Operation Forager:: 1944 Battle for Saipan, Invasion of Tinian, and Recapture of Guam by Wrinn Daniel

Author:Wrinn, Daniel
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Storyteller Books, LLC
Published: 2021-04-22T16:00:00+00:00

White Beach Selection

The selection of northwestern beaches was considered the key to success in the Tinian operation. While credit for this decision has been debated, General Schmidt later wrote on the issue: “many high-ranking officers had asked who originated the plan. While the 4th Division was under my command and before the Mariana’s campaign, my planning officer Colonel Evans Carlson made a plan, and probably this plan was turned into V Amphibious Corps.”

Colonel Gooderham McCormick, the division’s intelligence officer who later became the mayor of Philadelphia, agreed with this assessment. He wrote, “Evans Carlson was the man who planned that landing. He told me all about that Tinian plan before he was wounded on June 22 on Saipan.”

General Graves Erskine, the V Amphibious Corps chief of staff, minimized Carlson’s role. In an interview, he said, “If there were plans, and I presume there were, none of them were available to me and my staff.”

Historian Ronald Spector wrote in his Pacific War history book that General Holland Smith had forced the issue. Rear Admiral Hill and General Smith proposed using the two White Beaches for the assault, but Admiral Turner vetoed the proposal and told Rear Admiral Hill to plan for a landing near Tinian Town. While Hill reluctantly complied, he ordered part of his staff to continue working on the White Beaches plan. Smith and Hill tried one more time to change Admiral Turner’s mind, but he still stubbornly refused to reconsider.

In an exchange characteristic of General Holland Smith and Admiral Turner, Turner said, “you are not going to land on the white beaches. I will not let you land there.”

“Oh yes, you will,” General Smith said. “You will let me land any goddamn place I tell you to.”

Admiral Turner was now upset and adamant. “I’m telling you that it cannot be done. It is absolutely impossible.”

General Smith said, “How do you know it’s impossible? Are you just so goddamn scared that some of your boats will get hurt?”

This exchange did not change Admiral Turner’s mind. So, Hill took the matter to Turner’s superior, Admiral Spruance. Spruance liked the White Beaches idea but did not want to overrule Turner—an amphibious warfare expert. After a conference with Turner and his subordinate commanders was arranged on board the flagship. All present spoke in favor of a White Beaches assault. Spruance later turned to Turner, where Turner calmly announced he now also favored the White Beaches.

Admiral Turner later wrote of the incident, “before the reconnaissance of July 11th was available, I had already decided to accept the White Beaches unless the reconnaissance reports were unfavorable.”

To quote John F. Kennedy: “Victory has many fathers, but defeat is an orphan.”

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