The Marshall Islands consists
of hundreds of coral atolls and islets scattered over some 400,000
square miles in the Central Pacific.
The Marshall
Islands were occupied by the Japanese Army
in 1941. After the capture of the Gilbert
Islands in November 1943, the United
States Air Force were
able to launch air attacks on Japanese positions on the islands.
On 31st
January 1944 the US
Marines took
Majuro, which provided a good anchorage for the US
Navy to bombard Kwajalen. Over the next couple of days they fired
36,000 shells and the defences were so badly damaged that only 373
US troops were lost during the invasion. Another large island, the
Eniwetok, was captured on 18th February.
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