November 1944: US victory in the Mariana Islands

After fighting across the Pacific in an ‘island hopping’ campaign to capture the naval and air bases necessary to progress to the next island, the USA captured the last of the Mariana Islands from Japan on 27 November 1944. These islands were the closest chain before reaching the Ryukyu islands, the southernmost of the Japanese Home Islands.

The capture of the Mariana Islands was significant because the island hosts the farthest airfields capable of attacking the Japanese Home Islands. Prior to this point, any attack on the Home Islands would either have to come through occupied China or via an exposed aircraft carrier. The capture of the Mariana Islands meant that American aircraft could now directly attack the Home Islands from a safe base. It is at this point that the bombing of the Home Islands begins.

The American bombing campaign against Japan, once begun, was intense and resulted in massive material damage and widespread loss of life in Japan. Japan had presumed its control of the few airfields in the vicinity of the Home Islands and so never developed a robust civil defense network. As a result, there were very few bomb shelters, most cities were unprepared to recover from bombing, and military facilities were not adequately prepared with anti-aircraft guns. This intensity of the American bombing campaign will only increase from this point onward.