NOTES TO TABLE 30

This table makes it clear that the three areas of heaviest Naval offensive air effort were the Solomons and Bismarcks, the Philippines, and the Ryukyus, in that order, followed next by the Marshalls, the Western Carolines, the Marianas, and Japan as a whole. Other areas, though important at particular times, received a far less total weight of attack.

These seven principal areas were the targets of over 85% of the Navy's air offensive; over 20% of the total sorties and 28% of the bomb tonnage were expended against Bismarcks-Solomons targets, 18% of each were expended against Philippines targets, and 14% of each were expended against Ryukyus targets, while the Marshalls claimed 10%.

The targets attacked varied with the area and the purposes of the campaign. Overall, about a quarter of the total offensive was directed against airfields, about one-half against other military ground targets, about one-seventh against shipping, and one-tenth against miscellaneous land targets. In Japan, however, nearly 60% of the attacks were on airfields, and about 25% on shipping, with less attention to other land targets. In the Marshalls three quarters of the attacks were on military ground targets other than airfields. In Formosa and the Eastern Carolines airfields and shipping each accounted for a third of the total. For China and Indo China two-thirds of the attacks were on shipping along the coast and in the harbors.

The principal areas of airfield attack were the Ryukyus, the Solomons and Bismarcks, Japan, and the Philippines. In the Solomons airfields were principally bombed; in the other areas fighter strafing and rocket attacks were more important.

Heavy attacks on military land targets, predominant in the Solomons and Bismarcks, the Marshalls and the Western Carolines, were largely the result of the long campaigns for complete neutralization and reduction of enemy installations in the parts of these areas that were bypassed, though a large volume of pre-invasion and direct support attacks was made. The heavy attacks on military land targets in the Philippines, the Ryukyus, the Marianas, and the Bonins, reflect almost entirely pre-invasion air bombardment and direct air support of ground forces, by carrier and land-based planes.

The heaviest volume of shipping attack, 25% of all Navy shipping attacks, was flown, largely from carriers, in the Philippines campaign. Japan itself was the second most important area for shipping attack, particularly attacks on heavy warships in harbor. Enemy warships were also heavily attacked in the Solomons area, and merchant shipping was heavily attacked in half a dozen other areas.