7th Infantry Division

Kwajalein Atoll was the administrative center of the Japanese-held Marshall Islands. The atoll was 73 miles long, with eighteen islands clustered together. During the Battle of Midway radio stations on Kwajalein listened to traffic between Hawaii and Midway.

When the Japanese occupied the islands of Attu and Kiska in the Aleutians in Alaska in June 1942, the Allies had to remove them before they could attack the Kuriles. The Aleutians would be the only land battles in North America during World War II.