_Tank-infantry tactics perfected in prior operations proved successful
on Tinian as well. The riflemen served as the eyes of the armored
vehicle and would direct the tank crewmen over a telephone mounted in a
box on the rear of the tank._]
On the regiment’s left flank, the 3d Battalion was in assault at the
base of the plateau. It encountered minimal opposition until about
1600 when it began to receive rifle and machine gun fire from cliff
positions. Tanks were called on but soon found themselves mired in a
minefield and were held up for several hours while engineers cleared 45
mines from the area.
The 1st Battalion, 23d Marines, encountered similar troubles. As
the regiment approached the plateau, it ran into dense small arms
fire from two positions--a small village at the base of the cliff
and from the cliff face itself. It also began receiving fire from
a “large-caliber weapon.” Lacking tank support the Marines pressed
forward, running a few yards, diving on their bellies, getting up, and
advancing again. Medium tanks finally came up in search of this elusive
and well-concealed weapon. One of them took six quick hits from the
concealed position of this Japanese gun. A second tank was hit but in
the process the enemy position was discovered: a camouflaged, concrete
bunker housing a 47mm antitank gun and 20 troops, all of whom were
killed.
[Illustration: _MajGen Clifton B. Cates, center, visits the command
post of 24th Marines commander Col Franklin A. Hart. On the left is
LtCol Charles D. Roberts, S-3 of the 24th Marines. Gen Cates would
become the 19th Commandant of the Marine Corps._
Department of Defense Photo (USMC) 143760
]
The 2d Battalion of the 23d had similar difficulties. After coming
under fire from riflemen and machine gunners, one of its supporting
tanks was disabled by a mine. After its crew was taken to safety by
another tank, the disabled vehicle was seized by the Japanese and used
as an armored machine gun nest. Other tanks soon took it out. The 23d
also lost that day two 37mm guns and a one-ton truck belonging to the
regiment’s half-track platoon. The guns and the vehicle got too far
out front, came under heavy fire and were abandoned. A detail from the
platoon later retrieved one of the guns, removed the breech block from
the other one and brought back the .50-caliber machine gun from its
mounting on the truck.
[Illustration: _Tinian Town was made a shambles because U.S. commanders
knew that the enemy was well emplaced, dug in, and expected landings on
the beaches fronting the town. As a result, they directed a large share
of the pre-Jig Day bombardment into the waterfront and surrounding
area, thereby reinforcing Japanese beliefs that this is where the
Marines would land._
Marine Corps Historical Collection
]
Late in the afternoon, the 1st Battalion, 23d Marines, and a company
from the 2d Battalion gained a foothold on top of the plateau; the 3d
Battalion soon followed. To their left, the 3d Battalion, 8th Marines,
shrugged off small arms fire early in the day and reached the base of
the cliff where it stalled for the night. The 1st Battalion had better
luck. Company A made it to the top of the plateau at 1650, followed by
a platoon from Company C. Soon after, the whole battalion was atop the
hill. It was followed by Companies E and G of the 2d Battalion.
The Company G commander was Captain Carl W. Hoffman, who later wrote
the definitive histories of the Saipan and Tinian campaigns. In an
oral history interview, he described his own experiences on top of the
plateau the night of 31 July:
By the time we got up there ... there wasn’t enough daylight left
to get ourselves properly barbed-wired in, to get our fields of
fire established, to site our interlocking bands of machine gun
fire--all the things that should be done in preparing a good
defense.
By dusk, the enemy commenced a series of probing attacks. Some
Japanese intruded into our positions. It was a completely black
night. So, with Japanese moving around in our positions, our troops
became very edgy and were challenging everybody in sight. We didn’t
have any unfortunate incidents of Marines firing on Marines ...
[because they] were well-seasoned by this point....
As the night wore on, the intensity of enemy attacks started to
build and build and build. They finally launched a full scale
_banzai_ attack against [our] battalion.... The strange thing the
Japanese did here was that they executed one wave of attack after
another against a 37mm position firing cannister ammunition....
That gun just stacked up dead Japanese.... As soon as one Marine
gunner would drop another would take his place. [Eight of 10 men
who manned the gun were killed or wounded]. Soon we were nearly
shoulder-high with dead Japanese in front of that weapon.... By
morning we had defeated the enemy. Around us were lots of dead
ones, hundreds of them as a matter of fact. From then on ... we
were able to finish the rest of the campaign without difficulty....
People have often said that the Tinian campaign was the easiest
campaign ... in the Pacific....
For those Marines who were in that 37mm position up on the
escarpment, Tinian had to be the busiest campaign within the
Pacific war.
[Illustration: