Which tactic involves bypassing heavily fortified islands and focusing on securing others to move toward Japan?

Which tactic involves bypassing heavily fortified islands and focusing on securing others to move toward Japan?

• A. Naval blockades
• B. Bombing raids
• C. Island-hopping
• D. Amphibious assaults

Answer: (C)

Island hopping is the strategy of bypassing heavily fortified islands and focusing on securing others to move toward Japan. By skipping the strongest defenses and seizing a chain of capable islands with airfields and naval bases, Allied forces could project air and sea power deeper into the Pacific, shorten supply lines, and isolate bypassed garrisons rather than fighting costly frontal assaults. This approach created forward bases that allowed sustained advances toward Japan while conserving resources and reducing casualties. The other options describe different methods—naval blockades aim to squeeze Japan’s economy over time, bombing raids target broad targets to degrade capability, and amphibious assaults are the specific landing operations used to take individual islands—but they don’t capture the deliberate selection of stepping-stone islands that defines island hopping.

Island hopping is the strategy of bypassing heavily fortified islands and focusing on securing others to move toward Japan. By skipping the strongest defenses and seizing a chain of capable islands with airfields and naval bases, Allied forces could project air and sea power deeper into the Pacific, shorten supply lines, and isolate bypassed garrisons rather than fighting costly frontal assaults. This approach created forward bases that allowed sustained advances toward Japan while conserving resources and reducing casualties. The other options describe different methods—naval blockades aim to squeeze Japan’s economy over time, bombing raids target broad targets to degrade capability, and amphibious assaults are the specific landing operations used to take individual islands—but they don’t capture the deliberate selection of stepping-stone islands that defines island hopping.