The US Pacific Campaign - How the US Island Hopped to Iwo Jima

to follow on the 26th of July 1944 representatives of the United States Joint Chiefs of Staff key military leaders in the Pacific Theater and President Franklin D Roosevelt convened a conference to determine America's next steps in the war against the Empire of Japan general Douglas MacArthur commander of the Southwest Pacific area vigorously argued that the main objective should be reconquering the Philippines while many members of the Navy favored invading the island of Formosa including the commander-in-chief of the U.S naval fleet Admiral Ernest King King and his supporters believed that Formosa would be a valuable Target because it would allow the United States to better support the Chinese nationalists against the Japanese ultimately MacArthur prevailed and the conference moved on to the topic of the volcano islands in the Central Pacific one Island in particular was of keen interest to the conference iwoyjima on the 3rd of October 1944 commander-in-chief of the Pacific Theater Admiral Chester Nimitz was directed by The Joint Chiefs of Staff to execute operation Detachment the invasion of Iwo Jima five months later three divisions of Marines would storm the island and find themselves locked in one of the bloodiest battles of the second World War however the events which led to the Battle of Iwo Jima had been set in motion much earlier as both sides gradually adjusted their strategic goals eventually setting the stage for the Bloodshed to follow the road to Iwo Jima began in June 1942 after the decisive American Naval victory at Midway following the stunning destruction of most of Japan's available Naval Air Power American High command believed its forces were ready to conduct offensive operations after taking a defensive stance for the first months of the war the Allies decided to strike in the Solomon Islands after receiving reports that the Japanese were building an airfield on the island of Guadalcanal on the 7th of August 1942 American Marines supported by British and Commonwealth forces landed on Guadalcanal and seized the Airfield although caught by surprise the Japanese reacted swiftly and dispatched much of its military resources to the area over the next six months the campaign turned into a battle of attrition on both land and at Sea as the Japanese and the Allies poured men and material into the fight yet the Allies were better equipped to sustain their losses and by February of 1943 the Japanese had been driven off the island it was the Allies first major land victory in the Pacific Theater and one which firmly wrestled the initiative away from the Japanese following the victory at Guadalcanal the Americans decided upon the island hopping campaign to prosecute the war against Japan General MacArthur and Admiral Nimitz along with Admiral Bull Halsey agreed that rather than direct assaults on the Japanese home Islands the Allies would pick and choose which enemy held territories to attack the islands which were deemed too heavily defended and of lesser strategic importance would be subjected to bombardment while their supply lines would be cut a practice MacArthur referred to as withering on the vine eventually The Hope was that these larger Japanese bases would fall without a fight as the enemy troops faced an extended Siege MacArthur's forces would advance from the south through the Solomon Islands New Guinea and the Bismarck Islands towards the Philippines while Nimitz would strike the Central Pacific aiming for the volcanic island chain with the industrial might of the United States supplying endless amounts of War material time would be on the side of the Allies as they methodically Advanced across the Pacific the situation was far more dire for the Japanese following Midway and waddle canal the most important result of these battles was the Steep decline in the Imperial Navy's operational reach and capability hundreds of trained Airmen had been lost in addition to dozens of Warships and transports to make matters worse Admiral Yamamoto Japan's finest naval officer and commander of the Imperial Navy was killed when his aircraft was ambushed by American fighters in April of 1943. the new leader of the Imperial Navy Admiral kogar originally planned on undertaking an offensive to draw the American Fleet into a decisive battle where it could be destroyed however he quickly discovered that Japanese Naval Aviation was in no shape to carry out an attack on such a scale until it could be rebuilt and its losses replaced instead Japan's remaining Naval power would be carefully preserved until the time was right to strike a decisive blow koga's strategy in the meantime would be to establish a defensive perimeter on the islands Japan currently occupied and inflict as many casualties on the Allies as possible when they had penetrated to what Koga referred to as the inner defensive line stretching from the Marianas Islands to the Philippines he would launch his Naval counter-attack the post-waddle canal island hopping began on the 20th of November 1943 when nimitz's forces invaded the Gilbert Islands the most important Target was the tiny atoll of Tarawa where the Japanese had constructed an Airfield and had a Garrison of less than 5 000 men despite overwhelming superiority in numbers air and Naval power the Americans suffered appalling casualties storming the island as the second Marine Division struggled against the entrenched enemy Tarawa only fell after four days of brutal fighting in which the Marines took over 3 000 casualties the Japanese on the atoll fought nearly to the death only 17 of the nearly 5 000 men in the Garrison survived to be taken prisoner the surprisingly tough battle had a profound impact on Lieutenant General Holland Smith who examined the enemy fortifications and discovered that the pre-invasion barrage had not been heavy enough Smith would later command the invasion of Iwo Jima but his insistence on a massive and long-bomb movement of the island would be ignored after similarly heavy losses on the making at all Nimitz moved on to the Marshall Islands after American codebreakers intercepted messages from Admiral kogar ordering the reinforcement of several of the Marshall Islands Nimitz decided to bypass them and instead struck the islands where the enemy was weakest in contrast to the difficult Gilbert Island's campaign the Marines suffered only 611 killed in capturing their objectives while the Japanese suffered 12 000 casualties the more heavily defended Islands were isolated and left a Wither on the vine showing that the Americans were learning the lessons in conducting island hopping meanwhile MacArthur's land forces prepared to launch operation cartwheel to neutralize the major Japanese base at rabble beginning in late June of 1943 the Allies carried out 11 operations to capture enemy-held territories in New Guinea new Georgia and