Which Pacific battle in 1944 enabled long-range B-29 bombers to reach the Japanese home islands by providing airfields on captured islands?

• A. Battle of Iwo Jima
• B. Battle of Tarawa
• C. Battle of Okinawa
• D. Battle of Saipan

Answer: (D)

Forward bases within bomber range are what let long-range strategic aircraft reach and strike the enemy homeland. Capturing Saipan in 1944 gave the Allies airfields on a chain of islands nearby Japan, placing the B-29 Superfortress within striking distance of the Japanese home islands. From those Saipan airfields, B-29s could undertake sustained, high-altitude bombardment of Japanese industry and infrastructure, starting with raids against Tokyo and other targets as the campaign progressed. This shift—from operating far from Japan to basing the bombers on newly captured Marianas islands—made the heavy, long-range bombing campaign feasible.

Tarawa was a smaller, earlier advance that did not provide suitable bases for B-29s. Iwo Jima and Okinawa, while important later staging and defense sites, came later in the war and did not enable the initial 1944 reach from the Marianas. Saipan is the turning point that opened the way for those long-range missions.