The Marines in World War II (eBook)

Michael E Haskew (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2016
224 Seiten
Amber Books Ltd (Verlag)
978-1-78274-407-8 (ISBN)

Infos

Iwo Jima, Okinawa, and Tarawa are legendary names on the US Marines' roll of honour, a testament to the bravery and sacrifice of Marines who answered the call to arms following the Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941. Growing to a peak of almost half a million men in 1945, at the beginning of the war the Marine Corps was a small expeditionary force with outdated equipment and an unproven new mission - amphibious assault.
The Marines in World War II charts the combat history of the Marines from Wake Island to Okinawa, covering every major battle in between: Guadalcanal, Kwajalein Atoll, Bougainville, Saipan, Guam, and Peleliu, to name just a few. In addition to chronicling these hard-fought battles, the book also examines the important role played by Navajo code talkers, the development of Marine Corps aviation, the little-known role of Marines in the European theatre, and the story behind the iconic 'Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima' photograph.
Today, the Marines are best remembered as the gritty, determined combat force that matured rapidly, learned hard lessons, took on the committed defenders of the Empire of Japan, crossed the Pacific Ocean island by island, and fought, bled, died - and won.

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Iwo Jima, Okinawa, and Tarawa are legendary names on the US Marines' roll of honour, a testament to the bravery and sacrifice of Marines who answered the call to arms following the Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941. Growing to a peak of almost half a million men in 1945, at the beginning of the war the Marine Corps was a small expeditionary force with outdated equipment and an unproven new mission - amphibious assault. The Marines in World War II charts the combat history of the Marines from Wake Island to Okinawa, covering every major battle in between: Guadalcanal, Kwajalein Atoll, Bougainville, Saipan, Guam, and Peleliu, to name just a few. In addition to chronicling these hard-fought battles, the book also examines the important role played by Navajo code talkers, the development of Marine Corps aviation, the little-known role of Marines in the European theatre, and the story behind the iconic "e;Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima"e; photograph. Today, the Marines are best remembered as the gritty, determined combat force that matured rapidly, learned hard lessons, took on the committed defenders of the Empire of Japan, crossed the Pacific Ocean island by island, and fought, bled, died - and won.

Textauszug

A Marine aims his M1 Garand rifle on Puruata Island during landing operations in Empress Augusta Bay, Bougainville, November 1943.

INTRODUCTION

The United States Marine Corps traces its history to November 10, 1775, seven months before the 13 American colonies declared their independence from the British Crown. Since then, the role of the Marine Corps has evolved during two-and-a-half centuries of war and peace.

Initially conceived as shipboard infantry that would find among their primary tasks the maintenance of security between officers and crewmen—effectively a deterrent to mutiny—and the armed contingent that would board an enemy vessel in close combat, the Marines were also to be capable of fighting on land.

During its history, the Marine Corps has deployed to hotspots around the world, from Latin America to Southeast Asia, and from the Mediterranean coast of Africa to the continent of Europe. Its sternest test, however, occurred during World War II as the Marines served as the primary ground force during the offensive that traversed the Central and South Pacific through a series of bloody encounters against determined Japanese defenders, carrying the fight to the very doorstep of the Home Islands.

In the process, the Marines made otherwise obscure and practically worthless spits of land—Tarawa, Peleliu, Iwo Jima, Okinawa, and others—household words. Amphibious warfare—transport across a vast expanse of ocean and then landing on hostile beaches and advancing inland to take control of enemy-occupied territory—became the hallmark of the modern Marine Corps. From 1942 to 1945, the Marines experienced some of the harshest combat in modern military history. They suffered horrific casualties, often perfecting processes and tactics as they advanced, and refused to accept anything short of the ultimate victory.

The emergence of the Marine role in modern amphibious warfare emanated from the realization that safeguarding American interests in Europe and the Pacific, particularly in light of the nation’s overseas possessions gained following the Spanish-American War, required an expeditionary force that could be transported and deployed by naval vessels and capable of establishing advance bases and conducting sustained offensive or defensive operations.

Initial conceptualization of such a force was decidedly defensive in nature, and in 1913 the Advance Base Force was established. Comprised of two regiments, including infantry and field artillery for mobile defense and coast artillery, engineers, and other specialists for static defense, the fledgling force numbered 1750 officers and men. The following year, an aviation detachment was included with the Advance Base Force. Established in the spring of 1912, when Lieutenant Alfred A. Cunningham was detailed for flight training and later designated Naval Aviator No. 5 and Marine Aviator No. 1, Marine aviation was in its infancy.

Marine Recruit Training

Marine Corps recruit training was formally established in 1911 under Major General William P. Biddle, Commandant of the Marine Corps. Biddle mandated two months of training for recruits at four original depots—Philadelphia; Norfolk, Virginia; Puget Sound, Washington; and Mare Island, California. A year later, Mare Island became the lone West Coast recruit depot, and in 1915 the East Coast recruit depot was relocated to Parris Island, South Carolina.

This World War II-era recruitment poster exhorts potential recruits to join up. At this time, the Marine Corps was made up mainly of volunteers.

