The Liberation of Guam, 21 July-10 August 1944: 21 July-10 August, 1944

One hundred miles south of Saipan, on the west coast of Guam in the early hours of July 21st, two invasion forces from Task Force 53 were driving toward shore, one north of and the other south of the Orote Peninsula in practically the only two places where coral reefs wouldn't interfere with the landing craft. In the north the 3rd MarDiv land between Adelup and Asan Points while to the south the 1st Prov MarBde land between Agat Town and Bangi Point. The Marines had learn their lesson from being over confident going into Saipan and this invasion was more cautious but the fact is the US still had inadequate troops on the ground as they did on Saipan. But before the landings took place for days the fleet would shell the island and at night the Under water teams would demolish the hundreds of cement obstacles so the dukws could reach shore. The 3rd MarDiv quickly made it off the beach but were then stopped at Chonito Cliff and Bundschu Ridge while in the south, the marines made it to Fonte Plateau after clearing Asan Town. It was a pretty good first day but for the next four days the gains would be small and more expensive as 18,000+ Japanese garrison switched from clever ambushes to frontal banzai attacks. Two days later the Army 77th ID would land to support the Marines in this deadly match. By the fifth day, the Japanese realize that their attempt to push the Americans back into the sea had failed and from this point on their only concern would be to kill as many of the enemy as possible. This is how the battle action was described but before the invasion the author wrote a deliberate introduction. A history of the islands dating back to the mid 1600s and quickly working up to where the US received the island as booty from the Spanish in 1899. For over 40 years the US did very little with it and then on Dec 10th, 1941 the Japanese captured the island, imprisoning the American garrison and enslaving the islanders. After the history, the author would describe the Japanese forces on the island and their plan which was pretty basic - attack the Americans at the shore and prevent them from securing a beachhead. With the trouble the Marines had securing Saipan and the big naval battle on June 19th, the invasion of Guam, which was the biggest island in the Marianas, is postponed for a month. Mr Gailey gives a daily accounting of the battle action, including running casualty totals, the marines and soldiers faced against fanatical resistance until August 10th when the last of the organized resistance was destroyed. Almost the entire Japanese garrison went down fighting as they did on Saipan. It was a good story and it included personal ancedotes and diary entries that were scattered throughout the narrative, accenting the human tragedy. In Aftermath, the author describes briefly the casualties of battle, the preparations for Carolines, Peleliu and Iwo Jima, the repair and enhancements to the airfields on all three islands, the B29 bombing runs to Japan

The US acquired Guam in 1899 by peace treaty with Spain at the end of the Spanish-American War. The desirability of having a large, secure naval base west of Hawaii was recommended to Congress in 1938 but, by the fall of 1941, the decision was made to write off Guam. It was too late to defend it. At the time of Pearl Harbor, less than 200 Marines were there available for it's defense and only 271 members of the naval complement for the few ships in the harbor. The island fell to the Japanese on 12/10/42 after brief fighting. The III Amphibious Corp, under Marine Maj. Gen. Roy Geiger, landed on Guam on 7/21/45. After twenty days of fighting and 7,714 casualties, the island was retaken. The Corp was comprised of the 3rd Marine Division, the 1st Provisional Brigade (Marine) and the 77th Infantry Division (Army) in reserve. Two separate landings, utilizing a total of 358 LVTs, were made on the west coast of the island, north and south of the important Orote Peninsula. Once these beachheads were secured, elements of the 3rd Marines in the north would turn south while the 22nd Marines of the brigade in the south made a similar swing to the north. This turning was necessary to seal off the peninsula, reduce the Japanese forces now isolated and defending the serviceable airfield located there. After this linkup, there would be a combined drive eastward cutting through the remaining defenders, dividing their forces.Losses on W-Day (so designated due to the multiple invasions taking place in the Marianas) were much higher than anticipated and the Marine position was far from secure on the shallow beachheads. Unpredictably, General Takashina did not even contemplate any massive counterattacks against the beaches during the day. Rather than formulate a rational plan, he acquiesced in a futile night attack by three battalions which were annihilated. Originally defended by a force of 18,000 men, Gailey makes a strong case that Takashina could still inflict a heavy cost for the island. In stead, his men and resources were pointlessly destroyed in a large-scale banzai attack. In a few hours of fighting on the night of July 25-26 the enemy lost over 3,500 men, 95% of their officers and 90% of their weapons. The fighting would continue for months, but from a strategic point of view, the outcome was fixed. While the US lost 1,700 men and over 6,000 wounded, the strategic importance of the Marianas has never been questioned. From the five airfields constructed on Guam, Saipan and Tinian, B-29s were continuously launched against the Japanese home islands and major cities. By early 1945 Guam had become the center of the complex command network in the Pacific. Gailey tells us most of the destruction wrought on Japan during the last months of the war had its origin on Guam. Not included in this observation was the fact that the Enola Gay took off from Tinian