_Troops of the 3d Battalion, 3d Marines, enter the wreckage of Agana
in the trace of retreating Japanese forces, who had planted land mines
before they left._]
The 77th had moved out on schedule just after daylight on 31 July,
with the 307th Infantry in the advance, followed by the 305th. As was
the situation facing the 3d Division, enemy resistance to the Army
advance was negligible. Within two hours, both Army regiments had
secured the cross-island road in their zones. The 307th rescued 2,000
Guamanians in the detention camp at Asinan. Unopposed, the 77th by noon
of 1 August was across the Pago River. Residents of the area said the
Japanese had left in a hurry for Barrigada, a destination where III
Corps intelligence already anticipated the enemy would hold up. The
jungle-covered mountain there, 674 feet high, dominated the area.
General Bruce assigned the capture of Barrigada to the 307th. It was
to maintain contact with the 3d Marine Division on the left and push
through the town, then continue about a mile to seize Mount Barrigada.
The 305th to the right of the 307th would attack in the same direction
east of the town and Barrigada mountain and protect to the coast. The
town was in a clearing fully swept with defensive machine gun fire. In
the same clearing was a much-desired well. Its capture meant the world
to the parched troops.
[Illustration: _Soldiers of the 77th Division reach the end of the road
bulldozed by the 302d Engineer Combat Battalion, and strike out cross
country in the 31 July advance._]
At 0630, 2 August General Bruce dispatched a dozen tanks of the 706th
Tank Battalion on a reconnaissance. As the “recon” armor turned into
Barrigada town, the enemy opened up with a torrent of fire. The
determined Japanese fiercely resisted the 307th when it reached the
town and were equally determined to stop the 305th on the right as that
regiment’s assault companies tried to outflank the town. Repeated tank
attacks and heavy artillery support netted only a few yards at a time,
but the soldiers kept advancing and by 4 August, the 77th Division held
the town, or what was left of it, its precious well, and the crest of
the mountain.
[Illustration: GUAM