_MajGen Henry L. Larsen, left, designated island commander, meets with
BGen Lemuel C. Shepherd, Jr., commanding general of the 1st Provisional
Marine Brigade, and Col Robert Blake, Gen Larsen’s chief of staff. With
them are three Guamanians who enlisted in the Navy before the war and
are now visiting their homes._]
General Shepherd’s Marines began vigorously patrolling the area they
occupied, but found few Japanese. As a result, General Geiger reduced
the amount of naval gunfire placed on the area, while Saipan-based
Seventh Air Force P-47’s made their last bombing and strafing runs on
Ritidian Point. The 22d Marines was down below the cliffs at Ritidian,
scouring along the beaches where there are many caves. The 4th Marines
was on the north coast at Mengagan Point and tied by patrols to the
22d Marines. At 1800, 9 August, General Shepherd declared organized
resistance had ceased in his zone.
It was not so easy for the 3d Marines. On the night of 8-9 August near
Tarague, the regiment was hit by a last-resort Japanese mortar and
tank attack. Marine antitank grenades and bazooka rockets were wet
and ineffective and the Japanese blazed away with impunity and then
ducked back into the woods. Amazingly, when Major William A. Culpepper,
commanding the 2d Battalion (Lieutenant Colonel de Zayas had been
killed on 26 July), counted heads, he found that he had suffered not a
single casualty.
Patrols of the 9th Marines advanced to Pati Point, the northeast
projection of the island. Intelligence sources then reported to Colonel
Craig that a mass of Japanese (maybe 2,000) troops were holed up at
Savana Grand, a wild tract of jungle, coconut trees, and high grasses
near the coast. Colonel Craig did not want to risk casualties so close
to the end of the campaign, so the artillery supporting the 9th Marines
fired a total of 2,280 rounds. The few Japanese survivors were either
killed or became prisoners. The final American positions formed along
the coast. By nightfall of 8 August, Colonel Craig’s Marines could wave
to the soldiers of the 306th patrolling to their south.
General Geiger was not ready to declare Guam secure until a pocket
of tanks still existing in the 3d Division zone was wiped out. That
had to be done by the 10th, for that was the day Admiral Nimitz was
scheduled to arrive on a visit. There were tanks indeed and the task
of finding and eliminating them was given to Major Culpepper’s 2d
Battalion, 3d Marines. Advancing at 0730, the battalion and a platoon
of American Sherman tanks soon found two enemy mediums firing, only
400 yards up the trail the Marines were following. The Shermans left
their counterparts black and burning. Seven more enemy mediums were
abandoned. A Japanese infantry platoon withdrew to the coastal cliffs
and was killed there.
On that day, 10 August, at 1131 as he learned that the last Japanese
tanks still in action had been destroyed, General Geiger declared all
organized resistance on Guam had ended. It was a great day for the
Guamanians. The island was theirs again.
[Illustration: _THE FINAL DRIVE--7-10 AUGUST_