– Re-write the paragraphs and add data as needed.

– Fallow each link to gather more data

1. Battle of Iwo Jima

During World War II, American forces in the Pacific used a strategy known as “island hopping” while advancing towards Japan. If every island that was fortified by the Japanese were to be attacked, the amount of time and manpower that would need to be used would be unacceptable, so a new strategy was devised. Rather than attacking every island, only the islands that could be used as a jumping off point for the next movement would be attacked. That mainly meant that islands that had airfields would be attacked, while other islands that were well-fortified would be bypassed and cut off from resupply by using aircraft and submarines based at the advanced islands to mop up the forces on the bypassed islands. This strategy allowed Allied forces to advance towards the Japan with fewer troops and supplies and kept the isolated Japanese from being resupplied or able to move to reinforce any other islands. Overall, the strategy helped shorten the war and kept casualties and material costs well below what they would have been if every island would have been attacked.

https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2011/09/world-wa…
https://www.thoughtco.com/world-war-ii-across-the-…

2. Doolitle Raid

The operation I think is the most important in military history is the Doolittle raid. As the battles in the Pacific were gaining momentum the Japanese thought that an attack on Tokyo was impossible. Lt. Col Doolittle sought out an attack on the capital. He oversaw the modifications of B-25 Mitchell aircraft, to reduce weight and increase fuel capacity. The raid took off from the aircraft carrier USS Hornet, this was the first time a USAAF bomber was launched of a Navy aircraft carrier. The attack was carried out on April 18th, 1942. 16 B-25s conducted the raid, then headed into Chinese territory for landing. None of the B-25 were able to make it to their designated landing points, all were crashed, the crew parachuted out. The bombings in Tokyo did minimal damage, but crushed Japanese morale and lifted American spirits. Doolittle, thinking the attack was a total failure, was then promoted to Brigadier General and given the Medal of Honor. The legacy of the 95th Bomb Group lives on within the 95th Reconnaissance Squadron. The Doolittle Raid is also remembered by the naming of the new B-21 bomber the “Raider”.

– https://www.britannica.com/event/Doolittle-Raid

3. Operation Fortitude

1. Perhaps one of the greatest American demonstrations of military deception was Operations Fortitude and Quicksilver the fake armies that fooled Hitler. In the preparations for the Allied Invasion the Americans decided they would invade Nazi occupied France at Normandy but wanted to keep Hitler guessing they would land somewhere else. Allied Intelligence agencies created two phantom army commands, one in Scotland to threaten an invasion of Norway, and the other in southeast England to threaten the Pas de Calais (Murphy, n.d.). To make it more believable they established an imaginary First US Army Group (FUSAG) and assigned Lt. General George S. Patton as their Commander. They created the greatest deceptive enterprise ever seen in a war that included tent cities, mess halls, hospitals, and ammo depots. (Murphy, n.d.) They constructed vehicles out of fabric and wood, and some were even rubber inflatables like the Sherman tank (Murphy, n.d.). Hitler had a massive force of reinforcements for the Normandy front stationed at Calais, mostly tanks and infantry (Murphy, n.d.). When the Allied invasion of Normandy occurred on June 6, 1944 Hitler’s reinforcements scattered throughout Europe never made it to Normandy and the phantom army had won its battle.

– Murphy, B. J. (n.d.). Patton’s Ghost Army. Retrieved from https://www.americainwwii.com/articles/pattons-gho…