I fancy myself as somewhat knowledgable about WW2. But when I think about the the U.S's island hopping strategy in the Pacific during WW2, I realize I don't know nearly as much as I like to think I do.

In asking my question, I think I making some assumptions that aren't accurate. For example,

*The U.S. strategy in the Pacific from 1942-1945 was to put as many bombers over Japan as possible. This required airfields that could reach the Japanese home islands.

*There are other places closer to the Japanese mainland from which appropriately sized airfields could be built (glancing at a map, anything across the sea of Japan would suffice).

*I"m also assuming that Russia was our ally and that they controlled at least some of this land.