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Thayne -> RE: Tulagi Campaign AAR (by Thayne) (6/30/2004 6:15:00 AM)
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9. Break
There is a moment, after a battle, where there is time to think about what just happened and to say, "Wow!, I'm alive!". It is a joyful rush, though heavily tinged with guilt, because so many were not able to share it.
That is the moment that soldiers start to tell their war stories, their great escapes and their lucky shots. Of course, every one of those stories had a reasonably happy ending; they were told from the view point of somebody who survived. We will never hear what those who died had to say about the battle.
Captain Russell gave us little time to rest. He sent the scouts out to the east to warn of any impending counter-attack, then set the rest of the company to work. A squad from Second Platoon was put in charge of the prisoners until they could be hauled off the island. There were not many of those; the Japanese seemed to prefer surrender to death. Additional units were put in charge of the dead, governing the village, and latrine duty. Guards were posted. However, the vast majority of the soldiers were put to work building up defenses.
We were soon sweating in the humid August heat digging foxholes, stacking logs and dirt into breastworks, and running communication wire for a line of defense that would cut across the island from north to south.
10. Layout
Second Platoon, which did most of the fighting during the day, took the left flank. Its line started at the north coast and went up the north slope of the spine of the island, and part way down the south slope. Russell had them set up in a line of trees, looking out into an open field where possible.
Captain Russell was concerned about not having enough troops to hold a continuous line. He decided to gamble, and put his headquarters units on the line between Second Platoon and First Platoon. They occupied the southern slope of the spine.
First Platoon then built its line from the foot of the spine across the open field west of the village. Ahead of them, they had a clear line of fire to the tree line.
The company salvaged a pair of 30 caliber machine guns and ammunition from the Alligators that did not survive the battle. Russell gave these to Lieutenant Diaz's scout groups and had them continue the line to the right of First Platoon. His orders to Diaz were to send his scouts forward, as usual, to detect any Japanese assault. However, if they detected an assault, to retreat to the main line of defense and man the machine guns.
Third Platoon, the heavy weapons platoon, filled the line from the village to the southern coast. Its machine guns would have their maximum effect on the open ground ahead of them. They zeroed their mortars in on the tree line that any attackers were certain to use for cover.
Third platoon's line ended in a small clump of trees right on the beach. This was the place I selected for my position.
The defensive line, then, from north to south, was:
• 2nd Platoon
• Headquarters Units
• 1st Platoon
• Scouts Unit (with machine guns)
• 3rd Platoon (heavy weapons unit)
• Me, the sniper.
In building this line, Captain Russell was giving up a large strip of land won from the Japanese that day. Soldiers could not help but speculate as to his motive. The dominant theory was that Captain Russell did not want to be where the enemy expected him to be. By pulling his troops back a few hundred yards, the enemy may make some bad guesses as to how he had set up his defenses. The other theory is that he felt a hundred yards or so of open ground would be harder to charge across.
11. Transformation
Battalion took the Alligators back at the earliest opportunity. They needed the amphibious craft to make landings on other nearby islands. However, they did bring us a pair of 75mm guns to take their place, and an artillery crew to spot for them.
Russell was expecting the enemy to counter-attack along the spine, where the cover would allow the enemy to get closer to his defenses before exposing themselves. Therefore, he spent the afternoon sighting the guns in on the side of the hill.
Battalion also saw fit to supply us with reinforcements. It took troops from the reserve units and added them to the squads to bring them nearly up to strength. Unfortunately, the work in the afternoon heat took a few more soldiers out of action. They soon found themselves in a village house that had been taken over for a company hospital, being treated for heat exhaustion and other maladies.
By the time darkness fell, we were well set to receive a Japanese attack. I could only assume that they were doing the same in preparing for us. I imagined this battle, unlike the original battle of Tulagi, turning into an example of conventional trench warfare, with the two forces facing each other across a ditch that cut the island in two.
The Japanese commander, however, had other plans.
12. Night
Night brought no relief from the heat; just darkness. The tree line ahead of me slowly transformed to a wall of shadow. Even through the scope of my rifle, I could see little.
There was sand everywhere -- in my shoes, in my pants, and in my rifle. I could not get comfortable, and longed for a hot shower and a good meal in an air-conditioned room, followed by a visit to a soft bed. I knew that, in less than a day, I would be able to have all of that. These marines would have to stay here for a while.
First, they would have to survive the night.
Just after dark, Sergeant Jenkins, the commander of the machine gun emplacement closest to me, sent one of his soldiers over to tell me that the enemy was moving toward us. The recon squads had been called back and were ready at their machine guns. He had no idea how many there were, or where they would attack. I was told to just wait, and to kill anything that stuck its head out of the trees.
I looked at the trees and wondered how I was supposed to tell whether anybody had come out of them. I had visions of a Japanese soldier, crawling out of the forest on his belly, knife in hand, heading for my trees. He would see me and approach quietly. I would not know he was there until I felt his blade penetrate my ribs or kidney or cut across my throat.
I fought the images aside, and a wave of nausea that accompanied them. Instead, I took the scope from my rifle and studied the trees through it.
