The Marshall Islands are a group of 36 Micronesian atolls in the Pacific, which includes the world's largest atoll, Kwajalein, where the Battle of Kwajalein Atoll was fought.

As a result of World War I, the Marshalls had been mandated to Japan, and, during World War II, the islands were an important constituent of Japan's outermost defensive perimeter. The U.S. invasion of the islands began on January 30, 1944, when a marine and army amphibious assault force of 85,000 men, escorted by some 300 warships and landing craft, landed. The first contingent to land consisted of reconnaissance patrols, which hit the beach on Majuro Atoll. This was the first American occupation of Japanese soil.

Following the reconnaissance landings, the 4th Marine Division and 7th Infantry (Army) Division landed on the inner islands of Kwajalein Atoll, Kwajalein and Roi-Namur. These inner islands were targeted because Ultra intercepts and decrypts had revealed that the Japanese had transferred the bulk of their forces to the outer atolls, where they expected landings. In accordance with the U.S. island hopping strategy, the outer atolls were merely subjected to intensive air raids but were bypassed by troops, who simply cut the garrisons off by occupying the other islands. The outer atolls did not surrender until the very end of the war, although after victory in the Battle of Eniwetok Atoll, the Marshalls came firmly under U.S. control.

The conquest of the Marshalls forced the withdrawal of the Japanese fleet from this area and cleared the way for the Mariana Islands campaign, which resulted in the severe contraction of the Japanese defensive perimeter.

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