World War II
Virtual Museum |  |
World War II
Virtual Museum
Lead-Up To The Battle Of Saipan:
Marshall Islands and Truk Lagoon
In late January and early February 1944, the U.S. Army 7th
Infantry Division assaulted Kwajalein Island and the other small
islands in the southern half of Kwajalein Atoll. Simultaneously, the U.S.
Marine Corps in the northern half of Kwajalein Atoll assaulted Roi
Island and Namur Island, then the remaining smaller islands
of northern Kwajalein Atoll.
Following the battles for Kwajalein Atoll, U.S. forces assaulted and secured
Enewetak Atoll and Majuro Atoll. These three bases served as staging points
for air and naval forces moving onward in later months to attack the vast
Japanese naval base at Truk (Chuuk) and other lesser Japanese installations
enroute to the Mariana Islands.
|
The situation map on January 31, 1944 as U.S. forces were about
to invade Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands. Click
here for full-size map. Note the American flags on Tarawa
and Makin Atolls, and Japanese flags on all other islands
to the north and west.
From: Island Victory, The Battle For Kwajalein. By S.L.A.
Marshall. Zenger Publishing Co. Inc., Washington D.C., Copyright
1945, reprinted 1982.
|
|
|
"7th Infantry Goes Ashore, Kwajalein Atoll" (1944).
Official U.S. Army Signal Corps Photograph, Graflex-Made.
Donated by Joseph Garofalo - 121st Seabees, 4th Marine Division.
|
|
|
U.S. Army infantrymen of the assault units rest after being withdrawn
from the front lines. Note the completely demolished landscape of
what before was a lush tropical island.
From: Island Victory, The Battle For Kwajalein. By S.L.A.
Marshall. Zenger Publishing Co. Inc., Washington D.C., Copyright
1945, reprinted 1982.
|
|
|
Infantrymen moving up to battle on Kwajalein pass a fallen comrade.
From: Island Victory, The Battle For Kwajalein. By S.L.A.
Marshall. Zenger Publishing Co. Inc., Washington D.C., Copyright
1945, reprinted 1982.
|
|
|
"Closing In, Kwajalein Atoll" (1944).
Official U.S. Army Signal Corps Photograph, Graflex-Made.
Donated by Joseph Garofalo, 121st Seabees, 4th Marine Division.
|
|
|
