7. KWAJALEIN. Employing the hard-learned lessons of Tarawa, The United States launched a more successful twin assault on the main islands of Kwajalien in the south and Roi-Namur in the north. TheJapanese defenders put up a stiff resistance though being outnumbered and under-prepared. The deter mined defense of Roi-Namur left only 51 survivors of an original garrison of 3,500.8. BURMA While American forces in the Pacific had been making dramatic progress since early 1942, the Allied effortin the China-Burma-India Theatre had bogged down in a morass of conflicting national objectives. The hope Americans held in the early stages of the war, that Chinese manpower and bases would play a vital role in the defeat of Japan, was unrealised. 9. SAIPAN & TINIANDuring February and March, 1944, at the Washington Planning Conference, the planners of the Pacific Campaign of World War II decided that the primary objective for the near future was to establish a base in the region of Luzon, Formosa, and the Chinese Coast. That objective quickly established the island of Saipan (northern isle of the Marianas) as the next prime candidate 10. PELELIU Victory in the Marianas in the summer of 1944 brought American forces within striking distance of the Philippine Islands and the Japanese home islands. In order to eliminate a possible threat on the right flank of General Douglas MacArthur's intended attack on the Philippines, the Japanese-held Palau Islands were targeted next 11. LUZON Nearly two years after the fall of Bataan, General MacArthur came back to the Philippines leading a huge naval force of 700 ships and more than 160,000 marines. 12. OKINAWA The Battle of Okinawa is distinguished as the last major battle of World War Two, yet often unrecognized when referring to the great battles of the War. Over 250,000 people lost their lives. Approximately 150,000 Okinawans, about a third of the population, perished. At the battle's end, somewhere between a third and half of all surviving civilians were wounded. No battle during the Second World War, except Stalingrad, had as massive a loss of civilian life