July 1944 (3)

Gen. Hideki Kojo and Cabinet

18 July – Gen. Hideki Kojo, the Japanese Prime Minister and Chief of Staff resigned along with his entire cabinet.  The former premiers of Japan as an advisory group had moved the Emperor to form a new government in the wake of the increasing defeats.  Gen. Kuniaki and Adm. Mitsumasa Yonai took over the Army and Navy, which Tojo had been running under one office.

For two weeks, the bombardments of Guam in the Marianas had continued.  On the 19th, US Navy ships started the 2-day pre-landing attacks, focusing on the Asan and Agat beaches.  A Japanese diary of these days read: “On this island, no matter where one goes, the shell follows.”

While Marines crawl onto a beach, an enemy shell explodes a troop-laden amtrac offshore. Survivors from other shelled amtracs are swimming toward the beach. (National Archives)

21 July – The 1st Marine Brigade/3rd Division and the 77th Army Division went ashore on the west coast of Guam.  They discovered a sign left for them reading: “WELCOME MARINES.”  It was put there by the Navy UDT (Underwater Demolition Team).  It would then take 5 days for the two landing teams to link up.  A massive frontal attack took place that the men called “New Year’s Eve at the zoo.”  But the Japanese were mainly in cliff side sheltered positions.  They had not encountered the whole force.

24-25 July – after a 2-week rest, the US 4th Marine Division landed on the Tinian Island northern coast while the 2nd Div. made a feint attack off the southern sector around Sunhanon Harbor.  The 4th ran into ferocious resistance from the Japanese as the 2nd moved up the coast to support.

25-29 July – on Guam, the enemy launched a massive attack on the 3rd Marines who lost 1,744 men.  It was still considered a defeat for the Japanese who suffered nearly 20,000 casualties and men taken prisoner.  Plus, the enemy lost the island’s main airfield, Tiyan, as the Orote Peninsula was taken.  MGeneral Geiger then headed north.

Pres. F. D. Roosevelt in conference with Gen. D. MacArthur, Adm. Chester Nimitz, Adm. W. D. Leahy, while on tour in Hawaiian Islands. 1944. (Navy)
NARA FILE #: 080-G-239549

During July, US military leaders, the Joint Chiefs of Staff and FDR met at Pearl Harbor to discuss the Pacific War.  The men were basically divided between the MacArthur/Halsey plan of attacking the Philippines and Okinawa and Nimitz/ Admiral King’s idea to by-pass the Philippines and go directly to Formosa and isolate Japan from her resources in the Netherland East Indies.

The Joint Chiefs eventually gave their consent to MacArthur and Halsey mainly because the King/Nimitz plan would leave major Japanese bases in the rear of the Formosa landing.

In the CBI theater, various enemy positions, railroads, shipping, troops garrisons and other areas of opportunity were bombed by both the 10th and 14th Air Forces continually.

Click on images to enlarge.

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Japanese cartoons from the Kunihiko Hisa collection cont’d – 

 

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Farewell Salutes – 

Donald Abbott Sr. – Vancouver, WA; US Army Air Corps, WWII

Melvin Bales – Manitoba, CAN; RC Air Force, WWII, ETO, 407th Squadron

William Carden Sr. – US Navy, WWII, USS Huntington and Guam

Jim Delligatti – Uniontown, PA; US Army, WWII

Herbert Gilbert – Dryden, VA; US Army, Korea

Sammy Lee – Fresno, CA; US Army, Medical Corps doctor, (Olympic diver)

Allen W. Osborne – Thompsontown, PA; US Army Air Corps, WWII, PTO, HQ/127th Engineers/11th Airborne

Alton Phillips – Tampa, FL; US Navy, WWII

Revell ‘Jack’ Sowards – Manassa, CO, US Navy, WWII

Manuel Tabackman – Dayton, OH; US Army Air Corps, WWII

James Williams – Hendersonville, SC; US Army, WWII

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