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Breaching the Marianas The Battle for Saipan - John C Chapin · Slaves to the Metal Horde

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  Speaker 1: Chapter one of Breaching the Marianas The Battle for Saipan.
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  Speaker 1: This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in
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  Speaker 1: the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please
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  Speaker 1: visit LibriVox dot org. Breaching the Marianas the Battle for
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  Speaker 1: Saipan by John C. Chapin. It was to be a
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  Speaker 1: brutal day. At first light on fifteen June nineteen forty four,
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  Speaker 1: the Navy fire support ships of the Task Force Line
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  Speaker 1: off Saipan Island increased their previous day's preparatory fires, involving
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  Speaker 1: all calibers of weapons. At zero five forty two, Vice
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  Speaker 1: Admiral Richmond Kelly Turner ordered land the landing Force. Around
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  Speaker 1: zero seven hundred, The landing ships tank LSTs moved to
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  Speaker 1: within approximately one thy two hundred and fifty yards behind
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  Speaker 1: the line of departure. Troops in the LSTs began debarking
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  Speaker 1: from them in landing vivasvehicles tracked LVTs. Control vessels containing
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  Speaker 1: Navy and Marine personnel with their radio gear took their positions,
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  Speaker 1: displaying flags indicating which beach approaches they controlled. Admiral Turner
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  Speaker 1: to laate h hour from zero a thirty to zero
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  Speaker 1: eight forty to give the boat waves additional time to
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  Speaker 1: get into position. Then the first wave headed full speed
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  Speaker 1: toward the beaches. The Japanese waited patiently, ready to make
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  Speaker 1: the assault units pay a heavy price. The first assault
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  Speaker 1: wave contained armored Amphibian tractors lvtas with their seventy five
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  Speaker 1: millimeter guns firing rapidly. They were accompanied by light gunboats
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  Speaker 1: firing four point five inch rockets, twenty millimeter guns, and
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  Speaker 1: forty milimeter guns. The LVTs could negotiate the reef, but
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  Speaker 1: the rest could not and were forced to turn back
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  Speaker 1: until a passageway through the reef could be discovered. Earlier,
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  Speaker 1: at zero six hundred further north, a faint landing was
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  Speaker 1: conducted off Tennapeg Harbor by part of the second Marines
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  Speaker 1: in conjunction with the first Battalion, twenty ninth Marines and
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  Speaker 1: the twenty fourth Marines. The Japanese were not really fooled
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  Speaker 1: and did not rush reinforcements to that area, but it
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  Speaker 1: did tie up at least one enemy regiment. When the
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  Speaker 1: lvtas and troop carrying LVTs reached the reef, it seemed
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  Speaker 1: to explode in every direction and in the water beyond.
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  Speaker 1: On the way to the beaches, great geysers of water rose,
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  Speaker 1: with artillery and mortar shells exploding. Small arms fire, rifles
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  Speaker 1: and machine guns joined the mounting crescendo. The LVT's ground
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  Speaker 1: ashore confusion on the beaches, particularly in the Second Marine
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  Speaker 1: Division area, was compounded by the strength of a northerly
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  Speaker 1: current flow, which caused the assault battalions of the sixth
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  Speaker 1: the eighth Marines to land about four hundred yards too
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  Speaker 1: far north. This caused the gap to widen between the
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  Speaker 1: Second and fourth Marine Divisions. As Colonel Robert E. Hogeboom,
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  Speaker 1: the operations officer of the Expeditionary Troops, commented, the opposition
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  Speaker 1: consisted primarily of artillery and mortar fire from weapons placed
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  Speaker 1: in well deployed positions and previously registered to cover the
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  Speaker 1: beach areas, as well as fire from small arms, automatic
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  Speaker 1: weapons and anti boat guns cited to cover the approaches
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  Speaker 1: to and the immediate landing beaches. As a result, five
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  Speaker 1: of the Second Marine Division assault unit commanders were soon wounded,
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  Speaker 1: in the two battalions of the six Marines on the
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  Speaker 1: far left, and in the two battalions of the eighth Marines,
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  Speaker 1: with afton point in the middle, spitting deadly infilade fire.
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  Speaker 1: To the left and to the right. The next units
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  Speaker 1: across the gap were two battalions of the twenty third Marines,
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  Speaker 1: and finally, on the far right, two battalions of the
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  Speaker 1: twenty fifth Marines. Although the original plan had been for
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  Speaker 1: the assault troops to ride their LVTs all the way
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  Speaker 1: to one first objective line, the deluge of Japanese fire
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  Speaker 1: and natural obstacles prevented this. A few units in the
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  Speaker 1: center of the fourth Division made it, but fierce enemy
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  Speaker 1: resistance pinned down the right and left flanks. The two
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  Speaker 1: divisions were unable to make direct contact. A first lieutenant
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  Speaker 1: in the third Battalion, twenty fourth Marines, John C. Chapin,
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  Speaker 1: later remembered vividly the extraordinary scene on the beach when
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  Speaker 1: he came ashore on D Day. All around us was
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  Speaker 1: the chaotic debris of bitter combat. Japan Marine bodies lined
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  Speaker 1: in mangled and grotesque positions, blasted and burnt out pill boxes,
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  Speaker 1: the burning wrecks of LVTs that had been knocked out
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  Speaker 1: by jab high velocity fire, the accurate smell of high explosives,
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  Speaker 1: the shattered trees, and the churned up sand, littered with
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  Speaker 1: discarded equipment. When as company moved inland a short distance,
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  Speaker 1: it quickly experienced the frightening precision of the pre registered
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  Speaker 1: Japanese artillery fire. Suddenly, wham, a shell hit right on
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  Speaker 1: top of us. I was too surprised to think, but
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  Speaker 1: instinctively all of us hit the deck and began to
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  Speaker 1: spread out. Then the shells really began to pour down
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  Speaker 1: on us, ahead, behind, on both sides, and right in
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  Speaker 1: our midst They would come rocketing down with a freight
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  Speaker 1: train roar, and then explode with a deafening cataclysm that
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  Speaker 1: is beyond description. It finally dawned on me that the
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  Speaker 1: first shell burst we'd heard had been ranging shots, and
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  Speaker 1: now that the Japs were zeroed in on us, we
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  Speaker 1: were caught in a full fledged barrage. The fire was
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  Speaker 1: hitting us with pinpoint accuracy, and it was not hard
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  Speaker 1: to see why, towering fifteen hundred feet above us, was
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  Speaker 1: mount to Patchaw with Jap observation posts honeycombing its crest.
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  Speaker 1: That night, the lieutenant and his runner shared a shallow
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  Speaker 1: foxhole and split the watches between them. Death came close, slowly,
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  Speaker 1: very slowly. The hours of my watch passed, and at
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  Speaker 1: last I leaned over and shook my runner. Awake. It's
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  Speaker 1: time for your watch, I whispered, look out for that
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  Speaker 1: place over there, maybe Japs in it. Keep awake with that.
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  Speaker 1: I rolled over on the ground and was asleep in
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  Speaker 1: an instant right away. It seems someone was shaking me
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  Speaker 1: and insisting wake up. I jerked bolt upright. In combat,
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  Speaker 1: your reflexes act fast, and you never go fully to sleep.
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  Speaker 1: A glance at my watch showed that it was almost dawn.
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  Speaker 1: I turned to my runner, who was lying against me asleep.
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  Speaker 1: Let's go, I said, pass the word to the squad
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  Speaker 1: leaders to get set. He didn't stir. I shook him.
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  Speaker 1: He still didn't move. He was dead with the callousness
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  Speaker 1: that wore demands. I rolled him over, reached for his
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  Speaker 1: canteen and poured the precious water into my own canteen.
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  Speaker 1: Then I left him lying there. All the assault regiments
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  Speaker 1: were taking care casualties from the constant shelling that was
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  Speaker 1: zeroed in by spotters on the high ground. Inland supplies
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  Speaker 1: and reinforcing units piled up in confusion on the landing beaches.
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  Speaker 1: Snipers were everywhere. Supporting waves experienced the same deadly enemy fire.
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  Speaker 1: On their way back to the beach. Some LVTs lost
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  Speaker 1: their direction, some received direct hits, and others were flipped
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  Speaker 1: on their sides by waves or enemy fires, spilling their
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  Speaker 1: equipment and personnel onto the reef. Casualties in both divisions
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  Speaker 1: mounted rapidly. Evacuating them to the ships was extremely dangerous
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  Speaker 1: and difficult. Medical aid stations set up ashore were under
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  Speaker 1: sporadic enemy fire. As the Marine artillery also landed in
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  Speaker 1: the late afternoon of D Day and began firing in
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  Speaker 1: support of the infantry, it received deadly accurate counter battery
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  Speaker 1: fire from the Japanese. The commander of the fourth Division,
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  Speaker 1: Major General Harry Shot, came ashore at nineteen thirty and
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  Speaker 1: later recalled, needless to say, the command post during that
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  Speaker 1: time did not function very well. It was the hottest
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  Speaker 1: spot I was in during the war. Major James A. Donovan,
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  Speaker 1: executive officer of the first Battalion, six Marines, endured a
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  Speaker 1: mortar barrage that had uncanny timing and precision. We entered
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  Speaker 1: a little village called Sharon, Canoa. We paused there to
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  Speaker 1: get some water. We had been pinched out of our
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  Speaker 1: zone of action. We were washing up and resting when
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  Speaker 1: all of a sudden mortar shells started to fall on us.
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  Speaker 1: We didn't know it at the time, but in a
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  Speaker 1: tall smoke stack nearby was a Japanese forward observer. He
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  Speaker 1: was directing the fire, looking right down on us. It
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  Speaker 1: didn't occur to us that somebody could be up in
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  Speaker 1: that smokestack after all the preparatory naval gunfire and everything
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  Speaker 1: that had been fired into the area. But he was
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  Speaker 1: up there all right. He really caused a great number
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  Speaker 1: of casualties in g company. He caught us without fox holes.
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  Speaker 1: We had that false sense of security from having been
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  Speaker 1: pinched out of the line. We thought we had a
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  Speaker 1: chance to relax. We didn't, so all had to dig
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  Speaker 1: holes in a hurry. And it's hard to dig a
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  Speaker 1: hole when you're lying on your stomach, digging with your chin,
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  Speaker 1: your elbows, your knees, and your toes. It is possible
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  Speaker 1: to dig a hole that way, I found, but we
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  Speaker 1: lost far more marines than we should have before someone
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  Speaker 1: finally located that observer up in the smoke stack. I
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  Speaker 1: don't know how tall the smoke stack was, but I
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  Speaker 1: would say probably the equivalent of two or three stories high.
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  Speaker 1: From up there, he could see the entire picture, and
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  Speaker 1: he really gave it to us. The night of D
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  Speaker 1: Day saw continuous Japanese probing of the marine positions, fire
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  Speaker 1: from bypassed enemy soldiers, and an enemy attack in the
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  Speaker 1: fourth Division zone screened by a front of civilians. The
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  Speaker 1: main counter attack, however, fell on the sixth Marines on
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  Speaker 1: the far left of the marine lines. About two thousand
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  Speaker 1: Japanese started moving south from Gherapan, and by twenty two
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  Speaker 1: hundred they were ready to attack. Led by tanks. The
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  Speaker 1: charge was met by a wall of fire from thirty
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  Speaker 1: caliber machine guns, thirty seven millimeters anti tank guns, and
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  Speaker 1: M one rifles. It was too much and they fell
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  Speaker 1: back in disarray. In addition to seven hundred enemy dead,
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  Speaker 1: they left one tank. The body of the bugler who
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  Speaker 1: blew the charge was slumped over the open hatch. A
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  Speaker 1: bullet had gone straight up his bugle. One of the
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  Speaker 1: crucial assets for the marine defense that night and on
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  Speaker 1: many subsequent nights, was the illumination provided by star shells
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  Speaker 1: fired from Navy ships. Japanese records recovered later from their
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  Speaker 1: thirty first Army Message file revealed as soon as the
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  Speaker 1: night attack units go forward, the enemy points out targets
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  Speaker 1: by using the large star shells, which practically turn night
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  Speaker 1: into day. Thus the maneuvering of units is extremely difficult.
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  Speaker 1: As the Werry Marines finally tried to get some sleep
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  Speaker 1: all along their irregular line of foxholes, two things were
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  Speaker 1: very clear to them. They had forced a precarious beachhead
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  Speaker 1: in the teeth of bitter enemy fire, and a long,
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  Speaker 1: tough battle obviously lay ahead. While the thoughts of the
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  Speaker 1: riflemen focused on survival and the immediate ground in front
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  Speaker 1: of them, the senior command Echelon saw the initial success
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  Speaker 1: of the landings as a culmination of months of planning, training,
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  Speaker 1: and organization for a strategic strike on a crucial Japanese stronghold.
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  Speaker 1: The opportunity for this sprang from earlier Central Pacific victories.
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  Speaker 1: The marine conquest of Tarawa and the Gilbert Islands in
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  Speaker 1: November nineteen forty three, followed by the Joint Marine Army
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  Speaker 1: capture of Quadling and Aniwatok Atolls in the Marshall Islands
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  Speaker 1: in January to February nineteen forty four, had broken the
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  Speaker 1: outer ring of Japanese defenses and set the stage for
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  Speaker 1: succeeding operations. These earlier victories had moved up the entire
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  Speaker 1: American operational timetable for the Central Pacific by three valuable months.
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  Speaker 1: After discussions of various alternatives, such as an attack on
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  Speaker 1: the vast Japanese base at Truck, the Joint chiefs of
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  Speaker 1: Staff had settled on the next objective, the Mariana Islands.
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  Speaker 1: There were to be three principal targets, Saipan, Tinian, and Guam.
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  Speaker 1: It was a daring decision for Saipan was one thousand,
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  Speaker 1: three hundred forty four miles from the Marshalls and three thousand,
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  Speaker 1: two hundred twenty six miles from Hawaii, but only one thousand,
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  Speaker 1: two hundred fifty miles from Japan. Furthermore, the islands were
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  Speaker 1: lynch pins in the revised inner defense Line, which the
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  Speaker 1: Japanese felt they absolutely had to hold after their previous
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  Speaker 1: losses in the Central and Southwest Pacific. Saipan represented a
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  Speaker 1: whole new kind of prickly problem for an American assault
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  Speaker 1: in Instead of a small, flat coral islet in an atoll,
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  Speaker 1: it was a large island target of some seventy two
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  Speaker 1: square miles, with terrain varying from flat cane fields, to swamps,
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  Speaker 1: to precipitous cliffs, to the commanding one thousand, five hundred
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  Speaker 1: fifty four foot high mount to patchaw. Moreover, the Japanese
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  Speaker 1: considered it their own territory, in spite of the fact
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  Speaker 1: that it was legally only a mandate provided by the
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  Speaker 1: terms of the Versailles Treaty following World War One. The
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  Speaker 1: fact that Japan held the islands led it to install
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  Speaker 1: a policy of exclusion of all outsiders and the start
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  Speaker 1: of military construction forbidden by the treaty as early as
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  Speaker 1: nineteen thirty four. Attacking a formidable objective such as Saipan
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  Speaker 1: called for complex planning in much greater force than had
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  Speaker 1: previously been needed in the Central Pacific. An elaborate organization
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  Speaker 1: was therefore assembled. Admiral Raymond A. Spruance was an over
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  Speaker 1: raw command of the force detailed to invade the marianas
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  Speaker 1: as well as the naval units needed to protect them.
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  Speaker 1: Admiral Turner was in command over the amphibious Task Force,
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  Speaker 1: while Marine Lieutenant General Holland M. Smith was to direct
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  Speaker 1: the landing forces on Sipan and then on the neighboring
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  Speaker 1: island of Tinian. A similar command structure, but with different
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  Speaker 1: combat units, was set up for the attack on Guam
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  Speaker 1: to the south. The operation planned for sipan code named Forager,
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  Speaker 1: called for an assault on the western side of the island,
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  Speaker 1: with the second Marine Division on the left and the
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  Speaker 1: fourth Marine Division on the right. The Army's twenty seventh
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  Speaker 1: Infantry Division was in reserve, ready to be fed into
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  Speaker 1: the battle if needed. While each of the two Marine
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  Speaker 1: divisions had previously fought as a complete unit, the twenty
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  Speaker 1: seventh had experienced only two minor landings at Macon and
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  Speaker 1: Niva Tauk Islets for some of its regiments and battalions.
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  Speaker 1: The intensive training for these three divisions took place in
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  Speaker 1: the Hawaiian Islands, with Major General Harry Schmidt's fourth Marine
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  Speaker 1: Division on Maui, Major General Thomas E. Watson's second Marine
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  Speaker 1: Division on the Big Island of Hawaii, and Army Major
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  Speaker 1: General Ralph C. Smith's twenty seventh Infantry Division on Oahu.
