Marines In the Solomons - Pacifica Military History

Marines In the Solomons
1
Marines In the Solomons
Marines In the Solomons
New Georgia and Bougainville
A Pictorial Record
Eric Hammel
247 Photos
Although U.S. Marines had broken the back of the Japanese on Guadalcanal
in furious combat between August 1942 and February 1943, much hard fighting remained to be endured on jungle-choked islands to the north. Between
late 1942 and the end of 1943, the Marines on the ground and in the air took
part in a series of battles and campaigns in the central and northern Solomon
Islands, all part of the effort to reach and neutralize the Japanese regional air,
naval, and supply base at Rabaul, at the northeastern tip of New Britain.
Throughout these campaigns, first over and on New Georgia,and then over
and on Bougainville, the Marines fought their way through some of the most
difficult terrain and inhospitable weather encountered in World War II.
As a result of the unbroken chain of ground and air victories along the
Solomons chain, the mighty Japanese fortress at Rabaul was brought within
range of American and New Zealand air groups operating from Bougainville
2
Marines In the Solomons
and other surrounding island air bases. The aggressive, unremitting offensive
efforts supported by these bases secured the flank of the continuing American and Australiam campaign for eastern New Guinea. The high tide of
Japanese conquest in the South and Southwest Pacific areas would recede,
and the Marines would be free to undertake the long-planned island-hopping campaign in the Central Pacific and the Philippines, all the way to the
Japanese home islands.
Military historian Eric Hammel has scoured the archives for photos of
Marines in Pacific War combat and has unearthed thousands of rare, many
never-before-published images. In this most-comprehensive photographic history of the Marine battles in the central and northern Solomons, Hammel
adds to the depth of his previous World War II Marine Corps pictorial histories. Hundreds of photographs coupled with Hammel’s brief, insightful narrative provide a fitting tribute to the Marines who fought their way across
the South Pacific.
3
Marines In the Solomonsl
Marines In the Solomons
i
Marines In the Solomons
Books by Eric Hammel
76 Hours: The Invasion of Tarawa (with John E. Lane)
Chosin: Heroic Ordeal of the Korean War
The Root: The Marines in Beirut
Ace!: A Marine Night-Fighter Pilot in World War II (with R. Bruce Porter)
Duel for the Golan (with Jerry Asher)
Guadalcanal: Starvation Island
Guadalcanal: The Carrier Battles
Guadalcanal: Decision at Sea
Munda Trail: The New Georgia Campaign
The Jolly Rogers (with Tom Blackburn)
Khe Sanh: Siege in the Clouds
First Across the Rhine (with David E. Pergrin)
Lima-6: A Marine Company Commander in Vietnam (with Richard D. Camp)
Ambush Valley
Fire in the Streets
Aces Against Japan
Aces Against Japan II
Aces Against Germany
Air War Europa: Chronology
Carrier Clash
Aces at War
Air War Pacific: Chronology
Aces in Combat
Bloody Tarawa
Marines at War
Carrier Strike
Pacific Warriors: The U.S. Marines in World War II
Iwo Jima: Portrait of a Battle
Marines in Hue City: Portrait of an Urban Battle
The U.S. Marines in World War II: Guadalcanal
The U.S. Marines in World War II: New Georgia, Bougainville, and Cape Gloucester
The U.S. Marines in World War II: Tarawa and the Marshalls
The Forge
Coral and Blood
The Road to Big Week
Islands of Hell
Always Faithful
The Steel Wedge
Marines On Okinawa
Marines In the Marshalls
Marines On Peleliu
Marines On Guadalcanal
ii
Marines In the Solomonsl
Marines In the Solomons
New Georgia and Bougainville
A Pictorial Record
Eric Hammel
Pacifica Military History
iii
Marines In the Solomons
©2012 by Eric Hammel
Book Design and Layout Copyright ©2012 by Words To Go, Inc.
Text Copyright
All Maps Copyright ©Meridian Mapping
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any
form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any
information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
Requests for permission to make copies of any part of the work should be mailed to: Permissions, Pacifica Military History, 1149 Grand Teton Drive, Pacifica, California 94044.
ISBN-10: 1-890988-60-X
ISBN-13: 978-1-890988-60-9
Book Design and Type by Words To Go, Inc., Pacifica, California
Cover Design by Tom Heffron, Hudson, Wisconsin
Maps by Meridian Mapping, Minneapolis, Minnesota
***
For a complete listing of all the military history books written by Eric Hammel and currently
available in print or as ebooks, visit: http://www.EricHammelBooks.com A free sample
chapter from each book is available in the site’s Free section.
