by Richard Haynes.
In 1941, U.S. Marines were stationed half-way around the world, and approximately two thousand Marines were serving in China and the Philippines under the command of the Commander-in-Chief of the Asiatic Fleet. The 4th Regiment was stationed in Shanghai, with detachments in Peiping and Tientsin, North China, and two detachments at Olongapo and Cavite in the Philippines. In addition, several thousand Marines were serving at naval stations in the Hawaiian Islands, Guam, Wake, Midway, American Samoa, the Panama Canal Zone, and Cuba. The 1st Provisional Marine Brigade, taken largely from the Second Marine Division at San Diego, was on duty in Iceland, and provisional Marine companies were stationed on various islands in the Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean area, leased from Great Britain in exchange for fifty over-age destroyers.
The Japanese Attack
When the Japanese struck in the Pacific, the Marines from the stations in China had been successfully withdrawn to the Philippines with the exception of the Marine detachments at Peiping and Tientsin in North China. The 4th Marines and the two Marine garrisons regularly stationed at Cavite and Olongapo in the Philippines participated in the defense of Bataan and Corregidor, until the American forces were finally overpowered and captured by the Japanese. The handful of Marines on Guam put up an heroic but futile defense. Marines on Wake Island made a gallant stand, the details of which are familiar to the American people. In Hawaii, an aviation group consisting of one fighter and two dive bomber squadrons was almost completely put out of action by the Japanese raid.
Marines to the Defense
Immediately after the Japanese attack of 7 December 1941, additional Marines with defense battalion equipment were sent out from the United States to reinforce the Hawaiian Islands and the smaller islands (Midway, Johnston, and Palmyra) lying to the westward. At the same time, measures were taken to strengthen the chain of islands across the South Pacific which protected the line of communication to Australia. The 7th Defense Battalion of Marines had been stationed at Tutuila, American Samoa, since 15 March 1941, and had taken some steps toward fortifying the harbor of Pago Pago. As further reinforcements for this important position, a brigade of Marines, the 2nd, taken mostly from the 2nd Marine Division at San Diego, was formed and together with Marine Aircraft Group 13 (MAG-13) proceeded early in January 1942 to American Samoa and set up defenses and air facilities on Tutuila. An additional brigade of Marines, the 3rd, was organized from units of the 1st Marine Division at New River, North Carolina, and sent to Western Samoa, where they arrived on 8 May 1942. This brigade took up and organized positions on Upolu and Savaii Islands and, with naval units, established important air and naval facilities. A few weeks after the arrival of the 3rd Brigade, one of its units, the 8th Defense Battalion, reinforced, was sent 400 miles farther west to occupy Wallis Island, which was turned over to the control of the Marines by the Free French. The westward thrust of the Marines was resumed early the following October when part of a Marine defense battalion occupied the island of Funafuti in the Ellice Islands. Several months later they again proceeded farther to the northwest and occupied the islands of Nanumea and Nukufetau.
Guadalcanal
In the meantime, the United States Fleet and Army Air Forces had repeatedly turned back strong Japanese thrusts designed to secure a hold on the Australian continent. In order to secure our line of communication to the southwest Pacific, the 1st Marine Division was sent to New Zealand in June 1942. Even before the rear echelon arrived in New Zealand, Major General Alexander A. Vandegrift was notified that his division (reinforced by the 2nd Marines of the Second Marine Division, the 1st Raider Battalion, and the 3rd Defense Battalion) was to carry out a landing attack in the Tulagi-Guadalcanal area.
On 7 August 1942, the 1st Marine Division (reinforced) effected landings on the north coast of the island of Guadalcanal and on several smaller islands about 20 miles to the north that surround the important naval anchorage of Tulagi. This amphibious assault marked the beginning of the United States' offensive operation against the Japanese Empire. By 10 August, the Marines had destroyed the Japanese garrisons at Tulagi, Gavutu, and Tanambogo, and had secured the airfield on Guadalcanal. For the next four months, the 1st Marine Division, later reinforced by Army troops and additional elements of the 2nd Marine Division, supported by the ships and aircraft of the Navy and planes of the Army and the Marine Corps, successfully repulsed numerous Japanese attacks made by land, sea, and air. This bitterly fought and grueling campaign was highlighted by the battles of the Tenaru River, Bloody Ridge, and the Matanikau River. Pilots and enlisted men of Marine Aircraft Group 23 performed almost legendary feats in fighting off Japanese air attacks at Guadalcanal and carrying the fight to enemy ships and bases.
