Captured documents and interviews with prisoners again left little
doubt that the 77th Division’s major obstacle would be rugged, heavily
crevassed, and jungled Mount Santa Rosa. It is six and a half miles
northeast of Barrigada and a short distance from the ocean on the east
coast.
First to be addressed on the way were well-armed outposts like
Finegayan and Yigo. Each promised casualties, blood, and delay. General
Geiger employed the 77th to reduce Yigo and take Santa Rosa, and left
the capture of Finegayan and the rest of northern Guam principally
to the 3d Marine Division. He brought up General Shepherd’s brigade
to assist in the final drive. To protect the Force Beachhead Line,
care for the Guamanians, and hunt down enemy stragglers in the
south, General Geiger tasked the 1st Battalion, 22d Marines; the 7th
Antiaircraft Artillery Battalion; and the 9th Defense Battalion, all
under Lieutenant Colonel Archie E. O’Neil, who commanded the 9th.
Before moving on, the brigade had aggressively sought out Japanese
holdouts, brought the fearful Guamanians into friendly compounds, and
provided security for those who chose to remain in their own homes and
again work their own ranches. As late as 2 August, 4th Marines’ patrols
approaching Talofofo Bay on the southeast coast, came across some
2,000 natives, still apprehensive of the Japanese, who were directed
to a compound which promised safety and at least minimum comforts.
The Guamanian people in their own residential and farm areas could,
however, still readily call upon the civil affairs sections for food,
protection, medicine, and shelter. Such civil care was integral to the
American occupation and was controlled by Marine General Larsen, who
would head the garrison force as soon as the island was again under the
American flag.
During the night of 2-3 August, the 12th Marines delivered 777 rounds
of harassing and interdictory fire on the roads and trails the division
would encounter around Finegayan. At 0700 on 3 August, the 3d and
9th Marines moved in assault well past the Tinyan airfield. Then,
about 0910 the 9th encountered a block at the cross roads approaching
Finegayan village. The situation and terrain favored the Japanese with
excellent fields of fire. After the Japanese position was finally
overrun with tanks, Lieutenant Colonel Carey Randall, commanding 1st
Battalion, 9th Marines, said that these defenses were the toughest he
had faced on Guam.
That contest for Finegayan was the last major battle for the 3d
Division on Guam. The Japanese made it something to remember. A 3d
Division armored reconnaissance patrol headed for Ritidian Point on
the northernmost point of the island ran into Japanese defenses located
on the Finegayan trails bristling with antitank weapons and artillery
pointed in the direction of the patrol. The Americans were surprised
and bruised, did the Japanese some harm, but sensibly cancelled the
mission.
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