Analysis Of The Aleutian Island Campaign Of Wwii

The taking of the island of Iwo Jima was one of the most difficult and costly campaigns for the U.S. during World War II. After the battle was over, the decision to take the island was heavily scrutinized by the public, military officials, and members of the press. Many people felt that the island’s advantages were not worth the blood that was shed taking it. There are a select few historians who believe that this campaign was not intended to be a strategic advantage against Japan but that it was a competition between the different branches of the armed forces. Historian Robert Burrell feels that this island was used as a testing ground for the various branches of the armed forces and as a test for new war tactics. Although the taking of the

Important fact regarding your topic: The Battle was in the middle of World War 2, the battle was between Japan and America, America was trying to seize Iwo Jima

We had to fight the Japanese to get back the islands they had seized during the early part of the war. Based on the reading in Module 5 pt.2, “FDR approved a limited offensive. They chose to target the island of Guadalcanal, an island in the southern Solomons where Japan was building an airbase. The first United States Marines division had invaded.” According to “For the Common Dense”, “the Navy Marine Corp had landed at Guadalcanal in August 1942 during WWII to open the south pacific offensive and set out for months of bitter land, sea and air fighting that ended in critical Japan defeat (Millett, p.397).” Both opponents had lost warships in the combats around the island. But more ships had joined the U.S. fleet. This caused the Japanese navy to gradually reduce for the remainder of the war.

The Battle of Midway, one of the most important battles of World War II, took place from June 4, 1942 to June 7, 1942. The battle occurred about five months after the Japanese capture of Wake Island, and exactly six months after the Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor. Before the Battle of Midway, the Japanese were on the offensive through South-East Asia and the Pacific. The Japanese attacked Wake Island Pearl Harbor and other atolls, which strengthened their empire and severely damaged the U.S. Navy. During the Battle of Midway, the Imperial Japanese Navy lost four carriers: Akagi, Kaga, Hiryu, and the Soryu. After the Battle of Midway, the U.S. Navy was able to make their first offensive move at the Battle of Guadalcanal. Before the Battle of Midway, U.S. morale was low because the Japanese were rampaging through the Pacific, but after the Battle of Midway, the Kido Butai was permanently damaged which meant the U.S. Navy was able to take back the Pacific using General MacArthur’s “Island Hopping” strategy.

There were many battles that occurred in the Pacific during World War II, the most significant ones being the Battles of Midway, Guadalcanal, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa. The Battle of Midway, an American naval victory in June 1942 is considered a significant point in the Pacific war with the Japanese fleet sustaining heavy losses and having to retreat. The Battle of Midway is significant as it firstly, “only lost one carrier… and it meant that four carriers (Enterprise, Hornet, Saratoga, and Wasp) were available when the U.S navy went on the offensive during the battle of Guadalcanal.” Secondly, subsequent to this battle, the Japanese would react to the Americans, and not the other way around, this meant that the “operational initiative” had passed

One of Japan’s main goals during WW2 was to remove the U.S. as a Pacific power in order to gain territory in East Asia. Japan hoped to defeat the U.S. Pacific Fleet and use Midway as a base to attack Pearl Harbor, securing dominance in the region.

Little attention is given to some of the more remote areas of the world. Island residents are subject to experiences not shared by their main land cousins. This often leads to a sense of isolation. This dilemma could either be a good or a bad thing. The negative effects of isolation are clear, without an exchange of ideas or goods innovation can stagnate. On the other hand isolation could also be used as a defensive mechanism in that conflict may only be limited to inter-tribal disputes. Either way, the native inhabitants of the Aleutian Islands are an example of this life style. As a result of these unique conditions the native inhabitants of the islands had developed a culture centered around their unusually circumstances that stick out not only to other north American indigenous groups, but also to the mainland Alaskan natives.

III. The fighting that occurred between the Japanese and American navies was intense, and was ultimately won by the Allies (Greenville, p. 304).

On February 19, 1945, four years after Japanese fighters attacked the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor, U.S. Marines landed on the Island of Iwo Jima, launching Operation Detachment. The Marines trudged through the heavily occupied island in an effort to make a stronghold atop the island’s highest point: Mt. Suribachi. Marines were certain that capturing this part of the island would give them the advantage over the Japanese troops that occupied the island. Destruction from the pre-invasion bombing by U.S. B-24 and B-25 bombers, as well as rapid fire from Japanese battalions, made advancement across the island nearly impossible. Then, on February 23, 1945, Marines reached the summit of Mt. Suribachi. A symbol of victory, strength and valor was

on the Asian activities, the Japanese designed to weaken the American forces by attacking their

The battle for Okinawa begin on 01Apr1945 and went until 22Jun1945. The capture of Okinawa was part of the plan to win the Far East war. The island of Okinawa is a part of a group of islands at the southern end of Japan. The main focus for the Americans were four airfields that were on the island that they wanted to control. The forces that made up the American landing party were the III Amphibious Corps and XXIV Corps, making the Tenth U.S. Army under the command of Lieutenant General Simon Bolivar Buckner Jr. American forces had not been able to gather very much intelligence about the island which made it difficult to determine how many enemy forces there were. There were over 130,000 Japanese troops waiting on the island. There were over 450,000 civilians which made operations harder for American forces. The enemy forces where mainly down in the southern sector of the island waiting for the Americans. The beach landings on the island where prepped with

On the Pacific front, however, American forces were still painstakingly conquering Japan’s Home Islands, one after another. After obliterating Japanese troops in the brutal Battle of Iwo Jima, they set their sights on the isolated island of Okinawa, their last stop before reaching Japan. The invasion was part of Operation Iceberg, a complex plan to invade and occupy the Ryukyu Islands. Planning of this operation began in September 1944. They had to draft and develop plans for Iceberg

By March 16 the island was declared secure and the fighting had ceased. Out of 22,000 soldiers 212 were taken prisoner by the us. That whole misson was key to winning the war because the jappenese would have taken us out with their air base but luckily we destroyed

The Aleutian Trench is part of the Pacific Ring of Fire and is located along a convergent plate boundary. At this plate boundary, two plates are colliding. More specifically, this oceanic trench is a subduction zone in which the Pacific Plate is being subducted under the North American Plate. This occurs because the Pacific Plate, an oceanic plate, is denser than the North American plate, a continental plate and thus gets swallowed into the Earth’s mantle. As the denser plate is subducted under the other, the trench is formed. In addition to the formation of the trench, a subduction zone also forms a volcanic arc which occurs because as the Pacific plate is descending into the mantle, it begins to melt. The melted rock consequently rises to

Acting on reports from airmen that there were no signs of enemy activity and the islands might have been evacuated, General Douglas MacArthur accelerated his timetable for capturing the Admiralties and ordered an immediate reconnaissance in force. The campaign began on 29 February 1944 when a force landed on Los Negros, the third-largest island in the group. By using a small, isolated beach where the Japanese had not anticipated an assault, the force achieved tactical surprise, but the islands proved to be far from unoccupied. A furious battle over the islands