Japanese air attacks on the Mariana Islands 27 in preparation for operations against Japan itself. The USAAF bases in the Mariana Islands were within range of a number of Japanese air bases in the Pacific. These included Wake Island to the east, Truk and the Gilbert and Marshall Islands to the southeast, Woleai to the south and Yap to the southwest. To the north the Japanese had air bases in the Nampo Shoto chain of islands and Bonin Islands, which included three airstrips on Iwo Jima. Several of the minor islands in the Mariana chain also remained in Japanese hands, and there were airfields on Rota and
McDonald Islands (volcano) McDonald Islands (volcano) The McDonald Islands () are the peaks of a volcano in the southern Indian Ocean in the vicinity of Heard Island (). The islands are Australian external territory. Prior to 1992, the volcano had not erupted in the previous 75,000 years. The McDonald Islands volcano comprises three islands: McDonald Island, Flat Island (which later merged with McDonald Island) and Meyer Rock. The islands are mostly composed of phonolitic low-silica pumice, dikes and lava domes, and sit atop a submarine plateau, the Kerguelen plateau. They are located about 75 km from Heard Island. McDonald Island is the largest