fleet, but Japan was unable to halt the island-by-island advance. At sea, Japanese submarine, bomber, and kamikaze attacks took a heavy toll on the U.S. Japanese soldiers fought the island landings fiercely, killing many Allied soldiers and sometimes making desperate, last-ditch suicidal attacks. bombers within range and preparing for a possible invasion. Rather than attacking Japan's Imperial Navy in force, the goal was to capture and control strategic islands along a path toward the Japanese home islands, bringing U.S. Navy, under Admiral Chester Nimitz, adopted a strategy of 'island-hopping'.
From the end of that year through early 1945, the U.S.
Japanese soldiers were occupying or attacking positions from India to Alaska, as well as islands across the South Pacific. By the end of 1942, the Japanese Empire had expanded to its farthest extent.
