Western Pacific Operations

1 Western PacificOperationsHISTORY OF U. S. MARINE CORPSOPERATIONS IN WORLD WAR IIVOLUME IVByGEORGE R. STROBRIDGEH istorical Division, Headquarters, U. S. Marine Corps1971 Other Volumes in this SeriesILtCol Frank 0. Hough, Maj Verle E. Ludwig, and Henry I. Shaw, Harbor to GuadalcanalIIHenry I. Shaw, Jr. and Maj Douglas T. KaneIsolation of RabaulIIIH enry I. Shaw, Jr., Bernard C. Nalty, and Edwin T. TurnbladhCentral Pacific DriveVBenis M. Frank and Henry I. Shaw, and OccupationLibrary of Congress Catalog Card No. 58-60002 PCN 19000262700 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, Government Printing OfficeWashington, 20402 Price $10 ForewordThis book is the fourth in the five-volume history of Marine Corpsoperations in World War II. The story of Peleliu, Iwo Jima, and Marineartillery and aviation in the Philippines, as previously narrated in separatedetail in preliminary monographs, has been reevaluated and rewritten todepict events in proper proportion to each other and in correct perspectiveto the war as a whole.

2 New material, particularly from Japanese and othersources that has become available since the earlier monograph series waspublished, has been included to provide fresh insight into the MarineCorps' contribution to the final victory in the period covered by this history, essentially from mid-September1944 to late March 1945, covers the continuation of the United States drivefrom the Central Pacific to the Western Carolines and the Volcano-BoninIslands at the very doorstep of Japan. Once again it became the task of theMarine Corps to put into practice the amphibious doctrine that had beendeveloped during the prewar years, modified and perfected during earlieroperations in the Solomons, Gilberts, Marshalls, and Marianas. The courseof events on Peleliu and Iwo Jima demonstrated the basic soundness ofMarine Corps tactics and techniques in the face of skillful and tenaciousresistance offered by a highly motivated and well trained foe who wasdetermined to defend his possessions to the the American amphibious assault team fought its way throughthe Japanese defenses towards the Home Islands, Marine aviation wrote aglorious chapter of its own.

3 Frequently denied the opportunity of flyingdirect support in amphibious Operations , Marine aviators developed andput into practice a doctrine of close air support that more than proved itsworth during the recapture of the Philippines. The continuous neutraliza-tion of bypassed enemy-held islands in the Central Pacific by Marine airisolated sizable Japanese garrisons from their bases of supply and renderedthem powerless to support the enemy war effort until their surrender atthe end of the numbers of men and quantities of materiel employed during theoperations narrated in this volume defy the imagination. In this connectionit is worth recalling that the successful execution of these operationsdepended on joint Army-Navy-Marine cooperation, which became evermore pronounced as the war approached its final phase. Combined withimproved tactics and weapons on the field of battle was the highly flexibleIV FOREWORDand efficient Marine command organization designed to meet the require-ments of modern on other battlefields before World War II and since, the Marineswho fought and died in the Philippines, on Peleliu, and on Iwo Jima wrotewith their blood an indelible account of courage and sacrifice that will liveon in their country's history, to serve as a guide and inspiration to and approved26 May 1970L.

4 F. CHAPMAN, JRGENERAL, MARINE CORPSCOMMANDANT OF THE MARINE CORPSP refaceIn a series of boldly conceived and executed Operations , Americanforces in the Pacific Theater captured and developed a number of strategi-cally placed islands that were to serve as springboards for the inexorableadvance towards the Japanese home islands. The Guadalcanal campaign,first offensive step after a year of reverses in this theater, marked thebeginning of the American counteroffensive that gathered momentum untila steamroller of unprecedented force smashed its way across the vastexpanses of the Central and Western in hand with the accelerating tempo of Operations went im-provements in the techniques employed in the amphibious assault and thesometimes protracted Operations inland. By the time the Peleliu operationwas launched in mid-September 1944, the Japanese had changed theirtactics of defending the beaches and launching a finalbanzaionce theinevitable end was in sight to a far more sophisticated defense thatamounted to an extended delaying action conducted from well dug tunnelsand cave positions which had to be taken at great cost to the attackingforce.

5 The battle for Iwo Jima, which got under way on 19 February 1945,represented a battle of attrition in the truest sense, with losses in men andmateriel far out of proportion to the size of the objective. Aside from itstactical value, Iwo Jima assumed strategic importance in signalling theJapanese government and people that the United States was determinedto bring the war in the Pacific to a victorious conclusion and that even theheaviest losses would not deter Americans from this tactics employed by the Marine Corps in the course of the warwere not limited to fighting on the ground. The speedy expansion ofMarine strength following the Pearl Harbor debacle was accompanied bya proportionate growth of the air arm that had existed in miniature sizeup to that time. Denied the use of carriers during the early years of thewar, Marine aviators discovered through trial and error that they couldmake an important contribution to the ground troops in furnishing a typeof close air support that could be rendered quickly and with devastatingresults to the enemy.

