Over the beach - University of Oregon

B urm a
C hina
TThhaaiillaanndd
U SSR
NNeetthheerrllaannddss
EEaasstt IInnddiieess
42° N
Att u AAleutian
Islands
Kiska
A mch itka
N orth Pacific Area
Japan Pacific O cean A reas
Frenc h
Ind o chin a
O kinawa
Formosa (Taiwan)
20° N
IIwo
Jima
SSaipan
M idw ay
B attle
H awaiian Islands
Philippine
130° E & T inian
M arian a
W ake
JJohnston
Is lands G uam Islands
42°
C anada
N U nited
States
C entral Pacific Area
Pacific O cean
K wa jalein
Palau
M arshall
M alay a
Pa lmyra
Peleliu Truk IIslands
Fanning
0° Caro line Islands
TTarawa
& M aki n C hristmas 0°
R abaul
New
G uinea
Solom on
Islands
G ilbert
Islands C anton South Pacific A rea
8° S
104° E
16° 30’ S
110° E
Ellice
Islands
C oral Sea
B attle
G ua da lcan al
PPort
Tulagi
M oresby
F iji
N ew
C ale don ia
Samoa
Tongatapu
Bora Bora
A ustralia
Southw est Pacific A rea
The Pacific Areas
as of 1 August 1942
Area boundaries
Subd ivision boundaries
N ew 0 1,000 2,000
159° E Zealan d S Statute
M iles on the Equator
Map 1. Pacifc areas.
the Battle of Midway, ending the Japanese threat to Hawaii. In a secondary
operation that same month, Japanese forces attacked the Aleutians, occupying
the islands of Kiska and Attu, and beginning a strange and deadly
campaign among the craggy islands, icy waters, fogs, and williwaw winds
of the thousand-mile-long Aleutian chain.
In the summer of 1942, the Allies prepared to go on the offensive.
In accordance with the agreed-on strategy, Army Chief of Staff General
George C. Marshall and the US Army leadership argued for a concentration
of effort in Europe, a buildup of forces in Britain, and preparation for an
invasion of the continent across the English Channel in 1943. The Army
Special Observers mission in London had been redesignated United States
Army Forces in the British Isles (USAFBI) after Pearl Harbor and its
mission expanded from prewar planning for strategic air bombardment
to command of the growing US ground force in Northern Ireland and
preliminary planning for the invasion of Europe. In mid-April 1942,
General Marshall made an agreement with Vice Admiral Lord Louis
Mountbatten, the British Chief of Combined Operations, for a small
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