_BGen Lemuel C. Shepherd, Jr., Commanding General, 1st Provisional
Marine Brigade and his principal officers, from left, Col John T.
Walker, brigade chief of staff; LtCol Alan Shapley, commander, 4th
Marines; and Col Merlin T. Schneider, commander, 22d Marines, view a
relief map of Guam for the brigade’s operation._]
The 3d Marine Division, composed of the 3d, 9th, and 21st Marines
(rifle regiments), the 12th Marines (artillery), and the 19th Marines
(engineers and pioneers), plus supporting troops, numbered 20,238 men.
It had received its baptism of fire on Bougainville in November and
December 1943 and spent the intervening months on Guadalcanal training
and absorbing casualty replacements. The 1st Provisional Marine
Brigade, which was organized on Guadalcanal, was also a veteran outfit.
One of its infantry regiments, the 4th Marines, was formed from the
disbanded raider battalions which had fought in the Solomons. The other
once-separate regiment, the 22d Marines, was blooded in the seizure
of Eniwetok in February 1944. Both regiments had 75mm pack howitzer
battalions attached, which now joined brigade troops. In all, the
brigade mustered 9,886 men.
Corps troops of the III Corps was heavy with artillery and would use
every gun. III Corps had three battalions of 155mm howitzers and guns
and the 9th and 14th Defense Battalions, whose 90mm guns could and
would fire at both air and ground targets.
For the handling of casualties, III Corps had a medical battalion, with
equipment and supplies to operate a 1,500-bed hospital. In addition,
the 1st Brigade had two medical companies; the 3d Division its own
medical battalion; and the 77th Division a fully staffed and equipped
Army field hospital. Each of the divisions had a medium tank battalion
and a full complement of engineers, augmented by two Marine separate
engineer battalions and two naval construction battalions (Seabees).
Two amphibian tractor battalions and an armored amphibian battalion
would carry the assault waves to shore. All in all, the III Amphibious
Corps was prepared to land more than 54,000 soldiers, sailors, and
Marines.
[Illustration: _En route to Guam on board the command ship USS_
Appalachian _(AGC 1), Marine III Amphibious Corps commander, MajGen Roy
S. Geiger; his chief of staff, Col Merwin H. Silverthorn; and the Corps
Artillery commander, BGen Pedro A. del Valle, all longtime Marines
and World War I veterans, review their copy of the Guam relief map to
assist in their estimates and plans for the operation._
Department of Defense Photo (USMC) 87140
]
Waiting for the attack and sure that it would come, but not where, was
the Japanese _29th Infantry Division_ under Lieutenant General Takeshi
Takashina. The _29th_ had served in Japan’s _Kwantung Army_, operating
and training in Manchuria until it was sent to the Marianas in February
1944. One of its regiments, the _18th_, fell victim to an American
submarine, the _Trout_, and lost 2,200 of its 3,500 men when its
transport was sunk. Reorganized on Saipan, the _18th Infantry Regiment_
took two infantry battalions to Guam, together with two companies of
tanks.
[Illustration: _Imperial Japanese Army LtGen Takeshi Takashina,
commander of the_ 29th Infantry Division, _which came to Guam from
Manchuria in early 1944, where it was part of the_ Kwantung Army,
_was killed on 28 July while directing the evacuation of his Fonte
defenses._]
Another of the _29th_’s regiments garrisoned Tinian and the remaining
unit, the _38th Infantry_, together with division headquarters troops,
arrived on Guam in March. The other major Army defending units were
the _48th Independent Mixed Brigade_ and the _10th Independent Mixed
Regiment_, both formed on Guam in March from a six-battalion infantry,
artillery, and engineer force sent from the _Kwantung Army_. With
miscellaneous supporting troops, the total Army defending force
numbered about 11,500 men. Added to these were 5,000 naval troops
of the _54th Keibitai_ (guard force) and about 2,000 naval airmen
reorganized as infantry to defend Orote Peninsula and its airfield.
General Takashina was in overall tactical command of the 18,500
Army and Navy defenders. His immediate superior, Lieutenant General
Hideyoshi Obata, commanding the _Thirty-first Army_, was also on Guam,
though not intentionally. Returning to his Saipan headquarters from an
inspection trip to the Palau Islands, Obata was trapped on Guam by the
American landing on Saipan. He left the conduct of Guam’s defense to
Takashina.
The fact that the Americans were to assault Guam was no secret to its
defenders. The invasion of Saipan and a month-long bombardment by ships
and planes left only the question of when and where. With only 15 miles
of potential landing beaches along the approachable west coast, the
Japanese could not be very wrong no matter where they defended.
[Illustration: GUAM