Liberating Guam (continued)

Marines take cover behind fallen coconut trees until the Japanese snipers in the area could be located and picked off.

OROTE PENINSULA CAPTURED

At the Agat beachhead, patrols from the 9th Marines moving south from Piti briefly contacted the 22nd Marines near Atantano. The 4th Marines in the west and the 22nd Marines on the east attacked Orote Peninsula on 26 July after fighting off determined Japanese soldiers the night before.

"Thousands of saki-crazed Japanese dashed from the mangroves in front of 3rd Battalion, 22nd Marines. Brandishing baseball bats, sticks, broken bottles, and pitch-forks, along with the normal complement of infantry weapons, the Japanese soldiers surged forward frantically, bent on an honorable death. The Marine commanders called in blocking fire to stop the advancing swarm. The area was saturated by 37mm guns, 81mm mortars, machine guns, rifles, and grenades. Between midnight and two in the morning, 26,000 shells blanketed the mangrove swamp area." ... Maj. O.R. Lodge, Recapture of Guam

"He was an extra-small Japanese soldier. His uniform hung limp like a scarecrow's trappings. A marine on Orote Peninsula asked him why he surrendered. 'My commanding officer told us to fight to the last man,' the prisoner answered. 'Well?' queried the marine. A look of wounded innocence spread over the Jap's face as he declared, 'I was the last man!'" ... MTSgt Murray Marder, Semper Fidelis

The 22nd Marines were then delayed in a mangrove swamp. However, by the 28th of July the 22nd Marines had reached the old Marine Barracks at Sumay. Joined by tanks of the Army's 706th Tank Battalion, the Marines finally secured all of Orote Peninsula by the end of 29 July.

In a ceremony, at the old Marine Barracks, for the first time in two and one-half years the American flag was officially raised in Guam. Gen. Shepherd's words followed a "color guard" salute: "On this hallowed ground, you officers and men of the First Marine Brigade have avenged the loss of four comrades who were overcome by a numerically superior enemy three days after Pearl Harbor. Under our flag this island again stands ready to fulfill its destiny as an American fortress in the Pacific."

BATTLE FOR FONTE PLATEAU

On 24 July, the Marines still faced the Japanese in the hills above Asan. While the 9th Marines had advanced rapidly beyond Piti, the 21st Marines in the center had not reached Mount Tenjo Road although the 3rd Marines to the east had seized a section of the road.

However, the Japanese had planned and executed a massive counterattack during the night of 25-26 July. On the west, seven attacks were launched by the 10th Independent Mixed Regiment against the 9th Marines resulting in 950 Japanese dead. In the center, the 18th Infantry Regiment attacked the 21st Marines and reached rear areas in hand-to-hand combat.

The 2nd Battalion, 9th Marines were battered...The Japanese attacked with all they had, cause they knew unless they broke through, that the island, for all intents and purposes, would be lost, unless they could get down to our beach...and disrupt our supplies, our communications, possibly wreck our artillery, that they were done for...They got into our Division hospital, they got into our artillery..." ... Lt. John J. "Jack" Eddy, 9th Marine Regiment

In the book Liberation - 1944 by Don Farrell, a Japanese survivor recalled that night: "We had been thinking that the Japanese might win through a night counterattack ... but when the star shells came over one after the other we could only use our men as human bullets and there were many useless casualties and no chance of success."

On the east, the 48th Independent mixed Brigade hit the 3d Marines. By daylight the Japanese attack had been repulsed and any surviving Japanese were fleeing into the hills. The Japanese lost 3,500 during the night attacks. The 3rd Marine Division suffered 645 wounded, 166 killed and 34 missing.

"It was estimated that it was no longer possible to expel the American forces from the island after the results of the general counterattack on the night of 25 July were collected in the morning to about noon of the 26th. After this it was decided that the sole purpose of combat would be to inflict losses on the American forces in the interior of the island." ... Lt. Col. Takeda, Operations Officer Japanese 29th Division.

Though defeated in the counterattack, the Japanese still held the high ridge of Fonte, and it took three additional days for the 3d and 9th Marines to clear out the Japanese including a last group of Japanese in a depression on top of Fonte Plateau on 29 July.

Japanese General Takashina was killed by Marines as he attempted to evacuate his troops from Fonte on the 28th.

In the middle of a banana patch badly mauled by shelling, bombs and gunfire, Marines dig in and establish their position.

THE FINAL BEACHLINE

On the 28th, the 9th Marines moving south fought their way to the top of Mount Chachao.

"It had become increasingly evident that the principal Japanese battle position now lay along the Fonte-Chachao-Tenjo Ridgeline..." . . . Maj. O.R. Lodge, Recapture of Guam

"On Mt. Chachao, the Japanese had constructed a concrete emplacement in the center of the summit, with a series of foxholes and machine-gun positions nested in the surrounding cliffs to protect it. Circular gun pits at either end of the crest guarded the trail running across the ridge and leading down the slope. Manned by a company of troops, the Mt. Chachao fortification was formidable." ... Maj. O.R. Lodge, Recapture of Guam

With artillery fire, American tanks, and hand grenades, the crest was taken. The 9th Marines made contact with the soldiers of the 77th Division on top of Mount Tenjo. After eight days of fighting, the two beachheads were firmly linked up.

The positions on the Mount Tenjo ridge were then held until the 31st of July while Orote Peninsula was secured and the American line was organized to swing east across the island. Concurrently, reconnaissance patrols were made of southern Guam by the 77th Infantry Division from 28 July to 2 August.

"Five patrols of about five men each, with native guides, would penetrate six miles each way south and east of Alifan into unknown territory." ... Guam Operations of the 77th Division

These patrols determined that there was no organized Japanese resistance in the south and that the Japanese had withdrawn to the north.

"Approaching Ylig the scouts met a small group of Chamorros, who greeted them joyfully and reported that many Japanese troops were to the north but that only small groups of 10 or 15 were still in the southern area." ... Guam Operations of the 77th Division

After the defeat at Fonte, Japanese General Takashina ordered a general retreat to established positions along a Dededo to Barrigada line. Upon the death of Takashina, General Obata assumed command of the remaining Japanese forces and continued to follow the defensive plan of Takashina.