Hh104 American Military History

The Central Pacific Drive

General – amphib assaults on island; Midway and Guadalcanal crippled Jap CVs; US warship production kicks in

A Second Offensive – Didn’t want to risk CVs in New Guinea; MacARthur moves north with little naval support

A New Fleet – Central Pacific bloody; USN subs sink most Jap oilers (Jap subs don’t attack non-combat ships); advances 400mi in 11 months

The Gilbert Islands – 1^st attacks on Makin (easy) and Bloody Tarawa (landing craft stuck on reefs, poor NGS; 17 of 5k Japs live)

The Marshalls – Nimitz orders TF58 to attack Marshalls; several airfields there; much better than Tarawa; 400 US dead to 8k Japs (3 days of preliminary bombing killed 6k Japs)

Lessons From Tarawa – Better intel / NGS needed; use nonfighting vessel for flagship to prevent comm disruptions

Eniwetok And The Carolinas – CVs destroy 100s of Jap planes, ships; largest Jap concentration in Carolinas; no invasion (leftover insignificant)

The Marianas – Operation Forager – Saipain, Tinian, Guam, Jun-Jul; B22s could reach Japs from Marianas; Jap 50k troops; largest transoceanic invasion ever (105k troops, 29CV, 891 planes, 14bship…); 23k US casualties

Prelude To A Showdown – Japs send 9CVs, … to Marianas (inexperienced pilots)