One of the most strategic areas of the Pacific Ocean in World War II is a vast imaginary rectangle, almost 3,000,000 sq. mi. in area, which contains the Mariana, the Caroline, and the Marshall Islands. These islands (totaling 1,500 if major reefs are included) lie south and east of Japan, directly east of the Philippines, north of Australia, New Guinea and the Solomon Islands, and south-west of Honolulu. The total area of the islands is only 830 sq. mi. They can be reached only across great expanses of ocean.
The Mariana and the central Carolines lie on the direct ocean route from the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific to Yokohama, a total distance of 3,340 miles.
Political History.
The Mariana and the Caroline groups, discovered in the sixteenth century, remained a Spanish colony until 1899 when they were purchased by Germany and added to the German commercial colony established several decades earlier in the Marshalls. The island of Guam, the largest of the Marianas, was excluded from this settlement. It was included in the territorial cessions of Spain to the United States at the close of the Spanish American War. Late in 1914 after the outbreak of World War I, the Mariana, Caroline, and Marshall Islands were seized by the Japanese. At the Versailles Conference, 1919, they were entrusted to Japan as a class 'C' mandate to be administered on behalf of the League of Nations. When Japan withdrew from the League (1933) she retained her control of and administration over the islands.
Strategic Significance.
It was at this time that the Japanese government was charged unofficially with fortifying the islands in violation of the military terms of the mandate. The charge was never proved, but it soon became evident in and outside Japan that if the Japanese army regarded Manchuria as its 'life-line,' the Japanese navy regarded the mandated islands as its 'life-line.' Japanese shipping lines were subsidized to maintain service in the islands; in 1934 the construction of 'civilian' air-fields was undertaken; harbor facilities were improved; and, after 1935 foreigners were not encouraged to visit the islands. After this date it is probable that the Japanese materially expanded public works such as air-fields and docks, describing them of course as 'civilian' enterprises.
Principal Islands.
The principal islands of the Japanese mandate which have undergone commercial development in recent years and which possess strategic significance include the following: In the Mariana group: Saipan, Tinian, and Rota, the last named being within some 40 mi. of Guam. In the Caroline group (from west to east): Anguar, Palau or Pelew Islands, the Truk group, and Ponape. In the Marshall group: Jaluit, Wotje, and Maloelap.
The broad strategic significance of the Mandated Islands (the Japanese call them the South Sea Islands or Nanyo) is first, that they lie directly on the sea route from the Hawaiian Islands to the Philippines, and second, that they cut directly across the sea routes to Japan proper from Australia, New Zealand, and the Solomons. Any approach to Japan from these bases or from Pearl Harbor must first drive the Japanese from these scattered but valuable sea bases.
When Japan attacked the Philippines, the eastern islands of the Dutch East Indies, New Guinea, New Britain, and the Solomons, she did so in part from her three most valuable naval stations in the mandate: from Palau, from Truk, and from Ponape. From Palau in the extreme western Carolines to Davao in the southern Philippines, where most of the Japanese population in the Philippines was concentrated, the distance is only 610 miles. In Truk the Japanese have a naval base which is as close to the Solomons as is Australia. These so-called Truk Islands, probably Japan's strongest naval establishment in the mandate, consists of a great lagoon surrounded by a coral reef 32 nautical mi. in diameter. There are four navigable entrances to the lagoon which contains a number of substantial islands so located as to provide excellent anchorage and protection for ships and supplies. The principal group of islands in the lagoon, known as the Four Seasons Islands consists of Uman, Fefan, Dublon, and Moen. It is here that the Japanese have their naval establishment and fleet anchorage.
Ponape, to the east of Truk, is likewise a strong defensive base. This island, second only in size to Guam, has an area of 216 sq. mi., is crossed by several ranges of hills, and protected by a coral reef which unlike that at Truk lies close to the shore line. Ponape's great rock, Jokaj, 900 ft. in height stands out prominently at the northern end of the island, a familiar landmark for sailors.
The Palau Islands at the western end of the Carolines have several excellent bays: one at Koror, and another the harbor of Malakai which the Japanese have used most effectively.
The Marshall Islands consist of great circular coral reefs or atolls scattered over thousands of square miles of ocean. Jaluit, the principal port, is 2,500 miles from Pearl Harbor. It was in these atolls that the United States fleet launched its first attack (Jan. 31, 1942) for the purpose of securing the supply route from the United States to the Antipodes. Aircraft carriers, cruisers, and destroyers participated in this attack, destroying 16 Japanese ships, 38 planes, and shore installations.
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