CAROLINE ISLANDS

CAROLINE ISLANDS. In the American drive across the Central Pacific in World War II, Truk atoll, near the center of the Caroline Islands, was the target of attacks from carrier and land-based bombers in April 1944. Later that year, to protect the right flank of General Douglas MacArthur's return to the Philippines, key positions in the Palaus in the western Carolines were selected for amphibious landings. Pelelieu Island, strongly fortified and defended by about 13,000 Japanese, was assaulted on 15 September. Organized resistance ended on 27 November at the cost of almost 10,500 American casualties. Meanwhile, elements of the Eighty-first Infantry Division captured the neighboring island of Angaur and Ulithi atoll. Ulithi was promptly converted into a major U.S. naval base.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Haynes, William E. "On the Road to Tokio." Wisconsin Magazine of History 76, no. 1 (1992): 21–50.

Ross, Bill D. Peleliu: Tragic Triumph. New York: Random House, 1991.

Smith, Robert Ross. The Approach to the Philippines. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Army Center of Military History, 1996. The original edition was published in 1953.

Philip A.Crowl/a. r.

See alsoPeleliu ; Philippine Sea, Battle of the ; Philippines ; World War II, Navy in .

Caroline Islands Archipelago of c.600 volcanic islands, coral islets and reefs in the w Pacific Ocean, n of the Equator; part of the US Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands. Politically the islands exist as two entities. In 1979 all the islands except the Belau group became the Federated States of Micronesia. Area: 1130sq km (450sq mi).