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  Speaker 1: As Lieutenant Chapin described it, these months were busy, hard
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  Speaker 1: working ones. The replacements that arrived to fill the gaps
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  Speaker 1: left by Namur's casualties in the Quaduling battle had to
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  Speaker 1: be trained in all the complexities of field work. Most
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  Speaker 1: of these replacements were boys fresh from boot camp, and
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  Speaker 1: they were ignorant of everything but the Bears't essentials. Week
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  Speaker 1: after week was filled with long marches, field combat problems,
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  Speaker 1: live firing, obstacle courses, street fighting, judo, calisthenics, night in
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  Speaker 1: day attacks and defenses, etc. There were also lectures on
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  Speaker 1: the errors we'd made at Namur. Added emphasis was placed
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  Speaker 1: on attack fortified positions. We worked with demolition charges of
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  Speaker 1: dynamite TNT and C two plastic explosive, and with flamethrowers
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  Speaker 1: until everyone knew them forward and backward. The month of
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  Speaker 1: May nineteen forty four brought final maneuvers in practice landings
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  Speaker 1: for all three divisions. The operation plan looked neatly and
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  Speaker 1: efficiently organized on paper. In practice it looked different to
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  Speaker 1: that lieutenant. To us in the lower echelons, it was
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  Speaker 1: just the same old stuff that we'd been doing for
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  Speaker 1: a solid year, Filling up from compartments below decks to
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  Speaker 1: your assigned boat station, going over the side, hurrying down
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  Speaker 1: the net to beat the stopwatch into the heaving LCVP
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  Speaker 1: landing craft vehicle personnel and away. Then the interminable hours
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  Speaker 1: of circling meanwhile, getting wet, hungry, and bored. The k
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  Speaker 1: rations in a waxed box tasted like sawdust. The other
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  Speaker 1: got rougher and rougher. Some of the men got seasick,
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  Speaker 1: and all of us were soaking wet and cold. Finally
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  Speaker 1: we headed back to our transport and clambered up the
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  Speaker 1: cargo net with a sigh of relief. The next day
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  Speaker 1: it was the same thing all over again, except that
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  Speaker 1: this time we went ashore. This too had an awfully
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  Speaker 1: familiar feeling, wading through the surf, getting your only pair
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  Speaker 1: of shoes and socks, ringing wet, and then onto the beach,
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  Speaker 1: where all the sand migrated inside your shoes. A series
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: of conflicting and confusing orders flowed down through the chain
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  Speaker 1: of command. Halt and move on, halt and move on,
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  Speaker 1: Go here, go there. The vast attack force now gathered
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  Speaker 1: at Pearl Harbor. Although there were unfortunate accidents to some
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: of the landing craft, over eight hundred ships set out
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  Speaker 1: in the naval component, some for direct fire support of
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: the troops, some for transport, and some the fast Carrier
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  Speaker 1: Task Force to make advance airstrikes and then to deal
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  Speaker 1: with the attack which the landing probably would incite from
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: the Japanese Navy. Holland Smith's five amphibious Corps totaling seventy
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: one thousand, thirty four marine and army troops sailed with
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  Speaker 1: some slow elements. Starting on twenty five May. The specialized
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: craft for the ground forces ran the gamut of acronym varieties.
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: After staging through the marshals, the armada headed for the target, Saipan.
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  Speaker 1: At See, the troops got their final briefings maps of
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: the island based on recent American aerial and submarine photographs
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  Speaker 1: of hitherto secret island, estimates of fifteen thousand enemy troops,
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  Speaker 1: which turned out in the end to be thirty thousand,
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: under the command of Lieutenant General Yoshitsugu Sato and Vice
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: Admiral Chiuchi Nagumu, and detailed attack plans for two marine divisions. Simultaneously,
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: the American fast carriers planes began on a lets in June.
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  Speaker 1: They're softening up bombing combined with attacks on Japanese land
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  Speaker 1: based air. Two days later, the main enemy fleet headed
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: for the Marianas for a decisive battle. Then on fourteen June,
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  Speaker 1: the old battleships of the US Navy reborn from the
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  Speaker 1: Pearl Harbor disaster, moved in close to Saipan to pound
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  Speaker 1: the Japanese defenses with their heavy guns. That night, underwater
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  Speaker 1: demolition teams made their dangerous swimming close to the assault
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  Speaker 1: beaches to check on reefs, channels, mines, and beach defenses.
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  Speaker 1: All was now in readiness for the landings. The bloody
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: business of D Day was, as the troops well realized,
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  Speaker 1: only a beginning for the long, grueling fight which began
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: the next morning. End of chapter one Chapter two of
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: Breaching the Marianas The Battle for Saipan by John C. Chapin.
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Sidebars Lieutenant
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: General Holland M. Smith. Lieutenant General Holland M. Smith, one
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  Speaker 1: of the most famous Marines of World War II, was
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  Speaker 1: born in eighteen eighty two. He was commissioned a second
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: lieutenant in nineteen oh five. There followed a series of
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: overseas assignments in the Philippines, Nicaragua, Santo Domingo, and with
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: the Marine Brigade in France and World War One. Beginning
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: in the early nineteen thirties, he became increasingly focused on
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: the development of amphibious warfare concepts. Soon after the outbreak
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: of war with Japan in nineteen forty one, he came
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: to a crucial position, command of all Marines in the
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: Central Pacific. As another Marine officer later described him, he
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  Speaker 1: was of medium height, perhaps five feet nine or ten inches,
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  Speaker 1: and somewhat paunchy. His once black hair had turned gray.
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: His once close trim mustache was somewhat scraggly. He wore
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: steel rimmed glasses, and he smoked cigars incessantly. There was
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: one other feature that characterized him, a ferocious temper that
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: earned him the nickname Howland mad Smith, although his close
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: friends knew him as Hoake. This characteristic would usually emerge
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: as irritation at what he felt were substandard performances. One
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: famous example of this was his relief of an army
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: general in Saipan, a huge inner service uproar erupted less
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: than two years later. After forty one years of active service,
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: during which he was awarded four Distinguished Service Medals for
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: his leadership in four successive successful amphibious operations, he retired
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: in April nineteen forty six as a four star general.
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: He died in January nineteen sixty six the second Marine Division.
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: The origins of this division lay in the activation of
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: the second Marine Brigade as part of the Fleet Marine
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: Force on one July nineteen thirty six. A year later,
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: the brigade deployed to Shanghai, China, returning in nineteen thirty
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: eight to San Diego, California. On one February nineteen forty one,
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: the unit was redesignated as the second Marine Division. Its
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: component regiments, the second, sixth, eighth, and tenth Marines, brought
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: with them impressive histories of service in Vera, Cruz, Mexico,
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: World War One, in France and the Caribbean. In World
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: War II, elements of the division served in Iceland, in
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: Hawaii during the Attack on Pearl Harbor and on Samoa,
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: then the full division in the Guadalcanal Campaign, followed by
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: the bloody Assault of Tarawa, for which it was awarded
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: a Presidential Unit Citation, and on to Saipan, Tinian and Okinawa.
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: The Second Marine Division patch, the Second Marine Division shoulder
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: patch was worn on Sipan. Designed and approved in late
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: nineteen forty three, The insignia is in the official Marine
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: Corps colors of scarlet and gold. The insignia displays a
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: spearhead shaped scarlet background with a hand holding aloft a
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: lighted gold torch. A scarlet numeral II is superimposed upon
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: the torch, and the torch and hand are encircled by
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: five white stars in the arrangement of the Southern Cross constellation.
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: Under this the division's first World War II combat took
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: place at Guadalcanal, the fourth Marine Division. This division had
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: its roots in the shifting and redesignation of several other units.
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: The twenty third Marines began as infantry detached from the
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: third Division in February ninethnineteen forty three, the same month
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: that an artillery battalion became the genesis of the fourteenth
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: Marines and engineer elements of the nineteenth Marines formed the
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: start of the twentieth Marines. In March, the twenty fourth
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: Marines was organized, and then in May it was split
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: in two to supply the men for the twenty fifth Marines.
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: This wartime shuffling provided the major building blocks for a
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: new division. The units were originally separated, however, with the
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: twenty fourth Marines and a variety of reinforcing units, engineer, artillery, medical,
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: motor transport, special weapons tanks, etc. At Camp Pendleton in California.
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: The rest of the units were at Camp Lejune, North Carolina.
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: This east coast echelon moved to Pendleton by train and
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: also by ship through the Panama Canal in July and
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: August nineteen forty three. All the units were now finally together,
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: and thus the fourth Marine Division was formerly activated on
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: fourteen August nineteen forty three. After intensive training, it shipped
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: out on thirteen January nineteen forty four, and in thirteen
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: short months made four major assault landings roy Number Saipan,
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: Tinian and ewu Jima, suffering over seventeen thousand casualties. It
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: was awarded two Presidential Unit Citations in a Navy Unit
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: Commendation and then deactivated twenty eight November nineteen forty five.
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: In February nineteen sixty six, however, it was reactivated as
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: the lead division in the Marine Corps Reserve, and it
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: furnished essential units to Desert Storm in the liberation of Kuwait.
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: The Fourth Marine Division patch worn on Saipan, it had
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: a gold four on a scarlet background, the official colors
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: of the U. S. Marine Corps. This emblem was designed
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: by Staff Sergeant John Fabian, a member of the division's
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: Public affairs office. Before the March campaign, his commanding officer
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: was astonished to find that when the division attacked Roy
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: Islet in Quadulin Atoll in the Marshall Islands January nineteen
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: forty four, the layout of the runways on the Japanese
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: airstrip were an exact replica The Army twenty seventh Infantry Division.
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: This division, before the National Emergency was declared in nineteen
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: forty was a State of New York national Guard organization.
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: It contained many famous old regiments, some dating from the
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: Revolutionary and civil wars. In World War II, the division's
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: one hundred sixty fifth Infantry had been the renowned Old
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: sixty ninth New York Infantry, also known as the Fighting
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: sixty ninth and Fighting Irish of World War IE fame.
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: The first unit of this regiment was organized in seventeen
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: seventy five. As the war in Europe grew in intensity,
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: the Select of Service Act gave the President the power
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: to federalize the National Guard. Thus, the twenty seventh Division
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: was activated by President Roosevelt on twenty five September nineteen
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: forty It was first sent to Fort mcclell and, Alabama,
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: for intensive training, and then in December nineteen forty one,
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: to California. On twenty eight February nineteen forty two, the
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: first elements of the division sailed from San Francisco and
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: landed at the town of Hilo on the Big Island
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: of Hawaii. During the next two months, the division units
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: were scattered throughout the island for local defense and training.
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: That was the start of the longest wartime overseas service
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: of any National Guard division in the United States Army.
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: In the fall of nineteen forty two, the division was
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: directed to assemble on the island of Oahu. Major General
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: Ralph C. Smith took over command at that time. Then,
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: in Midsummer nineteen forty three, orders came to prepare the
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: one hundred sixty fifth Infantry Regiment, reinforced by a battalion
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: of the one hundred fifth Infantry and an artillery battalion
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: for an assault to capture the coral atoll of Macon
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: in the Gilbert Islands chain. Following a four day battle
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: there in November nineteen forty three, the division furnished a
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: battalion of the one hundred sixth Infantry for the unopposed
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: occupation of Majuro in the Marshall Islands in January nineteen
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: forty four. The final prelude to Saipan for units of
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: the twenty seventh came the next month, two battalions of
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: the one hundred six fought at a Nivatak Atoll in
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: the Marshals. After the division struggle on Saipan, it went
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: on to the Battle for Okinawa in April nineteen forty five,
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: and then to the occupation of Japan in September nineteen
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: forty five. The final chapter came in December nineteen forty six,
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: when the twenty seventh Infantry Division was deactivated. End of
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: chapter two two Chapter three of Reaching the Marianas the
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: Battle for Saipan by John C. Chapin. This LibriVox recording
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: is in the public domain D plus one to D
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: plus two sixteen to seventeen June. The next two days
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: saw the marine attack resumed all along the Irregular front.
• 29:29
  Speaker 1: The second Division, after reorganizing, pushed its six marines northeast
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: toward Mount Tipopoli, its second marines north towards Gerapan, and
• 29:39
  Speaker 1: its eighth marines east into the swamps around Lake Sussupi.
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: Direct contact with the fourth Division was finally established. Close
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: combat was the norm. There were no exceptions for battalion commanders.
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: Lieutenant Colonel Justice M. Chambers, commanding the third Battalion, twenty
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: fifth Marines in the fourth Division, later described two of
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: his experiences. On d plus one, we came to a
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: big bomb crater. The soil had all been thrown up,
• 30:09
  Speaker 1: and around it there were three marines protected by the dirt.
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: I called up to one of these marines and asked
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: him what was going on. One of them said that
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: there was an anti aircraft gun right down in front
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: of them. I crawled up within two or three feet
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: at the top of the dirt and raised up on
• 30:25
  Speaker 1: my hands to see what was down there. Within about
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: twenty five to thirty yards, I was looking right into
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: the muzzle of an eighty eight millimeter anti aircraft anti
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: tank gun. They had swung the damn thing around and
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: it was pointing right up the hill. I was looking
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: right down its muzzle. I dropped as hard as I could,
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: and then the damn gun went off. The shell tore
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: through the far side of the bomb crater, came through
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: the dirt on the near side of the bomb crater
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: where I was. It took the head off the marine
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: with whom I had been talking. The shell went on
• 30:59
  Speaker 1: back and land about twenty or thirty feet beyond us,
• 31:02
  Speaker 1: where it detonated. Later that same day he had another
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: close call we had as we had advanced uncovered various
• 31:10
  Speaker 1: Japanese supply caches. One of these was an ammunition dump.
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: About fifteen oh five, the Japs blew the large dump
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: near where I was standing and caused numerous concussion casualties,
• 31:22
  Speaker 1: including myself. I don't remember a thing about it. The
• 31:26
  Speaker 1: boys tell me that when the blast went off, I
• 31:29
  Speaker 1: was thrown right up in the air and I turned
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: a complete flip and then landed on my face. On
• 31:35
  Speaker 1: the night of D plus one, the Japanese again launched
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: a major attack on the sixth Marines, this time with
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: forty four tanks. Major Donovan later described the wild clash.
• 31:47
  Speaker 1: The battle evolved itself into a madhouse of noise, tracers,
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: and flashing lights. As tanks were hit and set of fire,
• 31:55
  Speaker 1: they silhouetted other tanks coming out of the flickering shadows
• 31:59
  Speaker 1: to the front or already on top of the squads.
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: The Marines poured in their fire, now with two point
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: three six inch rocket launchers, grenade launchers, self propelled seventy
• 32:10
  Speaker 1: five millimeters guns, and their own artillery and tanks adding
• 32:14
  Speaker 1: to the din. When dawn broke, it was over and
• 32:18
  Speaker 1: the shattered hulks of twenty four Japanese tanks lay there,
• 32:21
  Speaker 1: smoking and the fourth Division zone of action. The left regiment,
• 32:26
  Speaker 1: the twenty third, also had a difficult time in the
• 32:29
  Speaker 1: Susupi Swamp. The twenty fourth and twenty fifth drove inland
• 32:34
  Speaker 1: to the east towards the key objective of Veslito Airfield.
• 32:38
  Speaker 1: With a danger looming of over extended lines, Lieutenant General
• 32:42
  Speaker 1: Holland Smith pulled the one hundred sixty fifth Infantry out
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: of his reserve the Army's twenty seventh Infantry Division, and
• 32:49
  Speaker 1: sent it ashore on d plus two to reinforce the
• 32:52
  Speaker 1: fourth Marine Division. This same day, Major General Ralph Smith
• 32:57
  Speaker 1: came ashore to take command of the additional Army units
• 33:00
  Speaker 1: of his twenty seventh Division. As they landed, with the
• 33:04
  Speaker 1: one hundred sixty fifth Infantry on its right flank and
• 33:07
  Speaker 1: the twenty fourth Marines to its left, The twenty fifth
• 33:10
  Speaker 1: Marines was poised on the north edge of Aslito Airfield,
• 33:14
  Speaker 1: laid on D plus two. Its patrols found the strip
• 33:18
  Speaker 1: was abandoned, but the one hundred sixty fifth assigned to
• 33:21
  Speaker 1: capture it decided to wait until the next day. The
• 33:25
  Speaker 1: division had finally approached the one line, except on the
• 33:29
  Speaker 1: left flank, where contact with the second Division was again broken,
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: this time near Mount Finasusu. This same day, seventeen June,
• 33:38
  Speaker 1: saw a crucial command decision by Admiral Spruance. With the
• 33:43
  Speaker 1: powerful main Japanese fleet now approaching Saipan, he ordered his
• 33:47
  Speaker 1: fast carriers to meet the enemy's ships, and that night
• 33:50
  Speaker 1: withdrew his transports and supply ships from their offshore support
• 33:54
  Speaker 1: positions to a safe distance from the Japanese threats. Major
• 34:03
  Speaker 1: General Harry Schmidt. Major General Harry Schmidt was the leader
• 34:08
  Speaker 1: of the fourth Marine Division in the assaults at roy
• 34:11
  Speaker 1: Na Murr in the Marshall Islands and then at Saipan
• 34:14
  Speaker 1: in the Marianas. Born in eighteen eighty six, he entered
• 34:18
  Speaker 1: the Corps as a second lieutenant in nineteen o nine.
• 34:21
  Speaker 1: By extraordinary coincidence, his first foreign duty was at Guam
• 34:25
  Speaker 1: and the Marianas. Islands, an area he would return to
• 34:29
  Speaker 1: thirty three years later under vastly different circumstances. The Philippines, Mexico, Cuba,
• 34:36
  Speaker 1: and Nicaragua, where he was awarded a Navy Cross second
• 34:40
  Speaker 1: only to the Medal of Honor, Interspersed with repeated stays
• 34:43
  Speaker 1: in China, were the marks of a diverse overseas career.
• 34:48
  Speaker 1: At home, there were staff schools, paymaster duties, and a
• 34:51
  Speaker 1: tour as assistant commandant. By the end of World War II,
• 34:56
  Speaker 1: he had been decorated with three Distinguished Service Medals. Retiring
• 35:00
  Speaker 1: in nineteen forty eight after thirty nine years of service,
• 35:04
  Speaker 1: he was advanced to the four star rank of general.
• 35:07
  Speaker 1: His death came in nineteen sixty eight. A contemporary described
• 35:12
  Speaker 1: him as a Buddha, a typical old time marine. He'd
• 35:15
  Speaker 1: been in China. He was regulation old establishment, a regular marine.
