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Battle of Guadalcanal

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Some of the bloodiest fight of World War II came in the Pacific. Much of that fighting came at the Battle of Guadalcanal. A remote island in the Solomons Island chain, Guadalcanal was not thought of as important, prior to 1942. For several reasons, Guadalcanal was the most significant battle of the war in the Pacific. The Battle of Guadalcanal was the first offensive the United States took in World War II. Because of its location, Guadalcanal pushed back the Japanese defensive ring, and put the U.S. in an aggressive mindset. As an intangible factor, the victory at Guadalcanal provided a much needed morale boost to U.S. servicemen, who had not had a decisive triumph against the Japanese. Most importantly, the U.S. gained control of an important airstrip on Guadalcanal that the Japanese had been trying to utilize.
Guadalcanal was the first American offensive of World War II. American efforts in the Pacific were heavily impeded by the “Europe First” strategy during World War II (Gray 317). President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Winston Churchill both saw Europe as being more important than Asia. Nazi Germany was viewed as the major threat to Western ideals. Neither the U.S. nor Europe feared a Japanese invasion. The American Army would send the majority of its forces into Europe. The U.S. Navy had some of its ships act as convoys to protect merchant ships, but most of the aircraft carriers were in the Pacific. The United States Marine Corps (USMC) was entirely

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