Who invented island hopping ww2

The reasons for this are complex and highly speculative. Given these priorities, the United States Navy and Marines were compelled to invent a new type of warfare. A warfare that was dictated by the geography of the Pacific. By April of , it was clear that the Japanese had successfully captured much of the key islands in the South Pacific.

The purpose of this plan was to attack islands that were not as strongly defended by the Japanese. Once under United States control, the island would be fortified and used as a staging area for the next attack. The home islands of Japan. While ultimately successful, this warfare was costly. Guerilla warfare was new to the men who fought in the Pacific. Their enemy, enamored with the Code of Bushido, was alien as well.

This code encouraged fighting to the death and not taking prisoners. When Germany and Italy declared war on the United States days later, America found itself in a global war. Primary Image: The US pursued a two-pronged offensive across the central and southwest Pacific to roll back the Japanese advance.

Yet, with much of the US fleet destroyed and a nation unprepared for war, America and its allies decided they needed to save Great Britain and defeat Germany first. The Japanese, meanwhile, sought to complete what they began at Pearl Harbor. They aimed to destroy the US carrier fleet in a victory so decisive that the United States would negotiate for peace. With its battleship fleet crippled in Hawaii, the US Navy turned to two surviving assets.

But as US attacks on Japanese naval forces and merchant ships escalated from isolated raids to full-scale battles, the learning curve proved costly and deadly. Throughout the winter and spring of the war news reaching the United States from the Pacific was grim. The Japanese amassed a vast new empire with a defensive perimeter that ranged from western Alaska to the Solomon Islands. In the southwest Pacific, Japan threatened American supply lines to Australia, complicating US plans to use Australia as a staging ground for offensive action.

The amphibious invasion soon became the hallmark of the Allied counterattack. As they advanced westward toward Japan, Allied forces repeatedly bombed and stormed Japanese-held territory, targeting tiny islands as well as the jungles of New Guinea and the Philippines. The goal was to dislodge the enemy and to secure airfields and supply bases that could serve as the launching points for future attacks. While both sides suffered major losses, the US Navy checked a major Japanese offensive for the first time.

During the 3-day Battle of Tarawa, some 1, U. Marines died, and another U. Marines are seen as they advance against Japanese positions during the invasion at Tarawa atoll, Gilbert Islands, in this late November photo.

Of the nearly 5, Japanese soldiers and workers on the island, only were captured, the rest were killed. Two of twelve U. A Havoc light bombers on a mission against Kokas, Indonesia in July of The lower bomber was hit by anti-aircraft fire after dropping its bombs, and plunged into the sea, killing both crew members. Two U. On the left is Pvt. A member of a U. Marine patrol discovers this Japanese family hiding in a hillside cave, June 21, , on Saipan.

The mother, four children and a dog took shelter in the cave from the fierce fighting in the area during the U. Dead Japanese soldiers cover the beach at Tanapag, on Saipan Island, in the Marianas, on July 14, , after their last desperate attack on the U. Marines who invaded the Japanese stronghold in the Pacific. An estimated 1, Japanese were killed by the Marines in this operation. With its gunner visible in the back cockpit, this Japanese dive bomber, smoke streaming from the cowling, is headed for destruction in the water below after being shot down near Truk, Japanese stronghold in the Carolines, by a Navy PB4Y on July 2, Lieutenant Commander William Janeshek, pilot of the American plane, said the gunner acted as though he was about to bail out and then suddenly sat down and was still in the plane when it hit the water and exploded.

The amphibious tanks with turret-housed cannons went in in after heavy air and sea bombardment. Army and Marine assault units stormed ashore on Peleliu on September 15, and it was announced that organized resistance was almost entirely ended on September Marines of the first Marine Division stand by the corpses of two of their comrades, who were killed by Japanese soldiers on a beach on Peleliu island, Republic of Palau, in September of After the end of the invasion, 10, of the 11, Japanese soldiers stationed on the island had been killed, only some captured.

A few seconds after this picture was taken the aircraft was engulfed in flames. The design of the para-frag bomb enabled low flying bombing attacks to be carried out with higher accuracy. Douglas MacArthur, center, is accompanied by his officers and Sergio Osmena, president of the Philippines in exile, extreme left, as he wades ashore during landing operations at Leyte, Philippines, on October 20, , after U.

The bodies of Japanese soldiers lie strewn across a hillside after being shot by U. Smoke billows up from the Kowloon Docks and railroad yards after a surprise bombing attack on Hong Kong harbor by the U. Army 14th Air Force October 16, A Japanese fighter plane left center turns in a climb to attack the bombers. Between the Royal Navy yard, left, enemy vessels spout flames, and just outside the boat basin, foreground, another ship has been hit. A Japanese torpedo bomber goes down in flames after a direct hit by 5-inch shells from the aircraft carrier USS Yorktown, on October 25, Landing barges loaded with U.

The men aboard the crafts watch the dramatic battle in the sky as they approach the shore. This photo provided by former Kamikaze pilot Toshio Yoshitake, shows Yoshitake, right, and his fellow pilots, from left, Tetsuya Ueno, Koshiro Hayashi, Naoki Okagami and Takao Oi, as they pose together in front of a Zero fighter plane before taking off from the Imperial Army airstrip in Choshi, just east of Tokyo, on November 8, None of the 17 other pilots and flight instructors who flew with Yoshitake on that day survived.

Yoshitake only survived because an American warplane shot him out of the air, he crash-landed and was rescued by Japanese soldiers.