Up the Solomons
After winning Guadalcanal, which was used as the first stepping stone to Tokyo, our forces moved up the Solomons ladder and seized bases in the New Georgia Islands. Army and Marine Corps units had landed on the Russell Islands in February 1943, which gave us an airbase for operations against enemy bases in the New Georgia group. In June and July 1943, Marine Corps and Army troops landed on New Georgia and Rendova Islands, followed by landings at Vella Lavella, Arundel, and Kolombangara Islands. On 1 November 1943, the 3rd Marine Division made a landing at Empress Augusta Bay, Bougainville. The Bougainville campaign marked the beginning of close air support in the modern sense. For the first time pilots (forward air controllers) and enlisted men (radiomen) from the wing reported to the division for duty, where they helped company and battalion commanders obtain and direct air attacks on specific enemy emplacements holding up the advance of the Marine ground units. During the next forty-five days the 3rd Marine Division defeated the Japanese in the battles of Koromokina Lagoon and Piva Forks, which ended enemy opposition to the Empress Augusta Bay area as an Allied airbase.
The Gilberts
After the seizure of Bougainville, the Allied offensive against Japan was intensified. Army forces accelerated their leap-frog tactics up the north coast of New Guinea, and our Central Pacific forces breached the Japanese outer line of defense when on 20 November 1943, the 2nd Marine Division landed on Tarawa and elements of the Army 7th Division went ashore on Makin Island, both in the Gilberts group. Within four days the Marines had wiped out all enemy resistance on Tarawa, but had suffered very heavy casualties. In the meanwhile, American and Australian forces cleared New Guinea's north coast, and on 15 December 1943, crossed to Arawe, New Britain, in a drive aimed at cutting the Japanese southern line of communications to Rabaul. On 26 December 1943, the 1st Marine Division went ashore on Cape Gloucester on the northern coast of New Britain, cutting the enemy northern line of communications and forcing him to withdraw to the vicinity of Rabaul. In a series of bloody battles, Marines secured the Cape Gloucester airdrome and captured a number of strategic hills in the Borgan Bay area.
By March of the following year the Japanese were fleeing eastward toward Rabaul. On 28 April 1944, the commanding general of the 1st Marine Division turned over command of the Cape Gloucester-Talasea area to the Army. The 1st Division's operations in the western New Britain campaign breached the enemy's defense arc from Java to Rabaul by cutting both northern and southern barge lines and creating a gap through which the Allied forces could drive northward.
The Marshalls
Meanwhile, to the north our Central Pacific forces were smashing through the Japanese defensive line by seizing a number of islands in the Marshalls group. The 4th Marine Division captured Roi and Namur Islands at the northern end of Kwajalein Atoll, while the Army's 7th Infantry seized Kwajalein Island at the southern end. After organized enemy resistance had ceased on Kwajalein Atoll on 7 February 1944, these forces followed up by capturing Eniwetok Atoll, and other northern islands of the Marshalls group.
The landings in the Marshalls were followed by the seizure of the Green Islands in the South Pacific by American Marines and New Zealand troops on 14 February 1944, and a landing on the St. Matthias Island by Marine Corps Raider units on 20 March 1944. The capture of the Green Islands, for all strategic military purposes, completed the campaign for the Solomon Islands and forged another line in the chain of encirclement of Rabaul, New Britain. The occupation of the St. Matthias group, together with the concurrent Army operations in the Admiralty Islands, tightened the noose around the Bismarck Archipelago and left approximately seventy thousand Japanese troops to surrender or die by starvation and disease.
The Marianas
After the conquest of the Marshall Islands, our Central Pacific forces shifted their offensive to the north. On 15 June 1944, the 2nd and 4th Marine Divisions with the 27th Army Division in reserve landed abreast on the western side of Saipan in the Marianas Islands. The battle for Saipan, the most bitterly defended of the group, evolved into three distinct stages; first, there was the fight for the beachhead, a bitter struggle in which the enemy offered the heaviest resistance; second, there was the fight for the Mount Tapotchau line; and third, there was the seizure of the northern part of the island, in which a desperate enemy counterattack of 7 July was the outstanding feature. Within ten days, the American forces had captured the Aslito airfield and were blasting the enemy out of caves on Mount Tapotchau, the key terrain feature of the island. By 26 June, the 2nd Marine Division had mopped up the Mount Tapotchau fortress and had established positions at the summit. Meanwhile, the 4th Marine Division had captured Kagman Peninsula on the eastern side of the island. On 9 July, after twenty-five days of heavy fighting, all organized enemy resistance had ceased and the island was officially secured.
