by Daniel Wrinn
By 1250, Marines had worked their way through the bottlenecks and passed the mangrove swamps—destroying bunkers with flamethrowers and demolitions. The 4th Marines’ assault battalions kept pace with this advance and found it somewhat easier terrain, but the defenders were just as determined. By evening, the brigade advanced 1,100 yards from its jump-off line. Both regiments were weary and dug in with an all-around defense.
After a massive pre-attack barrage on the 27th, Marines were stalled again before they’d gone a hundred yards. The 3/4 Marines were up against a well-defended ridge, a sinister clearing, and a coconut grove. This ridge was close to the tactically essential goals of the old Marine barracks, its rifle range, and the Orote Airfield runways. With heavy tank support, the 22nd Marines surged past their initial obstacles, and by midafternoon, they reached positions well beyond the morning’s battles.
On the left flank, the 4th Marines faced a lighter resistance. They were led by tanks that knocked down the brush. Colonel Samuel Puller, brother of the famous Colonel “Chesty” Puller, was killed by a sniper.
By early afternoon, assault elements of the 4th Marines broke out of the grove short of the rifle range. They were stalled by enemy dug-in defenses and minefields. A Japanese officer emerged and brandished his sword at a tank. Not an unusual sight in the climax of this losing engagement. This was easier than a ritual suicide.
The horror of the American guns must’ve been too much for the enemy defenders on the immediate front. They cut and ran from their strong and well-defended positions. Marines didn’t care why the enemy ran—just that they ran—and dug in less than 300 yards from the prized target. This squeezed the enemy into the last quadrant of the peninsula. All their entrenched defenses failed to hold. The Orote Airfield, old Marine barracks, and old parade ground, which hadn’t seen American boots since December 10, 1941, were recaptured.
On July 28, General Shepherd ordered an all-out barrage of the Japanese naval defenders: a thirty-minute naval gunfire bombardment, a forty-five-minute airstrike, joined by whatever guns the brigade, 77th Division, and any antiaircraft battalions could muster. At 0830, the brigade launched an attack to retake Orote Airfield.
The 22nd Marines would assault the barracks, while the 4th Marines would advance on the airfield and rifle range. Japanese mortar fire and artillery had lessened, but small arms and machine guns were still intense when the Marines attacked. To the bitter end, Japanese defenders evoked a last-ditch stubbornness. American tanks were called up, but most had problems with control and visibility. Wherever there was a thick scrub brush, the enemy was concealed.
General Shepherd wanted this battle over. He ordered a massive infantry and tank advance jumping off at 1530 on the 28th. The Japanese refused to quit: it was do or die. By nightfall, the objectives were in sight, but there were still a few hundred yards to gain. Marines dug in for the night and hoped the Japanese would sacrifice themselves in another counterattack—no such luck.
The next day, the attack resumed. After the usual artillery barrage and heavy airstrikes, Marine and Army tanks led the way onto the airfield. Resistance was meager. By early afternoon, the airfield was secured. The 22nd Marines occupied what was left of the old Marine barracks. A bronze plaque, once mounted mounted on the barracks entrance, but now removed, was recovered and put up for reinstallation at a future date.
The Japanese found this latest advance too hard to accept. Suicides were random and many enemy soldiers jumped off cliffs, cut their own throats, and hugged exploding grenades.
Private First Class George Eftang watched several enemy suicides and later wrote: “I watched the Japanese jump to their deaths. I actually felt sorry for them. I knew they had families and sweethearts just like anyone else.”
While the peninsula still swarmed with patrols, Generals Geiger, Larson, Shepherd, Admiral Spruance, and others who could be spared, took part in a ceremonial flag-raising and heartfelt tribute to an old barracks and those Marines who’d made it home. General Geiger called it hallowed ground and told those assembled, a hastily cleaned up honor guard of brigade troops: “you’ve avenged the loss of our comrades who were overcome by a numerically superior force three days after Pearl Harbor. Under our flag, this island again stands ready to fulfill its destiny as an American fortress in the Pacific.”
