21 General Strategy 1942 - 1945, NE Map Rm

 

-21. GENERAL STRATEGY IN THE PACIFIC 1942-1945.

 

-I. EXPLOITING THEIR SUCCESSFUL ATTACK UPON PEARL HARBOR ON 7 DECEMBER 1941, THE JAPANESE STRUCK AT AMERICA, BRITISH, CHINESE AND DUTCH TERRITORIES. THE UNITED STATES, FORCED INTIALLY UPON THE DEFENSIVE, NEVERTHELESS DETERMINED TO HOLD OPEN THE LINE OF COMMUNICATIONS TO AUSTRALIA, TO AID IN THE DEFENSE OF THAT CONTINENT AND TO DO ITS UTMOST TO REINFORCE THE PHILIPPINES. IN MAY AND JUNE 1942 THE ENEMY OFFENSIVE WAS CHECKED AT THE BATTLES OF THE CORAL. SEA AND MIDWAY WHICH RESTORED THEBALANCE OF SEA POWER IN THE PACIFIC.

 

 

-II. TO STOP THE JAPANESE ADVANCE IN THE SOLOMONS, WHICH THREATENED THE VITAL SUPPLY LINE TO AUSTRALIA, U.S. FORCES TOOK THE OFFENSIVE, LANDING ON GUADALCANAL ON 7 AUGUST 1942. THE SUCCESSION OF HARDFOUGHT NAVAL BATTLES AND GRIM STRUGGLES ON LAND AND IN THE AIR WHICH FOLLOWED MARKED THE TURNING POINT OF THE PACIFIC WAR. IN NEW GUINEA, U.S. AND AUSTRALIAN FORCES REPULSED THE JAPANESE THRUST TOWARD PORT MORESBY AND ADVANCED ON THE LONG ROAD BACK TO THE PHILIPPINES. THE CHINESE EFFORT WAS AIDED BY SUPPLIES FLOWN OVER THE HIMALAYAS FROM INDIA.

 

 

-III. MEANWHILE SUBMARINES HAD BEEN CONTINOUSLY ATTACKING JAPANESE SHIPS CARRYING OIL, RUBBER AND OTHER MATERIALS ESSENTIAL TO THE ENEMY'S INDUSTRY. THE RELENTLESS ASSAULT AGAINST HIS COMBAT AND MERCHANT SHIPS WAS TO CONTINUE, FROM THE SEA AND FROM THE AIR, WITH EVER-INCREASING ATTRITION THROUGHOUT THE WAR.

 

 

-IV. TO PENETRATE THE ENEMY'S DEFENSES AND GAIN BASES FROM WHICH AIRCRAFT COULD STRIKE AT THE JAPANESE HOME ISLANDS, THE UNITED STATES COMMITTED ITS MAJOR FORCES ALONG TWO MAIN AXES OF ADVANCE. ONE THRUST WAS TO CONTINUE THE ATTACK NORTHWESTWARD SIMULTANEOUSLY THROUGH THE SOLOMON ISLANDS AND ALONG THE COAST OF NEW GUINEA. THE OTHER WOULD CROSS THE TREMENDOUS REACHES OF THE CENTRAL PACIFIC VIA THE GILBERT AND MARSHALL ISLANDS AND THE STRONGLY DEFENDED MARIANA AND PALAU ISLANDS. BY MID-SEPTEMBER 1944 ALL THESE MISSIONS HAD BEEN ACCOMPLISHED, WHILE, SIMULTANEOUSLY, CONTROL OF THE SEA AND AIR HAD BEEN WRESTED FROM THE ENEMY, THUS DENYING ESCAPE TO HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF JAPANESE TROOPS ON BY-PASSED BASES SUCH AS RABAUL AND TRUK. MEANWHILE FAR TO THE NORTH

OTHER AMERICAN FORCES HAD EXPELLED THE ENEMY FROM THE ALEUTIANS. IN BURMA ALLIED FORCES WERE DRIVING FORWARD TO REOPEN THE OVERLAND SUPPLY ROUTE TO CHINA AND STIMULATE HER EFFORTS TO EJECT THE JAPANESE INVADERS.

 

 

-V. IN JUNE 1944 THE STRATEGIC AIR BOMBARDMENT OF JAPAN HAD BEGUN FROM AIRFIELDS IN CHINA. WITH THE CAPTURE OF THE MARIANAS, BOMBERS FROM THESE ISLANDS JOINED THE ASSAULT WHICH DEVELOPED BY WAR'S END INTO A PROLONGED AND VIOLENT BOMBARDMENT AIMED AT THE DESTRUCTION OF THE JAPANESE MILITARY AND INDUSTRIAL SYSTEMS.

 

 

-VI. TO LIBERATE THE PHILIPPINES AND TO OBTAIN FORWARD BASES CLOSER TO JAPAN, U.S. ARMY, NAVY, MARINE AND AIR FORCES CONTINUED THEIR SUCCESSIVE AMPHIBIOUS ASSAULTS. THE LANDING AT LEYTE IN OCTOBER 1944 BROUGHT ON THE DECISIVE NAVAL BATTLES FOR LEYTE GULF. AMPHIBIOUS LANDINGS ON LUZON, IWO JIMA AND OKINAWA FOLLOWED IN RAPID SUCCESSION. FAST CARRIER TASK FORCES JOINED IN THE STRATEGIC BOMBARDMENT OF JAPAN; U.S. WARSHIPS SHELLED THE COASTAL STATIONS DENYING TO THE REMNANTS OF THE JAPANESE FLEET THE SAFETY OF ITS HOME HARBORS.

 

 

VII. AFTER THE DEVASTATION FROM THE AIR OF HIROSHIMA AND NAGASAKI, THE JAPANESE GOVERNMENT SUED FOR PEACE; THE SURRENDER TERMS WERE SIGNED IN TOKYO BAY ON 2 SEPTEMBER 1945.

 

This is the URL to a pdf file with all the Mosaic Maps of the Manila Mosaic Maps of the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial, which was provide by the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial: philippine-sailor.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Doc008-.pdf

 

 

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