This tiny Pacific island possessed a small airstrip, and that attribute alone warranted the attention of Allied war planners. While that astronomical number just rolls inertly off the page, it was the suicidal death of less than thirty on a forgotten bypassed island 120km southeast of Tarawa that conjures a more remarkable poignance. Roughly 36 million people perished during the Pacific War. One hundred thousand deaths: that is a statistic!” Kurt Tucholsky wrote in 1925, “The war? I can’t find it so terrible! The death of one man: that is a catastrophe. By contrast, the Allies fought ferociously for those island bases that possessed strategic resources, critical airfields, or appreciable offensive combat power. Allied forces bypassed Japanese outposts that posed no serious threat, leaving them to starve amidst a global hemoclysm that saw unprecedented human suffering. The island-hopping campaign was the pedestrian term for a most pitiless juggernaut. By Jelena Petricevic Underpowered, Elegant, Ubiquitous, Prescient
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