• 35:22
  Speaker 1: Major General Thomas E. Watson. Major General Thomas E. Watson,
• 35:28
  Speaker 1: as a Brigadier general and commander of Tactical Group I,
• 35:32
  Speaker 1: built on the twenty second Marines, led his men in
• 35:35
  Speaker 1: the conquest of niwatok Atoll in the Marshall Islands in
• 35:39
  Speaker 1: February nineteen forty four. For this, he was awarded a
• 35:43
  Speaker 1: Distinguished Service Medal, and the twenty second Marines was awarded
• 35:47
  Speaker 1: the Navy Unit Commendation. He took command of the second
• 35:51
  Speaker 1: Marine Division in April nineteen forty four. In June, he
• 35:55
  Speaker 1: directed his men in the conquest of Saipan and then Tinian,
• 35:59
  Speaker 1: receiving a second and DSM. Retirement came in nineteen fifty
• 36:04
  Speaker 1: and he died in March nineteen sixty six. As a
• 36:07
  Speaker 1: lieutenant general with the birth date of eighteen ninety two
• 36:11
  Speaker 1: and an enlistment date of nineteen twelve, he fully qualified
• 36:15
  Speaker 1: as a member of the Old Corps after being commissioned
• 36:18
  Speaker 1: in nineteen sixteen. He served in a variety of marine
• 36:21
  Speaker 1: assignments in the Caribbean, China, and the United States. Given
• 36:26
  Speaker 1: the nickname Terrible Tommy, Watson's proverbial impatience later was characterized
• 36:32
  Speaker 1: by General Wallace M. Green Junior as follows. He would
• 36:35
  Speaker 1: not tolerate for one minute stupidity, laziness, professional incompetence, or
• 36:41
  Speaker 1: failure in leadership. His temper in correcting these failings could
• 36:45
  Speaker 1: be fiery and monumental, as both Marine and Army officers
• 36:49
  Speaker 1: found out at Aniwatak and later Sipan Divisional reorganization. The
• 36:57
  Speaker 1: training before Sipan was based on a new table of organization.
• 37:01
  Speaker 1: For the marine divisions, their size was reduced by twenty
• 37:05
  Speaker 1: five hundred men to seventeen thoy four hundred sixty five.
• 37:10
  Speaker 1: The artillery regiments each lost one of its seventy five
• 37:13
  Speaker 1: millimeter pack howitzer battalions, but the infantry retained its previous units.
• 37:20
  Speaker 1: Rifle squads, however, were reorganized to total thirteen using three
• 37:24
  Speaker 1: fire teams of four men, with each team built around
• 37:27
  Speaker 1: a Browning automatic rifle bar, a fifty percent increase in
• 37:31
  Speaker 1: the division of this valuable weapon. The number of sixty
• 37:35
  Speaker 1: millimeter mortars in the division table of equipment was similarly expanded,
• 37:39
  Speaker 1: while the number of flame throwers grew tenfold. In addition,
• 37:44
  Speaker 1: the tank battalions were able to replace their antiquated light
• 37:48
  Speaker 1: tanks with mediums. End of chapter three, Chapter four of
• 38:00
  Speaker 1: Breaching the Marianas the Battle for Saipan by John C. Chapin.
• 38:05
  Speaker 1: This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. D plus three,
• 38:10
  Speaker 1: eighteen June. When the infantry men Ashore woke the next morning,
• 38:16
  Speaker 1: they looked out in amazement at the empty ocean, and
• 38:18
  Speaker 1: a wave of uneasy questions raced through their minds. Where
• 38:22
  Speaker 1: in the hell are our ships? What about food and
• 38:25
  Speaker 1: ammunition we've got to have? Will we get back the
• 38:28
  Speaker 1: daytime naval supporting gunfire and also the starshell illumination. The
• 38:33
  Speaker 1: men in frontline combat had no way of knowing that
• 38:36
  Speaker 1: over thirty three thousand tons of cargo had already been unloaded.
• 38:40
  Speaker 1: When the ships withdrew, both Marine divisions went on the attack,
• 38:44
  Speaker 1: while the one hundred fifth Infantry joined the one hundred
• 38:47
  Speaker 1: sixty fifth on the far right flank, enabling Ralph Smith
• 38:51
  Speaker 1: to put his twenty seventh Division into motion to occupy
• 38:54
  Speaker 1: Aslito Airfield and attack along the southern coast that same morning,
• 39:00
  Speaker 1: eighteen June. The fourth Marine division attack objective was the
• 39:03
  Speaker 1: seizure of the three line. This would mean reaching the
• 39:07
  Speaker 1: east coast of Saipan and splitting into the Japanese forces first. However,
• 39:13
  Speaker 1: the twenty third Marines, reinforced by a battalion of the
• 39:16
  Speaker 1: twenty fourth Marines, had to seize the portion of the
• 39:19
  Speaker 1: two line in its zone. This was to be the
• 39:22
  Speaker 1: division's line of departure. The entire division, with three infantry
• 39:27
  Speaker 1: regiments abreast, jumped off at ten forty. At thirteen forty,
• 39:32
  Speaker 1: the twenty fifth Marines had reached three. The twenty fourth
• 39:36
  Speaker 1: Marines had tank led Japanese counterattacks on both flanks, but
• 39:40
  Speaker 1: was able to reach three before dark. The twenty third Marines, however,
• 39:45
  Speaker 1: was stopped by intense enemy mortar and machine gun fire
• 39:48
  Speaker 1: coming from southeast of Lake Sussupi, right on the boundary
• 39:52
  Speaker 1: line between the two Marine divisions, making it unclear which
• 39:56
  Speaker 1: division had responsibility for wiping out these enemy positions. At
• 40:01
  Speaker 1: the same time, it was impossible to fire artillery on
• 40:04
  Speaker 1: them for fear of hitting friendly troops. As a result,
• 40:08
  Speaker 1: the twenty third Marine suffered heavy casualties. So by the
• 40:13
  Speaker 1: end of the day, although all of the fourth Marine
• 40:15
  Speaker 1: Division's regiments were in contact, a gap still existed between
• 40:19
  Speaker 1: the two marine divisions. The bizarre becomes commonplace in combat.
• 40:25
  Speaker 1: For instance, one of the twenty third Marines seventy five
• 40:28
  Speaker 1: millimeters half tracks fired into a Japanese cave that day,
• 40:32
  Speaker 1: and a dense cloud of noxious fumes came pouring out.
• 40:36
  Speaker 1: A gas alarm was sounded. This meant serious trouble for
• 40:40
  Speaker 1: all the riflemen had long since jettisoned their burdensome gas masks.
• 40:45
  Speaker 1: Relief flooded through the men as it was established that
• 40:48
  Speaker 1: the fumes were not poisonous and came from picric acid
• 40:52
  Speaker 1: the Japanese had stored in the cave. Over in the
• 40:55
  Speaker 1: second division zone, the eighth Marine saw some bitter fighting
• 40:59
  Speaker 1: over Hill two four, a heavily defended coconut grove, required
• 41:03
  Speaker 1: saturation fire from the artillery of the tenth Marines before
• 41:07
  Speaker 1: the riflemen could smash their way in and clean out
• 41:10
  Speaker 1: the grove. The price for the two marine divisions had
• 41:13
  Speaker 1: been heavy. By the night of D plus three, they
• 41:16
  Speaker 1: had been bled by more than five thousand casualties D
• 41:21
  Speaker 1: plus four to D plus seven nineteen to twenty two June.
• 41:27
  Speaker 1: The most critical event of nineteen June, and perhaps the
• 41:30
  Speaker 1: most important of the whole Saipan campaign, took place at sea,
• 41:35
  Speaker 1: well out of sight of the infantrymen ashore. The opposing
• 41:38
  Speaker 1: carrier task forces clashed in a gigantic air battle. When
• 41:43
  Speaker 1: it was over that night, the Japanese had suffered the
• 41:46
  Speaker 1: catastrophic loss of three hundred and thirty out of four
• 41:49
  Speaker 1: hundred thirty planes they had launched. Exultant in US Navy
• 41:53
  Speaker 1: flyers labeled it the Great Marianas Turkey Choot with the
• 41:58
  Speaker 1: help of American submarines and a additional carrier plane attacks.
• 42:01
  Speaker 1: The next day, the Japanese attempt to relieve Saipan by
• 42:05
  Speaker 1: a decisive naval victory was smashed. As an official account
• 42:09
  Speaker 1: summarized the impact ashore, the eventual doom of the enemy
• 42:13
  Speaker 1: garrison was assured, and the American supply ships were able
• 42:17
  Speaker 1: to return offshore to unload their vital cargoes. During the
• 42:22
  Speaker 1: four day span of D plus four to D plus seven,
• 42:25
  Speaker 1: the one hundred fifth Infantry moved slowly along the south
• 42:28
  Speaker 1: coast and then joined the one hundred sixty fifth Infantry
• 42:31
  Speaker 1: and sealing off the diehard Japanese survivors in Nafetan point
• 42:35
  Speaker 1: in the southeastern corner of the island. Once the enemy
• 42:39
  Speaker 1: was penned in, the one hundred fifth was assigned to
• 42:42
  Speaker 1: eliminate him. The rest of the twenty seventh Division, now
• 42:46
  Speaker 1: including the one hundred sixth Infantry, was ordered north to
• 42:49
  Speaker 1: be the core reserve. This period nineteen to twenty two
• 42:54
  Speaker 1: June marked a total shift in direction for the American troops,
• 42:58
  Speaker 1: pivoting on the second Marines on the far left flank
• 43:01
  Speaker 1: along the western shore. The other marine regiment swung around
• 43:05
  Speaker 1: from their drive, which had reached the east coast, to
• 43:07
  Speaker 1: face north with their right flank on Majestian Bay. On
• 43:12
  Speaker 1: twenty June, the fourth Division confronted a key objective. Lieutenant
• 43:17
  Speaker 1: Chapin had a ringside seat. We had a perfect chance
• 43:20
  Speaker 1: to watch a battalion of the twenty fifth making an attack.
• 43:24
  Speaker 1: It was in action about a quarter of a mile
• 43:26
  Speaker 1: from us, and the whole panorama was spread out before us.
• 43:30
  Speaker 1: They were assaulting Hill five hundred, the dominant terrain feature
• 43:33
  Speaker 1: of the whole area, and it was apparent that they
• 43:36
  Speaker 1: were running into a solid wall of JAP fire, But
• 43:40
  Speaker 1: using artillery, time fire, smoke and tanks, they finally stormed
• 43:44
  Speaker 1: the top and took it. The use of those supporting
• 43:47
  Speaker 1: arms provided a magnificent spectacle. From our vantage point, we
• 43:51
  Speaker 1: could see the time fire bursting in cave entrances and
• 43:55
  Speaker 1: moving down the face of the hill as precisely as
• 43:58
  Speaker 1: if it were going down a step last. On the
• 44:00
  Speaker 1: lower levels, the flamethrower tanks were spouting their napalm jets
• 44:05
  Speaker 1: upward into other caves. It was quite a sight. Over
• 44:09
  Speaker 1: in the area of the second Division, the eighth Marines
• 44:12
  Speaker 1: wheeled from facing east to attack northward into the foothills
• 44:15
  Speaker 1: leading to Mount Tapachaw. The Marine divisions were now facing
• 44:20
  Speaker 1: two major problems. First, their drive north was confronted by
• 44:24
  Speaker 1: General Sato's main line of defense running west to east
• 44:28
  Speaker 1: across the island. Secondly, the terrain into which the attack
• 44:32
  Speaker 1: had to go was a nightmare of ravines, caves, hills,
• 44:36
  Speaker 1: valleys and cliffs, all fortified and defended to the death
• 44:39
  Speaker 1: by the Japanese. June twenty one brought a respite for
• 44:43
  Speaker 1: the front line troops. D plus six was enjoyed by all.
• 44:47
  Speaker 1: For a change, We rested on our positions, caught up
• 44:51
  Speaker 1: on sorely needed sleep, got some water which had been
• 44:55
  Speaker 1: conspicuous by its absence, and even had a good hot
• 44:58
  Speaker 1: meal for We got our first ten to one rations.
• 45:02
  Speaker 1: Did they ever taste good to our hungry palettes, sure
• 45:05
  Speaker 1: fitted as they were with K rations. Simultaneously, intensive preparations
• 45:10
  Speaker 1: were made for a coordinated attack by both marine divisions.
• 45:14
  Speaker 1: The next morning. A total of eighteen artillery battalions were
• 45:18
  Speaker 1: masked for supporting fire. Combat efficiency was officially rated as
• 45:23
  Speaker 1: very satisfactory, in spite of a sobering total of six
• 45:27
  Speaker 1: thy one hundred sixty five casualties. The following day saw
• 45:31
  Speaker 1: the Marines attack all along the line. The six Marines
• 45:35
  Speaker 1: overram parts of Mount Tipupali, while the eighth Marines worked
• 45:39
  Speaker 1: its painful way into the maze of ridges and gullies
• 45:42
  Speaker 1: that formed the foothills of Mount Tapachaw. On the right,
• 45:46
  Speaker 1: the twenty fourth Marines was forced into the messy business
• 45:49
  Speaker 1: of blasting caves honeycombed along Majestian Bay. In one of
• 45:54
  Speaker 1: the mortar platoons, a weird encounter took place, as described
• 45:58
  Speaker 1: at the time to this author by the participant, First
• 46:01
  Speaker 1: Lieutenant Joseph J. Cushing. I was bending over one of
• 46:05
  Speaker 1: my mortars, checking the lay of it when I felt
• 46:07
  Speaker 1: a tap on my shoulder and a guy asked me, Hey, Mac,
• 46:11
  Speaker 1: are you a Marine. I turned around and there was
• 46:14
  Speaker 1: a JAP officer standing about a foot from me. I
• 46:17
  Speaker 1: dropped to the ground, speechless with amazement, and my men
• 46:21
  Speaker 1: riddled the JAP from head to toe. On the left
• 46:24
  Speaker 1: of the fourth division, the twenty fifth Marines made a
• 46:26
  Speaker 1: major advance of twenty four hundred yards. The forward lines
• 46:30
  Speaker 1: were now reaching an area where the Cagman Peninsula jutted
• 46:33
  Speaker 1: out to the east. This resulted in a substantially increased
• 46:37
  Speaker 1: frontage that the two Marine divisions could not properly cover.
• 46:41
  Speaker 1: To deal with this, Holland Smith decided to commit his reserve,
• 46:45
  Speaker 1: the twenty seventh Infantry Division, to the center of the line,
• 46:49
  Speaker 1: leaving just one battalion of the one hundred fifth Infantry
• 46:52
  Speaker 1: Way back in the rear to continue its long drawn
• 46:55
  Speaker 1: out attempt to eliminate the Japanese pocket on bypassed Nafutan Point.
• 47:01
  Speaker 1: This day D plus seven was also marked by the
• 47:04
  Speaker 1: arrival of P forty seven Thunderbolts of the nineteenth Fighter
• 47:08
  Speaker 1: Squadron US Army Air Forces, which landed at Aslito Field.
• 47:13
  Speaker 1: They had been launched from Navy escort carriers. When landed,
• 47:17
  Speaker 1: they were fitted with launching racks for rockets by ground
• 47:20
  Speaker 1: crews who had come in earlier. Later that day, eight
• 47:24
  Speaker 1: planes took off on their first support mission of the
• 47:27
  Speaker 1: Saipan campaign. Only two Marine Observation Squadrons VM two and
• 47:32
  Speaker 1: VMO four were involved in the Battle for Saipan, but
• 47:35
  Speaker 1: they provided invaluable artillery spotting for the two Marine divisions.
• 47:40
  Speaker 1: While these developments were taking place in the upper echelons
• 47:43
  Speaker 1: down in the rock bottom basic life of infantry platoons.
• 47:47
  Speaker 1: The days of relentless combat pressure were exemplified by their
• 47:50
  Speaker 1: impact on the constant duties and high stress levels on
• 47:54
  Speaker 1: a platoon commander. I made a final inspection of the
• 47:57
  Speaker 1: platoon position and then sacked in exact exhausted. When it
• 48:01
  Speaker 1: came my turn to stand watch, it took every last
• 48:04
  Speaker 1: reserve of willpower and strength to get up and go
• 48:06
  Speaker 1: on duty. Then, for hours I alternated between fighting off
• 48:10
  Speaker 1: my sleepiness and sweating out the noises and movements that
• 48:13
  Speaker 1: were all around us. After a while, I spotted a
• 48:17
  Speaker 1: shape darker than the rest of the surrounding shadows. It
• 48:21
  Speaker 1: was the size of a man's head. I watched it
• 48:23
  Speaker 1: for a long time, nerves on edge, finger on my
• 48:27
  Speaker 1: car being trigger. Finally it seemed to move. I fired
• 48:31
  Speaker 1: a shot. Nothing happened. It would have been suicide to
• 48:35
  Speaker 1: go over and investigate in that darkness and jungle. My
• 48:38
  Speaker 1: own men would have shot me in a second. So
• 48:41
  Speaker 1: when it came time for my relief, I pointed out
• 48:44
  Speaker 1: the suspicious object to the next man, told him to
• 48:47
  Speaker 1: watch it closely, and collapsed into a dead, tired sleep.
• 48:51
  Speaker 1: When dawn came on d plus eight. I was awakened,
• 48:54
  Speaker 1: and the first thing I did was look over where
• 48:56
  Speaker 1: I'd shot on the night before. There, lying on top
• 49:00
  Speaker 1: of a rock was the gas mask of one of
• 49:02
  Speaker 1: my men. The owner had been sleeping right beside it.
• 49:06
  Speaker 1: It was a miracle he hadn't been hit. The tremendous
• 49:09
  Speaker 1: strain of the previous night did funny things to your mind.
