Big Pigeon in Southwest Iowa
  • Home
    • Usage Hints
    • Acknowledgments
    • Resources >
      • Free Sites
      • Pay Sites
      • Print Resources
      • Search Engines
      • Land Records
      • Resources - Denmark >
        • Finding Danish Ancestors
    • Project Mgt - Public >
      • Website Overview
      • Website Log
      • Project Overview
      • Mac Computer Use
      • Weebly Use
      • Reunion Use
      • Project History
      • Image Provenance
    • Project Mgt - Private >
      • Site Management
      • Site Plan
      • Contact List
      • Backup Info & Log
      • System Info & Log
      • Image Storage
      • E-Mail Log
      • Asset Organization
      • History Index
      • Binders & Photos
      • Upon My Death
      • Donations & Dispersal
  • Family
    • Photos - Recent
    • Christiansen
    • Rasmussen
    • Christiansen/Rasmussen News
    • Larsen/Larson
    • Hansen
    • Larsen/Hansen News
    • Allied Families
    • Wall of Honor
  • St. Paul's
    • Early Families >
      • Early Families Help
      • Early Families More Lists
    • St. Paul's Roots
    • St. Paul's Timeline
    • St. Paul's Resources
  • History
    • Iowa History >
      • The Missouri River
      • The Native Americans
      • The Colonial Period
      • The Louisiana Purchase
      • Iowa Land Cessions
    • SW Iowa History >
      • The Corps of Discovery
      • Middle Missouri Fur Trade
      • Yellowstone Expedition
      • The Potawatomi Years
      • The Mormon Years
      • Political Organization
      • Population Data
      • Transportation Maps
    • Pott. Co. History
    • Big Pigeon Area >
      • Nearby Towns >
        • Beebeetown
        • Crescent
        • Honey Creeek
        • Loveland
        • Neola
        • Persia
        • Underwood
        • Weston
        • Lost Locales
      • Danes from Dronninglund
      • Maps & Plats
      • Big Pigeon Galleries >
        • Gallery 1 - Area Historic Structures
        • Gallery 2 - Grange Sunday School
    • Avoca >
      • Gold Star Avoca
      • Cuppy's Grove
    • LDS History >
      • LDS Links
      • Gallery 1 - Mormon Maps
    • A House Divided >
      • Endnotes
      • Niels Peder Pedersen
      • Ane Katrine Pedersen
      • Kirsten Pedersen
      • Kirsten's Story >
        • Kirsten's LDS Daughters
        • Kirsten's Daughter, Karen Bondo
        • Kirsten's Son, Anders Johnson
        • Kirsten's Niece, Christine Mortensen
        • Kirsten's Niece, Anne Marie Larsen
    • More History >
      • Pott. Co. Addendum
      • American History
  • WWII Dead
    • Roster Hub >
      • Roster Aa-Am
      • Roster An-Az
      • Roster Ba-Be
      • Roster Bf-Bq
      • Roster Br
      • Roster Bs-Bz
      • Roster Ca
      • Roster Cb-Cm
      • Roster Cn-Co
      • Roster Cp-Cz
      • Roster Da-De
      • Roster Df-Dz
      • Roster E
      • Roster F
      • Roster G
      • Roster Ha
      • Roster Hb-He
      • Roster Hf-Hz
      • Roster I
      • Roster Ja-Je
      • Roster Jf-Jz
      • Roster Ka-Ki
      • Roster Kj-Kz
      • Roster La-Le
      • Roster Lf-Lz
      • Roster Ma-Mb
      • Roster Mc
      • Roster Md-Mm
      • Roster Mn-Mz
      • Roster N
      • Roster O
      • Roster Pa-Pe
      • Roster Pf-Pz
      • Roster Q-Rh
      • Roster Ri-Rz
      • Roster Sa-Sh
      • Roster Si-Ss
      • Roster St
      • Roster Su-Sz
      • Roster Ta-Th
      • Roster Ti-Tz
      • Roster U-V
      • Roster Wa-We
      • Roster Wf-Wi
      • Roster Wj-Wz
      • Roster X-Y-Z
      • Roster Record Structure
      • Roster Storage
    • Ancillary Records >
      • Veterans A-F
      • Veterans G-M
      • Veterans N-Z
      • Other WWII Era Dead
    • Residences >
      • Monona Co.
