United States. War Department. General Staff. - Guam : operations of the 77th Division, 21 July-10 August 1944

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Text originally published in 1946 under the same title.

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American Forces in Action Series

GUAM Operations of the 77th Division 21 July-10 August 1944

Contents

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1Allied Advance in the Pacific

2Central Pacific Islands

3The Southern Marianas: Plan of Attack, III and V Amphibious Corps

4Guam (physiographic map)

5Enemy Dispositions on Guam, July 1944

6Preferred Plan of Attack on Guam, III Amphibious Corps

7W-Day Landing, III Amphibious Corps, 21 July 1944

8Beachheads on W + 1, 111 Amphibious Corps, 22 July 1944

977th Division Sector, 24-27 July 1944

10Orote Peninsula, 1st Provisional Marine Brigade, 25-29 July 1944

11The Gap, 77th Division and 3d Marine Division, 25-27 July 1944

12Reconnaissance of Southern Guam, 28 July-2 August 1944

13Pursuit Phase, III Amphibious Corps, 31 July-1 August 1944

14Construction of New Road, 302d Engineer Combat Battalion, to 31 July 1944

15Approach to Barrigada, 77th Division, 2-4 August 1944

16Reconnaissance of Barrigada, Company D, 706th Tank Battalion, Company I, 305th RCT

17The Gap on the Left, About Noon, 2 August 1944

18Situation on the Right, Close of Day, 2 August 1944

19Company G's Attack, 1500-Dark, 2 August 1944

20Barrigada Positions, Close of Day, 2 August 1944

21Advance to the 0-3 Line, 305th and 307th RCT, 3-4 August 1944

22Plan for Advance, 77th Division, 5 August 1944

23Advance to 0-4 Line, 77th Division, 5-6 August 1944

24Plans for Final Phase, III Amphibious Corps

25Action at Yigo, 7 August 1944

26Night Positions, 7/8 August 1944

27Guam (in color)

Maj. Gen. Andrew D. Bruce

Troops of 77th Division

Bluffs Rising 600 Feet

The Enemy Task Force

General Takashina and Colonel Suenaga

Japanese 200-mm Coastal Defense Gun

Landing Beaches

Hills in Western Coastal Range

The First Wave of Landing Craft

Small Boats Leave Asan Beaches

Waiting for Orders

306th RCT Comes Ashore

Close-in Fighting

Orote Air Strip

An Antitank Crew

The 2d Battalion, 305th RCT

Men of Company B

Cranes at Reef's Edge

Bulldozers Cleared Roads

Supplying the 77th Division

Area Patrolled

Pursuit Phase Begins

Machine-Gun Nests

Company G, 305th RCT

Native Camp

An Artillery Column

Locale of Barrigada Action

The Green House

The Wooded Plateau

Disabled Japanese Light Tank

Mt. Santa Rosa's Bare Slopes

The March to Yigo

In a nation at war, teamwork by the whole people is necessary for victory. But the issue is decided on the battlefield, toward which all national effort leads. The country's fate lies in the hands of its soldier citizens; in the clash of battle is found the final test of plans, training, equipment, and-above all-the fighting spirit of units and individuals.

AMERICAN FORCES IN ACTION SERIES presents detailed accounts of particular combat operations of United States forces. To the American public, this record of high achievement by men who served their nation well is presented as a preface to the full military history of World War II. To the soldiers who took part in the operations concerned, these narratives will give the opportunity to see more clearly the results of orders which they obeyed and of sacrifices which they and their comrades made, in performance of missions that find their meaning in the outcome of a larger plan of battle.

s/Dwight D. Eisenhower

DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER

Chief of Staff

WAR DEPARTMENT

Historical Division

Washington 25, D. C.

1 February 1946

The seizure of Guam in July-August 1944 added another base to our growing chain of possessions encircling the Japanese homeland. Marine troops made the initial landings on Guam and were aided in capturing the island by army units, comprised chiefly of the 77th Infantry Division. Guam tells the Army's part of the campaign.

This study is based upon a first narrative prepared in the field from military records and from notes and interviews recorded during the operation by S/Sgt. James M. Burns. The manuscript of this historical officer has been edited and partially rewritten with the help of additional documentation by Mrs. Marjorie Cline of the editorial staff of the Historical Division. Although in published form the book contains no documentation, the original manuscript, fully documented, is on file in the War Department. Two photographs (pp. 43 and 120) are International News Photos; four (pp. 59, 105, 115) are from the Bishop Museum on Oahu; seven (pp. 15, 21, 32, 33, 54, 69, 78) were taken by the U. S. Navy; one (p. 34) is from the U. S. Coast Guard; one (p. 44) was taken by the U. S. Marine Corps; two (pp. 152 26) were supplied by the Air Transport Command, Overseas Technical Unit. The rest, unless otherwise stated in the captions, were taken by the U. S. Army Signal Corps. Photographs from International News Photos may not be reproduced without the approval of the War Department. Readers are urged to send directly to the Historical Division, War Department, Washington 25, D. C., comments, criticism, and additional information which may be of value in the preparation of a complete and definitive history of the Guam operation.

THE INVASION OF THE SOUTHERN MARIANAS in June and July of 1944 was part of a coordinated effort by U. S. forces to gain bases within striking distance by air of the Philippines and the Japanese home islands. The enemy position in the Pacific was weakening under strong Allied offensives, which moved along two lines converging on the Japanese inner zone. From Australia the Allied offensive had developed on an axis northwest along New Guinea and beyond the Bismarck Sea, and from Hawaii it had moved to the west through the Marshall Islands ( Maps Nos. 1 and 2 , pp. x and 2). The advance along both lines had depended upon the conquest of enemy islands selected to form a system of supporting garrisons from which air and sea power could neutralize the remaining enemy bases in the area.