The Pacific War Online Encyclopedia
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National Archives #520944. Via Wikimedia Commons.
Cropped by author
Marcus Island (153.980E 24.295N) was occupied by the Japanese in 1899 to serve as a cable station and was later developed into a military base. It is a tiny triangular island of just 1 square mile (2.6 km2), of which a good fraction was taken up by the Japanese airfield.
Halsey
raided Marcus on 4 March 1942. The island was raided again on
31 August 1943 and 19-20 May 1944.
On 9 October 1944 a bombardment was carried out by
three heavy cruisers and
six destroyers under Allen Smith to suggest that the
next Allied
move would be up the Bonins
ladder. This was unsuccessful in deceiving
the Japanese, in spite of the use of smoke, dummy radar target floats, and pyrotechnics
to create the impression of a large invasion force.
The island was still in Japanese hands at
the end of the war.
References
Morison (1958)The Pacific War Online Encyclopedia © 2007, 2009, 2011 by Kent G. Budge. Index