      • Crawford Co.
      • Carroll Co.
      • Harrison Co.
      • Shelby Co.
      • Audubon Co.
      • Council Bluffs
      • Rural Pott. Co.
      • Cass Co.
      • Mills Co.
      • Montgomery Co.
      • Fremont Co.
      • Page Co.
      • Other SW Iowa Counties
      • Other Iowa Counties
      • StatesBorderingIowa
      • Other States
    • Land, Air, Sea Dead >
      • Land Dead >
        • Division Dead - Japan
        • Division Dead - Germany
        • Other Land Dead
      • Air Dead
      • Sea Dead
    • Death Locations >
      • Pearl Harbor to Midway
      • Guadalcanal to Peleliu
      • Philippines to Okinawa
      • Other War w/ Japan Dead
      • The Battle of the Atlantic
      • The MTO - North Africa
      • The MTO - Italy
      • The MTO - Air, Sea, CommZ
      • The ETO - France
      • The ETO - Border Areas
      • The ETO - Germany
      • The ETO - Air, Sea, CommZ
      • Stateside
    • Roster Addenda >
      • Awards for Valor
      • Members Not in St. Paul's
      • Aggregate Roster Data
    • Roster Sources >
      • 1946 War Dept. Report
      • 1946 Navy Dept. Report
      • Pott. Area >
        • 1945 Pott. Co. Dead List
    • Roster Photos >
      • Roster Photos - Contents
      • Photos of Individuals
      • Land War with Japan
      • Air War with Japan
      • Sea War with Japan
      • Land War with Germany
      • Air War with Germany
      • Sea War with Germany
      • Stateside
      • Memorials
      • Cemeteries
    • Roster Outliers >
      • County Assignment
      • Navy Dept. Omissions
      • Multiple Names
      • Miscellaneous Exclusions
      • Pott. Co. Discrepancies
    • Roster Additions >
      • 2025 Additions Log
      • 2024 Additions Log
      • 2022-2023 Additions Log
      • 2020-2022 Additions Log
    • About the Roster >
      • Roster Planning
  • WWII Hub
    • WWII News
    • Big Pigeon & WWII
  • WWII US
    • WWII Overview
    • WWII Organization
    • Sources >
      • WWII Personnel
      • WWII Japan
      • WWII Germany
    • WWII Personnel >
      • Service Numbers
    • Casualties >
      • About Casualties
      • Army Casualties
      • Navy Casualties
      • Marine Corps Casualties
      • Dead
      • War Dept. Dead
      • Navy Dept. Dead
      • Prisoners of War
      • Burials
      • Missing
      • About Iowa Casualties
    • Ground Forces >
      • Army Campaigns
      • High Level Structure
      • Infantry Structure >
        • Infantry Equipment
      • Ground Forces - War with Japan
    • WWII in the Air
    • WWII at Sea
    • WWII at Home
    • Civilian Victims
    • Strategic Bombing
    • The Cold War
    • World War I >
      • Iowa In World War I
  • Japan
    • WWII Japan - Overview
    • Japan Ascendant
    • Japan Lashes Out >
      • Pearl Harbor, 1941
      • Guam & Wake Island
      • Malaya & Singapore Lost
      • The Netherlands Indies Lost
      • The Philippines Lost
      • Northern Melanesia, 1942
    • Japan Overreaches >
      • 1942 Carrier Raids
      • Coral Sea
      • Midway
    • South & SW Pacific >
      • Securing Australia
      • Isolating Rabaul
    • Solomon Islands >
      • Guadalcanal, Solomon Is.
      • Guadalcanal Naval War
      • New Georgia, Solomon Is.
      • New Georgia Naval War
      • Bougainville, Solomon Is.
