Worn on Saipan, it had a gold “4” on a scarlet background, the official
colors of the U.S. Marine Corps. This emblem was designed by SSgt John
Fabion, a member of the division’s public affairs office before the
Marshalls campaign. His commanding officer was astonished to find that,
when the division attacked Roi islet in Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall
Islands (January 1944), the layout of the runways on the Japanese
airstrip there were “an exact replica.”
]
[Sidebar (page 7): The Army 27th Infantry Division
This division, before the national emergency was declared in 1940,
was a State of New York National Guard organization. It contained
many famous old regiments, some dating from the Revolutionary and
Civil Wars. In World War II, the division’s 165th Infantry had been
the renowned old 69th New York Infantry, also known as the “Fighting
69th” and “Fighting Irish” of World War I fame. The first unit of this
regiment was organized in 1775.
As the war in Europe grew in intensity, the Selective Service Act gave
the President the power to federalize the National Guard. Thus, the
27th Division was activated by President Roosevelt on 25 September
1940. It was first sent to Fort McClellan, Alabama, for intensive
training, and then, in December 1941, to California.
On 28 February 1942, the first elements of the division sailed from
San Francisco and landed at the town of Hilo on the “Big Island” of
Hawaii. During the next two months, the division units were scattered
throughout the island for local defense and training. That was the
start of the longest wartime overseas service of any National Guard
division in the United States Army.
[Illustration]
In the fall of 1942, the division was directed to assemble on the
island of Oahu. MajGen Ralph C. Smith took over command at that time.
Then in midsummer 1943, orders came to prepare the 165th Infantry
Regiment, reinforced by a battalion of the 105th Infantry and an
artillery battalion, for an assault to capture the coral atoll of
Makin, in the Gilbert Islands chain. Following a four-day battle there,
in November 1943, the division furnished a battalion of the 106th
Infantry for the unopposed occupation of Majuro in the Marshall Islands
in January 1944.
The final prelude to Saipan for units of the 27th came the next month.
Two battalions of the 106th fought at Eniwetok Atoll in the Marshalls.
After the division’s struggle on Saipan, it went on to the battle for
Okinawa in April 1945, and then to the occupation of Japan in September
1945.
The final chapter came in December 1946 when the 27th Infantry Division
was deactivated.
]
_D+1-D+2, 16-17 June_
The next two days saw the Marine attack resumed all along the irregular
front. The 2d Division, after reorganizing, pushed its 6th Marines
northeast toward Mount Tipo Pali, its 2d Marines north towards Garapan,
and its 8th Marines east into the swamps around Lake Susupe. Direct
contact with the 4th Division was finally established.
Close combat was the norm. There were no exceptions for battalion
commanders. Lieutenant Colonel Justice M. Chambers, commanding the 3d
Battalion, 25th Marines in the 4th Division later described two of his
experiences on D+1:
We came to a big bomb crater. The soil had all been thrown up, and
around it there were three Marines protected by the dirt. I called
up to one of these Marines and asked him what was going on. One of
them said that there was an antiaircraft gun right down in front of
them. I crawled up within two or three feet of the top of the dirt
and raised up on my hands to see what was down there.
Within about 25 to 30 yards, I was looking right into the muzzle of
an 88mm antiaircraft/antitank gun. They had swung the damn thing
around, and it was pointing right up the hill. I was looking right
down its muzzle. I dropped as hard as I could and then the damn gun
went off. The shell tore through the far side of the bomb crater,
came through the dirt on the near side of the bomb crater where I
was. It took the head off the Marine with whom I had been talking.
The shell went on back and landed about 20 or 30 feet beyond us
where it detonated. Later that same day, he had another close call.
We had, as we had advanced, uncovered various Japanese supply
caches. One of these was an ammunition dump.... About 1505 the Japs
blew the large dump near where I was standing and caused numerous
concussion casualties including myself.... I don’t remember a thing
about it. The boys tell me that, when the blast went off, I was
thrown right up in the air, and I turned a complete flip and then
landed on my face.
On the night of D+1, the Japanese again launched a major attack on the
6th Marines, this time with 44 tanks. Major Donovan later described
the wild clash: “The battle evolved itself into a madhouse of noise,
tracers, and flashing lights. As tanks were hit and set afire, they
silhouetted other tanks coming out of the flickering shadows to
the front or already on top of the squads.” The Marines poured in
their fire, now with 2.36-inch rocket launchers, grenade launchers,
self-propelled 75mm guns, and their own artillery and tanks adding to
the din. When dawn broke, it was over and the shattered hulks of 24
Japanese tanks lay there smoking.
In the 4th Division zone of action, the left regiment, the 23d, also
had a difficult time in the Susupe swamp. The 24th and 25th drove
inland to the east towards the key objective of Aslito airfield. With a
danger looming of overextended lines, Lieutenant General Holland Smith
pulled the 165th Infantry out of his reserve (the Army’s 27th Infantry
Division) and sent it ashore on D+2 to reinforce the 4th Marine
Division. This same day, Major General Ralph Smith came ashore to take
command of the additional Army units of his 27th Division as they
landed.
[Illustration: