Interesting article. I didn’t realize that there was that level of debate over Iwo Jima. I thought Peleliu was supposed to have been the mistake.
I can see that point of view as a look back 20/20 view that we have the luxury of. Bypass it and cut off the supply chain to them. Let em rot!
IIRC the great strategic debate at the time was between Nimitz and MacArthur.
The rough carpentry version: NImitz (Navy) wanted to go straight for the jugular (Japan) from the West, while MacArthur (Army) wanted to island hop starting from the Southwest in a Northeasterly direction.
MacArthur convinced Truman that island hopping was the way, and so that's the basket we put most of our eggs in.
IMO Nimitz' bold plan was the better of the two, but you know what they say about hindsight...
