Their beaches are generally narrow, backed by coral cliffs and with reefs off many parts of their shore lines. The islands are characterised by relatively fertile soil, and are covered with mixed scrub and grassland, with a few mangrove swamps. Most of the islands are mountainous, with peaks up to 2,585 ft (788 m) in height, and the total land area of the group is 388 sq miles 1005 km²), of which more than half (210 sq miles/544 km²) is Guam, the single largest land mass of the whole group. The group comprises 15 islands extending about 425 miles (685 km) from Farallon de Pajaros in the north to Guam in the south. The islands of the Marianas group lie in an arc about 1,400 miles (2250 km) to the south of Japan. In the Pacific this brought the Americans up against the main Japanese defence line, which was based on the Palau, Caroline, Palau and Mariana island groups, ex-German possessions occupied by the Japanese since the end of World War I and heavily fortified in the period between the two world wars. 'Forager' was the US seizure of the three largest islands of the Mariana islands group within the overall 'Granite' and 'Granite II' plans (15 June/10 August 1944).ĭuring the Pacific and South-West Asian campaigns of 1943 and the first half of 1944, the Allies had captured the Solomon island, Gilbert island and Marshall island groups as well as the Papuan peninsula of New Guinea.
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