Define island hopping

Island hopping During World War 2, Allied strategy of capturing Japenese held islands to gain control of the Pacific. Island hopping was a strategy used in the Pacific theater whereby selected islands were secured by allied forces (usually the marines). Usually, these islands would have some strategic value (like an airfield or anchorage) which helped to move the fight closer to Japan. Many islands were bypassed because of significant Japanese defenses. As we "hopped" from island to island, we were able to shorten the distance to Japan and establish forward land bases for supply purposes.