Allied base-building breaks Japan's attrition timetable

An American advance across the Pacific already required pauses to secure positions and establish resupply facilities. Britain's projected advance came through the South China Sea, with the recapture of Hong Kong as its first objective. Successive positions would extend supply lines and provide sites for support facilities, including mobile dry docks. A fleet weakened while taking an objective could consolidate that position, repair its ships, and call forward reinforcements before continuing. Britain's greater ability to replace forces meant that such pauses threatened to reverse the intended direction of attrition.