o Army under MacArthur goes up Solomon Islands towards Philippines (moved through New Guinea)
o Navy under Chester Nimitz moves up Central Pacific
o Marines and Navy chose to attack Southern Pacific Islands
o Major idea is to capture certain key islands until Japanese are within range of American bombers
o Operation Cartwheel
o MacArthur pushes across New Guinea
o Naval forces secure Solomon Islands to the east
o Tarawa
o Strategy: US got Gilbert Islands, helps them invade Marshall Islands
o U.S. lands on heavily defended island
o Japanese told to kill all the Americans
o Richmond Kelly “Terrible Turner” – Overall commander
o Holland “Howlin Mad” Smith – Marine commander
o Nov 20, 1943 Marines land
o Tide is down when they land
o Only Amphtracs can get ashore, U.S. doesn’t have many of these
o Landing craft stuck on reef
o Ineffective naval and air bombardment
o Fanatical Japanese resistance
o 30% American casualties by 1st evening, control 1000 yards of beach
o Next day
o Tide is still low
o Japanese on wreaked landing crafts fire at Marines
o At noon, tide rise
o Landing crafts can get in
o Navy can get closer
o Artillery and tanks arrive
o Pill boxes with tanks, fire throwers
o Airfields useful for B-24 bombers
o Lean lessons for decreasing American casualties in other battles
o Need more Amphtracs
o Landing craft must get closer to avoid difficult and slow wading
o Underwater demo teams to destroy obstacles are necessary (so landing craft won’t get stuck on reefs)
o Importance of tanks
o Know the tides
o American civilians find out about how war is really going by photos and casualty counts
o Starts Navy-Marine Corps amphibious team
o Test of amphibious doctrine
o For the story of Robert Sherrod at the Bloody Battle of Tarawa, http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/tarawa.htm
o Extremely bloody battle
o Operation Flintlock
o Feb. 1, 1944
o Invasion of Kwajalein in Marshall Islands
o 4 days
o U.S. lose 144
o Japanese 4938 dead
o 206 prisoners
o US suffer heavy losses, but not as many men when compared to Japanese
o Roi and Namur captured
o 190 Marines die
o 3472 Japanese die, 51 POW
o Eniwetok
o Feb. 17-23, 1944
U.S. 34 killed, 3 MIA
Japan 700 killed, 25 POW
o Japanese risk many men for their cause, telling soldiers to “kill ten Americans” before being taken down, so that even if battle is not won, serious damage is inflicted on opponents and all victories come at heavy cost
o US intercept message (with Magic code breaking system) that Yamamoto would be visiting bases in the Solomon Islands
o April 16, 1943 squad of P-38’s sent to ambush and kill him
o Japanese lose their best fighter and military strategist
o New Japanese commander has new plan: A-go
o Plan is to lure American navy into decisive battle at Caroline Islands
o Flaw: US has decided to skip the Caroline Islands to go to the Mariana Islands
o 32000 Japanese heavily armed
o Admiral Nagumo and General Saito
o Attacked by Navy with bombs and 3 battleships
o June 15-July 9, 1944
o 20000 Marines under Holland Smith
o Under heavy fire by Japanese
o Biggest Banzai charge in the Pacific
o Rest of Japanese troops are standing by waiting for Americans at the Caroline Islands
o Great Mariana Turkey Shoot
o Also called Battle of the Philippine Sea
o Japanese have mostly young pilots
o Not experienced; experienced pilots have died in battle
o June 18-19, 1944
o Japanese send 3 waves of fighter planes in 2 days
o Each wave has over half of the planes shot down
o Japanese also lose 3 aircraft carriers and 2 tankers
o 2 other carriers and 2 cruisers damaged
o Japanese lose 31,000
o Nagumo and Saito commit suicide
o 3426 Marine and Army (US) dead
o U.S. victory
o Japanese civilians afraid of what American soldiers will do to them (because of unforgiving way of their own soldiers and cultural intolerance of surrender); jump off cliffs of Saipan rather than be captured
o 12,000 civilians die
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