Which World War II battle in the Pacific near the end of the war involved U.S. forces fighting for control of the island?

• A. Midway
• B. Onikawa (Battle)
• C. Guadalcanal
• D. Iwo Jima

Answer: (B)

The main idea here is recognizing the late-war Pacific battles that aimed to seize and hold key islands to support the push toward Japan. Okinawa fits this description exactly: fought from April to June 1945, it was one of the largest and bloodiest amphibious assaults of the Pacific campaign and occurred right toward the end of World War II. Its objective was to establish a base for air operations and future invasions, making control of the island a strategic necessity as the war moved closer to Japan’s home soil.

Midway happened earlier, in 1942, and changed the course of the war in the Pacific but isn’t late-war. Guadalcanal was the first major Allied offensive in the Pacific, occurring in 1942–43. Iwo Jima, while also late in the war and costly, was primarily about securing a crucial airfield to support bombing missions, not about a broader late-war objective to control a staging island for the final campaigns. Okinawa best matches the description of a late-war island-fighting battle designed to gain a substantial forward base.