Many of the Marines taking part in the ceremony could only thank God that they were still alive. At the end of the ceremony, engineers moved on to the airfield and filled many of the bomb and shell holes. Just six hours after the first bulldozer had clanked out onto the runway, a navy torpedo bomber made an emergency landing. Soon after, light artillery spotting planes flew in regularly. The capture of the Orote Peninsula cost the brigade 874 casualties, with 115 men killed. Japanese dead was a staggering 1,633. On Orote, like Fonte, many enemy troops were still unaccounted for and likely ready to fight to prevent the capture of the island.
Turning Point on Guam
After the breakthrough at Fonte and the failure of General Takashina’s counterattack, American positions could now be consolidated. The 3rd and 21st Marines tightened their grasp on the heights, while the 9th Marines advanced up to Mount Chachao and Mount Alutom.
Across the hills at the base of Mount Chachao was the fiercest resistance. Major Donald Hubbard, in charge of the 3/9 Marines, called down artillery, and after the barrages, Marines attacked with bayonets and grenades. They destroyed everything that stood in their way. When the fight was over, Major Hubbard’s Battalion counted over 130 dead Japanese. As their assault force pushed up the slopes, Marines spotted men from Company A of the 305th Infantry on top of Mount Tenjo to the west. Mount Tenjo had initially been in the 3rd Division’s zone, but command wanted to get men on high ground so they could push ahead along the heights and not get trapped in ravines.
Japanese dead from the counterattack was 3,200. The destruction of General Takashina’s infantry officers was estimated at 96%. Takashina himself was killed from a machine gun on an American tank as he urged survivors out of the Fonte position and on to the north to fight again. After Takashina’s death, the tactical command of all Japanese forces on Guam was assumed by General Obata. He only had a handful of senior officers remaining to rally the Japanese defenders and organize a cohesive unit from the battalions’ destroyed remnants.
On the night of July 28, Obata’s defenders trudged along the path that led from Ordot to Fonte. They found their way by the light of the American flares. Two traffic control points guided men toward Barrigada, where three infantry companies were forming. General Obata fully expected the Americans to engage in an aggressive pursuit on the 29th. Obata organized a delaying force to hold back Marines until the Japanese withdrawal could be made.
General Geiger instead decided to rest his battle-weary troops before launching another full-scale attack to the north. His orders to the 3rd and 77th Divisions on July 29 were to eliminate any Japanese resistance and organize a line of defense and patrol in strength to the front. By capturing the beachhead line and its critical high ground, they were able to annihilate great numbers of Japanese—the turning point on Guam had finally been reached.
Still, the few enemy who’d surrendered, and those captured were wounded, dazed or unable to resist. Nearly all the enemy died fighting. Even when their lives were lost without purpose or sense. Yet, a substantial number of troops from the 29th Division were not accounted for. General Geiger’s intelligence sections estimated only one-quarter of the island’s enemy troop strength had been on the island. He needed to make sure his rear was secure from attack before chasing north after the enemy. Captured Japanese prisoners, documents, and sightings from aircraft indicated to Geiger that the Japanese had withdrawn north to better roads. The north was denser and had a more concealing jungle—a better terrain for strong points.
General Geiger had the 77th Division scour Guam’s southern half to ensure his rear was not threatened. He intensified and repeated the searches the brigade had made. Soldiers like th
e Marines before them found native Guamanians everywhere—some on farms and ranches and others in Japanese camps.
The natives were surprised to see Americans so soon after the landings and reported only small Japanese bands, usually only single soldiers. It became clear to Geiger that the combat units remaining were in the north and not the south. Best estimates of enemy strength were around 6,000 men.
General Obata expected a swift pursuit and set up a strong rearguard to give his retreating forces time to organize. While victory was no longer even a dream, the Japanese could still extract a painful cost. Geiger moved his troops back into attack positions across the width of the island. Frequent strong patrols were sent out to find cross-country routes and clues of enemy strength and dispositions.
General Obata organized a delaying defensive on the south slopes of Mount Barrigada and into the little town of Barrigada itself—only twenty houses. On all the approaches to the final defensive positions in the northwest corner of the island, Obata organized roadblocks at trail and road junctions. He concealed troops in the jungle to interdict the roads that were the only practical approach route to the northern end of the island.
