THE PHILLIPINES WAS A MUST!!!
Folks, the war wasn’t like Axis and Allies, you didn’t know how many aircraft carriers and battleships your opponent had, or what weapons, or what secret technologies, you fought as best as you knew, and you hit the enemy where you knew you could.
HOWEVER - Like Axis and Allies everything is done in Baby Steps. Sure - Peleliu didn’t matter by the course to victory the allies took, but say, the Japanese invented the Jet in 42? Or won a series of battles they lost? Say they turned the American offensive around at Gaudalcanal?
You know, I can stand on a cardboard box and screw in a light bulb, but what if I slip? or the carboard crumples? I might fall and break the light bulb… or my neck… Better to get a REAL step ladder, or a cinder block, and place it on the ground - JUST TO MAKE SURE, I have a fail safe point to operate from.
That’s what the Phillipines was all about. It was also a symbol to the world, of which side was winning… and it removed a POSSIBLE and SIGNIFICANT strategic asset from the enemy. It had to be done.
There is a reason America didn’t just take the whole fleet to San Diego, load it with Marines, and set sail for Tokyo and for the win. Everything is done one step at a time.