      • Bougainville Naval War
    • New Guinea >
      • Papua, SE New Guinea,
      • Lae to Madang
      • Toward the Philippines
      • Western New Guinea
    • The Bismarck Archipelago
    • North Pacific >
      • Alaska
      • Attu & Kiska
      • Pacific Lend-Lease Routes
    • Central Pacific >
      • Gilbert Islands
      • Marshall Islands
      • Mariana Islands
      • Mariana Naval War
      • Palau Islands
    • Philippines Liberated >
      • Leyte
      • Battle of Leyte Gulf
      • Philippines Naval War
      • Luzon
      • Southern Philippines
    • Iwo Jima & Okinawa >
      • Iwo Jima
      • The Okinawa Land Battle
      • The Okinawa Naval War
    • Japan Overpowered >
      • Japan Under Attack
      • Japan Vanquished
    • The Pacific Base Areas
    • Naval War with Japan >
      • US Submarine Force
      • Third & Fifth Fleets
      • Order of Battle >
        • OOB - Armies & Corps
        • OOB - Divisions
        • OOB - South Pacific
        • OOB - Southwest Pacific
        • OOB - Central Pacific
        • OOB - Philippines Liberated
        • OOB - Iwo Jima & Okinawa
    • Air Force War with Japan >
      • Fifth Air Force
      • Seventh Air Force
      • Thirteenth Air Force
      • Twentieth Air Force
    • CBI Theater >
      • China, 1941-45
      • India, 1942-45
      • Burma, 1941-45
      • Crossing the Hump
  • Germany
    • WWII Germany Overview
    • Battle of the Atlantic
    • The MTO >
      • MTO Background
      • MTO Overview
      • North Africa >
        • North Africa - Order of Battle
        • Operation Torch
        • The Race to Tunis
        • Tunisia
      • Italy >
        • Italy - Order of Battle
        • Italy - Sources
        • Sicily
        • Italy Leaves the Axis
        • Salerno-Naples-Foggia
        • Naples to Rome
        • The Volturno Line
        • The Bernhardt Line
        • Battle of Anzio
        • The Gustav Line/Cassino #1
        • Cassino #2 & #3
        • Cassino to Rome
        • Rome To Florence
        • Northern Apennines
        • North Apennines - 1944
        • North Apennines - 1945
        • The Po Valley
        • + April 1945 Breakthrough
        • + Advance to the Po
        • + Beyond the Po
      • MTO Air War
      • MTO Sea War
      • MTO Comm. Zone
    • The ETO >
      • ETO Overview >
        • ETO Background
      • ETO Orders of Battle >
        • ETO Unit Subordination
      • Normandy Campaign >
        • D-Day
        • ETO, 6 June 1944
        • Normandy, June 1944
        • ETO, 30 June 1944
        • Normandy, July 1944
        • After D-Day
      • Liberation >
        • Operation Cobra
        • ETO, 1 August 1944
        • Brittany
        • Normandy
        • Northern France & Belgium
        • ETO, 25 August 1944
        • Southern France
      • War of Attrition, 1944 >
        • ETO, September 1944
        • Netherlands, 1944
        • Rhineland, 1944
        • V Corps at the West Wall
        • Aachen
        • Hürtgen Forest
        • Operation Queen
        • Queen/Hürtgen
        • Last 1944 Offensives
        • Lorraine/Alsace, 1944
        • Lorraine/Third Army
        • Lorraine/Seventh Army
        • Alsace/Seventh Army
        • ETO, December 1944
      • Ardennes/The Bulge >
        • Before the Bulge
        • The Bulge Begins
        • The Bulge Grows
        • Ardennes, 25 December 1944
        • The Bulge Contained
        • The Bulge Eliminated
        • Ardennes/Bulge Details
        • Ardennes/Bulge Overview
      • Alsace-Lorraine, 1945 >
        • Nordwind Counterattack
        • Colmar Pocket
        • Seventh Army in Stasis
      • Siegfried Line, 1945 >
        • ETO, 26 January 1945
        • Operation Blackcock
        • First US Effort
        • Roer River Dams
        • VIII Corps to Prüm
        • XII Corps to Bitburg