• 49:14
  Speaker 1: Sidebar marine artillery regiments, the tenth Marines and the fourteenth
• 49:21
  Speaker 1: Marine supported the second and fourth Marine Divisions, respectively. They
• 49:26
  Speaker 1: had each had a significant reorganization before Saipan. In early spring,
• 49:31
  Speaker 1: the fifth battalion in each changed its designation. They were
• 49:35
  Speaker 1: redesignated the second and fourth one hundred fifty five millimeter
• 49:39
  Speaker 1: Artillery Battalions Corps Artillery, but administratively attached to the tenth
• 49:44
  Speaker 1: and fourteenth Marines. Thus, the ten and fourteenth Marines each
• 49:48
  Speaker 1: contained two seventy five millimeter pack Howarzer battalions first and second,
• 49:53
  Speaker 1: two one hundred five millimeter Howarzer battalions Third and fourth,
• 49:58
  Speaker 1: and a one hundred fifty five millimeters artillery battalion armed
• 50:01
  Speaker 1: with the new M one one hundred fifty five millimeter howitzers,
• 50:05
  Speaker 1: the first to be received by the Marine Corps in
• 50:07
  Speaker 1: the Pacific end of chapter four, Chapter five, Part one
• 50:18
  Speaker 1: of Breaching the Marianas the Battle for Saipan by John C. Chapin.
• 50:23
  Speaker 1: This LibriVox recording is in the public domain D plus
• 50:29
  Speaker 1: eight to D plus fifteen twenty three to thirty June,
• 50:34
  Speaker 1: Complications of a serious nature arose in the execution of
• 50:38
  Speaker 1: the battle plan for twenty three June. The battalion of
• 50:42
  Speaker 1: the one hundred fifth Infantry still had not cleared out
• 50:44
  Speaker 1: nafetan point. There were semantic and communications differences between the
• 50:49
  Speaker 1: two Smith generals as to orders about who would do
• 50:52
  Speaker 1: what and when. The one hundred sixth and one hundred
• 50:55
  Speaker 1: sixty fifth Infantry got all tangled up in themselves during
• 50:58
  Speaker 1: the march to take over the center portion of the
• 51:01
  Speaker 1: American lines and were too late to jump off in
• 51:03
  Speaker 1: the attack, thus delaying the attacks of the Marines. When
• 51:08
  Speaker 1: the army regiments did move out, they found that the
• 51:11
  Speaker 1: rugged terrain in their sector and the determined enemy in
• 51:14
  Speaker 1: camouflaged weapons positions in caves of the steep slope leading
• 51:18
  Speaker 1: up to Mount Tapachaw made forward progress slow and difficult.
• 51:23
  Speaker 1: The twenty seventh Infantry division was stalled. The Corps commander,
• 51:27
  Speaker 1: Holland Smith, was very displeased with this situation. It had
• 51:32
  Speaker 1: started with the difficulties experienced in getting that division ashore.
• 51:36
  Speaker 1: It was exacerbated by the time it was taking to
• 51:39
  Speaker 1: secure Nafetin Point and the mix up in orders there.
• 51:43
  Speaker 1: Now the advancing marine divisions were getting infiltration and infilating
• 51:47
  Speaker 1: fire on their flanks because of the twenty seventh lack
• 51:50
  Speaker 1: of progress. Accordingly, Lieutenant General Holland Smith met that afternoon
• 51:56
  Speaker 1: with Major General Sanderford Jarman U S Army, who was
• 52:00
  Speaker 1: slated to be the island garrison commander, and asked him
• 52:03
  Speaker 1: to press Major General Ralph Smith for much more aggressive
• 52:07
  Speaker 1: action by the twenty seventh. Jarman later stated, I talked
• 52:12
  Speaker 1: to General Ralph Smith and explained the situation as I
• 52:15
  Speaker 1: saw it, and that I felt from reports from the
• 52:17
  Speaker 1: core commander that his division was not carrying its full share.
• 52:21
  Speaker 1: He immediately replied that such was true, that he was
• 52:25
  Speaker 1: in no way satisfied with what his regimental commanders had
• 52:28
  Speaker 1: done during the day, and that he had been with
• 52:30
  Speaker 1: them and had pointed out to them the situation. He
• 52:33
  Speaker 1: further indicated to me that he was going to be
• 52:36
  Speaker 1: present tomorrow, twenty four June with his division when it
• 52:39
  Speaker 1: made its jump off, and he would personally see to
• 52:42
  Speaker 1: it that the division went forward. He appreciated the situation
• 52:46
  Speaker 1: and thanked me for coming to see him, and stated
• 52:48
  Speaker 1: that if he didn't take his division forward tomorrow he
• 52:50
  Speaker 1: should be relieved. This blunt meeting was followed the next
• 52:55
  Speaker 1: morning d plus nine by an even blunter message from
• 52:58
  Speaker 1: Holland Smith to Ralph's commanding General is highly displeased with
• 53:03
  Speaker 1: the failure of the twenty seventh Division on June twenty
• 53:06
  Speaker 1: third to launch its attack as ordered at king hour,
• 53:09
  Speaker 1: and the lack of offensive action displayed by the division
• 53:12
  Speaker 1: in its failure to advance and seize Objective five when
• 53:15
  Speaker 1: opposed by only small arms and mortar fire. The failure
• 53:19
  Speaker 1: of the twenty seventh to advance in its zone of
• 53:21
  Speaker 1: action resulted in the halting of attacks by the fourth
• 53:24
  Speaker 1: and second Marine Divisions on the flanks of the twenty seventh.
• 53:27
  Speaker 1: In order to prevent dangerous exposure of their interior flanks.
• 53:32
  Speaker 1: It is directed that immediate steps be taken to cause
• 53:35
  Speaker 1: the twenty seventh Division to advance and seize the objective
• 53:38
  Speaker 1: as ordered. These objectives were given dramatic names by the
• 53:42
  Speaker 1: army regiments Hell's Pocket, Death Valley and Purple Heart Ridge.
• 53:48
  Speaker 1: It was certainly true that the terrain was perfect for
• 53:51
  Speaker 1: the dug in Japanese defenders. Visibility from the slopes of
• 53:55
  Speaker 1: Mount Tapachaw and from the ridge gave them fields of
• 53:58
  Speaker 1: fire to rake any attack up valley. Holland Smith didn't
• 54:02
  Speaker 1: fully recognize the severity of the opposition, and by the
• 54:06
  Speaker 1: end of the day the one hundred sixth Infantry had
• 54:09
  Speaker 1: gained little, while the one hundred sixty fifth Infantry had
• 54:12
  Speaker 1: been thrown back onto the original line of departure. Meanwhile,
• 54:17
  Speaker 1: the second Marine Division on the left was painfully slugging
• 54:20
  Speaker 1: its way forward in the tortuous environs around Mount Topachaw.
• 54:25
  Speaker 1: The fourth Marine Division on the right pivoted east, driving
• 54:29
  Speaker 1: fast into the Cagman Peninsula. There the ground was level
• 54:34
  Speaker 1: a plus, but covered with cane fields, a big minus,
• 54:38
  Speaker 1: as the rifle companies well knew. A platoon leader remarked,
• 54:43
  Speaker 1: the terrain here consisted of countless cane fields, one after another,
• 54:47
  Speaker 1: and it was the same old story, and every field
• 54:50
  Speaker 1: the company would lose a man or two It was
• 54:53
  Speaker 1: wonderfully quieting to the nerves to start into a growth
• 54:57
  Speaker 1: of head high cane and wonder who would not be
• 54:59
  Speaker 1: coming out on the other side. The Jap snipers who
• 55:03
  Speaker 1: were doing the damage were dug in so deeply and
• 55:05
  Speaker 1: camouflaged so well that it was impossible to locate them
• 55:09
  Speaker 1: before they fired, And then it was too late. You
• 55:12
  Speaker 1: were right on top of them and they had nailed
• 55:15
  Speaker 1: another one of your men, or maybe you. Then there
• 55:18
  Speaker 1: was always the next cane field up ahead. Some of
• 55:21
  Speaker 1: the fields had been burnt out by the napalm bombing
• 55:24
  Speaker 1: of our planes. This gave us greatly increased observation as
• 55:28
  Speaker 1: we went through them, but clouds of choking dust arose
• 55:31
  Speaker 1: from the ashes to plague us and dirty our weapons.
• 55:35
  Speaker 1: With water so scarce, one of our chief sources of
• 55:38
  Speaker 1: liquid sustenance was sugar cane juice. We'd whack off a
• 55:42
  Speaker 1: segment of the cane with our combat knives, then chew
• 55:45
  Speaker 1: and suck on it till only the dry fibers were left.
• 55:49
  Speaker 1: And these burnt out fields, we weren't even able to
• 55:51
  Speaker 1: do this, as the cane was spoiled and tasted lousy,
• 55:56
  Speaker 1: along with the death toll in the cane fields came
• 55:58
  Speaker 1: the physical demands placed on the troops by the hot
• 56:01
  Speaker 1: tropical climate. Lieutenant Shapin noted small human issues that loomed
• 56:06
  Speaker 1: large in the minds of the assault troops. All this time,
• 56:10
  Speaker 1: the sun was broiling down on top of us. Our
• 56:13
  Speaker 1: canteens had been empty for hours. Everyone was absolutely parched.
• 56:18
  Speaker 1: Finally we did stop as the effects of heat, exhaustion,
• 56:22
  Speaker 1: and lack of water started to become apparent. Our company
• 56:25
  Speaker 1: commander arranged for some water to be brought up to
• 56:28
  Speaker 1: our position. When the cans arrived, everyone crowded thirstily around
• 56:33
  Speaker 1: and we had to order the men to disperse. Then
• 56:36
  Speaker 1: each platoon leader rationed out a can of the precious
• 56:39
  Speaker 1: liquid amongst his men. As was the age old marine tradition,
• 56:43
  Speaker 1: we waited till all our men had their share before
• 56:46
  Speaker 1: we took ours. The water was lukewarm, rusty, and oily
• 56:50
  Speaker 1: as it came out of the cans, but it still
• 56:53
  Speaker 1: tasted like nectar. While these local events transpired on the
• 56:57
  Speaker 1: front lines, a major upheaval was taking place in the rear,
• 57:02
  Speaker 1: Seeing that the corps line would be bent back some
• 57:04
  Speaker 1: fifteen hundred yards in the zone of the twenty seventh
• 57:07
  Speaker 1: Infantry Division. Holland Smith had had enough. He went to
• 57:11
  Speaker 1: see Admiral Spruance and Turner to obtain permission to relieve
• 57:15
  Speaker 1: Ralph Smith of command of his division. After reviewing the
• 57:19
  Speaker 1: Marine general's deeply felt criticism of the twenty seventh Infantry
• 57:23
  Speaker 1: Division's defective performance, the admirals agreed to the requested change,
• 57:28
  Speaker 1: and Ralph Smith was superseded by Major General Jarman. On
• 57:31
  Speaker 1: twenty four June. A furer arose with bitter inner service recriminations,
• 57:37
  Speaker 1: and the flames were fanned by lurid press reports. Holland
• 57:42
  Speaker 1: Smith summarized his feelings three days after the relief, according
• 57:47
  Speaker 1: to a unit history the twenty seventh Infantry Division in
• 57:50
  Speaker 1: World War II, he stated, the twenty seventh Division won't fight,
• 57:54
  Speaker 1: and Ralph Smith will not make them fight. Army generals
• 57:58
  Speaker 1: were furious, and in Hawaii, Lieutenant General Robert Richardson, commander
• 58:03
  Speaker 1: of the U. S Army in the Pacific usr PAC,
• 58:06
  Speaker 1: convened an Army Board of Inquiry over the matter. The
• 58:10
  Speaker 1: issue reached the highest military levels in Washington, while the
• 58:15
  Speaker 1: Army's Deputy chief of Staff, Lieutenant General Joseph T. McNarney,
• 58:19
  Speaker 1: reviewed the matter, he found some faults with Holland Smith,
• 58:23
  Speaker 1: but then went on to say that Ralph Smith failed
• 58:25
  Speaker 1: to exact a performance expected from a well trained division,
• 58:29
  Speaker 1: as evidenced by poor leadership on the part of some
• 58:31
  Speaker 1: regimental and battalion commanders, undue hesitancy to bypass snipers with
• 58:36
  Speaker 1: a tendency to alibi because of lack of reserves to
• 58:40
  Speaker 1: mop up, poor march discipline, and lack of reconnaissance. The
• 58:45
  Speaker 1: Army's official summary United States Army in World War II
• 58:49
  Speaker 1: the War in the Pacific Campaign in the Marianas, published
• 58:52
  Speaker 1: fifteen years after the operation, attributed some errors to Holland
• 58:57
  Speaker 1: Smith's handling of a real problem, and it also gave
• 59:00
  Speaker 1: full recognition to the difficult terrain and bitter resistance that
• 59:03
  Speaker 1: the army regiments faced. The history stated that there is
• 59:08
  Speaker 1: no doubt that the one hundred sixth Infantry Regiment of
• 59:11
  Speaker 1: the twenty seventh Division was laid in jumping off in
• 59:14
  Speaker 1: the attack on the morning of twenty three June, even
• 59:17
  Speaker 1: though not so late as Holland Smith charged on the
• 59:20
  Speaker 1: twenty third and again on the twenty fourth. The Army
• 59:23
  Speaker 1: troops attacking Death Valley were slow and faltering in their advance.
• 59:27
  Speaker 1: According to the testimony of General Jarman, who took over
• 59:30
  Speaker 1: the division from Ralph Smith, the unit leaders of the
• 59:33
  Speaker 1: one hundred sixth Infantry were hesitant and apparently confused. Although
• 59:38
  Speaker 1: the army troops and Death Valley sustained fairly heavy casualties,
• 59:41
  Speaker 1: the two Marine divisions on the flanks suffered greater ones.
• 59:45
  Speaker 1: Yet the Marines made considerable advances, while the one hundred
• 59:48
  Speaker 1: sixty fifth Infantry registered only small gains, the one hundred
• 59:52
  Speaker 1: sixth Infantry almost none at all. No matter what the
• 59:55
  Speaker 1: extenuating circumstances were, and there were several the conclusion, it
• 1:00:00
  Speaker 1: seems inescapable that Holland Smith had good reason to be
• 1:00:03
  Speaker 1: disappointed with the performance of the twenty seventh Infantry Division
• 1:00:06
  Speaker 1: on the two days in question. Back where the conflict
• 1:00:10
  Speaker 1: was with the Japanese, the fourth Marine Division had overrun
• 1:00:13
  Speaker 1: most of the Cagman Peninsula by the night of d
• 1:00:16
  Speaker 1: plus ten. The shoreline cliffs provoked sobering thoughts and a
• 1:00:21
  Speaker 1: young officer in the twenty fourth Marines. We were close
• 1:00:24
  Speaker 1: to the northern shoreline of the peninsula, and right there
• 1:00:27
  Speaker 1: the Japs had dug a big emplacement. They hadn't had
• 1:00:30
  Speaker 1: time to finish it, but we could see that it
• 1:00:33
  Speaker 1: was situated so as to fire right down the beach line.
• 1:00:36
  Speaker 1: Any troops landing on that beach would have received a
• 1:00:39
  Speaker 1: terrible infilating fire from this gun position. Not far from
• 1:00:43
  Speaker 1: the emplacement were the guns that had been destined to
• 1:00:46
  Speaker 1: go into it, huge five inch dual purpose naval guns.
• 1:00:50
  Speaker 1: They were deadly things, and I was glad the enemy
• 1:00:53
  Speaker 1: had never gotten them into action. Now they lay there
• 1:00:56
  Speaker 1: on their wooden skids, thickly coated with grease, wrapped in burnt, impotent.
• 1:01:02
  Speaker 1: The unfinished state of the Japanese defenses was in fact
• 1:01:05
  Speaker 1: a critical factor in the final American victory on Saipan.
• 1:01:10
  Speaker 1: The blockading success of far ranging submarines of the U. S.
• 1:01:14
  Speaker 1: Navy had drastically reduced the supplies of cement and other
• 1:01:17
  Speaker 1: construction materials destined for elaborate Saipan defenses, as well as
• 1:01:22
  Speaker 1: the number of troop ships carrying Japanese reinforcements to the island. Then,
• 1:01:27
  Speaker 1: the quick success of the Marshals campaign had speeded up
• 1:01:31
  Speaker 1: the Marianas thrust by three months. This was decisive for
• 1:01:35
  Speaker 1: one prisoner of war later said that had the American
• 1:01:38
  Speaker 1: assault come three months later, the island would have been impregnable.
• 1:01:43
  Speaker 1: The fourth Marine Division encountered more than canefields in the
• 1:01:46
  Speaker 1: Cagman Peninsula. The cliffs near the ocean were studded with caves.
• 1:01:51
  Speaker 1: A twenty year old private first class in Company e
• 1:01:54
  Speaker 1: second Battalion, twenty third Marines, Robert F. Graf, described the
• 1:01:59
  Speaker 1: marine system for dealing with these and the others that
• 1:02:02
  Speaker 1: were found all through the bitter campaign. The firepower was intense,
• 1:02:06
  Speaker 1: and we were working our way up to where the
• 1:02:08
  Speaker 1: shots originated. Quite often there would be multi cave openings,
• 1:02:13
  Speaker 1: each protecting another laying down heavy cover fire. Our specialists
• 1:02:17
  Speaker 1: would advance to near the mouth of the cave. A
• 1:02:20
  Speaker 1: satchel charge would then be heaved into the mouth of
• 1:02:23
  Speaker 1: the cave, followed by a loud blast as the dynamite exploded.