General Obata felt overwhelmed as he later revealed in his notes: “the enemy air force seeks out our units during daylight hours in the forest and will bomb and strafe even a single soldier.”
Even more damaging than the air attacks were the continuous naval gunfire and artillery bombardments brought down on men, guns, and trenches, by Army spotter planes—constantly patrolling overhead.
The Northern Assault
General Geiger knew the probable route of the Japanese retreat. He drew up a list of objectives across the island to seize all the enemy’s strong points.
The jump-off for this drive north was 0630 on July 31. The 3rd Marine Division would be on the left, the 77th Infantry Division on the right—splitting the island down the middle. Marine zones would include the island capital of Agana, enemy airfields at Finegayan, Tiyan, and Tumon Bay’s beachhead.
The 77th took Mount Santa Rosa, Mount Barrigada, and Yigo. The 1st Marine Brigade would relieve the 77th in the south and continue to patrol the southern half of Guam. As the attack gained momentum northward and the island widened, the 1st would join in the drive to the island’s extreme north coast.
When the 3rd Division reached Ordot, in the center of their zone, the 3/21 Marines smashed into enemy troops and one of their pillboxes. Marines destroyed fifteen Japanese troops and two light tanks with M1s and bazookas.
The 3/3 Marines had the honor of liberating Agana. Riflemen entered the town ruins and tread carefully, sizing up dusty, stark building walls for snipers. A few enemy snipers emerged from behind concrete outcroppings before falling back into eternity. The Japanese in Agana were stragglers, wounded or foolish enough to stay. In one of the houses, a Marine opened the closet to reveal a Japanese officer with sword in hand. The Marine slammed the door, fired at it with his automatic rifle, and didn’t even bother to look again. The majestic and beautiful Plaza de Espana was back in American hands less than twenty minutes after Marines entered the town. By noon, it was secured.
The 3rd Marines advanced along the Agana-Pago Road. At 1340 they caught up with the 21st Marines after several engagements with snipers, pillboxes, and tanks. By 1500, the 9th Marines on the division’s right were across the road and had seized the remaining portion of the highway. It was a hard-surfaced road with two lanes crossing the island’s midriff. The Agana-Pago Road was vital to liberating Guam.
After the historic rescue of the island’s capital at Agana, the 3/3 Marines advanced with relative ease. Before nightfall, the battalion had seized over 1,500 yards of roads and trails needed to defend the strategic strong points of Barrigada and Finegayan.
General Turnage got close to the Tiyan Airfield and the village of San Antonio on August 1, but his advance was seriously slowed by mines. It took the steady hands and cool skill of the bomb disposal specialists of the 25th Naval Construction Battalion and the 19th Marine Engineers to reduce and remove those obstacles.
Many historians and those who were there consider taking the cross-island Agana-Paco Road a major factor in guaranteeing the northern advance’s success. Its capture solved several logistical problems for the 77th. The Army division had no roads heading north and desperately needed a road to resupply their troops as they came down from the hills and cut their way through the jungle. Army front-line troops were running low on supplies—especially water. General Bruce promised his soldiers a hot breakfast as soon as the Marines would give him the road. Not long after, trucks were thick on the road, even while the Seabees and engineers enlarged and repaired it.
The 77th moved out at daylight on July 31. Enemy resistance to the Army advance was insignificant. In under two hours, the Army division had secured the cross-island road in their zones. They also rescued over 3,000 Guamanians at the Japanese detention camp in Asinan. Now unopposed, the 77th were across the Pago River. Residents of the area said the Japanese fled to Barrigada, where intelligence had expected the enemy to hide. The mountain was covered by a jungle, 650 feet high, and it dominated the area.
General Bruce ordered the 77th to capture Barrigada. They would keep contact with the 3rd Marine Division on the left and push through the village and then the one mile to seize Mount Barrigada. The village was a clearing fully swept with defensive machine-gun fire. In the same clearing was a much desired well. Capturing it meant everything to the thirsty troops.
