Mariana Islands

In World War Two in the Pacific, the Marianas Islands were treated as one group. There were staged campaigns against Japanese bases in the more northern and more southern areas, but divisions between north and south have changed in today's political context.

The militarily signficant north, in 1943 and early 1944, the targets of Operation FLINTLOCK, were Maloelap, and Wotje in the Ratak chain, and in the Ralik chain, Jaluit, Kwajalein Atoll, and Eniwetok Atoll. Jaluit was a seaplane base, all of the other Ratak sites were airfields, and the Ralik locations were anchorages for naval ships. Subsequently, in mid-1944, Operation FORAGER was directed at Guam, Saipan, and Tinian.

Today, however, the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands contains Saipan and Tinian, but Guam has a separate government. Is Guam, then, the Southern Marianas? There are, perhaps, cultural reasons for saying that is the case, but the situation also has the aspect that any unification might mean that some with political power might need to relinquish it.