During World War II, nearly 500,000 Marine recruits were trained stateside. Each received seven to eight weeks of training following an experiment that had shortened the period to a single month, which proved wholly inadequate. A third recruit depot was established at Montford Point, adjacent to the major Marine base at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. Montford Point was exclusively for African-American recruits, and 20,000 graduated from the facility. Camp Lejeune and Camp Pendleton, near San Diego, California, were established in 1941 and 1942 during the early months of preparation for World War II. Active Marine units trained at these facilities, and as the strength of the Corps increased during the war years, new units were established and staged for deployment overseas.

As the Marine role expanded in the Pacific, the Corps maintained training facilities on the Hawaiian island of Oahu and at forward bases in Australia and New Zealand. Marine units that had experienced combat were also routinely pulled back to these bases for further training and to assimilate replacements.

Anticipating Threats

Despite the defensive orientation, a few visionary Marine staff officers recognized the possibility of military conflict with Imperial Japan nearly three decades before it actually occurred. One of these officers, Major Earl Ellis, understood that the successful prosecution of a war with Japan would require the establishment of several bases at strategic locations across the Pacific, including Hawaii, Guam, Wake Island, and the Philippines. The United States would also be tasked with seizing territory occupied by the Japanese. The only way to accomplish such missions would be offensive projection of forces into enemy-held territory.

The Expeditionary Force

The seizure of Vera Cruz in Mexico in 1914 and unrest two years later in Haiti and Santa Domingo required the deployment of Marines to Central America and temporarily shifted the focus of Marine strategists from the Advanced Base concept. The Marine Corps grew to a peak strength of 73,000 during World War I, and the Advance Base Force was augmented to nearly 6300 personnel. By 1921, the Advance Base Force had been renamed the Expeditionary Force and was considered capable of establishing an advance base or dealing with unrest in the Caribbean. Postwar manpower constraints delayed the establishment of a similar force on the West Coast.

When the terms of the Treaty of Versailles were concluded in June 1919, a number of former German colonial possessions in the Pacific were mandated to Japan. In effect, the Japanese had extended their potential zone of defense significantly, and if these islands were fortified and in turn supported by a strong Japanese navy, they would present significant obstacles to an American offensive.

Once again, Major Ellis was uncanny in his discernment of the character of future warfare in the Pacific. In 1921, he completed a modified version of his earlier advance base ideas. In Operations Plan 712, also known as Advanced Base Operations in Micronesia, Ellis actually predicted the necessity of capturing islands in such now-familiar archipelagos as the Marshalls and the Marianas, naming several of the islands that the Marines took by storm a generation later.

Ellis was not alone. High-ranking Marine officers agreed with his perspective, and among them was Major General John A. Lejeune, then Commandant of the Marine Corps. In 1923, Lejeune told a gathering at the Naval War College: “The seizure and occupation or destruction of enemy bases is another important function of the expeditionary force. On both flanks of a fleet crossing the Pacific are numerous islands suitable for submarine and air bases. All should be mopped up as progress is made… The maintenance, equipping, and training of its expeditionary force so that it will be in instant readiness to support the Fleet in the event of war I deem to be the most important Marine Corps duty in time of peace.”

After World War I, defense appropriations in Congress were curtailed substantially, and during the 1920s the Navy establishment emphasized preparedness for traditional ship-versus-ship confrontations and the role of naval aviation in future wars. Landing exercises were conducted only on a limited scale.

Nevertheless, in 1927 the Joint Board of the Army and Navy issued a directive titled Joint Action of the Army and Navy, which stated that the Marine Corps would bear primary responsibility “for land operations in support of the fleet for the initial seizure and defense of advanced bases and for such limited auxiliary land operations as are essential to the prosecution of the naval campaign.”

The document went on to clearly delineate the role of the Marine Corps in establishing and maintaining the readiness of a landing force, stating: “Marines organized as landing forces perform the same functions as above stated for the Army, and because of the constant association with naval units will be given special training in the conduct of landing operations.”

Marine recruits march during a training exercise, Parris Island, South Carolina, May 1942.

Following the clear definition of the Marine Corps’ role in amphibious warfare, it became necessary to designate a force specifically assigned to train and develop amphibious tactics. In 1933, the Fleet Marine Force was created. Secretary of the Navy Claude A. Swanson issued General Order 241, specifying command responsibilities. By the summer of 1934, the necessary doctrine and practical application were taking shape in a “textbook” that was eventually published with the title Tentative Landing Operations Manual. In 1938, the Department of the Navy officially adopted the manual under the title Fleet Training Publication 167, while the Army incorporated it as Field Manual 31-5. The text addressed situations unique to amphibious warfare such as the coordination of naval gunfire, air support, ship-to-shore movement, loading combat...

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 8.3.2016
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Geschichte ► Allgemeine Geschichte ► 1918 bis 1945
• Themenwelt: Geschichte ► Teilgebiete der Geschichte ► Militärgeschichte
• Themenwelt: Sozialwissenschaften ► Politik / Verwaltung
• Schlagworte: Banzai • Bunker • guadacanal • IWO • Japanese • Landing • Okinawa • pelielu • Suicide • tarawa
• ISBN-10: 1-78274-407-X / 178274407X
• ISBN-13: 978-1-78274-407-8 / 9781782744078