Eleven days later, 21 July 1944, the 3rd Amphibious Corps, composed of the 3rd Marine Division, the 1st Provisional Marine Brigade, and the 77th Infantry Division, began landing on the west coast of Guam. In spite of the rugged terrain and a number of strong enemy counterattacks, the American forces had by 25 July gained control of the southern half of Orote Peninsula. Organized resistance ceased on Guam on 10 August 1944.
Three days after the landing on Guam, the 2nd and 4th Marine Divisions went ashore on Tinian and moved inland against light resistance under strong cover. The two divisions advanced across the northern part of the island, then wheeled to drive southward. Within two days, they had captured the Ushi Point airfield and on 31 July smashed through the last Japanese defenses along the southern plateau of Tinian Island. By the afternoon of 1 August, the two Marine divisions had smashed organized resistance in the different terrain on the southern part of the island and Tinian was secured.
No time was lost in taking advantage of our strategic position in the Marianas. Bombing runs on the Bonin Islands got under way almost at once. While Navy land-based Liberator bombers continued the attacks on enemy-held Bonin Islands, the construction of air bases in the Marianas for B-29 Superfortress bombers was rushed to completion. On 23 November 1944, Marianas-based B-29s made the first raid on Tokyo since 18 April 1942 when General Doolittle's sixteen carrier-based B-25s had made their daring attack.
While these important breaches in the Japanese island defenses were being made, Marines of the ship's detachments had served with the Navy in support of the Allied landing in Normandy. On 29 August 1944, during the invasion of southern France, Marine units from two U.S. cruisers landed on three small islands near Marseilles, captured German installations, and disarmed enemy troops.
The Palaus
In the Pacific, the shifting tide of the Allied offensive moved southward. On 15 September, the 1st Marine Division landed on the southwest coast of Peleliu, a small but rugged island near the southern end of the Palau Islands chain. In spite of difficult reef conditions and heavy enemy opposition, a substantial beachhead was established and the attack pushed inland, although the Marines had to fight their way step by step over exceptionally rugged terrain and against strong enemy opposition from caves and the pillboxes. The Marines of the 1st Division had secured the major portion of the island by the afternoon of 26 September. The assault phase of the Palau operation ended on 12 October, although there was considerable resistance from the one remaining Japanese pocket on an elevation called "Bloody Nose Ridge."
The Philippines
The capture of Peleliu neutralized the remaining islands of the Palau group and opened the way for an invasion of the Philippines by General Douglas MacArthur's South Pacific forces. Within eight days after Peleliu had been secured General MacArthur sent his forces ashore on the east coast of Leyte Island in the Central Philippines. Marine divisions were not committed in the Philippines, although the Headquarters Battery and two battalions of V Corps artillery, and air liaison personnel participated. But in Marine aviation annals the Luzon campaign provides a notable milestone. Here the Marines set out to perform a distinct mission and they trained for just that specialty—the assistance of ground troops in advancing against the enemy. In this case the ground troops were U.S. Army divisions. Small detachments of Marine aviators with the Army units provided the necessary coordination between ground and air. Lessons learned on the paddy fields of Luzon paid off six years later in Korea. When strong units of the Imperial Navy moved into the Philippines theater a few days after the Leyte landing to counter our latest move westward, a great naval and air action resulted. In this "Battle for Leyte Gulf" Marines aboard the battleships, carriers, and cruisers of the mighty Third and Seventh Fleets participated in the decisive victory, which not only gave the Allies control of the waters east of the Philippines but eliminated the Japanese Navy as a serious factor in future attacks upon enemy-held islands.
Iwo Jima
In order to provide fighter protection for the B-29 bombers based in the Marianas and at the same time eliminate the enemy's air base for attacks on the Superforts, it was necessary to secure Iwo Jima in the Volcano Islands. The rugged, natural terrain of this bit of volcanic bleakness had been supplemented by extensive man-made fortifications. On the morning of 19 February 1945, hundreds of landing boats roared through the pounding surf to spill thousands of the 4th and 5th Division Marines onto Iwo's southeastern beaches. The 3rd Marine Division was held in reserve.