6 Together with this support came the creation andperfection of the air liaison team which provided a direct and vital linkbetween troops on the ground, whether Marine or Army, and the support-ing aircraft. The bombing of bypassed islands in the Central Pacific , ascarried out by Marine aviation over a prolonged period of time, under-VI PREFACE scored the fact that enemy bastions of considerable strength could beeffectively neutralized from the air without having to be subjected tocostly ground section of this volume has been devoted to the evolution of theorganization that had to be created to coordinate the training, flow ofreplacements and supplies, and overall employment of Marine field com-ponents. This was the Fleet Marine Force, which was conceived longbefore World War II. Its growth and development clearly mirror theorganizational demands made on the Corps during the war years.

7 Thechapters provide the reader with a better understanding of the commandorganization that made possible many of the famous amphibious assaultsof World War purpose in publishing this operational history in durable formis to make the Marine Corps record permanently available for study bymilitary personnel and the general public as well as by serious students ofmilitary history. We have made a conscientious effort to be objective inour treatment of the actions of Marines and of the men of other serviceswho fought at their side. We have tried to write with understanding aboutour former enemies and in this effort have received invaluable help fromthe Japanese themselves. Few people so militant and unyielding in war havebeen as dispassionate and analytical about their actions in peace. We owea special debt of gratitude to Mr. Susumu Nishiura, Chief of the WarHistory Office, Defense Agency of Japan and to the many researchers andhistorians of his office that reviewed our draft five-volume series was planned and outlined by Mr.

8 Henry , Jr., Chief Historian, while Mr. George W. Garand was responsiblefor Volume IV itself. Mr. Truman R. Strobridge, originally assigned asthe author of this volume, wrote the first four chapters of the Peleliucampaign before he left the Marine Corps to become a historian with theDepartment of the Army. Mr. Garand wrote the rest of this book , revisingand editing it for publication. In his research on the Peleliu operation,Mr. Garand frequently consulted the material assembled for the mono-graphThe Assault on PeleliubyMajor Frank 0. Hough; material dealingwith the Philippines was obtained from the monographMarine Aviationin the Philippinesby Major Charles W. Boggs, Jr. In preparing the narra-tive for Iwo Jima, the monographIwo Jima: Amphibious Epic,preparedby Lieutenant Colonel Whitman S. Bartley, served as a valuable Garand also prepared all the appendices. The Director of MarineCorps History made the final critical review of portions of the number of leading participants in the actions described have com-mented on the preliminary drafts of pertinent portions of the book .

9 Theirvaluable assistance is gratefully acknowledged. Several senior officers, inparticular General Oliver P. Smith, Admiral George H. Fort, AdmiralPREFACE VIIJ esse B. Oldendorf, Lieutenant General Julian C. Smith, Lieutenant Gen-eral Merwin H. Silverthorn, Lieutenant General Thomas A. Wornham,Lieutenant General Louis E. Woods, Major General Ford 0. Rogers, MajorGeneral Dudley S. Brown, and Brigadier General John S. Letcher madevaluable contributions through their written comments, as did LieutenantGeneral Lewis B. Puller and Brigadier General John R. Lanigan duringpersonal thanks are due to the historical agencies of the other servicesfor their critical readings of draft chapters of this book . Outstandingamong the many official historians who measurably assisted the authorswere:Dr. Stetson Conn, Chief Historian and Mr. Robert R. Smith, Head,General History Branch,Officeof the Chief of Military History, Depart-ment of the Army; Dr.

10 Dean C. Allard, Head, Operational ArchivesBranch, Naval History Division, Department of the Navy; and Dr. RobertF. Futrell, Historian, Historical Research Division, Air University, Max-well Air Force Base, Charles B. Collins and his predecessors as Historical Divi-sion/Branch Administrative Officers, Chief Warrant Officer Jo E. Kennedy,Second Lieutenant Gerald S. Duncan, and First Lieutenants John and D'Arcy E. Grisier ably handled the many exacting dutiesinvolved in processing the volume from first drafts through final printedform. The bulk of the early preliminary typescripts was prepared byMiss Kay P. Sue, who, with the assistance of Sergeant Michael L. Gardner,also expertly handled the painstaking task of typing the final manuscriptfor the printer. Miss Sue, assisted by Miss Charlotte L. Webb, also per-formed the meticulous work demanded in preparing the maps were drafted by Sergeant Earl L.