Question

In the pacific theater, the united states relied mainly on a strategy of:

Answer 1

 heavy bombing from Chinese air bases  invading Japanese strongholds in Southeast Asia  and island hopping in the Pacific taking out Japeneese fortifications.

Answer 2

QUESTION:

What strategy did the United States use to gain ground in the Pacific theater?

ANSWER CHOICES:

◎ A. Massed invasions

◉ B. Island hopping

◎ C. Lightning war

◎ D. Atomic bombing

ANSWER:

In the Pacific theater, the United States relied mainly on a strategy of island hopping.

EXPLANATION:

*This excerpt is directly from the Penn Foster reading material

Key Players and Battles in the Pacific Theater

The Pacific Theatre of the war was primarily fought between the US and Japanese forces. For the rest of the Allies, the war in Europe was more important than the war in the Pacific. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, it took a few months for the US Pacific Fleet to get back into fighting shape. Once operational again, though, the fleet ran into another problem. Island warfare was brutal, and the conditions on the islands were awful. The heat, humidity, and difficult jungle conditions made fighting tough. The Japanese fighting style amplified those conditions. Japanese soldiers rarely surrendered or let themselves be captured. Every battle was a literal fight to the death. The Japanese would even use island inhabitants as human shields. This forced US troops to leave behind their dead and shoot innocent people. Taking the Pacific back island-by-island was disastrous for US morale.

To boost morale, Douglas MacArthur, the commander of US troops in the Pacific, implemented "island hopping." This maneuver targeted high-priority islands in the Pacific. Three criteria determined whether or not to attack an island. The criteria included whether it was a former colony of an Allied nation, the amount of valuable natural resources on the island, and how close the island was to the Japanese mainland. This strategy allowed US troops to essentially skip some islands. This strategy was rather successful, and MacArthur and his troops hopped to the Japanese mainland.

ADDITIONAL INFO:

Attention! PF students!

This is the CORRECT answer for the following exam!

Exam Lesson Name: Contemporary International Relations

Exam number: 703381RR