Liberating Guam (continued)

DRIVE TO THE NORTH

On July 30, General Geiger became aware of the Japanese withdrawal. He therefore issued plans to align American forces for the drive to the north. The 3rd Marine Division would drive up the western portion of the island while the 77th Infantry Division, under Maj. General Andrew D. Bruce, was designated to drive up eastern Guam. The 1st Provisional Marine Brigade was assigned to patrol southern Guam. Assisting in these efforts were the civilian scouts, the war dogs, and later the Guam Combat Patrol.

"The native guides who accompanied many of the Marine and Army patrols during the campaign proper and the mop-up period performed invaluable service in ferreting out Japanese troops and equipment." ... Maj. O.R. Lodge, Recapture of Guam

For the first time in the Pacific, "devil dogs" were used as patrol messengers, guards, and for scouting out Japanese soldiers who hid out in Guam's caves and dense jungles.

Provisional War Dog Company Commander, Lt. William Taylor told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, "No one can say how many lives they have saved. But we do know they have flushed a lot of snipers."

On 31 July, after two days of artillery fire preparation, the pivot move commenced with the 77th achieving Pago Bay by the end of the day after encountering only isolated and light enemy resistance.

CAMPS LIBERATED

During the same day, at Asinan, along the Pago River, the 307th Infantry liberated the concentration camp of 2,000 Chamorros and the next day the Americans liberated the larger concentration camp at Manengon.

"I was just climbing up a coconut tree when I hear this pssst, psst ... then I looked over the brush there was this big fellow, a white person, in camouflage uniform. ... He waved at me. So I just started walking over to him. ... Then I found that there was a whole bunch of them right behind him. I just couldn't appreciate anything more than that..."

"I thought it was really God-given, because our people are really suffering at that point and were running out of food and just about harvested everything that's edible in the jungle..." Rafael J.M. Reyes

"The first contact we had with the civilians came soon after we widened our perimeter to include the outskirts of the battered city of Agana.

"One day a radio message came back from one of our outposts: Twenty women, several babies, one cow, and a sewing machine coming through our lines." ... "More groups followed - old, gnarled men with sticks; crones with wispy white hair, lace dresses, and no shoes; young girls in mud-stained rags, carrying naked babies; little boys and girls holding onto each other's hands fearfully." ... "One woman had a tiny American flag that she had made on her sewing machine in a cave; it had seven red and white stripes and a field of blue, and was fashioned from a dress." ... Alvin M. Josephy, Jr., 3rd Marine Division

"The ex-captives were beside themselves with joy. Not knowing whether to kiss their liberators, bow to them, or shake hands with them, they tried to do all three at once. Many carried tiny American flags which they had hidden from the Japanese. ... The weary infantrymen were immensely moved by the joy of the natives as they passed back through the lines. Soldiers who had been complaining because their rations were low gave away what few cigarette they had. ... While watching the tiny children who carried huge baskets, and the women who trudged along with half their household possessions on their backs, the soldiers realized the meaning of liberation for these enslaved people." ... Guam Operations of the 77th Division

On 31 July, the Marines continued north. The 9th Marines, on the right, reached Ordot. The 21st Marines in the center took Sinajana. The 3d Marines, on the left, overran Agana which was not defended by the Japanese.

"So green in vegetation and so pretty a sight had Guam always been, now it was all burned. It had neither a tree, nor a coconut with leaves. All now was burned or destroyed by bullets and bombs. ... From our cave in Toguag which looked towards Agana, we saw the destruction of the town where we had our property." Don Pascual Artero

The next day, Aug. 1, the Marines continued to advance to the edge of the airfield at Tiyan with the 21st Marines reverting into reserve status.

Marines file from the front lines after successfully taking Mount Taene, in the background, an objective after the beachhead in Agat was secured (top). An Agat house became a surgical ward, courtesy of the personnel of the Army's 95th Portable Surgical Hospital, attached to the 302nd Medical Battalion (middle). Marines and their "devil dogs" go toward the front during the siege on Orote Peninsula. In Guam, the dogs saved many a Marine's life by sniffing out enemy soldiers hiding in the island's caves or dense jungles. The War Dog Memorial on Naval Station honors the 25 "devil dogs" who gave their lives in the line of duty in the recapture of Guam (bottom).

The Army, to the east advanced north of Pago Bay and took the eastern end of the Agana-Pago Bay Road. Then General Geiger ordered a pursuit as quickly as possible to prevent the Japanese from digging in.

The Army's advance on the east side of Guam had the 307th Infantry on the left and the 305th Infantry on the right.

