U.S. Army
Guam is the largest of the Mariana Islands. Unlike the other Marianas, which belonged to Japan, Guam was a U.S. territory in 1941, having been purchased from Spain as part of the settlement of the Spanish-American War in 1898. The other Marianas were sold to Germany by the Spanish, and seized by Japan early in the First World War.
The United States did little to develop Guam as a military base. It had a strategic location in the western Pacific, but its port at Agana was cramped and shallow, and the island was in a very exposed position. Furthermore, the Washington Treaty prohibited any American fortification of Guam. Fortification was considered after the lapse of the treaties, but the island was so exposed that it was essentially written off by strategic planners.
Guam was subjected to air raids shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor, and fell just three days later after token resistance by the tiny Marine garrison. It was recaptured from the Japanese in 1944 after a bloody campaign in which Saipan and Tinian were also taken. Thereafter it became an important forward base and headquarters for the Pacific Fleet.
Landings began on Guam on 21 July 1944. Some 55,000 troops of the III Amphibious Corps (Geiger) came ashore against 19,000 troops of 29 Division (Takashima). The island was also the headquarters of 31 Army (Obata). Resistance was only moderate and the Americans quickly established themselves ashore. However, they encountered serious resistance on the Orote Peninsula, preventing them from linking their beachheads from the north and south. The peninsula finally fell on the 28th. The Americans continued pressing forward, beating off a fierce counterattack on 6 August, and had the Japanese bottled into a small pocket in the north by the 8th. The island was secured two days later.
American casualties were 1300 dead and 6700 wounded. The Japanese garrison was wiped out except for about 100 prisoners of war.
Guam is a large, rugged island, and a small number of Japanese soldiers escaped the American sweep and hid in the jungle. The last of these does not surrender until 1972.
References
The Pacific War Online Encyclopedia (c) 2007 by Kent G. Budge. Index