During the second day, the 28th Marines moved forward to the slope of Mount Suribachi, while the remainder of the 5th Division and the 4th Division, wheeling to the north, captured Airfield No. 1 and began the assault on the heavily fortified enemy positions between Airfields 1 and 2.
The 21st Regiment of the 3rd Marine Division landed during the afternoon of 21 February and the 9th Marines landed the afternoon of 24 February. Meanwhile, on 23 February, units of the 28th Marines captured Mount Suribachi, which eliminated enemy fire on the landing beaches and gave the Marines an excellent observation point.
On 25 February, the three Marine divisions, spearheaded by tanks and supported by heavy bombardments from Marine Corps artillery, gunfire of Fifth Fleet warships and carrier-based planes, captured Airfield No. 2, thereby breaching the main Japanese defensive position. By 28 February, the 3rd Marine Division had captured Motoyama village, and was at the southern edge of Airfield No. 3. By nightfall on 3 March, the three airfields and the Motoyama plateau had been seized by the Marines.
On 10 March, after extremely bitter fighting, the 3rd and 4th Divisions reached the eastern beaches at several points, which split the Japanese force into small pockets.
Organized resistance ended on Iwo Jima at 1800 hours, 16 March 1945, when the 3rd and 5th Marine Divisions smashed through the enemy's lines to reach Kitano Point at the extreme northern tip of the island.
Okinawa
In the final great land battle of the Pacific area, the invasion of Okinawa, the Marine Corps was represented by the 1st, 2nd, and 6th Marine Divisions, which formed the 3rd Amphibious Corps. Air support came from the 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing and a Task Unit including Marine Aircraft Groups 14, 22, 31, and 33. Carrier planes of the U.S. Navy also gave close support early in the campaign. The 3rd Corps, with the 1st and 6th Marine Divisions in assault and the 2nd in reserve, began landing on the western beaches of Okinawa on 1 April 1945, as the left corps of the Tenth Army. Enemy opposition was light and by the end of the second day, the American forces had reached the opposite coast, cutting the island in two.
By 8 April, while the Army troops were making slight gains in their drive southward toward Naha, the 6th Marine Division was fanning out onto Motobu Peninsula, while the 1st Marine Division was mopping up in its sector.
On 10 April the 6th Division encountered the first organized enemy resistance, when an unestimated number of Japanese, holding positions near the center of Motobu Peninsula, launched a series of strong counterattacks.
By 17 April, elements of the 6th Marine Division units had advanced under the protective support of Marine fighter-bombers to the northern coast of Okinawa, and had captured Mount Yae Take, key terrain feature on Motobu Peninsula, which eliminated the final pocket of Okinawa's enemy resistance in the northern part of the island.
On 1 May, the 1st Marine Division attached to the XXIV Corps, relieved the 27th Infantry Division on the right (west) flank of the line above the city of Naha. On 7 May, the 1st Division reverted to control of the 3rd Amphibious Corps and 9 May found the 6th Marine Division in the line on the right of the 1st Marine Division.
Increased pressure was brought against the enemy line of defense which stretched across the island from Naha on the west coast eastward to Shuri Castle. On 13 May, units of the 6th Marine Division entered the ruins of Naha and on this and the following day, the capture of high ground to the east of Shuri by the 96th and 77th Infantry Divisions and the seizure of high ground to the west of the fortress by the 1st Marine Division, placed the jaws of a pincer around this position.
By nightfall of 31 May, the 1st Marine Division had captured Shuri Castle, and on 1 June, the capture of Shuri was completed and the Marine Corps and Army units continued their drive southward against diminishing resistance. Presently, on 2 June, the 1st Marine Division plunged across the Naha-Yonabaru highway in a 1,000-yard advance, and the next day, the 7th Infantry Division, on the left flank, drove across the Chinen Peninsula. The 6th Marine Division on 4 June landed strong forces on Oroku Peninsula and captured half of the Naha airfield.
By 7 June, the 1st Marine Division had advanced its lines to within 200 yards of the west coast north of the town of Itoman, a move which cut off escape for the enemy forces in the vicinity of Oroku Peninsula. During the night of 17-18 June, units of the 8th Marines, 2nd Marine Division, relieved the 7th Marines on Mezado and Kunishi Ridge.