Please also visit http://www.PacificaMilitary.com
iv
Marines In the Solomonsl
This book is respectfully dedicated to the gallant American soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines who stood their ground
and achieved the stunning victory in the Solomon Islands
v
Marines In the Solomons
vi
Marines In the Solomonsl
Contents
Author’s Note
Glossary & Guide to Abbreviations
Maps
Chapter 1: After Guadalcanal
Chapter 2: New Georgia
Chapter 2: Marine Air Strikes North
Chapter 3: Bougainville
ix
xi
xv
1
47
93
111
vii
Marines In the Solomons
viii
Marines In the Solomonsl
Author’s Note
There is a lot of ground and time to cover here—more than six hundred
miles, nearly a year. United States Marines took part in two major ground
campaigns and a major air campaign between late 1942 and late 1943. These
were as major participants in the Solomons air campaign, as minor participants on the ground in the central Solomons, and as the landing force and
chief architects of the Bougainville campaign.
All these many facets, large and small, were really parts of the effort to
place the main Japanese regional nerve center at Rabaul under aerial domination. At all times during this long slog, Marines operated as part of an
interservice and multinational team. More than 150 years of subordination
to the U.S. Navy made the Marines good team players, but there were also
Marine leaders who, throughout the long slog, led the interservice and multinational forces to victories unimagined in their scope during the decades
those leaders had served before World War II.
ix
Marines In the Solomons
*
During the year of campaigning covered in this volume—and nearly two
years into the Pacific War—the Marine Corps devoted few resources to documenting the war on film. Very few photographers were deployed to the Pacific, and they were neither trained nor often called upon to act as combat
photographers. That worldview, the name, and the training to go with it, did
not really emerge until late 1943, at Bougainville and Tarawa. There was no
great loss incurred during the ground phase of the New Georgia campaign in
mid-1943; few Marines were involved. The sense of lost opportunities arises
from a review of photos of the long, intense aerial offensive over the Solomons.
No one should die taking a picture, but it is quite clear that not much effort
or risk went into covering the war part of the air war. This volume will incorporate every combat photo I have been able to glean from official sources
over the course of many years of looking for them. That’s precious few.
But this shouldn’t be about spilled milk.
The photographic record perks up at the outset of the Bougainville campaign and actually mounts in intensity as the Marines move on across the
Pacific. The photos are of better quality, more immediate, more sympathetic
toward the combat Marines who have to take the hills and comb the valleys
and forests and reduce the Japanese defenses that mark the long, long road
to victory. They become more knowing, more insightful, also, as the photographers begin to share the day-to-day, moment-by-moment, life-and-death
struggles their combatant comrades are thrown into. That will become evident as you encounter the Bougainville collection in this volume.
So even though the early parts of the photographic record memorialized
in these pages fall short of the best game Marine combat photographers eventually came to play in Pacific island battles, the sum of my spending several
years locating and scanning several hundred central Solomons campaign
photos serves as the basis for that part of this volume. For you, the reader,
there lies within this volume the largest collection of photos of Marines in
the central and northern Solomons that has been published to date, or maybe
ever will be published. This collection was paid for in blood and sacrifice.
Eric Hammel
Northern California
Summer 2012
x
Marines In the Solomonsl
Glossary and
Guide to Abbreviations
IMAC I Marine Amphibious Corps
A6M Imperial Navy Mitsubishi “Zero” fighter
AirNorSols Aircraft, Northern Solomons
AirSols Aircraft, Solomon Islands
AirSoPac Aircraft, South Pacific Area
Amtrac Amphibian tractor
Avenger U.S. Navy/Marine Grumman TBF carrier torpedo/light bomber
B-17 U.S. Army Air Forces Boeing Flying Fortress four-engine heavy
bomber
B-24 U.S. Army Air Forces Consolidated Liberator four-engine heavy
bomber
B-25 U.S. Army Air Forces North American Mitchell twin-engine medium bomber
xi
Marines In the Solomons
Betty Imperial Navy Mitsubishi G4M twin-engine land attack bomber
