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Marine Corps In WWII

HEADQUARTERS U. S. MARINE CORPS
WASHINGTON

The Marine Corps is an integral part of the United States Navy. As the land-arm of the Navy, the Corps is prepared by study, practice, and tradition to carry out the land-fighting phases of amphibious operations. The men of our Fleet Marine Force are especially trained for ship-to-shore assault and the subsequent hard fighting usually necessary to wrest the objective from hostile defending forces.

Since the war against Japan has been predominately amphibious in nature - has, in fact, been by far the greatest amphibious conflict of all time, the Marine Corps has been committed almost entirely to the War in the Pacific.

The men of the Corps have fought throughout the war with unsurpassable heroism and skill, in keeping with the traditions of their Corps and their national heritage. Their record of indomitable fighting service in defense of their country began in the very first hours of the war, when the Japanese struck at Pearl Harbor, Wake Island, the Philippines, and Guam.

Aboard ships and ashore, Marines bore their share of the fighting and the maintenance of order throughout the enemy's sudden air attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Casualties in our ranks, as among all other service personnel there, were heavy.

In the Philippines a Marine force, drawn mostly from the Fourth Marine Regiment, fought alongside Army troops throughout the heroic delaying struggle against overwhelming enemy ground and air power on Bataan Peninsula and Corregidor.

The first all-Marine action of World War II was the epic stand at Wake Island where a garrison of only four hundred Marines and a Marine air fighter squadron held off for fourteen days a major Japanese task force attempting to make a landing. Actually, the fighter squadron never had more than four planes in operation (others were damaged on the ground by enemy air action), but the dauntless pilots of those four planes at one time forced the task force to retreat and sank a large cruiser. The enemy, after suffering sharp losses in ships and men, finally effected a landing and overran the island on December 23.

Our naval base at Guam also was attacked on December 7 and captured by the Japanese after its garrison of slightly more than one hundred Marines and a small naval complement put up a gallant but futile fight.

At Guadalcanal, on August 7, 1942, our First Marine Division Reenforced drove ashore in the first American ground offensive of the war, beginning a long but steady march by Allied forces 3,000 miles across the Pacific to the Japanese homeland.

From Guadalcanal on, our men never were turned back. Every landing operation ended in the complete seizure of the objective. In almost every instance, the Japanese garrisons fought to stem the advance with desperate fanaticism. To defeat them - to break through and crush them in their huge blockhouses, their pill boxes, and their mazes of heavily fortified positions - called for the highest in courage and skill. And the highest never was lacking....

The Marine Corps also has taken a vital part in the aerial offensive in the Pacific, Marine pilots, flying both land and carrier-based planes, have served in many capacities throughout the Pacific battle area. From Midway to the Philippines, from Wake Island to a carrier off Tokyo, they have supported ground operations, destroyed enemy shipping, immobilized by-passed enemy strongholds, attacked enemy airdromes, scouted enemy activities, defended American-held bases, and carried troops, cargo, and mail to front-line fields.

Marine airmen have distinguished themselves unfailingly in every operation to which they have been assigned.

Throughout our history, Marines have served aboard the capital warships of the Navy. In this war, our fighting ships' complements have proudly maintained the high traditions established and upheld by the seagoing Marines of the past.

Sincerely yours, General A. A. Vandegrift Commandant of the United States Marine Corps

The first precarious year of World War II, when disaster piled on disaster and there seemed no way to check Japanese aggression. Advanced bases and garrisons were isolated and destroyed: Guam, Wake, and the Philippines. The sneak attack on Pearl Harbor, "the day that will live in infamy," seriously crippled the U. S. Pacific Fleet; yet that cripple rose to turn the tide of the entire war at Midway. Shortly thereafter the U. S. Marines launched on Guadalcanal an offensive which was destined to end only on the home islands of the Empire.

The country in general, and the Marine Corps in particular, entered World War II in a better state of preparedness than had been the case in any other previous conflict. But that is a comparative term and does not merit mention in the same sentence with the degree of Japanese preparedness. What the Marine Corps did bring into the war, however, was the priceless ingredient developed during the years of peace: the amphibious doctrines and techniques that made possible the trans-Pacific advance - and, for that matter, the invasion of North Africa and the European continent.

All too often it has been difficult to avoid conveying the impression that the specific operation under discussion was taking place in a vacuum. Thus, while much valuable history has been written, the story as a whole remains untold. Only when the broad picture is available can the significance of the Marine Corp;' contribution to the final victory in the Pacific be fairly evaluated.

It is difficult to visualize those lean first months in the Pacific when there was never enough of anything, and Allied strategy of giving top priority to Europe meant that there would not be for some time to come. Thus our initial offensive quickly and richly earned the nickname "Operation Shoestring." But the shoestring held during those early critical days when its holding appeared highly questionable; and when it did, the ultimate outcome of the war in the Pacific ceased to remain in doubt.

Francis Trevelyan Miller; with a Board of Historical and Military Authorities. History of World War II. Riverside Book & Bible House Iowa Falls, Iowa. 1945.

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