![]() Landings on Peleliu by the 1st Marine Division, backed up by the Army’s 81st Infantry Division, were scheduled for 15 September.įacing overwhelming Allied firepower and material advantage, Japanese commanders realized that a change in defensive strategy was necessary. Thus, the original Stalemate concept was canceled on 7 July, and planning for Stalemate II, a scaled-down version that limited initial attacks to the southern Palaus and the islands of Yap and Ulithi (in the Carolines group northeast of the Palaus), began. The operation, designated “Stalemate,” was set for 8 September.įighting on Saipan in particular was harder and of longer duration than anticipated and required deployment of a theater reserve, the Army’s 27th Infantry Division, which had been slated for the Palau operation. The Joint Chiefs of Staff issued the respective planning order on 12 March, directing CINCPOA to occupy the Marianas-Palaus line. Occupation of the Palaus would also bolster control of the broader approaches to Japan’s Home Islands. In June 1944, concurrently with the beginning of Forager, Japanese carrier forces and naval aviation were soundly defeated in the Battle of the Philippine Sea.Ĭapturing the Palaus group, part of the widely dispersed Caroline Islands, appeared a logical step in securing the right flank of MacArthur’s projected operations in the Philippines and breaking into Japan’s second line of defense. ![]() Nimitz (Commander in Chief, Pacific Ocean Areas-CINCPOA) had broken through the Gilberts and Marshalls chains, and were engaged in Operation Forager, the capture of Saipan, Guam, and Tinian in the Marianas. ![]() ![]() At the same time, naval and ground forces subordinate to Admiral Chester W. ![]() By the summer of 1944, General Douglas MacArthur’s Southwest Pacific Area forces were moving beyond New Guinea toward the Philippines. ![]()
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