BATTLE OF THE PACIFIC: Dulling of the Thorns

Every citizen of the Allied world was elated when he heard of the U.S. Navy's attack on the Marshall and Gilbert Islands (see map). But he wanted to know more about its why and its how.

Why? There was one hint as to a possible reason for the attack. Three days before it. Admiral Chester W. Nimitz. in a press conference at his office in the Hawaiian Islands, said: "We have every expectation of holding these islands." He may possibly have thought then that the Japanese were assembling transports and supply vessels in the...