Leapfrogging ( strategy ) - wikipedia Leapfrogging ( strategy ) This article is about war tactics. For the biological migration movement, see Island hopping. For the tactical counterpart, see Leapfrogging ( infantry ). Allied island - hopping campaign 1943 -- 1945 : Blue -- Japanese - held territory Aug. 1945 Dark red -- Allied territory Red -- Occupied Nov. 1943 Dark pink -- Occupied Apr. 1944 Pink -- Occupied Oct. 1944 Light pink -- Occupied Aug. 1945 Leapfrogging, also known as island hopping, was a military strategy employed by the Allies in the Pacific War against Japan and the Axis powers during World War II. The idea was to bypass heavily fortified Japanese positions and instead concentrate the limited Allied resources on strategically important islands that were not well defended but capable of supporting the drive to the main islands of Japan. Contents 1 Background 2 Rationale and use 3 Advantages 4 Ignoring the principle 5 See also 6 References 7 Bibliography Background By the late 19th century, the U.S. had several interests in the western Pacific to defend ; namely, access to the Chinese market, and its colonies -- the Philippines and Guam -- which the U.S. had gained as a result of the Spanish -- American War ( 1898 ). After Japan 's victories in the Sino - Japanese War ( 1894 -- 95 ) and in the Russo - Japanese War of 1904, the U.S. began to regard Japan as a potential threat to its interests in the western Pacific. This antagonism was intensified by Japan 's objections to an attempt to annex Hawaii to the U.S. ( 1893 ) and by Japan 's objections to discrimination against Japanese immigrants both in Hawaii ( 1897 ) -- on this occasion, Japan sent the cruiser Naniwa to Honolulu, Hawaii -- and in California ( 1906, 1913 ). As a result, the U.S. Navy began to draft, as early as 1897, war plans against Japan, which were eventually code - named `` War Plan Orange ''. The war plan of 1911, which was drafted under Rear Admiral Raymond P. Rodgers, included an island - hopping strategy for approaching Japan. After World War I, the Versailles Treaty gave Japan a mandate over former German colonies in the western Pacific ; specifically, the Mariana, Marshall, and Caroline Islands. If these islands were fortified, Japan could, in principle, deny the U.S. access to its interests in the western Pacific. Therefore, in 1921, Major Earl Hancock Ellis of the U.S. Marine Corps drafted `` Plan 712, Advanced Base Operations in Micronesia, '' a plan for war against Japan which updated War Plan Orange by incorporating modern military technology ( submarines, aircraft, etc. ) and which again included an island - hopping strategy. Shortly afterwards, a British reporter on naval affairs, Hector Charles Bywater, publicized the prospect of a Japanese - American war in his books Seapower in the Pacific ( 1921 ) and The Great Pacific War ( 1925 ), which detailed an island - hopping strategy. The books were read not only by Americans but by senior officers of the Japanese Imperial Navy, who used `` island - hopping '' in their successful southeast Asia offensives in 1941 and 1942. Rationale and Use This strategy was possible in part because the Allies used submarine and air attacks to blockade and isolate Japanese bases, weakening their garrisons and reducing the Japanese ability to resupply and reinforce them. Thus troops on islands which had been bypassed, such as the major base at Rabaul, were useless to the Japanese war effort and left to `` wither on the vine ''. General Douglas MacArthur greatly supported this strategy in his effort to regain the Philippines from Japanese occupation. This strategy began to be implemented in late 1943 in Operation Cartwheel. While MacArthur claimed to have invented the strategy, it initially came out of the Navy. Advantages Leapfrogging would allow the United States forces to reach Japan quickly and not expend the time, manpower, and supplies to capture every Japanese - held island on the way. It would give the Allies the advantage of surprise and keep the Japanese off balance. The overall leapfrogging strategy would involve two prongs. A force led by Admiral Chester Nimitz, with a smaller land force and larger fleet, would advance north towards the island and capture the Gilbert and Marshall