It may have been a mistake because it tipped the Japanese to the fact the the US was interested in the Gilbert Islands, and may have spurred their efforts to fortify the islands.The Marines next landed on Bougainville, in the Solomons, in November 1, 1943, as part of Operation Cartwheel. The brutal three-week Battle of Saipan resulted in more than 3,000 U.S. deaths and over 13,000 wounded. That day, Lieutenant General Walter Krueger's U.S. Sixth Army began moving ashore. Kurita retreated out of range of U.S.aircraft but returned to his original course that evening. This. Saipan & the Battle of the Philippine Sea. Against determined resistance from the enemy, the 2d Marine Division on the left flank and the 4th Marine Division on the right flank seized their objectives; however, the Army's attack in the center faltered. The Japanese won the Battle of Wake Island. However, carrier raids on the Philippines revealed the Japanese were weaker than feared or expected, and so the southern Philippines were bypassed and the US proceeded directly to invade the northern Philippine Islands of Luzon and Leyte. Following its attack on Pearl Harbor (December 7, 1941), the Japanese Imperial Navy occupied islands throughout the western Pacific Ocean. This continued until troops landed on the island Feb. 19, 1945, 75 years ago today . In the event of war with the United States, the plan called for the Japanese Navy to destroy the enemys Far Eastern fleet at the outset of hostilities, to occupy Luzon and Guam in cooperation with the Army, and then to intercept and destroy the main enemy fleet when it sailed to Far Eastern waters. Over the next several weeks, ferocious Japanese resistance inflicted heavy casualties on U.S. troops before the Americans were finally able to secure the island. Cape Gloucester is at the western end of the island. As of November 30, 1941, the Marine Corps had multiplied its numbers to 65,881, of which 29,532 were in the Fleet Marine Forcea massive expansion, but hardly enough to deal with the Japanese onslaught to come. After fierce resistance by the Japanese, Saipan was declared secure on July 9; the neighboring islands of Tinian and Guam were under American control by late August. On September 2, aboard the battleshipUSSMissouriin Tokyo Bay, the Japanese delegation formally signed the instrument of surrender ending World War II. When the Japanese Seventeenth Army launched the assault on October 23, 1942, striking at multiple points along the airfield perimeter over four days, tenacious fighting by US Marines and soldiers threw back the attacks. The defense of the atoll became a rallying point for Americans, and the battle inspired Hollywoods first combat film of the war, Wake Island, which was released in 1942. Army troop replaced the Marines there in January 1944. U.S. commanders reasoned that taking the main Mariana IslandsSaipan, Tinian and Guamwould cut off Japan from its resource-rich southern empire and clear the way for further advances to Tokyo.
Patron Saint Of Surgery Recovery,
Sheriff Ric Bradshaw Political Party,
Articles H