Nothing.
There was the sound of the jungle -- the nighttime noises of birds and bugs. There was the sound of the waves beside me falling onto the beach and then running back to the sea. I wanted to shout them all into silence, so I could hear what the Japanese were doing.
As it turns out, I did not need the scouts to tell us that the enemy was making an assault. The enemy did it for us, with an artillery barage. I saw a spark of wisdom in Captain Russell's plan to build his line further back than expected; the artillery landed short. We sat safely in our defenses and watched the show.
After the original barrage, there were a few moments of silence. White knuckled fingers gripped machine guns and rifles.
The waiting continued.
I wrapped the strap of my rifle around my forearm and aimed at the trees.
And waited.
The next shells to land were our own. I did not know if somebody had seen something, or Captain Russell was simply interested in softening up the enemy or, at least, giving them something to think about. The shells landed on the near slope of the hill in front of the headquarters units, where Russell was expecting the main assault. I think that he just got nervous.
13. First Blood
The first shots came from up the hill. From where I sat, I could see the muzzle flashes of the American M1 rifles and submachine guns. The Japanese answered in kind. However, the Americans had fire supremacy, at least for now.
The battle grew, like a fire, from a small flame gaining speed and light as it found more fuel. It grew from the scattered shots of a single squad to the determined defense by all of First Platoon against an equally long line of enemy attackers.
Then, Jenkin's machine gun opened up next to me. I ducked, out of reflex. It took a moment for me to remember my position. I looked up and over to the tree line, where I saw the muzzle flashes of Japanese guns. Here, as well, the fight grew from a few shots exchanged between squads to a full fledged war that involved all of Third Platoon and some of the scouts.
While we fired, I heard a deep rumbling off to my right. Out to sea, I could see the gun flashes of the Campbelltown. Its shells landed in the forest, behind the tree line. I could only hope that it was doing something to disrupt the assault.
However, the bulk of the artillery power continued to pound the mountain side. Shells from the 75mm guns that had been brought to the island, and from the Buchanan at sea, lit up the slope.
We were not the only ones with artillery. Japanese mortars landed on the northern side of Third platoon and among the machine gun scouts. The shells did little damage against entrenched infantry -- except for the occasional lucky shot. However, the Japanese could fire a lot of shots, creating a lot of opportunity for luck.
The battle was truly on.
I leveled my rifle, and searched for targets. Through the scope, I saw so many Japanese, it was hard to make up my mind who to shoot.
14. Waves
Man, there were a lot of Japs. The equivalent of a full platoon came out of the trees and stood within rifle range. Sergeant Jenkins held the trigger down on his machine gun and swept the planes ahead of him. However, the Japanese had numbers on their side. A few fell, but a countless hoard kept standing, and their numbers looked like they were increasing all the time.
The right half of Third Platoon was facing Japanese I could not see, I knew only from their fire that they had something to shoot at; and that something was shooting back. If the rest of the platoon was in the same position we were, this meant we could easily be facing an entire enemy company on our own.
Well, to be honest, we were not entirely on our own. Somebody knew of our predicament -- somebody with a radio and authority to use it -- and called for naval support. Shells landed behind the tree line. At the same time, Third Platoon dropped its own mortars on the squads it could see in and in front of the tree line.
While all of this was going on, the attack against First Platoon also continued. That half of the battle drew the naval fire from a second support ship, and continued to use the support of the two 75mm guns.
The Japanese assault there was not posing any serious threat; there were enough defenders to deal with the numbers of enemy soldiers that they could see at any one time.
15. The Center
The Japanese began to put pressure on the marines in a third location. Enemy soldiers, backed with artillery, started to fire on the link between the scouts to the south, and the right flank of First Platoon.
That part of the line started to weaken, then to buckle. I could tell from the location of the gun flashes that the right side of First Platoon was falling back. The Japanese continued to fire light and medium mortar shells on the region -- one shell after another, driving the defenders further back.
I did not have time to consider what was happening against the center of the American defenses for long. Straight across from me, the Japanese continued to stand in at least platoon strength. They were firing, almost to a man, on the machine gun that Sergeant Jenkins commanded
The machine gun continued to answer, but it did not answer well. It was hard to tell among the flashes of light, but it looked as if only one man remained in that group. He knelt behind his weapon and poured a stream of lead into the Japanese line. that one marine with a machine gun, and me with my rifle, stood facing a full platoon of Japanese infantry.
This was not going well.
16. Drive
Looking out over the ocean, I could see two squads of infantry trying to outflank me. They were moving out to the waves of the ocean itself, to move around my position.
I took a shot. It was all they needed. I assume that somebody saw my muzzle flash, or took a lucky guess that the shot had come from the only shelter in the region. Soon, I was their target.
I ducked behind my wall of sand and trees. Bullets hissed past me and thumped into the logs at my back. Sand flew up from the ground like fountains, and splinters of wood rained down. I thought of retreating, but I could not leave the sole survivor of the machine gun squadron facing the enemy alone.