• 1:02:28
  Speaker 1: Other times it might be grenades thrown inside the cave,
• 1:02:31
  Speaker 1: both fragment type which exploded sending bits of metal all
• 1:02:34
  Speaker 1: throughout the cave, and other times white phosphorus grenades that
• 1:02:38
  Speaker 1: burned the enemy. Also, the flamethrower was used, sending a
• 1:02:42
  Speaker 1: sheet of flame into the cave, burning anyone that was
• 1:02:45
  Speaker 1: in its path. Screams could be heard, and on occasions
• 1:02:48
  Speaker 1: the enemy would emerge from the caves near the entrance.
• 1:02:51
  Speaker 1: We would call upon the tanks and these monsters would
• 1:02:54
  Speaker 1: get in real close and pump shells into the opening.
• 1:02:58
  Speaker 1: Graf went on to picture the u S use of
• 1:03:00
  Speaker 1: flame throwing tanks the ultimate weapon for dealing with the
• 1:03:03
  Speaker 1: enemy deep in his hideouts. He continued, some of the
• 1:03:07
  Speaker 1: caves had artillery mounted on tracks that could be wheeled
• 1:03:10
  Speaker 1: to the entrance, fired and pulled back unobserved, there were
• 1:03:15
  Speaker 1: caves with reinforced metal doors that protected them from our artillery.
• 1:03:19
  Speaker 1: Perhaps a direct hit from a sixteen inch naval gun
• 1:03:22
  Speaker 1: could have blasted it open, but nothing else. A fellow
• 1:03:26
  Speaker 1: rifleman from Graft's company told him this story. You should
• 1:03:30
  Speaker 1: go up and see the huge cave that I was
• 1:03:32
  Speaker 1: just in. It was large and contained a completely equipped
• 1:03:36
  Speaker 1: operating room, all the medical equipment, surgical tools, etc. The
• 1:03:41
  Speaker 1: tools were made from German surgical steel. When the battalion
• 1:03:45
  Speaker 1: and regimental doctors were told about it, they almost went
• 1:03:48
  Speaker 1: crazy over finding such excellent equipment. Each doctor wanted some
• 1:03:52
  Speaker 1: tools for his use. End of Chapter five, Part one.
• 1:04:03
  Speaker 1: Chapter five, Part two of Breaching the Marianas the Battle
• 1:04:07
  Speaker 1: for Saipan by John C. Chapin. This LibriVox recording is
• 1:04:11
  Speaker 1: in the public domain D plus eight to D plus
• 1:04:16
  Speaker 1: fifteen twenty three to thirty June. These attacks on caves
• 1:04:22
  Speaker 1: were a tricky business because of orders not to kill
• 1:04:25
  Speaker 1: any civilians who were also inside, many of them hiding
• 1:04:28
  Speaker 1: from the fighting. Graf recounted his experiences further throughout the campaign.
• 1:04:34
  Speaker 1: We were taking prisoners, seldom were they Japanese soldiers, instead
• 1:04:39
  Speaker 1: Korean or Chamorro laborers, both men and women, who mostly
• 1:04:43
  Speaker 1: worked in the sugarcane fields and processing plants. Chamorros were
• 1:04:48
  Speaker 1: natives of the islands, while the Koreans, of course, were
• 1:04:51
  Speaker 1: brought over as forced labor. Approaching us hands up and
• 1:04:56
  Speaker 1: smiling and bowing, the Koreans would say, in understandable bl
• 1:05:00
  Speaker 1: broken English, me Korean, not Japanese. Some Japanese civilians were
• 1:05:05
  Speaker 1: also captured. The Japanese tradition was that the male members
• 1:05:08
  Speaker 1: of the family were the dominant members. Several times, when
• 1:05:12
  Speaker 1: we tried to feed newly captured women and children first,
• 1:05:15
  Speaker 1: the men would shove them aside and demand to be
• 1:05:18
  Speaker 1: first for rations. A few raps to the chest with
• 1:05:21
  Speaker 1: the rifle butt soon cured them of that habit. As
• 1:05:24
  Speaker 1: the sick, scared, and often starving civilians would emerge from
• 1:05:28
  Speaker 1: their hideouts, there were many pitiful scenes. One sad incident
• 1:05:32
  Speaker 1: I recall was when a captured civilian Japanese woman came
• 1:05:36
  Speaker 1: up to me. She was crying and when she got
• 1:05:38
  Speaker 1: close to me, she started hitting me on the arm
• 1:05:41
  Speaker 1: and pointing to my pack. I did not know what
• 1:05:44
  Speaker 1: she wanted until an interpreter came over and explained that
• 1:05:47
  Speaker 1: she wanted some food and water for her dead child.
• 1:05:50
  Speaker 1: She pointed to a wicker basket that contained her dead infant.
• 1:05:54
  Speaker 1: I gave her what she requested, and she placed the
• 1:05:56
  Speaker 1: food and water in the basket so that the child
• 1:05:59
  Speaker 1: could have nerves on the way to meet the baby's ancestors.
• 1:06:03
  Speaker 1: Physical conditions of many were pitiful. Every illness that we
• 1:06:07
  Speaker 1: had been briefed on was observed, leprosy, dengay, fever, yaws,
• 1:06:12
  Speaker 1: in many cases of elephantiasis. Most of them were skeleton
• 1:06:16
  Speaker 1: thin and they had no nourishment for many days. Many
• 1:06:20
  Speaker 1: were suffering from shock caused by the shelling and bombing,
• 1:06:23
  Speaker 1: and fright because they did not have the vaguest idea
• 1:06:26
  Speaker 1: as to what we would do to them, civilians caught
• 1:06:29
  Speaker 1: in a war that was not of their making. One
• 1:06:32
  Speaker 1: of the captured persons in pressed graphs so very much
• 1:06:35
  Speaker 1: that the memory was vivid. Many years later, a Japanese woman,
• 1:06:40
  Speaker 1: obviously an aristocrat, probably a wife or mistress of a
• 1:06:44
  Speaker 1: high ranking officer, was captured. She was dressed in traditional
• 1:06:48
  Speaker 1: Japanese clothing, a brilliant kimono, a broad sash around the waist,
• 1:06:53
  Speaker 1: hair combed, lacquered, and spotlessly clean. Although, as Graf remarked,
• 1:07:00
  Speaker 1: she knew not what her fate would be in the
• 1:07:02
  Speaker 1: hands of us, the barbarians, she stood there straight, proud,
• 1:07:06
  Speaker 1: and seemingly unafraid. To me, she seemed like a queen.
• 1:07:11
  Speaker 1: Over on the west side of Saipan, the second Marine
• 1:07:13
  Speaker 1: Division had a memorable day on twenty five June. Ever
• 1:07:17
  Speaker 1: since the landing, the towering peak of Mount Tapacha had
• 1:07:21
  Speaker 1: swarmed with Japanese artillery spotters, looking straight down on every
• 1:07:25
  Speaker 1: Marine move and calling in precisely accurate fire on the
• 1:07:28
  Speaker 1: American troops. Now, however, in a series of brilliant tactical maneuvers,
• 1:07:35
  Speaker 1: with a battalion of the eighth Marines clawing up the
• 1:07:37
  Speaker 1: eastern slope a battalion of the twenty ninth Marines, then
• 1:07:41
  Speaker 1: attached to the eighth Marines, was able to infiltrate around
• 1:07:44
  Speaker 1: the right flank in single file behind a screen of
• 1:07:47
  Speaker 1: smoke and gain the dominating peak without the loss of
• 1:07:50
  Speaker 1: a single man. Meanwhile, back at Nafetan Point, the battalion
• 1:07:55
  Speaker 1: of the one hundred fifth Infantry assigned to clean out
• 1:07:58
  Speaker 1: the bypass Japanese pockets had had continuous problems. The official
• 1:08:04
  Speaker 1: Army account commented, the attack of the infantry companies was
• 1:08:08
  Speaker 1: frequently uncoordinated. Units repeatedly withdrew from advanced positions to their
• 1:08:12
  Speaker 1: previous night's bivouax. They repeatedly yielded ground they had gained.
• 1:08:18
  Speaker 1: The stalemate came to a climax on the night of
• 1:08:20
  Speaker 1: d plus eleven, approximately five hundred of the trapped Japanese.
• 1:08:25
  Speaker 1: All the able bodied men who remained passed undetected or
• 1:08:30
  Speaker 1: sneaked through, as the Army later reported the lines of
• 1:08:33
  Speaker 1: the encircling battalion. The enemy headed for nearby Aslito Airfield,
• 1:08:38
  Speaker 1: and there was chaos initially there. One P forty seven
• 1:08:43
  Speaker 1: plane was destroyed and two others damaged. The Japanese quickly
• 1:08:47
  Speaker 1: continued on to Hill five hundred, hoping to reunite there
• 1:08:51
  Speaker 1: with their main forces. What they found instead was the
• 1:08:54
  Speaker 1: twenty fifth Marines resting in reserve with an artillery battalion
• 1:08:58
  Speaker 1: of the fourteenth Marines. The escaping Japanese were finished off
• 1:09:03
  Speaker 1: the following morning on the front lines in the center
• 1:09:06
  Speaker 1: of the island. General Jarman, now in temporary command of
• 1:09:10
  Speaker 1: the twenty seventh Infantry Division, took direct action that same
• 1:09:14
  Speaker 1: day d plus eleven. An inspection by two of his
• 1:09:18
  Speaker 1: senior officers of the near edge of Death Valley revealed
• 1:09:21
  Speaker 1: that battalions of the one hundred fifth Infantry were standing
• 1:09:24
  Speaker 1: still when there was no reason why they should not
• 1:09:27
  Speaker 1: move forward. That did it. Jarman relieved the colonel commanding
• 1:09:31
  Speaker 1: the one hundred and six, then replaced him with his
• 1:09:33
  Speaker 1: division chief of staff. Nineteen other officers of the twenty
• 1:09:37
  Speaker 1: seventh Infantry Division were also relieved after the Saipan battle
• 1:09:41
  Speaker 1: was over, although only one of them had commanded a
• 1:09:44
  Speaker 1: unit in battle. While these developments were taking place in
• 1:09:48
  Speaker 1: the upper echelons, the junior officers in the front lines
• 1:09:51
  Speaker 1: had their own more immediate daily concerns. As the author recalled,
• 1:09:57
  Speaker 1: I had worked out a pre sleep routine which I
• 1:09:59
  Speaker 1: followed every night without fail. Before I lay down, I
• 1:10:03
  Speaker 1: would make careful mental notes of where the Company Command
• 1:10:06
  Speaker 1: Post CP was and where my squad leader's foxholes were.
• 1:10:11
  Speaker 1: Then I would work out the rotation of the watches
• 1:10:13
  Speaker 1: with my CP group. Next came a check of my
• 1:10:16
  Speaker 1: car being to make sure it was in perfect operating condition.
• 1:10:20
  Speaker 1: When all this had been done, I'd lie down, adjusting
• 1:10:23
  Speaker 1: my helmet to serve as a pillow. Last, and most important,
• 1:10:28
  Speaker 1: was the placing of my weapons. My car being lay
• 1:10:31
  Speaker 1: across my body so my hand would fall naturally on
• 1:10:34
  Speaker 1: the trigger. My combat knife was stuck in the ground
• 1:10:37
  Speaker 1: where my right hand lay, and my grenades were carefully
• 1:10:40
  Speaker 1: arrayed at my left hand. Then I'd drift off to sleep.
• 1:10:45
  Speaker 1: For the next several days, the twenty seventh Infantry Division
• 1:10:48
  Speaker 1: probed and maneuvered and attacked at Hell's Pocket, Death Valley
• 1:10:52
  Speaker 1: and Purple Heart Bridge. On twenty eight June, Army Major
• 1:10:57
  Speaker 1: General George W. Griner, who had been quickly sent from
• 1:11:00
  Speaker 1: Hawaii upon the relief of Ralph Smith, took over command
• 1:11:04
  Speaker 1: of the division so Jarman could revert to his previous
• 1:11:07
  Speaker 1: assignment as Garrison Force commander the one hundred sixth marked
• 1:11:12
  Speaker 1: the day by eradicating the last enemy resistance in the
• 1:11:15
  Speaker 1: spot that had cost so much grief Hell's pocket. The
• 1:11:19
  Speaker 1: second Marine Division meanwhile inch northward toward the town of Gherapan,
• 1:11:24
  Speaker 1: meeting ferocious enemy resistance. Tipopolli was now in the six
• 1:11:29
  Speaker 1: Marines hands. The eighth Marines encountered four small hills strongly
• 1:11:34
  Speaker 1: defended by the enemy. Because of their size in comparison
• 1:11:38
  Speaker 1: with Mount Tapachaw, they were called Pimples. Each was named
• 1:11:43
  Speaker 1: after a battalion commander. Painfully, one by one, they were
• 1:11:48
  Speaker 1: assaulted and taken over the next few days. Near Gherapan,
• 1:11:52
  Speaker 1: about five hundred yards to the front of the second
• 1:11:55
  Speaker 1: Marine's lines, an enemy platoon on what was named Flame
• 1:11:58
  Speaker 1: Tree Hill was well dug in utilizing the cave's mass
• 1:12:02
  Speaker 1: by the bright foliage on the hill. The morning of
• 1:12:06
  Speaker 1: twenty nine June, a heavy artillery barrage, as well as
• 1:12:09
  Speaker 1: machine gun and mortar fire, raked the slopes of the hill.
• 1:12:13
  Speaker 1: Then friendly mortars laid a smokescreen. This was followed by
• 1:12:17
  Speaker 1: a pause and all firing. As hoped, the enemy raced
• 1:12:21
  Speaker 1: from their caves to repel the expected attack. Suddenly, the
• 1:12:25
  Speaker 1: mortars lobbed high explosives on the hill. Artillery shells equipped
• 1:12:30
  Speaker 1: with time fuses, and machine gun and rifle fire laid
• 1:12:33
  Speaker 1: down another heavy barrage. The enemy, caught in the open
• 1:12:38
  Speaker 1: was wiped out almost to a man. To the right,
• 1:12:42
  Speaker 1: the six Marines mopped up its area and now held
• 1:12:44
  Speaker 1: the most commanding ground, with all three of its battalions
• 1:12:48
  Speaker 1: in favorable position. In fact, since replacement drafts had not
• 1:12:53
  Speaker 1: yet arrived, the second Marine Division had all three of
• 1:12:56
  Speaker 1: its infantry regiments deployed online. Thus it was necessary for
• 1:13:01
  Speaker 1: its commander, Major General Watson to organize a division reserved
• 1:13:05
  Speaker 1: from support units. The pressure on manpower was further illustrated
• 1:13:10
  Speaker 1: by the fact that, in this difficult terrain, eight stretcher
• 1:13:14
  Speaker 1: bearers were needed to evacuate one wounded marine. In addition,
• 1:13:19
  Speaker 1: there was, of course, the deep seated psychological and physical
• 1:13:22
  Speaker 1: pressure from the constant day after day close combat. Everyone
• 1:13:28
  Speaker 1: on the island felt the weight of fatigue. Settling down
• 1:13:31
  Speaker 1: on the fourth Division front, the drive forward was easier,
• 1:13:35
  Speaker 1: but its left flank had to be bent sharply backward
• 1:13:38
  Speaker 1: toward the twenty seventh Infantry Division. By nightfall on twenty
• 1:13:42
  Speaker 1: eight June, the Marine Division's lines formed an inverted l,
• 1:13:46
  Speaker 1: with the twenty third Marines and part of the one
• 1:13:48
  Speaker 1: hundred sixty fifth Infantry facing north, while the rest of
• 1:13:52
  Speaker 1: the army regiment and two battalions of the twenty fourth
• 1:13:54
  Speaker 1: Marines faced west. This strange alignment was a focus of
• 1:13:59
  Speaker 1: attention when each battalion was issued its nightly overlay from
• 1:14:02
  Speaker 1: Corps headquarters, showing the lines of the Corps at that time,
• 1:14:06
  Speaker 1: so that friendly fire from artillery and supporting Navy destroyers
• 1:14:09
  Speaker 1: would not hit friendly troops. Once again, enemy planes raided,
• 1:14:14
  Speaker 1: hitting both the airfield and anchorage. As usual, enemy night
• 1:14:19
  Speaker 1: patrols were active. The end of the Saga of Nafatan
• 1:14:24
  Speaker 1: point way to the rear had come the day before
• 1:14:27
  Speaker 1: twenty seven June. The Japanese breakout had left almost no
• 1:14:32
  Speaker 1: fighting men behind there. Accordingly, the battalion of the one
• 1:14:36
  Speaker 1: hundred fifth Infantry at last overran the area after and
• 1:14:39
  Speaker 1: enduring a final Banzai charge. The soldiers found over five
• 1:14:44
  Speaker 1: hundred enemy bodies in the area, some killed in the
• 1:14:47
  Speaker 1: charge and some by their own hand. D plus fifteen
• 1:14:51
  Speaker 1: thirty June marked a good day for the army. After
• 1:14:55
  Speaker 1: fierce fighting, the twenty seventh Infantry Division finally burst through
• 1:14:59
  Speaker 1: death Vas, captured Purple heart Ridge, and drew alongside the
• 1:15:03
  Speaker 1: eighth Marines. Holland Smith gave due recognition no one had
• 1:15:09
  Speaker 1: any tougher job to do. The gaps on the flanks
• 1:15:12
  Speaker 1: with the Second and fourth Marine Divisions were now closed.
• 1:15:16
  Speaker 1: In doing so, the Army had sustained most of the
• 1:15:20
  Speaker 1: one eight hundred thirty six casualties inflicted upon it since
• 1:15:23
  Speaker 1: d Day. The Fourth Marine Division, however, had suffered four
• 1:15:28
  Speaker 1: four hundred and fifty four casualties to date, while the
• 1:15:31
  Speaker 1: Second Marine Division had lost four four hundred eighty eight men.