On August 2 at 0630, General Bruce dispatched a dozen tanks of the 706th Tank Battalion to reconnoiter the area. As the tanks turned toward the village, the Japanese opened up with a surge of fire. The stubborn enemy defenders resisted and were determined to stop the assault companies from outflanking them. Heavy artillery support and repeated tank attacks netted only a few yards at a time, but the soldiers kept advancing. By August 4, the 77th Division finally held the village, or what was left of it, along with the precious well.
Captured documents and interviews with prisoners left little doubt that the 77th Division’s major obstacle would be the heavily creviced, rugged jungle of Mount Santa Rosa. Seven miles northeast of Barrigada and close to the ocean on the east coast.
But first, well-armed enemy outposts blocking the way had to be destroyed. Yigo and Finegayan would be assaulted first. While each outpost promised a bloody battle and several casualties, General Geiger used the 77th to annihilate Yigo and then take Santa Rosa. The 3rd Marine Division would capture Finegayan and take the rest of northern Guam. He brought up General Shepherd’s brigade to assist in the final drive. The 1/22 Marines would protect the force beachhead line and care for the Guamanians while still hunting down enemy stragglers in the south.
The 1/22 Marines aggressively sought out enemy holdouts. They also brought terrified Guamanians into friendly compounds and provide security for those who decided to remain in their homes and work their ranches. By August 2, Marine patrols approached Talofofo Bay on the southern coast. They found another 2,000 natives, still terrified of the Japanese, and directed them to a compound that promised safety and a small amount of comfort. In their own residential and farm areas, many Guamanians could still call upon this civil affairs section for protection, medicine, food, and shelter. This civil care was vital to the American occupation now that the island was once again under the American flag.
During the night of August 2, the 12th Marines delivered 750 rounds of harassing and interdictory fire onto the roads and trails that the division would encounter around Finegayan. At dawn, Marines moved in and passed Tinian Airfield. At 0700, they encountered a block at the crossroads approaching the Finegayan village. This terrain favored the Japanese with the excellent fields of fire. After the enemy position was finally overrun with tanks, Lieutenant Colonel Carey Randall said that these defenses were: “the toughest he had faced on Guam.”
The battle for Finegayan was the last major battle for the 3rd Division on Guam. The Japane
se made it a fight to remember. A 3rd Division armored reconnaissance patrol headed for Ritidian Point, on the northern tip of the island, ran into Japanese defenses. The enemy had dug in on the Finegayan trails and bristled with antitank weapons and artillery pointed at the patrol. Americans were bruised and surprised and did the Japanese some harm—but canceled their mission and withdrew.
The enemy was feisty at Finegayan. In a brave thrust, they dispatched two medium tanks skirting the crossroads of the 9th Marines at Junction 177. Nearly invulnerable to Marine fire, they shot up the area and got away. Another tank force rumbled down over a mortar barrage that seemed like the beginning of a counterattack. Marine artillery stalled the enemy effort, and Japanese tanks were driven off but survived to reappear another day.
Liberation of Guam
On August 4, new front lines and maneuvers were established to keep the pressure on General Obata and his remaining holdouts. During the afternoon, the brigade reached its northern assembly area, and General Shepherd set up his command post near the small town of San Antonio. In this final advance north, the brigade would be on the left with its inland flank less than a mile from the western beaches. The 3rd Division would advance in the center and deploy its units into a three-regiment front that would swerve to the east, taking in the whole northern end of the island and supporting the 77th Infantry Division.
The enemy defenders faced overwhelming odds. General Bruce’s soldiers attacked Mount Santa Rosa and destroyed any remaining Japanese. The Army had priority of fire from air support, corps artillery, and naval gunfire.
The Marines also made strides to end the campaign. The 21st Marines progressed, while the 9th Marines kept running into a denser jungle. It was a tangled mess where tanks passed each other within fifteen feet without knowing where the other was. The division sped up its advance in battalion columns. By August 6, they’d advanced over 5,000 yards along the road to Ritidian Point. The end of the island and the end of the battle for Guam. That night, the 3rd Division made visual contact with the 77th—wherever the jungle would allow.