The Japanese took care of that dilemma for me soon enough. The loan survivor on the machine gun flew back from a bullet to his head or chest. The machine gun sat idle.
Now, it was just me facing a platoon of Japanese infantry. I decided to retreat. I fell back to a point just to the right of the next machine gun nest. There, I lay down in the sand and sought my next target.
Third Platoon was facing the same problem on its left flank that I was witnessing on its right. Japanese infantry, with the help of concentrated mortar fire, had taken out at least one of the machine gun nests that the scouts had set up, and was putting pressure on the next one in line. They were driving a wedge between the scouts that occupied the machine guns on Lieutenant Hooper's left, and the right-most squads of First Platoon.
The enemy was in a position where a bit more pressure would allow them to islate Third Platoon, surround it on three sides, and destroy it.
I asked myself again, "Why am I doing this?"
17. Another One Gone
The Japanese infantry that had been firing on me and which eliminated Jenkin's position shifted their attention to the next machine gun in line. This was Sergeant O'Hearn. O'Hern did not last nearly as long as Jenkins. Like their comrades in the first emplacement, these Marines did not run. They were shot to pieces. The right flank -- my flank -- truly was failing.
If there was any bright spot in our situation it was in the fact that Third Platoon did have its own artillery, and did not have to wait for authority from the Captain to use it. However, Captain Russell seemed to be gaining an appreciation of the situation. He dedicated one of the support ships to our defense. It was better than nothing.
18. Pressure
For all practical purposes, our defensive line had been shrunk from seven units to three -- the Third Platoon headquarters, with one remaining machine gun emplacement on its left, and some scouts manning a salvaged machine gun next to them. Two machine gun teams on the right, and two scout teams with machine guns on the left, had all given up their positions, or were too busy hiding to be of much use.
Captain Russell was now focusing every piece of artillery that still had ammunition on the forest where our attackers were trying to organize themselves.
The problem with this strategy is that the artillery was starting to run out of ammunition. The 75mm batteries fired their last shell. The question started to emerge as to which would run out first; friendly ammunition, or the enemy will to fight. If the enemy were allowed to organize itself, without the harassment of our artillery, we would certainly be overrun.
18. Smoke and Flame
The ships off shore had endurance. They fired round after round into the trees. They had lit a fire on the near edge of the forest that any assault would have to go through it, or around. I could not see past the flames, but I cold see any enemy soldier walking in front of them. Between the fire and the smoke from the artillery and the Japanese squads, I could not see much else at all.
I could only see that I had fewer and fewer targets to shoot at, until I had no targets at all.
Eventually, Captain Russell called off the naval support, and we listened. We heard the birds and the bugs and the waves playing on the beach. We heard the crackling of fires ignited during the encounter, the cries of the wounded, the soothing voices of those who tried to comfort them, and the shouts of lieutenants and sergeants getting soldiers organized for the next possible wave.
Lieutenant Hooper sent men forward to take care of the two machine gun teams that the enemy had wiped out. Some of them were still alive. He also sent scouts ahead, into the trees, to find out what was going on. The scouts disappeared as best they could into the night. They were gone a very long time.
The scouts returned with good news. The enemy had fled. They left behind, in the trees, more bodies than the scouts could count -- many of them broken up into pieces.
19. Aftermath
I did not think it fair that Captain Russell would be criticized for giving up a few acres of ground. His response to that criticism was, "I can kill more Japanese with live marines than I can with dirt." In making that defense, he could point out the fact that he lost less than thirty soldiers in the fight, and killed nearly 350 enemy soldiers. There were, indeed, at least 500 Japanese on the island. Now, at least, the odds were a little closer to fair.
There is no doubt that Russell's decision to build his defensive line further back confused the enemy. They had pressed on as far as they expected to, and seemed at a loss to think of what the should do next.
On the other hand, Captain Russell was wrong to expect the bulk of the enemy attack to come along the hillside. Second Platoon barely used a round of ammunition during the fight, and most of what they did used was only after they shifted their line south a ways in order to help First Platoon. First Platoon itself was able to hold its line without difficulty; the force of the enemy assault against it was minimal.
This mistake came near to destroying Third Platoon. If the Japanese had pressed the attack a bit more strongly they could have rolled up the American right flank and, with it, the entire American line. They would have also gotten out from under the weight of those naval guns. On the other hand, if the harassment fire that Russell had ordered onto the hill in the opening minutes of the fight had gone to the south flank instead, the Japanese attack would have likely been even more muted.
I could easily imagine a Japanese commander on the other side, realizing that he had to win this battle, making an all-out charge against Third Platoon. In charging, the Japanese would have gotten out from under the naval barrage that was ripping its squads apart. They would have closed with the Americans in hand-to-hand combat. Against such an assault, the weapons crews of Third Platoon would have been at a disadvantage; there were too few soldiers. After rolling over Third Platoon, the Japanese could have turned their attention to the rest of the line.
It did not happen. The Japanese remained where the mortars and machine guns of Third Platoon, and the naval artillery, could take turns blowing them into smaller and smaller units.
Captain Russell's company survived the night, in part because of the plans that he devised; in part, in spite of those plans.
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