• 1:15:36
  Speaker 1: The Corps front now ran from Gherapan past the four
• 1:15:39
  Speaker 1: Pimples to the fourth Marine Division's left boundary. Here it
• 1:15:44
  Speaker 1: ran sharply northward to Hill seven hundred. From there it
• 1:15:48
  Speaker 1: ran to the east coast. Central Sipan was in American hands.
• 1:15:53
  Speaker 1: Most of the replenishment supplies had been unloaded, the enemy
• 1:15:57
  Speaker 1: had begun withdrawing to his pre plan final defensive lines.
• 1:16:02
  Speaker 1: The Army's official history summed up these days costly victories.
• 1:16:06
  Speaker 1: This way, the Battle for Central Saipan can be said
• 1:16:09
  Speaker 1: to have come to a successful end. End of Chapter five,
• 1:16:14
  Speaker 1: Part two, Chapter six of Breaching the Marianas The Battle
• 1:16:24
  Speaker 1: for Saipan by John C. Chapin. This LibriVox recording is
• 1:16:28
  Speaker 1: in the public domain. D. Sixteen to d nineteen one
• 1:16:34
  Speaker 1: to four July. Now Holland Smith turned his attention to
• 1:16:39
  Speaker 1: operation plans to drive through the northern third of Saipan
• 1:16:43
  Speaker 1: and bring the campaign to a successful, albeit a bloody conclusion.
• 1:16:48
  Speaker 1: His next objective line ran from Garapan up the west
• 1:16:52
  Speaker 1: coast to Tennepeg, and then eastward across the island past
• 1:16:57
  Speaker 1: Tennepeg near Flores Point. The second Marine Division would be
• 1:17:00
  Speaker 1: pinched out and become the core reserve That would leave
• 1:17:04
  Speaker 1: the twenty seventh Infantry Division and the fourth Marine Division
• 1:17:08
  Speaker 1: to assault General Sato's final defenses. The easiest assignment during
• 1:17:13
  Speaker 1: this period fell to the fourth Marine Division on the
• 1:17:15
  Speaker 1: east coast. It advanced thirty five hundred yards against light opposition,
• 1:17:21
  Speaker 1: veering to its left, ending on four July with its
• 1:17:24
  Speaker 1: left flank some two thousand yards north of Tennepag right
• 1:17:27
  Speaker 1: on the west coast. As usual, what looked like light
• 1:17:32
  Speaker 1: opposition to General Schmidt and his divisional CP looked very
• 1:17:36
  Speaker 1: different to that tired, tense Lieutenant who described a painfully
• 1:17:40
  Speaker 1: typical rifle platoon situation on d plus sixteen. I took
• 1:17:44
  Speaker 1: the rest of my men and we proceeded very cautiously
• 1:17:47
  Speaker 1: to comb the area. It was a terrible place. The
• 1:17:51
  Speaker 1: rocks and creepers were so interwoven that they formed an
• 1:17:54
  Speaker 1: almost impenetrable barrier. Visibility was limited to a few feet.
• 1:17:59
  Speaker 1: After what had happened into my wounded sergeant, the atmosphere
• 1:18:02
  Speaker 1: of the place was very tense. We located some rock
• 1:18:06
  Speaker 1: crevices we thought the Japs might be in, and I
• 1:18:09
  Speaker 1: tried calling to them in our Japanese combat phrases to
• 1:18:12
  Speaker 1: come out and surrender. This proved fruitless, and it let
• 1:18:16
  Speaker 1: the Japs know exactly where we were while we had
• 1:18:19
  Speaker 1: no idea of their location. Then I tried to maneuver
• 1:18:22
  Speaker 1: our flamethrower man into a position where he could give
• 1:18:25
  Speaker 1: the crevice a blast without becoming a sitting duck target himself.
• 1:18:29
  Speaker 1: Because of the configuration of the ground, this proved impossible.
• 1:18:34
  Speaker 1: Right about now, there was a shot off to our left.
• 1:18:37
  Speaker 1: We started over to investigate, and all hell broke loose.
• 1:18:41
  Speaker 1: A Jap automatic weapon opened up right beside us. We
• 1:18:44
  Speaker 1: all hit the deck automatically. No one was hit for
• 1:18:48
  Speaker 1: a change, but we couldn't spot the exact location of
• 1:18:51
  Speaker 1: the weapon. As usual, I called to the man who'd
• 1:18:54
  Speaker 1: been over on the left flank, no answer what had
• 1:18:58
  Speaker 1: happened to him. At this point, more enemy fire spattered
• 1:19:01
  Speaker 1: around the small group of Marines. The source seemed to
• 1:19:05
  Speaker 1: be right on top of them, so the lieutenant told
• 1:19:08
  Speaker 1: two of his men to throw some grenades over into
• 1:19:10
  Speaker 1: the area. He thought the fire was coming from about
• 1:19:13
  Speaker 1: twenty feet away. Under cover of that, the Marines worked
• 1:19:17
  Speaker 1: a rifleman forward a couple of yards to try to
• 1:19:20
  Speaker 1: get a beat on the Japanese, but he was unable
• 1:19:22
  Speaker 1: to spot them, and the enemy fire seemed to grow heavier.
• 1:19:26
  Speaker 1: Now the lieutenant began to get very worried. Here we
• 1:19:30
  Speaker 1: were completely isolated from the rest of the company. Only
• 1:19:33
  Speaker 1: half a dozen of us left. Our flank man had disappeared,
• 1:19:37
  Speaker 1: and now we were getting heavy fire from an uncertain
• 1:19:39
  Speaker 1: number of Japs who were right in our middle, in
• 1:19:42
  Speaker 1: whom we couldn't locate. Some of the men were getting
• 1:19:44
  Speaker 1: a little jittery, I could see, so I tried to
• 1:19:47
  Speaker 1: appear as calm and as cool as I could, Although
• 1:19:50
  Speaker 1: I didn't feel that way inside. I decided to move
• 1:19:53
  Speaker 1: back to the other end of the hilltop and report
• 1:19:55
  Speaker 1: to our company commander on the phone. If I could
• 1:19:58
  Speaker 1: get his okay, I would then contact another one of
• 1:20:01
  Speaker 1: our platoons for reinforcements and we could move back into
• 1:20:05
  Speaker 1: this area and clean out the Jab pocket. Pressing hard
• 1:20:08
  Speaker 1: against the Japanese defenses constantly resulted in these kinds of
• 1:20:12
  Speaker 1: face to face encounters. Three days later, d plus nineteen,
• 1:20:17
  Speaker 1: Lieutenant Colonel Chambers observed a memorable act of bravery. Three
• 1:20:21
  Speaker 1: of our tanks came along the road. They made the
• 1:20:24
  Speaker 1: turn to the south and then took the wrong turn,
• 1:20:27
  Speaker 1: which took them into the high ground and into a
• 1:20:29
  Speaker 1: cave area where there were literally hundreds of Japs who
• 1:20:33
  Speaker 1: swarmed all over the tanks. We were watching and heard
• 1:20:36
  Speaker 1: on the radio that the lieutenant who commanded the tanks
• 1:20:39
  Speaker 1: was hollering for help, and I don't blame him. They
• 1:20:42
  Speaker 1: had formed a triangle and covered each other with the
• 1:20:45
  Speaker 1: coaxial guns as best as they could. The commanding officer
• 1:20:49
  Speaker 1: of the first Battalion, twenty fifth Marines, Lieutenant Colonel Hollis U.
• 1:20:54
  Speaker 1: Musty Mustaine, was nearest the crisis. Chambers went on. Mustage.
• 1:21:00
  Speaker 1: Ayine's executive officer was a regular major by the name
• 1:21:03
  Speaker 1: of Fenton Me. Musty and I were together and when
• 1:21:06
  Speaker 1: radio operators told us what was going on, Musty turned
• 1:21:10
  Speaker 1: to me and said, get some people there and get
• 1:21:13
  Speaker 1: those tanks out. Me turned around to his battalion CP,
• 1:21:17
  Speaker 1: who were all staff people. He just pointed and said,
• 1:21:20
  Speaker 1: let's get going. He turned and took off. I can
• 1:21:24
  Speaker 1: still see his face. He figured he was going to
• 1:21:26
  Speaker 1: get killed. They got there and the Japs pulled out
• 1:21:30
  Speaker 1: this let the tanks get out, and they were saved.
• 1:21:33
  Speaker 1: It was one of the bravest things I ever saw
• 1:21:35
  Speaker 1: people do. Chambers also noted that by d plus nineteen,
• 1:21:40
  Speaker 1: out of the twenty eight officers and six hundred and
• 1:21:43
  Speaker 1: ninety enlisted men in his rifle companies at the start
• 1:21:46
  Speaker 1: of the campaign, he now only had six officers and
• 1:21:49
  Speaker 1: three hundred and fifteen men left in those companies. Counting
• 1:21:53
  Speaker 1: his headquarters company, he had just four hundred and sixty
• 1:21:56
  Speaker 1: eight men remaining of the battalion's original total strength of
• 1:21:59
  Speaker 1: one tho DY fifty, so one rifle company simply had
• 1:22:02
  Speaker 1: to be disbanded. The grim toll was repeated in another battalion,
• 1:22:07
  Speaker 1: which had had twenty two out of twenty nine officers
• 1:22:10
  Speaker 1: and four hundred and ninety enlisted men either killed or
• 1:22:13
  Speaker 1: wounded in action. Next to the fourth Marine Division was
• 1:22:16
  Speaker 1: the twenty seventh Infantry Division in the center of the
• 1:22:19
  Speaker 1: line of attack. It too had a far easier time
• 1:22:23
  Speaker 1: than in the grinding experiences it had just come through.
• 1:22:27
  Speaker 1: Its advance also veered left and was against negligible resistance
• 1:22:32
  Speaker 1: with the enemy in full flight. Thus it reached the
• 1:22:35
  Speaker 1: west coast, pinching off the Second Marine Division and allowing
• 1:22:39
  Speaker 1: it to go into reserve. There was a different story
• 1:22:42
  Speaker 1: in the Second Marine Division zone of action. At the
• 1:22:45
  Speaker 1: beginning of this period. On two July, flame Tree Hill
• 1:22:49
  Speaker 1: was seized and the second Marine stormed into Gherapan, the
• 1:22:52
  Speaker 1: second largest city in the Mariana Islands. What the regiment
• 1:22:56
  Speaker 1: found was a shambles. The town had been completely by
• 1:23:00
  Speaker 1: naval gunfire and marine artillery. The official Marine history pictures
• 1:23:05
  Speaker 1: the scene. Twisted metal rooftops now littered the area, shielding
• 1:23:10
  Speaker 1: Japanese snipers. A number of deaftly hidden pill boxes were
• 1:23:14
  Speaker 1: scattered among the ruins. Assault engineers, covered by riflemen, slipped
• 1:23:19
  Speaker 1: behind such obstacles to set explosives while flamethrowers seared the front.
• 1:23:24
  Speaker 1: Assisted by the engineers and supported by tanks in the
• 1:23:28
  Speaker 1: seventy five millimeters self propelled guns of the Regimental Weapons Company,
• 1:23:32
  Speaker 1: the Second Marines beat down the scattered resistance before nightfall
• 1:23:36
  Speaker 1: on the beaches, suppressing fire from the lvta's of the
• 1:23:40
  Speaker 1: second Armored Amphibian Battalions silenced the Japanese weapons located near
• 1:23:45
  Speaker 1: the water. Moving past the town, the second Marine Division
• 1:23:49
  Speaker 1: drove towards Flores Point, halfway to Tennepag. Along the way
• 1:23:54
  Speaker 1: with filthy uniforms, stiff with sweat and dirt. After over
• 1:23:57
  Speaker 1: two weeks of fierce fighting, the Marines joyfully dipped their
• 1:24:01
  Speaker 1: heads and hands into the cool ocean waters. With the
• 1:24:04
  Speaker 1: other two divisions already having veered their attack to the
• 1:24:07
  Speaker 1: left and reached the northwest coast, the second Marine Division
• 1:24:11
  Speaker 1: was now able to go into Corps Reserve as planned.
• 1:24:14
  Speaker 1: On four July, Holland Smith, seeing the end in sight
• 1:24:18
  Speaker 1: on Saipan, wanted this division rested for the forthcoming assault
• 1:24:22
  Speaker 1: on neighbouring Tinian Island. The Japanese, meanwhile were falling back
• 1:24:27
  Speaker 1: to a final defensive line north of Gheapan. The American
• 1:24:31
  Speaker 1: attack of the preceding weeks had not only shattered their manpower,
• 1:24:35
  Speaker 1: their artillery, and their tanks, but the enemy was also
• 1:24:38
  Speaker 1: desperate for food. Many of them had been so pressed
• 1:24:42
  Speaker 1: for provisions that they were eating field grass and tree
• 1:24:45
  Speaker 1: bark end of chapter six Chapter seven of Breaching the
• 1:24:57
  Speaker 1: Marianas the Battle for Saipan by on Sea Chapin. This
• 1:25:01
  Speaker 1: LibriVox recording is in the public domain D plus twenty
• 1:25:06
  Speaker 1: to D plus twenty three five to eight July. Any
• 1:25:12
  Speaker 1: Japanese withdrawal meant that some of their men were left
• 1:25:15
  Speaker 1: behind in caves to fight to the death. This tactic
• 1:25:19
  Speaker 1: produced again and again for the American troops the life
• 1:25:22
  Speaker 1: threatening question of whether there were civilians hidden inside who
• 1:25:25
  Speaker 1: should be saved. There was a typical grim episode at
• 1:25:29
  Speaker 1: this time for First Lieutenant Frederick A. Stott in the
• 1:25:32
  Speaker 1: first Battalion, twenty fourth Marines. On this twenty first day
• 1:25:36
  Speaker 1: of the battle, we trudged along a circuititous route to
• 1:25:39
  Speaker 1: relieve the twenty third Marines for an attack scheduled for
• 1:25:42
  Speaker 1: thirteen hundred. A normal artillery preparation preceded it, followed by
• 1:25:47
  Speaker 1: the morale lifting rockets, but neither they nor mortar fire
• 1:25:50
  Speaker 1: could eliminate many cave dwelling Jabs, and again the cost
• 1:25:55
  Speaker 1: was heavy. Using civilian men, women and children as decoys,
• 1:25:59
  Speaker 1: the app soldiers managed to entice a volunteer patrol forward
• 1:26:03
  Speaker 1: into the open to collect additional civilian prisoners. A dozen
• 1:26:07
  Speaker 1: men from a company were riddled as the ruse succeeded.
• 1:26:11
  Speaker 1: This kind of treacherous action by the Japanese was demonstrated
• 1:26:15
  Speaker 1: in a different form on the following day, D plus
• 1:26:18
  Speaker 1: twenty one. Lieutenant Colonel Chambers described how he dealt summarily
• 1:26:22
  Speaker 1: with it, and by contrast, how his men treated genuine
• 1:26:26
  Speaker 1: civilians who had been hiding a few of the Japs
• 1:26:29
  Speaker 1: had played possum by smearing blood of other Japs on
• 1:26:32
  Speaker 1: themselves in lines still as the Marines came up, however,
• 1:26:36
  Speaker 1: within the battalion, my instructions were if a dinstink, stick it.
• 1:26:41
  Speaker 1: My officers just laughed and said, the Marines had bayoneted
• 1:26:44
  Speaker 1: all the bodies, you had to do it. We also
• 1:26:47
  Speaker 1: picked up several civilian prisoners, including some women and children.
• 1:26:52
  Speaker 1: The thing that really got to me was watching these
• 1:26:54
  Speaker 1: boys of mine. They'd take all kinds of risks they'd
• 1:26:57
  Speaker 1: go into a cave, never knowing whether there were would
• 1:27:00
  Speaker 1: be soldiers in there to bring out these civilians. The
• 1:27:03
  Speaker 1: minute they got them out, they began to feed them,
• 1:27:06
  Speaker 1: give them part of their rations, and offer their cigarettes
• 1:27:09
  Speaker 1: to the men. It made you feel proud of the
• 1:27:12
  Speaker 1: boys for doing this. Once the second Marine Division became
• 1:27:16
  Speaker 1: Core Reserve, it was obvious to General Smith that the
• 1:27:19
  Speaker 1: time was ripe for a Bonzai attack. He duly warned
• 1:27:23
  Speaker 1: all units to be alert and paid a personal visit
• 1:27:26
  Speaker 1: on six July to General Griner of the twenty seventh
• 1:27:30
  Speaker 1: Division to stress the likelihood of an attack coming down
• 1:27:33
  Speaker 1: the coastline on the flat ground of the Tannepeg Plain.
• 1:27:37
  Speaker 1: General Sato was now cornered in his sixth and last
• 1:27:40
  Speaker 1: command post, a miserable cave in Paradise Valley, north of Tannapeg.
• 1:27:46
  Speaker 1: The valley was constantly raked by American artillery and naval gunfire.
• 1:27:50
  Speaker 1: He had left only fragmentary remnants of his troops. He
• 1:27:54
  Speaker 1: himself was sick, hungry, and wounded. After giving orders for
• 1:27:58
  Speaker 1: one last fanatical Banzai charge, he decided to commit harakiri
• 1:28:03
  Speaker 1: in this cave at ten am on six July, Facing
• 1:28:07
  Speaker 1: the east and crying ten O Haika Banzai long lived
• 1:28:11
  Speaker 1: the emperor ten thousand ages. He drew his own blood,
• 1:28:15
  Speaker 1: first with his own sword, and then his adjutant shot
• 1:28:18
  Speaker 1: him and Admiral Nagumo in the head with a pistol,
• 1:28:21
  Speaker 1: but not before he said, I will meet my staff
• 1:28:23
  Speaker 1: in Yasukuni Shrine three am, seven July. This was to
• 1:28:28
  Speaker 1: be the time ordered for the commencement of the final attack.
