Question

In the war against Japan, the U.S relied on a strategy of

A) using China as a jumping ground to invade Japan

B) invading Japanese colonies in the South Pacific

C) island hopping across the South Pacific

D) heavy bombing from Chinese military bases

Answer 1

The war in the Pacific was largely a naval war, so the strategy followed that instead of hitting every Japanese-held island which would have been costly in the long run, to island hop instead. It had the advantage of focusing military strength on targets that were far more strategically valuable while isolating the ones that weren't.

Super-fortified islands could be ignored this way in favor of going after ones that were more important to the Allied strategy. It didn't matter how many guns or men an island had if the Allies simply bypassed it. Incidentally, it's kind of like what Hitler did in Europe with the Maginot Line -- instead of plowing through it to invade France, he just went around it. All those guns and cannons made useless with just a change in direction.

Answer 2

Basically, C.