A soldier recalls the drive to the east:

"The distance across the island is not far, as the crow flies, but unluckily we can't fly. The nearest I came to flying was while descending the slippery side of a mountain in a sitting position. ... After advancing a few yards you find that the handle of the machine gun on your shoulder, your pack and shovel, canteens, knife, and machete all stick out at right angles and are as tenacious in their grip on the surrounding underbush as a dozen grappling hooks. Straining, sweating, and swearing avails you nothing. ... The flies and mosquitoes have discovered your route of march and have called up all the reinforcements including the underfed and undernourished who regard us as nothing but walking blood banks. We continue to push on." ... Guam Operations of the 77th Division

Advancing toward Barrigada, the 307th Infantry and the 706th Tank Battalion encountered Japanese resistance along with tanks around the water well on 2 August. That night the Japanese with drew from Barrigada which was taken the next morning by the 307th.

After an artillery barrage, the 307th took Mount Barrigada on 3 August. On the extreme east, the 305th blazed trails through the jungle while advancing north on top of the northern plateau of Guam. That night, small groups of Japanese harassed the Army's front lines.

To the west, the 9th Marines captured Tiyan Airfield on the morning of Aug. 2. The next day, Aug. 3, the 9th encountered and captured a major Japanese strongpoint at Finegayan; that night, the Japanese counterattacked but were repulsed.

On 4 August, the 21st Marines took over the center of the Marines' line. On the evening of the 4th, the 9th Marines reached a Japanese roadblock along the Finegayan-Barrigada Road while the 3d Marines had reached Naton Beach on Tumon Bay.

On the 4th, the 307th advanced along the road to Finegayan to regain contact with the Marines to the north. Three road blocks were attacked with two taken from the Japanese. However, the third was held by the 9th Marines. In a case of mistaken identity, a firefight erupted and seven Marines were wounded but the two forces were linked up again.

On the east, the 305th battled the jungle more than the enemy as several units became confused and lost. Nevertheless, by the end of 4 August, the Army advanced north to Pagat.

On the 5th, the 306th Infantry replaced the 305th on the Army's left while the 305th Infantry continued its floundering advance through the heavy jungle on the right.

On the night of 5 August, a few Japanese tanks attacked a portion of the 305th line and then escaped. The next day, while advancing, the 305th encountered severe firing from two Japanese tanks, but finally took the area with mortar support. On the left on the 5th, the 306th advanced from the east side of Mount Barrigada and encountered Japanese opposition when the Yigo Road was reached. Again advancing on the 6th, a concealed Japanese tank was found during the advance toward Yigo. By the end of the day, the 305th retook a position in the advancing line, this time in the center.

On Guam's western coast, during 5-6 August, the 3d and 21st Marines advanced north with little opposition reaching as far north as Ague on the western coastline. However, the 9th Marines fought to clear over 700 defending Japanese at Finegayan on the 5th with renewed scattered resistance on the 6th.

"The elimination of 737 Japanese around the Finegayan positions broke the outer ring of Mt. Santa Rosa defense. ... The action also cleared the key road. ... This would now permit the movement of equipment and supplies to all corps units with less difficulty. The four days of close, almost hand-to-hand combat, however, had resulted in 18 Marines being killed and 141 wounded." ... Maj. O.R. Lodge, Recapture of Guam

After attacks by P-47s and B-26s flying from Saipan and bombardment by offshore warships, the 305th and 307th Infantry attacked Mount Santa Rosa on the 7th and took the mountain on the 8th.

One Japanese officer later wrote:

"The enemy airforce seeking our units during the daylight hours in the forest, bombed and strafed even a single soldier. During the night, the enemy naval units attempting to cut our communications were shelling our position from all points of the perimeter of the island, thus impeding our operation activities to a great extent." ... Japanese Defense of Guam

The 706th Tank Battalion, driving north along the Yigo road encountered Japanese resistance on the 7th which was cleared the same day. The Japanese counterattacked the 306th Infantry the night of the 7th, but was repulsed. By night of the 8th, the Army was north of Yigo at Salisbury and Anao.

On the left, the Marines advanced now with the 1st Provisional Marine Brigade now on the left. On the 7th, the Third Marines overcame a roadblock of anti-tank guns and another on the 8th.

"The capstone to the good news of 7 August was furnished by planes of MAG-21. During the day VMF-225 began flying routine combat air patrols from Orote, relieving Navy planes of this responsibility. ... With its own air defense garrison in operation, Guam was a long step forward in its development as a major Allied base for further moves against Japan." ... Central Pacific Drive, History of U.S. Marine Corps Operations in World War II

GUAM SECURED: 10 AUGUST 1944

Moving quickly up the west coast, by mid-afternoon on the 8th, the 22d Marines reached Ritidian Point including sending a patrol down the cliff to the beach. That night, the 3d Marines encountered five enemy tanks. Then on 9 August, the 9th Marines reached Pati Point. On 10 August, General Geiger announced that organized resistance on Guam had ended.