• 1:28:32
  Speaker 1: The ultimate outcome was clear to Sato. Whether we attack
• 1:28:36
  Speaker 1: or whether we stay where we are, there is only death.
• 1:28:40
  Speaker 1: The threat of a mad, all out enemy charge was
• 1:28:43
  Speaker 1: nothing new to the troops on Saipan. A rifleman recounted
• 1:28:47
  Speaker 1: one such experience. Whenever we cornered the enemy and there
• 1:28:51
  Speaker 1: was no way out, we faced the dreaded Banzai attack.
• 1:28:54
  Speaker 1: The twenty third Marines had a few of these during
• 1:28:57
  Speaker 1: our Sipan adventure, as did all the other outs. I
• 1:29:01
  Speaker 1: dreaded these attacks and yet welcomed them, which is quite
• 1:29:04
  Speaker 1: a paradox. They generated a great deal of fear, but
• 1:29:08
  Speaker 1: when it was over, that particular sector was jet free
• 1:29:12
  Speaker 1: for hours. We could hear them preparing for their Bonzai attack,
• 1:29:16
  Speaker 1: as it was the end for them, and they knew
• 1:29:17
  Speaker 1: it because it was against their heritage, their training, and
• 1:29:21
  Speaker 1: their belief. They would not surrender. All that was left
• 1:29:25
  Speaker 1: was a final charge, a pouring in of all their
• 1:29:28
  Speaker 1: troops in one concentrated place, with their pledge to take
• 1:29:31
  Speaker 1: as many of us with them as possible. His account
• 1:29:35
  Speaker 1: continued with a dramatic description of the tense waiting he
• 1:29:38
  Speaker 1: endured while he listened to the enemy yells and screams,
• 1:29:41
  Speaker 1: going on for hours. The noise increased as marine artillery
• 1:29:45
  Speaker 1: and mortars pounding in the direction of the Japanese sounds
• 1:29:49
  Speaker 1: added to the deafening din The Marines were waiting in
• 1:29:52
  Speaker 1: their fox holes with clips of AMMO placed close at
• 1:29:56
  Speaker 1: hand so that they could reload fast, fixing their bayonets
• 1:29:59
  Speaker 1: onto their rifles, ensuring that their knives were loosing their scabbard,
• 1:30:03
  Speaker 1: all in anticipation of the forthcoming attacks. Listening to the screaming,
• 1:30:09
  Speaker 1: all senses alert. Many of the men had prayers on
• 1:30:12
  Speaker 1: their lips as they waited. Unexpectedly, there was silence, a
• 1:30:17
  Speaker 1: silence that signaled the enemy's advance. Then suddenly there was
• 1:30:21
  Speaker 1: what sounded like a thousand people screaming all at once,
• 1:30:24
  Speaker 1: as a horde of madmen broke out of the darkness
• 1:30:27
  Speaker 1: before us. Screams of Banzai filled the air. Japanese officers
• 1:30:32
  Speaker 1: leading the devils from Hell, their swords drawn and swishing
• 1:30:35
  Speaker 1: in circles over their heads. JAP soldiers were following their leaders,
• 1:30:40
  Speaker 1: firing their weapons at us and screaming Banzai as they
• 1:30:43
  Speaker 1: charged toward us. Our weapons opened up. Our mortars and
• 1:30:47
  Speaker 1: machine guns fired continually. No longer do they fire in
• 1:30:51
  Speaker 1: bursts of three or five. Belt after belt of ammunition
• 1:30:54
  Speaker 1: goes through that gun, the gunner swinging the barrel left
• 1:30:58
  Speaker 1: and right. Even though japbody build up in front of us,
• 1:31:01
  Speaker 1: they still charged, running over their comrades fallen bodies. The
• 1:31:05
  Speaker 1: mortar tubes became so hot from the rapid fire, as
• 1:31:08
  Speaker 1: did the machine gun barrels, that they could no longer
• 1:31:11
  Speaker 1: be used. Although each attack had taken its toll, still
• 1:31:15
  Speaker 1: they came in droves. Haunting memories. Can still visualize the
• 1:31:19
  Speaker 1: enemy only a few feet away, bayonet aimed at our body.
• 1:31:22
  Speaker 1: As we empty a clip into him. The momentum carries
• 1:31:26
  Speaker 1: him into our foxhole, right on top of us. Then
• 1:31:29
  Speaker 1: pushing him off, we reload and repeat the procedure, bullets
• 1:31:33
  Speaker 1: whizzing around us. Screams are deafening, the area reeks with death,
• 1:31:38
  Speaker 1: and the smell of Japs and gunpowder permeate the air,
• 1:31:42
  Speaker 1: full of fear and hate, with the desire to kill.
• 1:31:45
  Speaker 1: Our enemy seems to us now to be a savage animal,
• 1:31:48
  Speaker 1: a beast, a devil, not a human at all, and
• 1:31:52
  Speaker 1: the only thought is to kill, kill, kill, Finally it ends.
• 1:31:57
  Speaker 1: This was the wild chaos that General Smith predicted as
• 1:32:00
  Speaker 1: the final convulsive effort of the Japanese, and it came
• 1:32:04
  Speaker 1: indeed in the early morning hours of seven July d
• 1:32:07
  Speaker 1: plus twenty two, the climactic moment of the Battle for Saipan.
• 1:32:12
  Speaker 1: The theoretical Japanese objective was to smash through Tannepag and
• 1:32:16
  Speaker 1: Gharapan and reach all the way down to Charan Kanoa.
• 1:32:21
  Speaker 1: It was a fearful charge of flesh and fire, savage
• 1:32:24
  Speaker 1: and primitive. Some of the enemy were armed only with
• 1:32:27
  Speaker 1: rocks or a knife mounted on a pole. The avalanche
• 1:32:31
  Speaker 1: hit the one hundred fifth Infantry dug in for the
• 1:32:34
  Speaker 1: night with two battalions on the main line of resistance
• 1:32:37
  Speaker 1: and the regimental headquarters behind them. However, those two ford
• 1:32:42
  Speaker 1: battalions had left a five hundred yard gap between them,
• 1:32:45
  Speaker 1: which they planned to cover by fire. The Japanese found
• 1:32:49
  Speaker 1: this gap, poured through it, and headed pell Mell for
• 1:32:52
  Speaker 1: the regimental headquarters of the one hundred fifth. The men
• 1:32:56
  Speaker 1: of the frontline battalions fought valiantly but were unable to
• 1:32:59
  Speaker 1: stop the bonzaionslaught. Three artillery battalions of the tenth Marines
• 1:33:05
  Speaker 1: behind the one hundred fifth were the next target. The
• 1:33:08
  Speaker 1: gunners could not set their fuses fast enough, even when
• 1:33:11
  Speaker 1: cut to four tenths of a second, to stop the
• 1:33:14
  Speaker 1: enemy right on top of them, so they lowered the
• 1:33:17
  Speaker 1: muzzles of their one hundred five millimeter howitzers and spewed
• 1:33:21
  Speaker 1: ricochet fire by bouncing their shells off the ground. Many
• 1:33:25
  Speaker 1: of the other guns could not fire at all, since
• 1:33:28
  Speaker 1: army troops ahead of them were inextricably intertwined with the
• 1:33:31
  Speaker 1: Japanese attackers. However, other Marines and the artillery battalions fired
• 1:33:37
  Speaker 1: every type of small weapon they could find. The fire
• 1:33:40
  Speaker 1: direction center of one of their battalions was almost wiped
• 1:33:43
  Speaker 1: out and the battalion commander was killed. The cane field
• 1:33:47
  Speaker 1: to their front was swarming with enemy troops. The guns
• 1:33:51
  Speaker 1: were overrun and the marine artillery men, after removing the
• 1:33:55
  Speaker 1: firing locks of their guns, fell back to continue the
• 1:33:58
  Speaker 1: fight as infantrymen. The official history of the twenty seventh
• 1:34:02
  Speaker 1: Infantry Division recounts sadly the reactions of its fellow regiments
• 1:34:06
  Speaker 1: when the firestorm broke on the one hundred fifth. The
• 1:34:10
  Speaker 1: men of the nearby one hundred sixty fifth Infantry chose
• 1:34:12
  Speaker 1: that morning to stand where they were and shoot Japs
• 1:34:15
  Speaker 1: without any effort to move forward. By sixteen hundred that afternoon,
• 1:34:20
  Speaker 1: after finally starting to move to the relief of the
• 1:34:22
  Speaker 1: shattered one hundred fifth, the one hundred sixty fifth was
• 1:34:26
  Speaker 1: still two to three hundred yards short of making contact.
• 1:34:30
  Speaker 1: This tardiness was unfortunately matched by the long delay in
• 1:34:34
  Speaker 1: the arrival of the one hundred sixth Infantry to try
• 1:34:36
  Speaker 1: to shore up the battered troops of the one hundred fifth.
• 1:34:40
  Speaker 1: The extraordinarily bitter hand to hand fighting finally took the
• 1:34:43
  Speaker 1: momentum out of the Japanese surge, and it was stopped
• 1:34:46
  Speaker 1: at last at the CP of the one hundred fifth,
• 1:34:49
  Speaker 1: some eight hundred yards south of Tennapag. By eighteen hundred,
• 1:34:53
  Speaker 1: most of the ground lost had been regained. It had
• 1:34:56
  Speaker 1: been a ghastly day. The one hundred fifth Infantry's two
• 1:35:00
  Speaker 1: battalions had suffered a shocking nine hundred eighteen casualties while
• 1:35:04
  Speaker 1: killing twenty two hundred ninety five Japanese. One of the
• 1:35:09
  Speaker 1: marine artillery battalions had one hundred twenty seven casualties but
• 1:35:13
  Speaker 1: had accounted for three hundred twenty two of the enemy.
• 1:35:16
  Speaker 1: A final count of the Japanese dead reached the staggering
• 1:35:19
  Speaker 1: total of four thy three hundred eleven, some due to
• 1:35:22
  Speaker 1: previous shell fire, but the vast majority killed in the
• 1:35:25
  Speaker 1: Bonzai charge. Amidst the carnage, there had been countless acts
• 1:35:30
  Speaker 1: of bravery. Two that were recognized by later awards of
• 1:35:35
  Speaker 1: the Army Medal of Honor were the leadership and resistance
• 1:35:38
  Speaker 1: to the death of Army Lieutenant Colonel William J. O'Brien,
• 1:35:42
  Speaker 1: commander of a battalion of the one hundred fifth Infantry,
• 1:35:45
  Speaker 1: and one of his squad leaders, Sergeant Thomas A. Baker.
• 1:35:49
  Speaker 1: Three Marines each gallantly gave his life in the service
• 1:35:53
  Speaker 1: of his country and were posthumously awarded the Navy Medal
• 1:35:56
  Speaker 1: of Honor. They were Private first Class Herold C. Agerholme,
• 1:36:01
  Speaker 1: Private first Class Herald G. Epperson and Sergeant Grant F. Timmerman.
• 1:36:07
  Speaker 1: The third Battalion, tenth Marines, which had fought so tenaciously
• 1:36:11
  Speaker 1: in the Bonzai Assault, received the Navy Unit Commendation. Four
• 1:36:16
  Speaker 1: years later, the one hundred fifth Infantry and its attached
• 1:36:19
  Speaker 1: tank Battalion were awarded the Army Distinguished Unit Citation. While
• 1:36:24
  Speaker 1: attention centered on the bloody battle on the coast, the
• 1:36:27
  Speaker 1: twenty third Marines was attacking a strong Japanese force well
• 1:36:30
  Speaker 1: protected by caves in a cliff inland. The key to
• 1:36:34
  Speaker 1: their elimination was an ingenious improvisation. In order to provide
• 1:36:39
  Speaker 1: fire support. Truck mounted rocket launchers were lowered over the
• 1:36:43
  Speaker 1: cliff by chains attached to tanks. Once down at the base,
• 1:36:48
  Speaker 1: their fire, supplemented by that of rocket gunboats offshore, snuffed
• 1:36:52
  Speaker 1: out the enemy resistance. The next day, D plus twenty three,
• 1:36:57
  Speaker 1: eight July saw the beginning of the end. The Japanese
• 1:37:01
  Speaker 1: had spent the last of their unit manpower in the
• 1:37:04
  Speaker 1: Bonzai Charge. Now it was time for the final American
• 1:37:07
  Speaker 1: mop up. LVTs rescued men of the one hundred fifth
• 1:37:11
  Speaker 1: Infantry who had waded out from the shore to the
• 1:37:14
  Speaker 1: reef to escape the Japanese Holland Smith then moved most
• 1:37:18
  Speaker 1: of the twenty seventh Infantry Division into reserve and put
• 1:37:21
  Speaker 1: the second Marine Division back on the line of attack.
• 1:37:24
  Speaker 1: With the one hundred fifth Infantry attached. Together with the
• 1:37:28
  Speaker 1: fourth Marine Division, they swept northwards towards the end of
• 1:37:32
  Speaker 1: the island. Along the coast, there were bizarre spectacles that
• 1:37:36
  Speaker 1: presaged the macabre ending to the campaign. The official Marine
• 1:37:40
  Speaker 1: history pictured the scene. The enemy pocketed in the area
• 1:37:44
  Speaker 1: had destroyed themselves in suicidal rushes from the high cliffs
• 1:37:48
  Speaker 1: to the rocky beach below. Many were observed, along with
• 1:37:51
  Speaker 1: hundreds of civilians, wading out into the sea and permitting
• 1:37:55
  Speaker 1: themselves to be drowned. Others committed harakiri with knives or
• 1:37:59
  Speaker 1: killed themselves with grenades. Some officers, using their swords, decapitated
• 1:38:05
  Speaker 1: many of their troops. End of chapter seven Chapter eight
• 1:38:16
  Speaker 1: of Reaching the Marianas The Battle for Saipan by John C. Chapin.
• 1:38:21
  Speaker 1: This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. D Plus
• 1:38:27
  Speaker 1: twenty four, nine July. It was to be the final
• 1:38:32
  Speaker 1: day of a long, grueling campaign. The sixth and eighth
• 1:38:36
  Speaker 1: Marines came down from the hills to the last western beaches,
• 1:38:39
  Speaker 1: while the fourth Marine Division with the second Marines attached,
• 1:38:43
  Speaker 1: reached Marpy Point, the northern end of the island. There
• 1:38:47
  Speaker 1: a final drama of horror was played out. Lieutenant Colonel
• 1:38:52
  Speaker 1: Chambers watched amazed during this day as we moved along
• 1:38:56
  Speaker 1: the cliffs and caves, we uncovered civilians all the time.
• 1:39:00
  Speaker 1: The Jap soldiers would not surrender and would not permit
• 1:39:03
  Speaker 1: the civilians to surrender. I saw with my own eyes women,
• 1:39:07
  Speaker 1: some carrying children, come out of the caves and start
• 1:39:10
  Speaker 1: toward our lines. They'd be shot down by their own people.
• 1:39:15
  Speaker 1: I watched any number of women carrying children come down
• 1:39:18
  Speaker 1: to the cliffs that dropped to the ocean. They were
• 1:39:21
  Speaker 1: very steep, very precipitous. The women would come down and
• 1:39:24
  Speaker 1: throw the children into the ocean and jump in and
• 1:39:27
  Speaker 1: commit suicide. I watched one group, at a distance of
• 1:39:30
  Speaker 1: perhaps one hundred yards, about eight or ten civilian men,
• 1:39:34
  Speaker 1: women and children get into a little huddle and blow
• 1:39:37
  Speaker 1: themselves up. It was a sad and terrible thing, and
• 1:39:41
  Speaker 1: yet I presumed quite consistent with the Japanese rules of bushido.
• 1:39:46
  Speaker 1: Lieutenant stod in that same division witnessed other unbelievable forms
• 1:39:50
  Speaker 1: of self destruction. Interpreters were summoned and they pleaded by
• 1:39:54
  Speaker 1: amplifier for the civilians to come forward in surrender. No
• 1:39:58
  Speaker 1: movement followed. The people drew closer together into a compact mass.
• 1:40:04
  Speaker 1: It was still predominantly civilians, but several in uniform could
• 1:40:08
  Speaker 1: be distinguished, circling about in the throng and using the
• 1:40:11
  Speaker 1: civilians for protection. As they huddled closer, sounds of a
• 1:40:16
  Speaker 1: weird singing chant carried up to us. Suddenly a waving
• 1:40:19
  Speaker 1: flag of the rising sun was unfurled. Movement grew more agitated.
• 1:40:25
  Speaker 1: Men started leaping into the sea, and the chanting gave
• 1:40:28
  Speaker 1: way to startled cries and with them the popping sound
• 1:40:31
  Speaker 1: of detonating grenades. It was the handful of soldiers determined
• 1:40:36
  Speaker 1: to prevent the surrender or escape of their kinfolk, who
• 1:40:39
  Speaker 1: tossed grenades into the milling throng of men, women and children,
• 1:40:43
  Speaker 1: and then dived into the sea, from which escape was impossible.
