Swift, Silent, and Deadly by Bruce Meyers

Author:Bruce Meyers [Meyers, Bruce F.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781612515021
Publisher: Naval Institute Press

Guam

Courtesy of History and Museums Division, HQMC

When planning began, a number of months before the landings on Guam, 18 June 1944 had been selected as W day for Phase II of Operation Forager (capture of Saipan and Tinian were Phase I). This date was slipped because of two incidents: first, the Battle of the Philippine Sea, which drew down the fleet assets during the Saipan operations and, second, the ferocious intensity of the defense of Saipan. This, as well as waiting for the arrival of the 77th Division from Hawaii, forced setting the new W day as 21 July. Initially, Guam was to have the 27th Army Division as floating reserve. Tactical dictates required the 27th being used more fully than anticipated at Saipan. This forced the alert and immediate movement of the 77th Army Division from Oahu.

One would have thought that the United States had ample basic intelligence on Guam after our forty-one-year possession of the island. But such was not the case. According to the Marine Corps Command and Staff School records, only one marine reconnaissance officer, in 1936, did anything approaching a staff study on Guam and the requirements for its assault.25 There were major gaps in aerial pre–W-day photography of Guam because of the very dense jungle growth on much of its terrain. The submarine Grayling (SS-209), however, was able to obtain good periscope beach-level photography between 2 and 29 April 1944, first of Saipan and Tinian then later in April on Guam.26

As a result of the commitment of the entire VAC Amphib Recon Battalion in the Saipan-Tinian campaigns, no VAC recon assets were used in the retaking of Guam. What limited pre–W-day recon was done was carried out by UDTs. Teams 3, 4, and 6, operating from APDs Dickerson (APD-21, UDT-3), Kane (APD-18, UDT-4), and Clemson (APD-32, UDT-6), did these recons. The daylight UDT operations, many under fire, were protected by shipboard-mounted 40-mm dual-purpose rapid-fire guns fired overhead by LCIs. Much of the credit for the low casualty rate of such UDTs goes to this close LCI fire support. None of the UDT swimmers ever got out of the surf or actually went inland on any of the selected beaches. Their observations of beach defenses were made from out in the surf and from the reef area. Navy CPO James R. Chittum, a member of UDT 3, confirmed that their observations were made while his team was in the surf, but they were “usually close enough to draw small arms fire.”27

The major landings were to be done on the western beaches, at Asan, north of the Orote Peninsula, and at Agat, south of the peninsula. The plan was for the two landing forces to turn and form a pincer movement to cut off the peninsula.28

On 14 July 1944, UDT 3, commanded by Lt. Thomas C. Crist, USNR, commenced three nights of recon of all selected and several alternate beaches. Beginning at dusk, the UDT swimmers slipped over the sides of their rubber boats and discovered that the Japanese on Guam had prepared antiboat/LVT obstacles in front of all of the usable beaches.

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