"Japan's grip on the Marianas was broken and the end of the war was now just slightly over a year away." ... War in the Pacific Park Brochure

Marines manning a 37 mm gun watch us tanks roll past in the final offensive drive against Japanese organized resistance.

THE LAST STAND

However, General Obata's command post in Mataguac, Yigo was not destroyed until the 11th by the 306th Infantry. Obata's final message to Japan: "I have accepted the important post of the army commander and although I exerted all-out effort, the fortune of war has not been with me. The fighting has not been in our favor since the loss of Saipan. We are continuing a desperate battle on Guam."

"Officers and men have been lost, weapons have been destroyed, and ammunition has been expended. We have only our bare hands to fight with. The holding of Guam has become hopeless. I will engage the enemy in the last battle with the remaining strength at Mount Mataguac tomorrow, the 11th. My only fear is that report of death with honor (annihilation) at Guam might shock the Japanese people at home. Our souls will defend the island to the very end; we pray for the security of the Empire."

"I am overwhelmed with sorrow for the families of the many fallen officers and men."

The search for the remaining Japanese soldiers would continue for over a year. Numerous stragglers would survive in Guam's jungles only to slowly starve and or be killed.

"It was our experience that the Japanese, remaining Japanese troops, the stragglers, were very strongly motivated not to surrender. I had an experience where, during one of these patrols, I was given a Japanese officer to help us and he had a speaker with him and his function was to speak out at the edge of the jungle for these people to come out. ... they were not all willing to do that." ... "I thought they were very motivated, highly motivated ... in keeping honor to their country as soldiers of Japan." ... Lt. Pete Siquenza, 3rd Marine Division

In the Liberation, U.S. forces suffered over 7,000 casualties. More than 17,500 Japanese defenders died. In the 1970s, the Chamorro War Reparations Commission listed over 700 Chamorro people who died as a result of World War II.

"Perhaps, the blackest days of Guam's long and chaotic history were those endless months between spring and summer of 1944 when the population suffered the extreme miseries of occupation while awaiting the return of their American protectors. ... Many stories of heroism and brutality have come out of the Japanese occupation of Guam, ... The Guamanian people suffered every possible kind of humiliation and many of them the most unspeakable and degrading death at the hands of the enemy." ... Charles Beardsley, Guam Past and Present

After the Liberation, Guam was forever changed.

The Island Command's Civil Affairs Section took to the task of caring for over 18,000 homeless Chamorros. Refugee camps were set up in Anigua, Agat and Yona. Some people were allowed to return to their villages, as patrols declared the areas secure. However, some would never return to their original villages.

As the military build-up continued, lands were taken for "airfields, combat firing ranges, training areas, camp sites, and supply depots." Navy Seabees and Army engineers bulldozed the destroyed Agana, and constructed new roads and water pipelines. Orote, Agana, Harmon, North and Northwest airfields were built.

Over 200,000 military personnel were sent to Guam. Virtually, in a few short months, Apra Harbor Naval Operating Base was built and Guam became a major forward command base. Supplies, equipment, and ammunition were stored in immense facilities. Guam became known as the "Pacific Supermarket," one of the largest military supply points in history. All to further the end of the war with Japan. By 1945, Admiral Chester W. Nimitz was directing the war from Nimitz Hill. From the Mariana Islands, specifically Guam, Saipan, and Tinian, B-29s flew bombing runs to Japan.

"To the average American participant in the Marianas campaign, the war was on a minute-to-minute basis. Big picture strategy had no place in his personal struggle to survive, and even today his picture of the operation is a compound of individual memories that probably missed this history and many others. Yet no matter how small a part an individual took in capturing these islands, he is justified in feeling he helped shorten the war. For it was from the Marianas that ships, planes, and men struck out to bring defeat to Japan." ... Maj. O.R. Lodge, Recapture of Guam

In August 1945, the "Enola Gay" took off from Tinian. On board the bomber was the world's first Atomic Bomb, destined for Japan, for Hiroshima. A few days later another atomic bomb, dropped from the bomber Bock's Car, would would hit Nagasaki.

In Tokyo Bay on Sept. 2, 1945, on board the battleship, the USS Missouri, surrender documents were signed. The two military leaders who oversaw the two-pronged Allied offensive in the Pacific led the officials accepting Japan's surrender. Representing the Allied powers as Supreme Commander was General Douglas MacArthur and representing the United States was Admiral Nimitz.

After 1,364 days, the War in the Pacific ended.