• 1:40:47
  Speaker 1: The exploding grenades cut the mob into patches of dead,
• 1:40:50
  Speaker 1: dying and wounded, and for the first time we actually
• 1:40:53
  Speaker 1: saw water that ran red with human blood. With this
• 1:40:57
  Speaker 1: kind of fanaticism characterizing the Japanese, it is not surprising
• 1:41:01
  Speaker 1: that twenty three thousand, eight hundred eleven of the enemy
• 1:41:04
  Speaker 1: were known dead, with uncounted thousands of others charred by
• 1:41:08
  Speaker 1: flame throwers and sealed forever in their caves. Only seven
• 1:41:12
  Speaker 1: hundred thirty six prisoners of war were taken, and of these,
• 1:41:16
  Speaker 1: four hundred and thirty eight were Koreans. American casualties numbered
• 1:41:20
  Speaker 1: three thy two hundred twenty five killed in action, thirteen
• 1:41:24
  Speaker 1: thousand sixty one wounded in action, and three hundred twenty
• 1:41:27
  Speaker 1: six missing in action. The island was officially declared secured
• 1:41:32
  Speaker 1: at sixteen fifteen on nine July, although mopping up continued afterwards.
• 1:41:38
  Speaker 1: The fourth Marine Division was later awarded the Presidential Unit
• 1:41:42
  Speaker 1: Citation for its outstanding performance in combat on Sipan and
• 1:41:46
  Speaker 1: its subsequent assault on the neighboring island of Tinian Sidebars
• 1:41:54
  Speaker 1: Medal of Honor recipients. Private first Class Harold Chris Agerholm
• 1:42:01
  Speaker 1: was born on twenty nine January nineteen twenty five and Racine, Wisconsin,
• 1:42:07
  Speaker 1: for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his
• 1:42:10
  Speaker 1: life above and beyond the call of duty while serving
• 1:42:13
  Speaker 1: with the fourth Battalion, tenth Marines, Second Marine Division, in
• 1:42:17
  Speaker 1: action against enemy Japanese forces on Saipan, Marianna's Islands seven
• 1:42:22
  Speaker 1: July nineteen forty four, when the enemy launched a fierce,
• 1:42:26
  Speaker 1: determined counter attack against our positions and overran a neighboring
• 1:42:30
  Speaker 1: artillery battalion, Private first Class Agerholme immediately volunteered to assist
• 1:42:35
  Speaker 1: in the effort to check the hostile attack and evacuate
• 1:42:38
  Speaker 1: our wounded. Locating and appropriating an abandoned ambulance jeep, he
• 1:42:43
  Speaker 1: repeatedly made extremely perilous trips under heavy rifle and mortar fire,
• 1:42:48
  Speaker 1: and single handedly loaded and evacuated approximately forty five casualties,
• 1:42:52
  Speaker 1: working tirelessly and with utter disregard for his own safety
• 1:42:56
  Speaker 1: during a grueling period of more than three hours. Despite
• 1:43:00
  Speaker 1: intense persistent enemy fire. He ran out to aid two
• 1:43:03
  Speaker 1: men whom he believed to be wounded Marines, but was
• 1:43:06
  Speaker 1: himself mortally wounded by a Japanese sniper while carrying out
• 1:43:10
  Speaker 1: his hazardous mission. Private first Class agerholmes brilliant initiative, great
• 1:43:15
  Speaker 1: personal valor, and self sacrificing efforts in the face of
• 1:43:19
  Speaker 1: almost certain death reflect the highest credit upon himself and
• 1:43:22
  Speaker 1: the United States Naval Service. He gallantly gave his life
• 1:43:26
  Speaker 1: for his country. Private first Class Harold Glenn Epperson was
• 1:43:32
  Speaker 1: born on fourteen July nineteen twenty three in Akron, Ohio,
• 1:43:37
  Speaker 1: for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his
• 1:43:40
  Speaker 1: life above and beyond the call of duty while serving
• 1:43:43
  Speaker 1: with the first Battalion, sixth Marines, second Marine Division in
• 1:43:47
  Speaker 1: action against enemy Japanese forces on the island of Saipan
• 1:43:50
  Speaker 1: and the Marianas on twenty five July nineteen forty four,
• 1:43:54
  Speaker 1: with his machine gun emplacement bearing the full brunt of
• 1:43:57
  Speaker 1: a fanatic assault initiated by the Japanese. Undercover of pre
• 1:44:01
  Speaker 1: dawn darkness, Private first Class Eperson manned his weapon with
• 1:44:05
  Speaker 1: determined aggressiveness, fighting furiously in the defense of his battalion's
• 1:44:10
  Speaker 1: position and maintaining a steady stream of devastating fire against
• 1:44:14
  Speaker 1: rapidly infiltrating hostile troops to aid in breaking the abortive attack. Suddenly,
• 1:44:19
  Speaker 1: a Japanese soldier assumed to be dead, sprang up and
• 1:44:23
  Speaker 1: hurled a powerful hand grenade into the emplacement. Determined to
• 1:44:27
  Speaker 1: save his comrades, Private first Class Eperson unhesitatingly chose to
• 1:44:32
  Speaker 1: sacrifice himself and diving upon the deadly missile, absorbed the
• 1:44:36
  Speaker 1: shattering violence of the exploding charge in his own body.
• 1:44:40
  Speaker 1: Stout hearted and indomitable in the face of certain death,
• 1:44:44
  Speaker 1: Private first Class Eperson fearlessly yielded his own life that
• 1:44:48
  Speaker 1: his able comrades might carry on. His superb valor and
• 1:44:52
  Speaker 1: unfaltering devotion to duty throughout reflect the highest credit upon
• 1:44:56
  Speaker 1: himself and upon the United States Naval Service. Gallantly gave
• 1:45:00
  Speaker 1: his life for his country. Sergeant Grant Frederick Timmerman was
• 1:45:06
  Speaker 1: born on fourteen February nineteen nineteen in Americas, Kansas. For
• 1:45:12
  Speaker 1: conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life
• 1:45:15
  Speaker 1: above and beyond the call of duty as tank commander
• 1:45:18
  Speaker 1: serving with the second Battalion, sixth Marines, second Marine Division
• 1:45:23
  Speaker 1: during action against enemy Japanese forces on Saipan, Marianna's Islands
• 1:45:27
  Speaker 1: on eight July nineteen forty four. Advancing with his tank
• 1:45:31
  Speaker 1: a few yards ahead of the infantry in support of
• 1:45:34
  Speaker 1: a vigorous attack on hostile positions, Sergeant Timmerman maintained steady
• 1:45:38
  Speaker 1: fire from his anti aircraft sky mount machine gun until
• 1:45:42
  Speaker 1: progress was impeded by a series of enemy trenches and
• 1:45:45
  Speaker 1: pill boxes. Observing a target of opportunity, he immediately ordered
• 1:45:50
  Speaker 1: the tank stopped, and, mindful of the danger from the
• 1:45:53
  Speaker 1: muzzle blast, as he prepared to open fire with the
• 1:45:56
  Speaker 1: seventy five millimeter, fearlessly stood up in the exposed turret
• 1:46:00
  Speaker 1: and ordered the infantry to hit the deck. Quick to act,
• 1:46:03
  Speaker 1: as a grenade hurled by the Japanese was about to
• 1:46:06
  Speaker 1: drop into the open turret hatch, Sergeant Timmerman unhesitatingly blocked
• 1:46:10
  Speaker 1: the opening with his body, holding the grenade against his
• 1:46:14
  Speaker 1: chest and taking the brunt of the explosion. His exceptional
• 1:46:17
  Speaker 1: valor and loyalty in saving his men at the cost
• 1:46:20
  Speaker 1: of his own life reflect the highest credit upon Sergeant
• 1:46:23
  Speaker 1: Timmerman in the United States Naval Service. He gallantly gave
• 1:46:27
  Speaker 1: his life for his country. Navy chaplains, two types of
• 1:46:34
  Speaker 1: non combatants, are attached to Marine units members of the
• 1:46:38
  Speaker 1: Navy Medical Corps and Navy Chaplain Corps. Whenever the Marines
• 1:46:42
  Speaker 1: are in combat, they are well tended to embody and
• 1:46:45
  Speaker 1: soul on the front lines. Navy Lieutenant John H. Craven,
• 1:46:50
  Speaker 1: Chaplain Corps, earned the Bronze Star for his actions under
• 1:46:53
  Speaker 1: fire on Sipan. Later he summarized activities in combat. Our
• 1:46:59
  Speaker 1: main acts was to go from place to place unity
• 1:47:02
  Speaker 1: unit and start out early in the morning and go
• 1:47:05
  Speaker 1: till dark, just visiting one unit after the other, and
• 1:47:08
  Speaker 1: many times just have a very brief service. We had
• 1:47:11
  Speaker 1: some very small hymn books and some testaments I could
• 1:47:14
  Speaker 1: carry in my map case and we would just gather
• 1:47:17
  Speaker 1: a few men together in a bomb crater or dephel
• 1:47:20
  Speaker 1: aid and I would have one service after the other.
• 1:47:23
  Speaker 1: Sometimes we had twelve, thirteen or fourteen of those in
• 1:47:26
  Speaker 1: one day, especially on Sunday. Then we had to take
• 1:47:30
  Speaker 1: our turn at the cemetery. Each chaplain from different units
• 1:47:33
  Speaker 1: would go down and take his turn for burial. We
• 1:47:36
  Speaker 1: had a brief committal service for each one as they
• 1:47:39
  Speaker 1: brought the bodies in, and I set myself up to
• 1:47:42
  Speaker 1: try to keep up with all of the men of
• 1:47:44
  Speaker 1: our units where they were, whether they were in the hospital.
• 1:47:48
  Speaker 1: I worked closely with a sergeant major, and it was
• 1:47:51
  Speaker 1: amazing how we were able to keep up with men
• 1:47:53
  Speaker 1: and when they were killed and when and where they
• 1:47:56
  Speaker 1: were buried. Craven kept a notebook listing all the capsies
• 1:48:00
  Speaker 1: and he would keep that current from day to day.
• 1:48:03
  Speaker 1: Each evening he would compare notes with the regimental sergeant major.
• 1:48:08
  Speaker 1: It was a help to any chaplain to know who
• 1:48:10
  Speaker 1: were casualties and where, and to report and work with
• 1:48:13
  Speaker 1: their friends, And it was also a help to the
• 1:48:16
  Speaker 1: sergeant major because it verified reports he got. When Chaplin
• 1:48:20
  Speaker 1: Craven and other chaplains returned to the rear areas with
• 1:48:23
  Speaker 1: their units, they started writing letters to the families of
• 1:48:26
  Speaker 1: everyone who was killed in the regiment and added their
• 1:48:29
  Speaker 1: letters to those of the commanding officers were required to write.
• 1:48:33
  Speaker 1: One other regimental chaplain used a special type of ministration.
• 1:48:38
  Speaker 1: He had a canvas gas mask carrier slung over each shoulder,
• 1:48:43
  Speaker 1: and one carrier he had scotch whiskey, and the other
• 1:48:46
  Speaker 1: fried chicken. As he knelt by each young, frightened wounded marine,
• 1:48:51
  Speaker 1: he was invariably asked, am I going to be okay?
• 1:48:55
  Speaker 1: Sure you are? Was the cheerful answer. While you are
• 1:48:58
  Speaker 1: waiting to be evacuated? Did you rather have a drumstick
• 1:49:01
  Speaker 1: or a wing? The young marine would be so surprised
• 1:49:05
  Speaker 1: he would forget about himself. Then, when the chaplain asked
• 1:49:09
  Speaker 1: if he wanted to wash it down with a swig
• 1:49:11
  Speaker 1: of scotch, he couldn't believe he was hearing correctly. Amidst
• 1:49:14
  Speaker 1: all the confusion, noise, and death all around him. A
• 1:49:18
  Speaker 1: young doctor, hearing about this chaplain, said that man probably
• 1:49:22
  Speaker 1: saved more young lives from dying of shock than will
• 1:49:24
  Speaker 1: ever be known. Saipan's legacy. The campaign on Saipan had
• 1:49:32
  Speaker 1: brought many American casualties, and it also heralded the kind
• 1:49:36
  Speaker 1: of fighting which would be experienced in subsequent operations in
• 1:49:40
  Speaker 1: the Central and Western Pacific. In the days that lay
• 1:49:42
  Speaker 1: ahead in the Pacific War, Holland Smith declared it the
• 1:49:47
  Speaker 1: decisive battle of the Pacific Offensive, for it opened the
• 1:49:50
  Speaker 1: way to the Home Islands. Japanese General Sato had written
• 1:49:55
  Speaker 1: that the fate of the Empire will be decided in
• 1:49:57
  Speaker 1: this one action. Janie, Admiral agreed our war was lost
• 1:50:02
  Speaker 1: with the loss of Sipan. It had truly been a
• 1:50:06
  Speaker 1: strategic strike for the United States. The proof of these
• 1:50:10
  Speaker 1: fundamental judgments was dramatized four months later when one hundred
• 1:50:14
  Speaker 1: B twenty nine bombers took off from Saipan bound for Tokyo.
• 1:50:19
  Speaker 1: There were other fateful results. The United States now had
• 1:50:23
  Speaker 1: a secure advanced naval base for further punishing strikes close
• 1:50:27
  Speaker 1: to enemy shores. Emperor Hirohito was now forced to consider
• 1:50:32
  Speaker 1: a diplomatic settlement of the war. The militaristic General Tojo.
• 1:50:37
  Speaker 1: The premier and his entire cabinet fell from power on
• 1:50:40
  Speaker 1: eighteen July, nine days after Saipan's loss. The lessons learned
• 1:50:45
  Speaker 1: in this campaign would be observed in future American operations
• 1:50:49
  Speaker 1: as flaws were analyzed and corrected. The clear need to
• 1:50:53
  Speaker 1: improve aviation support for the ground troops led directly to
• 1:50:57
  Speaker 1: the better results in the Philippine Islands and on Easujima
• 1:51:00
  Speaker 1: and Okinawa. The artillery spotting missions flown by VMO two
• 1:51:05
  Speaker 1: and four set a pattern for the use of light
• 1:51:08
  Speaker 1: planes in the future. Naval gunfire support was also closely reviewed.
• 1:51:14
  Speaker 1: General Sato had written, if there just were no naval gunfire,
• 1:51:18
  Speaker 1: we feel we could fight it out with the enemy
• 1:51:20
  Speaker 1: in a decisive battle. While more than eighty five hundred
• 1:51:24
  Speaker 1: tons of ammunition were fired by US Navy ships, the
• 1:51:27
  Speaker 1: flat trajectory of the naval guns proved somewhat limiting, as
• 1:51:31
  Speaker 1: the shells didn't have the plunging and penetrating effect which
• 1:51:35
  Speaker 1: was needed against Japanese strongholds. Finally, there were lessons learned
• 1:51:40
  Speaker 1: from the supply confusion that had marred the early days
• 1:51:43
  Speaker 1: on the beaches and hadn't improved much since the days
• 1:51:46
  Speaker 1: of the Guadalcanal Landing logistic problems had arisen because once
• 1:51:51
  Speaker 1: a beach was in friendly hands, the ships were unloaded
• 1:51:55
  Speaker 1: as rapidly as possible, and the sailors in the landing
• 1:51:58
  Speaker 1: craft were in a hurry to get in to the
• 1:52:00
  Speaker 1: beaches and back out again. Supplies were spread all over
• 1:52:04
  Speaker 1: the beach, partly because of the enemy's artillery and mortar
• 1:52:07
  Speaker 1: harassing fire on the beaches, but also because of the
• 1:52:11
  Speaker 1: corps hard driving, rapid attack. The estimate of resupply requirements
• 1:52:15
  Speaker 1: was far too small. For example, a shortage of radio
• 1:52:20
  Speaker 1: batteries was never corrected. There was insufficient time to sort
• 1:52:24
  Speaker 1: and separate equipment and supplies adequately. Consequently, there were mix
• 1:52:29
  Speaker 1: ups with marine uniforms getting into army dumps and army
• 1:52:32
  Speaker 1: supplies showing up in marine dumps. It was after the
• 1:52:36
  Speaker 1: beach confusion at Sidepan that the Navy decided a permanent
• 1:52:40
  Speaker 1: Corps shore party should be organized. It would be solely
• 1:52:44
  Speaker 1: responsible for the movement of all supplies from the beach
• 1:52:47
  Speaker 1: to the dumps and for the subsequent issue to the divisions.
• 1:52:51
  Speaker 1: Tactical lessons learned were also new to the Central Pacific War.
• 1:52:56
  Speaker 1: Instead of a small atoll, the battle had been one
• 1:52:59
  Speaker 1: of movement on a sizeable land mass, and it was
• 1:53:02
  Speaker 1: further complicated by the numerous caves and the defensive systems
• 1:53:06
  Speaker 1: they provided for the Japanese. The enemy had defended caves before,
• 1:53:11
  Speaker 1: but never on such a large scale on Sipan. These
• 1:53:15
  Speaker 1: caves were both natural and man made. Often natural vegetation
• 1:53:20
  Speaker 1: gave them excellent camouflage. Some had steel doors which could
• 1:53:24
  Speaker 1: be opened for an artillery piece or machine gun to
• 1:53:27
  Speaker 1: fire and then retreat behind the door before return fire
• 1:53:30
  Speaker 1: could take effect. The flame throwing tanks could reach many
• 1:53:35
  Speaker 1: of these caves and so proved very useful. Unfortunately, their
• 1:53:40
  Speaker 1: range was limited on Sipan, but this was later improved.
• 1:53:45
  Speaker 1: Thus it was that the hard experiences on Sipan led
• 1:53:48
  Speaker 1: to a variety of changes which paid valuable dividends in
• 1:53:51
  Speaker 1: saving American lives in the future Pacific campaigns, and the
• 1:53:56
  Speaker 1: loss of the island was a strategic strike from which
• 1:53:58
  Speaker 1: the Japanese never recovered. As the United States drove forward
• 1:54:03
  Speaker 1: to ultimate victory end of Chapter eight, End of Breaching
• 1:54:09
  Speaker 1: the Marianas The Battle for Saipan by John C. Chapin,
• 1:54:15
  Speaker 1: read by Aaron Bennett,