ARmy Rumour SErvice

**noliveroundsemptycasespr** · 03-06-2012, 01:07

Dear ARRSers,whilst having read many books regarding the US in the Pacific campaign, and also having seen the series The Pacific.Why didn't the Yanks just bypass some islands for example Peleaue,(excuse spelling) and just starve them out,with a blockade etc. Would have saved a lot of casualtys?I am no historian just EX Cav that's why I'm asking the brethren please for a sensible answer.

**noliveroundsemptycasespr** · 03-06-2012, 01:16

Come on it's a fair question :

**PrinceAlbert** · 03-06-2012, 01:19

Because that blokes collection of sand from each island would have been severely lacking if they hadn't.

**DesktopCommando** · 03-06-2012, 01:25

I'm sure leaving the Japanese at the rear to cause serious harm to your stretched supply lines would have been an excellent idea !!

**JoeCivvie** · 03-06-2012, 01:47

A lot of it was to do with needing to have airfields.

**HHH** · 03-06-2012, 01:55

World War 2 is now CA?

Sent from my iPhone using my ARRSE

**Buzz** · 03-06-2012, 02:12

This place.

North Field (Tinian) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Captured by the Marines who took Saipan.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Tinian

Boom.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enola_Gay

That and the Island Campaigns were an oportunity to fix the effective Japanese forces in one place and then kill them as the code of Bushido forbade surrender or retreat when defending the empire. We were skint, the US were skint, waiting them out was not an option.

**Siddar** · 03-06-2012, 03:19

Think of every island as a aircraft carrier. If you by pass them then every ship in aircraft range of those islands is at risk.

Also as pointed out above you cant launch B29 bombers from aircraft carriers and US was launching thousand bomber raids into japan at the end of the war from islands captured.

US did use a by pass strategy in ignoring Japanese forces in China almost entirely.

**jumpinjarhead** · 03-06-2012, 04:04

Simples--US Marines are not in the habit of bypassing any enemy forces....alive that is.

**ehwhat?** · 03-06-2012, 04:26

Actually, they did bypass islands - quite a few of them.

“After the Battle of Midway, the United States launched a counter-offensive strike known as "island-hopping," establishing a line of overlapping island bases, as well as air control. The idea was to capture certain key islands, one after another, until Japan came within range of American bombers. Led by General Douglas MacArthur, Commander of the Allied forces in the Southwest Pacific, and Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, Commander-in-Chief of the Pacific Fleet, the first stage of the offensive began with the Navy under Nimitz, and Marine landings on Guadalcanal and nearby islands in the Solomons.

From that point on, Nimitz and MacArthur engaged in "island-hopping" amphibious drives that bypassed strongly-held islands to strike at the enemy's weak points. In an effort to liberate the people of the Philippine Islands, MacArthur pushed along the New Guinea coast with Australian allies, while Nimitz crossed the central Pacific by way of the Gilberts, Marshalls, Marianas, Carolines, and Palaus. Both campaigns would entail seemingly endless, bloody battles — ultimately leading to the unconditional surrender of the Japanese. “