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Author: U. S. Military Publisher: ISBN: 9781549718571 Category : Languages : en Pages : 111
Book Description
The historic battles of the Marines in the Pacific War are recounted in this U.S. Marines history book. Some of the subjects covered include: Mount Suribachi, Kamikaze Pilots, Marine Zippo Tanks, MacArthur and Roosevelt, V Amphibious Corps. Here are excerpts: Sunday, 4 March 1945, marked the end of the second week of the U.S. invasion of Iwo Jima. By this point the assault elements of the 3d, 4th, and 5th Marine Divisions were exhausted, their combat efficiency reduced to dangerously low levels. The thrilling sight of the American flag being raised by the 28th Marines on Mount Suribachi had occurred 10 days earlier, a lifetime on "Sulphur Island." The landing forces of the V Amphibious Corps (VAC) had already sustained 13,000 casualties, including 3,000 dead. The "front lines" were a jagged serration across Iwo's fat northern half, still in the middle of the main Japanese defenses. Ahead the going seemed all uphill against a well-disciplined, rarely visible enemy. In the center of the island, the 3d Marine Division units had been up most of the night repelling a small but determined Japanese counterattack which had found the seam between the 21st and 9th Marines. Vicious close combat had cost both sides heavy casualties. The counterattack spoiled the division's preparations for a morning advance. Both regiments made marginal gains against very stiff opposition. To the east the 4th Marine Division had finally captured Hill 382, ending its long exposure in "The Amphitheater," but combat efficiency had fallen to 50 percent. It would drop another five points by nightfall. On this day the 24th Marines, supported by flame tanks, advanced a total of 100 yards, pausing to detonate more than a ton of explosives against enemy cave positions in that sector. The 23d and 25th Marines entered the most difficult terrain yet encountered, broken ground that limited visibility to only a few feet. Along the western flank, the 5th Marine Division had just seized Nishi Ridge and Hill 362-B the previous day, suffering more than 500 casualties. It too had been up most of the night engaging a sizeable force of infiltrators. The Sunday morning attacks lacked coordination, reflecting the division's collective exhaustion. Most rifle companies were at half-strength. The net gain for the day, the division reported, was "practically nil."
Author: Joseph Alexander Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform ISBN: 9781978074514 Category : Languages : en Pages : 196
Book Description
This book is part of a commemorative series of battles during World War II and as a US government document is in the public domain. The book is profusely illustrated with pictures and maps.
Author: Mary V. Stremlow Publisher: U.S. Government Printing Office ISBN: Category : History Languages : en Pages : 48
Book Description
Marines in World War 2 Commemorative Series. Discusses how women Marines served in noncombat billets during World War 2. The title "Free a Marine to Fight" means that women Marines served in noncombat jobs so that male Marines could fight in battles. The Marines first began to recruit women after the Guadalcanal campaign in 1942. States that 17,672 women were serving in the Marine Corps Women's Reserve in June 1945. Illustrated with many black and white photographs.
Author: U. S. Military Publisher: ISBN: 9781980905363 Category : Languages : en Pages : 186
Book Description
The historic battles of the Marines in the Pacific War are recounted in this U.S. Marines history book. Some of the subjects covered include: Tinian, Saipan, the Marshall Islands, Marianas Islands, DUKWs, spider holes, Kwajalein, Eniwetok, 2nd Marine Division, Admiral Chester Nimitz, Major General Holland Smith, 4th Marine Division.Here are excerpts:Three weeks into the battle for Saipan, there was no doubt about the outcome and V Amphibious Corps (VAC) commanders began turning their attention to the next objective --the island of Tinian, clearly visible three miles off Saipan's southwest coast. Its garrison of 9,000 Japanese army and navy combatants, many of them veterans of the campaigns in Manchuria, had been bombarded for seven weeks by U.S. air and sea armadas, joined in late June by massed Marine Corps and Army artillery battalions on Saipan's southern coast. The 2d and 4th Marine Divisions, both still in the thick of the Saipan fight, had been selected for the assault mission. The crucial question of where they would land, however, was still undecided. There was strong support among the planners for a landing on two narrow sand strips--code named White 1 and White 2 --on Tinian's northwest coast; one was 60 yards wide, the other 160. But Vice Admiral Richmond K. Turner, overall commander of the Marianas Expeditionary Force, was skeptical. He leaned toward Yellow Beach, made up of several wide, sandy strips in front of Tinian Town, the island's heavily fortified administrative and commercial center. * By the beginning of 1944, United States Marine forces had already made a dramatic start on the conquest of areas overrun by the Japanese early in World War II. Successful American assaults in the Southwest Pacific, beginning with Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands in August 1942, and in the Central Pacific at Tarawa in the Gilbert Islands in November 1943, were crucial campaigns to mark the turn of the Japanese floodtide of conquest. The time had now come to take one more decisive step: assault of the islands held by Japan before 1941. These strategic islands, mandated to the Japanese by the League of Nations after World War I, were a source of mystery and speculation. * It was to be a brutal day. At first light on 15 June 1944, the Navy fire support ships of the task force lying off Saipan Island increased their previous days' preparatory fires involving all calibers of weapons. At 0542, Vice Admiral Richmond Kelly Turner ordered, "Land the landing force." Around 0700, the landing ships, tank (LSTs) moved to within approximately 1,250 yards behind the line of departure. Troops in the LSTs began debarking from them in landing vehicles, tracked (LVTs). Control vessels containing Navy and Marine personnel with their radio gear took their positions displaying flags indicating which beach approaches they controlled.
Author: John C. Chapin Publisher: DigiCat ISBN: Category : History Languages : en Pages : 145
Book Description
"Breaching the Marianas" by John C. Chapin is a book about the WWII campaigns and Marine Corps history. The book gives a detailed account of what happened on the Mariana Islands of Saipan during the war. Excerpt: "Breaching the Marianas: The Battle for Saipan by Captain John C. Chapin, USMCR (Ret) It was a brutal day. At first light on 15 June 1944, the Navy fire support ships of the task force lying off Saipan Island increased their previous days' preparatory fires involving all calibers of weapons. At 0542, Vice Admiral Richmond Kelly Turner ordered, "Land the landing force." Around 0700, the landing ships, tank (LSTs) moved to within approximately 1,250 yards behind the line of departure. Troops in the LSTs began debarking from them in landing vehicles, tracked (LVTs). Control vessels containing Navy and Marine personnel with their radio gear took their positions displaying flags indicating which beach approaches they controlled."