 1944
Saipan (Mariana Islands) June-July 1944
Guam (Mariana Islands) July-Aug. 1944
Pelelieu (Philippines) Sept.-Nov. 1944
Leyte Gulf (Philippines) Oct. 1944
Iwo Jima Feb.-March 1945
Okinawa April-June 1945
Cost of Island Hopping
• Guadalcanal: 1,600 US and 14,000 Japanese killed
• First “island hopping” offensive by US in Pacific
• Tarawa: 1,000 US and 4,800 Japanese killed
• Saipan: 3,400 US and 24,000 Japanese killed
– Japanese civilians hid in caves and jumped off cliffs to their deaths
after hearing rumors of American atrocities
• Philippines: 47,000 US and 300,000 Japanese killed/wounded
• Iwo Jima: 7,000 US killed/19,000 wounded and 22,000 Japanese
killed
• Okinawa: 49,000 US and 109,000 Japanese killed/wounded