[Sidebar (page 9): 3d Marine Division Insignia
[Illustration]
The insignia of the 3d Marine Division was adopted on 25 August 1943,
when the division was in training on Guadalcanal for the upcoming
invasion of Bougainville. Approved in 3d Marine Division Memorandum
274-43, the insignia consisted of a caltrop on a triangular,
gold-bordered scarlet shield. The caltrop was a medieval defensive
weapon used against both cavalry and infantry. During the warfare of
the Middle Ages, large numbers of caltrops were scattered by defenders
on the ground in front of an approaching enemy. The four-pronged,
forged-iron caltrop was designed so that no matter which way it landed
when thrown on the ground, one point would be up with the other
three points supporting it. When used on the insignia, the caltrop
represented not only the 3d Marine Division, but also the motto painted
on the drums carried by the Continental Marines in the American
Revolution: “Don’t Tread on Me.”
]
_The Southern Beaches_
In the south at Agat, despite favorable terrain for the attack, the 1st
Brigade found enemy resistance at the beachhead to be more intense than
that which the 3d Division found on the northern beaches. Small arms
and machine gun fire, and the incessant fires of two 75mm guns and a
37mm gun from a concrete blockhouse with a four-foot thick roof built
into the nose of Gaan Point, greeted the invading Marines as the LVTs
churned ashore. The structure had been well camouflaged and not spotted
by photo interpreters before the landing nor, unfortunately, selected
as a target for bombing. As a result, its guns knocked out two dozen
amtracs carrying elements of the 22d Marines. For the assault forces’
first hours ashore on W-Day on the southern beaches, the Gaan position
posed a major problem.
[Illustration: _FRONTLINE--W-DAY_
_ASAN BEACHHEAD_