The U.S. Army Campaigns of World War II:Eastern Mandates; 31 January–14 June 1944

While the Allies settled their plans, the Imperial Japanese Navy and Army high commands were reacting to the naval and land defeats which had started with Guadalcanal and Midway in 1942. By September 1943 they had decided to shrink their defensive perimeter around the Japanese home islands. With the Solomons and portions of New Guinea already lost, they designated the Gilbert and Marshall Islands as expendable outposts, but they decided to reinforce them strongly to make the price of conquest higher. In the last quarter of 1943 the Japanese thus dispatched additional ground forces to the Marshalls, distributing them among the outer islands, as ULTRA revealed.

KWAJALEIN MAP

Aftermath of bombardment of Kwajalein

Using a flamethrower against the Japanese

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