More than 14,000 close air support sorties were flown during the Okinawa campaign, over half of them in support of Army troops. Marine night fighters also recorded a highly increased effectiveness here as they held off desperate Japanese attacks on this island of the Japanese homeland. Meanwhile, other Marine aviators were fulfilling the U.S. Marine tradition of being ready for any emergency. Japanese kamikaze planes threatened to overcome the air superiority of U.S. aircraft carriers. During the first six months of 1945, ten Marine fighter squadrons moved from land bases in the southwest Pacific to aircraft carriers to increase defensive capabilities of the fleet.
On 21 June, the announcement was made that organized resistance on Okinawa had ended and that the first conquest of Japanese soil was completed.
Japan Capitulates
The successful conquest of Okinawa enabled our ships, planes, and submarines to tighten the blockade around Japan's home islands and sever her vital sea links to the Asiatic mainland and the areas to the south. With the end of the Okinawa campaign, the bombing attacks upon Japan were stepped up, which together with our submarines and ships further weakened Japan's ability to wage war.
In mid-July 1945, while the U.S. Third Fleet was in the midst of its sustained assault on their homeland, the Japanese made a bid for peace, but they asked for terms more favorable than unconditional surrender. The Potsdam Declaration, however, killed any hope of a compromise.
During the last days of July and the first few days of August, Allied planes and warships increased their attacks in number and intensity, and troops in the rear areas rushed preparations for more and heavier blows to come. On 6 August, an atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, and the Japanese apparently realized that their game of conquest was nearing its end. At 1700 hours, 8 August (Moscow time), Foreign Commissar Molotov informed Japanese Ambassador Sato that a state of war would exist between Russia and Japan as of 0001 hours, 9 August 1945. Nagasaki, industrial city and important port on the coats of Kyushu, was blasted at noon, 9 August, by the second atomic bomb to be used against Japan. The next day the Japanese expressed their willingness to accept the terms of the Potsdam Declaration. Immediate cessation of offensive operations by Allied armed forces was ordered and the Japanese government was instructed through the Swiss government to order its troops on all fronts to lay down their arms. AT about 0900 hours, 15 August 1945 (Guam time), "Cease fire" orders were flashed to the U.S. Pacific Fleet and all other units.
On 27 and 28 August 1945, the Allied fleet inaugurated the first step in the occupation program by moving into Sagami and Tokyo Bays. Major occupation forces began landing during the early morning of 30 August, with U.S. Marines and Army airborne troops landing on Japanese soil almost simultaneously at about 0600 hours. The first Marine Corps unit to land was the 2nd Battalion, 4th Marines of the 6th Marine Division, which went ashore at Futtsu Cape on the eastern shore of Tokyo to secure control of heavy coastal guns in the area. Several hours later, approximately nine thousand U.S. Marines and 1,200 picked naval landing personnel, plus 450 British Marines and sailors, made the main seaborne landing in the vicinity of Yokosuka, site of one of Japan's main naval bases.
On 2 September 1945, in a brief but solemn ceremony aboard the battleship Missouri, representatives of Japan signed the surrender documents. Thereafter, Allied occupation of Japan and the territory under Japanese control went steadily ahead, with Marines playing an important role.
Demobilization and Peacetime Problems
When the war with Japan ended in 1945, the Marine Corps numbered six divisions and five air wings. The 1st and 6th Marine Divisions were sent to help disarm and repatriate the Japanese occupation forces in China. The 2nd and 5th Divisions were assigned to disarm garrison forces on the islands which had been by-passed during the war. The 3rd and 4th Divisions were decommissioned. The 1st Marine Aircraft Wing supported the ground troops in China and the 2nd Wing returned to Cherry Point, North Carolina. The 3rd, 4th and 9th Wings were decommissioned. During the year following the end of the war the Marine Corps accomplished a demobilization which cut its size from six to two divisions, from five to two wings, and from almost five hundred thousand men to about one hundred thousand by the end of 1946. At this time the 2nd Division and 2nd Wing were based in North Carolina and the 1st Division and 1st Wing in China. It was not until late in 1949 that the last Marine units left China and returned to the United States.
U.S. Marine Raiders gathered in front of a captured Japanese dugout on Bougainville, Solomon Islands, January 1944.