C-47 U.S. Army Air Forces Douglas Skytrain twin-engine transport
(Same as R4D)
Catalina U.S. Navy Consolidated PBY twin-engine amphibious patrol
bomber
Corsair U.S. Navy/Marine Vought F4U fighter
D3A Imperial Navy Aichi Val dive-bomber
Dauntless U.S. Navy/Marine Douglas SBD dive-bomber
F4F U.S. Navy/Marine Grumman Wildcat fighter
F4U U.S. Navy/Marine Vought Corsair fighter
F6F U.S. Navy Grumman Hellcat fighter
Flying Fortress U.S. Army Air Forces Boeing B-17 four-engine heavy
bomber
G4M Imperial Navy Mitsubishi Betty twin-engine land attack bomber
HE High explosive
Hellcat U.S. Navy Grumman F6F fighter
LCVP Landing craft, vehicle, personnel
Lightning U.S. Army Air Forces Lockheed P-38 twin-engine fighter
LST Landing ship, tank
LVT Landing vehicle, tracked; amphibian tractor; amtrac
M1 U.S. Garand .30-caliber semi-automatic rifle
M3/M3A1 U.S. Stuart light tank
M3 U.S. 75mm tank destroyer halftrack
MAG Marine Air Group
MASP Marine Air, South Pacific
Mitchell U.S. Army Air Forces North American B-25 twin-engine medium bomber
P-38 U.S. Army Air Forces Lockheed Lightning twin-engine fighter
P-39 U.S. Army Air Forces Bell Airacobra fighter
P-40 U.S. Army Air Forces Curtiss Warhawk fighter; Royal New Zealand
Air Force Kittyhawk fighter
PBJ U.S. Marine Corps North American Mitchell twin-engine medium
bomber; identical to B-25
PBY U.S. Navy Consolidated Catalina twin-engine amphibian patrol
bomber
PB4Y U.S. Navy/Marine version of the Consolidated B-24 Liberator
Pioneers U.S. Marine shore party troops
PV U.S. Navy Lockheed Ventura twin-engine land-based patrol bomber;
also Marine Corps experimental radar-equipped night fighter
xii
Marines In the Solomonsl
R4D U.S. Navy/Marine Douglas Dakota twin-engine transport (Same as
C-47)
SBD U.S. Navy/Marine Douglas Dauntless dive-bomber
Seabees Members of U.S. Navy construction battalions (CBs)
SoPac South Pacific Area
SoWesPac Southwest Pacific Area
SPM Self-propelled mount; a halftrack mounting a 75mm antitank/antiemplacement gun
TBF U.S. Navy/Marine Grumman Avenger carrier torpedo/light bomber
Val Imperial Navy Aichi D3A carrier dive-bomber
Ventura U.S. Navy Lockheed PV twin-engine land-based patrol bomber;
also Marine Corps experimental radar-equipped night fighter
VF U.S. Navy fighting squadron
VMD U.S. Marine Photographic Squadron
VMF U.S. Marine fighting squadron
VMF(N) U.S. Marine night fighting squadron
VMSB U.S. Marine scout-bombing squadron
Wildcat U.S. Navy/Marine F4F Wildcat fighter
Zero Imperial Navy Mitsubishi A6M fighter
xiii
Marines In the Solomons
xiv
Marines In the Solomonsl
xv
Marines In the Solomons
xvi
Marines In the Solomonsl
xvii
Marines In the Solomons
xviii
Marines In the Solomons
Chapter 4
Bougainville
Introduction
T
he Marine landings at Empress Augusta Bay in central Bougainville had
exactly one aim: to bring the great Japanese air and naval fortress at
Rabaul within the operational range of AirSols land-based fighters operating
from three new airfields that would be built from scratch. By doing so, the
Allied planners understood that they would be bringing the Bougainville
invasion fleet and the three airfields well within the operational range of
Rabaul-based fighters and strike aircraft, and so they planned to fight an
attritional air campaign over central Bougainville and its northern approaches.
Thus, beginning at first light on D-day, AirSols fighters based at Munda and
on Kolombangara and Vella Lavella were out in force, flying offensive patrol
patterns in several sectors from north of the invasion beaches to south of the
invasion beaches.
111
Marines In the Solomons
Marine Corsairs based at Munda Field prepare to take off to provide cover
for the Bougainville invasion fleet. (Official USMC Photo)
112
Marines In the Solomons
The secrecy of the Cape Torokina invasion site prohibited a lengthy
preinvasion bombardment, but this was offset by the isolation of the
objective and the scarcity of defenses. Here, a Marine SBD buzzes an area
behind the invasion beaches in search of a target for its 500-pound bomb.
(Official USMC Photo)
113
Marines In the Solomons
On its way to attack a shore target, a bomb-laden Marine SBD flies over a parade of destroyers and large landing ships. A
white smoke plume showing beneath the SBD’s tail will deepen the haze already in evidence over the invasion area.
(Official USMC Photo)
114
Marines In the Solomons
This gaggle of Japanese landing craft moored off the invasion area has
been bombed to wreckage ahead of the landings. (Official USMC Photo)
115
Marines In the Solomons
Invasion
Marines stream down the landing
nets to board their ride to the beach.