        • XX Corps to Trier
      • To the Rhine >
        • ETO, 1 March 1945
        • Ops. Veritable & Grenade
        • Operation Lumberjack
        • Operation Undertone
        • Mid-Rhineland February 1945
        • Ninth & First Armies
        • Third & Seventh Armies
      • Central Europe >
        • Crossing the Rhine
        • Beyond the Rhine
        • ETO, 4 April 1945
        • Central Germany
        • Southern Germany
        • Germany Surrenders
      • ETO Air War >
        • Eighth Air Force
        • Ninth Air Force
      • ETO Sea War
      • ETO Comm. Zone
    • The Eastern Front
🔗================================ Central Pacific Hub  ==============================🔗
Subpages:      Gilbert Islands  ​ Marshall Islands   ​Mariana Islands   ​Marianas Naval War   Palau Islands
Other Links:  Naval War with Japan
​
Picture
Picture
WWII Hub
WWII Japan
bigpigeon.us webpage WWII Japan > Central Pacific > Marshall Islands, © 2025 by Robert A. Christiansen, updated by RAC 8 Jun 2025

The Marshall Islands, 31 January - 22 February 1944
The Marshall Islands were a former German colony administered by Japan as a League of Nations mandate after WWI. They were sometimes called the Eastern Mandates, to distinguish from the Mariana and Caroline islands further to the west, which the Japanese also administered.

US forces had captured the Gilbert Islands to the south in November 1943. The Marshall Islands were far better suited to serve as advance operating bases during attacks on the Mariana and Caroline islands.

US Marine and Army forces attacked three major atolls in the Marshall Islands: 
  • ​Majuro in the southeast Marshalls was lightly defended and was taken without US casualties by a force of about 1,000 on 31 January.
  • Kwajalein in the central Marshalls is about 300 miles northwest of Majuro.
  • Eniwetok, also spelled Eniwetak, in the extreme northwest Marshalls is about 400 miles northwest of Kwajalein.
Resistance on each of Kwajalein and Eniwetok atolls, though moderate, was far less than had been experienced on Tarawa atoll in the Gilbert Islands. US casualties were accordingly lighter, but were still in the moderate to heavy range.
Kwajalein Atoll, 31 January - 3 February 1944:
  • V Amphibious Corps (Holland Smith).
  • 4th Marine Division and 7th Infantry Division.
  • ​531 US dead, about 8,000 Japanese dead.
  • The US attack struck at the atoll's two major island clusters, Kwajalein and Roi-Namur.
Kwajalein Atoll, January 1944
Kwajalein Atoll, January 1944
Eniwetok Atoll, 17-23 February 1944:
  • Eniwetok Expeditionary Group (TG 51.11, Harry W. Hill), an ad-hoc group.
  • 22nd Marine Regiment
  • 106th Infantry Regiment
  • ​390 US dead, about 3,400 Japanese dead.
  • The US attack struck in succession Engebi Island, Eniwetok Island, and Parry Island.
Eniwetok Atoll, 1944
Eniwetok Atoll, 1944
With the Marshall Islands in US control, they were developed as base areas for the mid-1944 operations in the Mariana Islands.
Sources for Big Pigeon's Central Pacific > Marshall Islands webpage:​​
  • The Kwajalein Atoll, January 1944 map is courtesy of the United States Military Academy at  https://www.westpoint.edu/academics/academic-departments/history/world-war-two-asia.
  • The Eniwetok Atoll, 1944 map is courtesy of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Battle_of_Eniwetok_map.png.

Pottawattamie Area WWII Dead - Central Pacific > Marshall Islands:
  • Taken from the bigpigeon.us WWII Dead module.
07-02 - Central Pacific > Marshall Islands: (one dead, updated 4 Oct 2023)
† Jones, Paul Bernard, SN 297,023, US Marine Corps, Webster Co.
  • Co. C, 1st Bn., 22nd Marine Regt.; KIA 22 Feb 1944 Parry Is., near Eniwetok Is., Eniwetok Atoll, Marshall Is.
  • WWII Japan > Central Pacific > Marshall Islands @ Battle of Parry Is.
Proudly powered by Weebly