Where the Army-Marine artillery barrages fell, however, there was
desolation. Major Schmuck, a company commander in one of the assault
battalions, later remembered:
For 500 yards, the Marines moved in a macabre world of splintered
trees and burned-out brush. The very earth was a churned mass of
mud and human bodies. The filthy, stinking streams were cesspools
of blasted corpses. Over all hung the stench of decaying flesh and
powder and smoke which revolted [even] the toughest. The first line
of strong points with their grisly occupants was overrun and the
500-yard phase line was reached.
The Japanese were not through. As the Marines moved forward a Nambu
machine gun stuttered and the enemy artillery roared, raking the
Marine line. A Japanese counterattack hit the Marines’ left flank.
It was hand-to-hand and tree-to-tree. One company alone suffered
50 casualties, including all its officers. Still the Marines drove
forward, finally halting 1,150 yards from their jump-off point,
where resistance suddenly ended. The Japanese _23d Infantry_ had
been totally destroyed, with 1,107 men dead on the field. The
Marines had incurred 115 dead and wounded. The battle for Piva
Forks had ended with a dramatic, hard fought victory which had
“broken the back of organized enemy resistance.”
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