Islands and the Marianas, going generally in the direction of the Bonin Islands. The southern prong, led by General MacArthur and with larger land forces, would take the Solomons, New Guinea, the Bismarck Archipelago, advancing toward the Philippines. Ignoring the principle The principle of leapfrogging was not always followed in the Pacific. When MacArthur moved south to attack Mindanao after capturing the northern Philippines, and when he instigated the reconquest of portions of Borneo, he violated the `` basic tenets '' of island hopping. In the first case, this may have been motivated by MacArthur 's promise to return to the people of the Philippines as soon as possible. See also Seabee Unsinkable aircraft carrier References Jump up ^ Davis, Jon. `` What are some amazing strategies which were used in World War 2 and World War 1 ? ''. Quora. Jon Davis. Retrieved 12 June 2016. Jump up ^ Asada 2006, pp. 11, 18. Jump up ^ On this occasion, Japan sent the cruiser Naniwa to Honolulu, Hawaii ; the Naniwa arrived at Hawaii on February 23, 1894. See : William L. Neumann, `` The First Abrasions '' in : Ellis S. Krauss and Benjamin Nyblade, ed. s, Japan and North America : First contacts to the Pacific War, Volume 1, ( London, England : RouteledgeCurzon, 2004 ), page 114. Jump up ^ Asada 2006, p. 10. Jump up ^ See : `` Japan 's Points : Hawaiian government to be asked questions. '' ( May 4, 1897 ) Hawaiian Gazette, vol. 32, no 36, page 1. `` No Arbitration : Minister Shimamura on indemnity claim. '' ( May 7, 1897 ), Hawaiian Gazette, vol. 32, no. 37, page 1. Jump up ^ Asada 2006, pp. 10, 11, 18, 20. Jump up ^ Asada 2006, pp. 12 -- 13, 22. Jump up ^ See : Plan 712, Advanced Base Operations in Micronesia, iBiblio Advanced Base Operations in Micronesia ( PDF ), Marine Corps Association and Foundation Jump up ^ Bywater, Hector C. ( 1921 ). Sea - power in the Pacific : A Study of the American - Japanese Naval Problem. London, England : Constable and Co., Ltd. Jump up ^ Honan, William H ( Dec 1970 ). `` Japan Strikes : 1941 ''. American Heritage. 22 ( 1 ) : 12 -- 15, 91 -- 95. Jump up ^ `` War in Aleutians ''. Life. 1942 - 06 - 29. p. 32. Retrieved November 17, 2011. ^ Jump up to : Roehrs & Renzi 2004, p. 122. Jump up ^ Roehrs & Renzi 2004, p. 119. ^ Jump up to : Collier 1967, p. 480. Jump up ^ Roehrs & Renzi 2004, p. 151. Bibliography Asada, Sadao ( 2006 ), From Mahan to Pearl Harbor : The Imperial Japanese Navy and the United States, Annapolis, Maryland, USA : Naval Institute Press. Collier, Basil ( 1967 ), The Second World War : a Military History, New York : William Morrow & Co. Roehrs, Mark D ; Renzi, William A ( 2004 ), World War II in the Pacific ( 2nd ed. ), London : ME Sharpe. World War II Asia and the Pacific China South - East Asia North and Central Pacific South - West Pacific Europe Western Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East North Africa East Africa Italy West Africa Atlantic North America South America Casualties Military engagements Conferences Commanders Participants Allies ( leaders ) Australia Belgium Brazil Canada China Cuba Czechoslovakia Denmark Ethiopia France Free France ( from June 1940 ) Greece India Italy ( from September 1943 ) Luxembourg Mexico Netherlands New Zealand Norway Philippines ( Commonwealth ) Poland South Africa Southern Rhodesia Soviet Union United Kingdom United States Puerto Rico Yugoslavia Axis and Axis - aligned ( leaders ) Albania Bulgaria Reorganized National Government of the Republic of China Independent State of Croatia Finland Germany Hungary Free India Iraq Italy ( until September 1943 ) Italian Social Republic Japan Manchukuo Philippines ( Second Republic ) Romania Slovakia Thailand Vichy France Armed neutrality Resistance Albania Austria Belgium Bulgaria Czech lands Denmark Estonia Ethiopia France Germany Greece Hong Kong Italy Japan Jewish Korea Latvia Lithuania Luxembourg Malaya Netherlands Northeast China Norway Philippines Poland Anti-communist Romania Thailand Soviet Union Slovakia Western Ukraine Vietnam Yugoslavia Monarchists Timeline Prelude Africa Asia Europe 1939 Poland Phoney War Winter War Atlantic Changsha China 1940 Weserübung Netherlands Belgium France Armistice of 22 June 1940 Britain North Africa West Africa British Somaliland North China Baltic States Moldova Indochina Greece Compass 1941 East Africa Yugoslavia Shanggao Greece Crete Iraq Soviet Union ( Barbarossa ) Finland Lithuania Syria and Lebanon Kiev Iran Leningrad Gorky Moscow Sevastopol Pearl Harbor The outbreak of the Pacific War Hong Kong Philippines Changsha Malaya Borneo ( 1941 -- 42 ) 1942 Burma Changsha Java Sea Coral Sea Gazala Dutch Harbor Attu ( occupation ) Kiska Zhejiang - Jiangxi Midway Rzhev Blue Stalingrad Singapore Dieppe El Alamein Guadalcanal Torch 1943 Tunisia Kursk Smolensk Gorky Solomon Islands Attu Sicily Cottage Lower Dnieper Italy Armistice of Cassibile Gilbert and Marshall Islands Burma Northern Burma and Western Yunnan Changde 1944 Monte Cassino / Shingle Narva Korsun -- Cherkassy Tempest Ichi - Go Overlord Neptune Normandy Mariana and Palau Bagration Western Ukraine Tannenberg Line Warsaw Eastern Romania Belgrade Paris Dragoon Gothic Line Market Garden Estonia Crossbow Pointblank Lapland Hungary Leyte Ardennes Bodenplatte Philippines ( 1944 -- 1945 ) Burma ( 1944 -- 45 ) 1945 -- 1991 Vistula -- Oder Iwo Jima Western invasion of Germany Okinawa Italy ( Spring 1945 ) Borneo Syrmian Front Berlin Czechoslovakia Budapest West Hunan Guangxi Surrender of Germany Project Hula Manchuria Manila Borneo Taipei Atomic bombings Debate Kuril Islands Shumshu Surrender of Japan End of World War II in Asia Aspects General Famines Bengal famine of 1943 Chinese famine of 1942 -- 43 Greek Famine of 1941 - 1944 Dutch famine of 1944 -- 45 Vietnamese Famine of 1945 Air warfare of World War II Blitzkrieg Comparative military ranks Cryptography Diplomacy Home front United States Australian United Kingdom Lend - Lease Manhattan Project Military awards Military equipment Military production Nazi plunder Opposition Technology Allied cooperation Total war Strategic bombing Puppet states Women Art and World War II Aftermath Expulsion of Germans Operation Paperclip Operation Osoaviakhim Operation Keelhaul Occupation of Germany Territorial changes of Germany Soviet occupations Romania Poland Hungary Baltic States Occupation of Japan First Indochina War Indonesian National Revolution Cold War Decolonization Treaty on the Final Settlement with Respect to Germany Popular culture War crimes Allied war crimes Soviet war crimes British war crimes United States war crimes German ( Forced labour ) / Wehrmacht war crimes Holocaust Aftermath Response Prosecution Italian war crimes Japanese war crimes Unit 731 Prosecution Croatian war crimes against the Serbs against the Jews Romanian war crimes Wartime sexual violence German military brothels Camp brothels Rape during the occupation of Japan Sook Ching Comfort women Rape of Nanking Rape of Manila Rape during the occupation of Germany Rape during the liberation of France Rape during the Soviet occupation of Poland Prisoners Finnish prisoners of war in the Soviet Union German prisoners of war in the Soviet Union German prisoners of war in the United States Italian prisoners of war in the Soviet Union Japanese prisoners of war in the Soviet Union Japanese prisoners of war in World War II German mistreatment of Soviet prisoners of war Polish prisoners of war in the Soviet Union Romanian prisoners of war in the Soviet Union Soviet prisoners of war in Finland Bibliography Portal Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Leapfrogging_(strategy)&oldid=839999477 '' Categories : Military strategy Pacific theatre of World War II Military logistics Hidden categories : All articles with unsourced statements Articles with unsourced statements from January 2010 Talk Contents About Wikipedia Deutsch Français Galego Bahasa Indonesia Italiano Bahasa Melayu Nederlands 日本 語 Polski Türkçe 中文 4 more Edit links This page was last edited on 7 May 2018, at 02 : 33. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution - ShareAlike License ; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia ® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization. About Wikipedia

Question: what was the goal of the us strategy of island hopping
Answer: to bypass heavily fortified Japanese positions and instead concentrate the limited Allied resources on strategically important islands that were not well defended but capable of supporting the drive to the main islands of Japan