Bougainville to suffer the communications to rub all as the islands around Roble began to fall one by one the Japanese attempted to greatly reinforce the base with carrier aircraft in December of 1943. the following week saw massive aerial battles in the skies above the South Pacific which resulted in massive losses for Japanese Naval aviators by late February 1944 operation cartwheel had concluded and Rubble had been rendered useless to the enemy without the need for a land invasion one relatively small battle during the New Guinea campaign would proved to be ominous for things to come on the 27th of May 1944 two infantry divisions of the U.S army landed on the island of biak to establish a base to support the drive towards the Philippines usually the Japanese would resist the initial Landings concentrating most of their men and Firepower on The Invasion beaches once the Americans were ashore they would face Mass Banzai charges which would usually result in heavy casualties for the enemy with little success on biak however Colonel kazume now Yuki instead built a fortified defense in depth allowing the Americans to land unopposed before drawing them into a nutritional Close Quarters battle U.S operational planners had predicted the campaign would take a week but the final Japanese Defenders on biak were not destroyed until almost three months later after causing almost 3 000 U.S casualties the next objective would be clearing the Marianas Islands the gateway to the Central Pacific the capture of the Marianas would place the home islands of Japan within American B-29 Superfortress bombing range as part of operation forager fifth amphibious call hit the beaches of Saipan where the Japanese had chosen to make their main stand on the 15th of June 1944. the Marine Amphibious landing craft came under heavy fire on their way to the beaches but were able to establish a foothold on the island and held off multiple counter-attacks throughout the first two days the Japanese recognized the danger of losing the Marianas and resolved to defend the islands at all costs after the death of Admiral kogar in a plane crash new commander of the combined fleet Fleet Admiral Toyota decided that now was the time to seek a decisive carrier battle with the U.S Navy Toyota's Fleet sailed out with Imperial Japan's remaining aircraft carriers and Naval Aviation however the Americans had learned of Japanese intentions and were ready the resulting Battle of the Philippine Sea was an unmitigated disaster for the Japanese who lost almost 700 aircraft and three carriers in the one-sided engagement although most of the Imperial Japanese Fleet escaped intact its Naval Aviation arm has been essentially wiped out after the American victory at Sea the Japanese on Saipan were left without Supply and were eventually forced into small pockets on the northern and western shores of the island at dawn on the 7th of July the remaining Japanese Defenders launched the largest Banzai charge of the war over 4 000 men sews forward in a desperate attempt to overwhelm the American front lines but almost all perished in the face of heavy machine gun and artillery fire with the main Japanese Garrison in the Mariana subdued the islands of Guam and tinian were invaded and occupied by mid-august the United States could Now launch a strategic bombing campaign against the Japanese home Islands changing the calculus of the war it is at this time that the Pacific Conference was convened in Hawaii and MacArthur's plan to assault the Philippines was chosen as the next course of action at the same time as the Pacific Conference Japanese High command were also debating their next move when MacArthur's forces landed on the island of Leyte on the 20th of October Admiral Toyota and the Imperial general staff set in motion their plan to defend the Philippines with the last of the Japanese Navy the subsequent Battle of Leyte Gulf from the 23rd to the 26th of October was one of the largest naval engagements in history and although both sides took heavy losses Japanese Naval power was finally extinguished once and for all ominously it was the first battle where the Japanese employed kamikazes in large numbers while the battle for the Philippines raised MacArthur argued that Palau on the western end of the Caroline Islands needed to be captured in order to protect his Left Flank during the invasion of the Philippines there was a Japanese airfield on the small coral island of pelelu which both Nimitz and MacArthur believed needed to be neutralized the commander of the invasion Major General William rupertus believes the island would be taken after four days on the 15th of September 1944 the first Marine Division landed on the island and were immediately drawn into what would later be called The bitterest Battle of the war for the Marines in contrast to the defense of Saipan Colonel nakagawa had learned the lessons from the biat campaign and constructed an elaborate defense on pelelu's difficult Terrain the Marines were forced to clear the Defenders out of miles of tunnels impervious to shelling it would take nearly three months and almost 50 casualties for the Marines with reinforcements from the 81st Infantry Division to secure the island although pelelu was a strategically insignificant battle its impact would have immense consequences for later campaigns he proved that Japan's new defense in-depth system could cause massive casualties for the numerically and technologically Superior American forces Lieutenant General tadamichi karibayashi would emulate nakagawa's defensive strategy on iwoijima four months later the Allies eventually overcame major Japanese resistance in the Philippines by early 1945. setting the stage for the invasion of Iwo Jima since the disastrous campaigns at Midway and Guadalcanal Japan had changed its military strategy to reflect the inevitability of its defeat rather than attempting audacious offensive operations Japanese commanders decided to emphasize battles of attrition in order to grind down Allied men and material this was done in the hopes that inflicting enough casualties on the enemy would result in better terms once Japan was forced to negotiate and enter the war for the United States the objective would be winning the war with as few casualties as possible the battle for Iwo Jima would show that this would be no easy task over on our sister channel the operations room we're covering the entire Iwo Jima campaign in a four-part series of battle animations head over there to see the play-by-play of the battle if not we'll see you in the next Intel report

Channel: The Intel Report

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Keywords: the intel report, the operations room, new channel, history, documentary, iwo jima, ww2, pacific campaign, island hopping, leyte gulf, japan, us marines

Id: m01G34u8JyI

Length: 14min 8sec (848 seconds)

Published: Fri Sep 30 2022