Majuro Atoll was claimed by the Empire of Germany along with
the rest of the Marshall Islands in 1884, and the Germans established a trading
outpost. As with the rest of the Marshalls, Maruro was captured by the Imperial
Japanese Navy in 1914 during World War I and mandated to the Empire of Japan by
the League of Nations in 1920. The Japanese administration of the island came
under the South Pacific Mandate, but mostly left local affairs in hands of
traditional local leaders until the start of World War II.
On January 30, 1944, United States troops invaded, but found
that Japanese forces had