(Official USMC Photo)
116
The Bougainville invasion, planned and overseen by I Marine Amphibious
Corps (IMAC) headquarters, opened on November 1, 1943, when two regimental landing teams of the untried 3d Marine Division and two attached
Marine Raider battalions—seventy-five hundred combat troops in all—
landed from eight attack transports on and to the west of Cape Torokina, in
central Bougainville’s Empress Augusta Bay. Beginning at 0726 hours, the
9th Marine Regiment (9th Marines), on the division left, landed in rough
surf but against zero opposition. On the right, the 3d Marines and the 2d
Raider Battalion landed in smoother waters but faced serious opposition in
the form of several defensive sectors that consisted of highly motivated troops
manning well-camouflaged bunkers, pillboxes, and antiboat guns.
Marines In the Solomons
Marine Raiders scramble down cargo nets to an LCVP bound for Puruata
Island. Note that a war dog is being lowered by sling. Bougainville marked
the combat debut of Marine war dogs, which were organized into a
platoon assigned to 2d Raider Battalion. (Official USMC Photo)
117
Marines In the Solomons
Official USMC Photo
118
Marines In the Solomons
By this stage of the
war Marines and
boat crews operated
as a wellcoordinated team
during the final runup to an amphibious
landing. These
Marines and Coast
Guard boat crews
have undergone
tough training and
numerous practice
landings at
Guadalcanal to get
the timing down.
(Official Coast
Guard Photo)
119
Marines In the Solomons
Tension runs high as this Marine-laden LCVP nears the invasion beach. Note the column of white smoke rising at far left,
a signal to begin the landing. (Official USMC Photo)
120
Marines In the Solomons
Official USMC Photo
121
Marines In the Solomons
Marine-laden LCVPs and LCMs squeeze between Puruata Island (left) and
Torokina Island on the final lap to the 9th Marines’ beaches. (Official USMC
Photo)
122
Marines In the Solomons
White smoke rising from a wooded area behind one of the invasion
beaches is the signal for landing craft to turn to land their Marine
passengers. (Official USMC Photo)
123
Marines In the Solomons
Trouble on the Beaches
High rollers and shallow approaches
forced many boatloads of the 9th
Marines to abandon their landing
craft well off the beach and wade
through water between chest and
thigh deep. Fortunately, these
beaches were entirely undefended.
(Official USMC Photo)
124
The invasion plan, which depended too heavily on deception as to the landing site, was inadequately supported by advance ground reconnaissance, and
it set aside too many combat troops for use as shore party—the wrong lesson
from the calamitous shore party plan at Guadalcanal in August 1942. On
the five beaches in the 9th Marines zone high tide, narrow beaches, obstructed beach exits, and pounding surf played havoc with the boat forma-
Marines In the Solomons
tions and, indeed, wrecked sixty-four LCVPs and twenty-two larger LCMs
in two days. Eight of twelve transports and cargo ships were emptied on Dday alone, but fouled beaches as well as unmapped swamps and other
unreconnoitered obstructions just behind the beaches prevented an orderly
build-up of matériel. The bulk of what was landed went ashore in the wrong
places and was moved inland simply to clear the beaches rather than to
ensure accessibility. Moreover, the large number of artillery troops sucked
into shore party details actually prevented some needed fire missions.
The 3d Marines enjoyed smooth
landings in gentle surf conditions,
but their beach assault was hotly
contested by a dug-in Japanese
infantry company. (Official USMC
Photo)
125
Marines In the Solomons
Official USMC Photo
126
Marines In the Solomons
Several squads of the 1st Battalion, 3d Marines (1/3) charge ahead and fan
out to secure the coconut grove just back of Cape Torokina. (Official USMC
Photo)
127
Marines In the Solomons
All of the pillboxes uncovered and neutralized by the 3d Marines on D-day
were constructed of native ironwood logs strengthened by earth or coral
and camouflaged with living jungle growth. (Official USMC Photo)
128
Marines In the Solomons
The white circle in the embrasure of this second pillbox is the muzzle of a
medium machine gun. (Official USMC Photos)
129
Marines In the Solomons
Beachheads Secured
Excellent training, often at the hands of Guadalcanal veterans, won the
right flank of the beachhead, where two battalions of the 3d Marines and
the reinforced 2d Raider Battalion landed on five beaches south of the
Korokomina River. On the regimental right, the 1st Battalion, 3d Marines
(1/3), and the 2d Raider Battalion, which landed to 1/3’s right, faced prepared defenses on a bitterly defended strip of beach. The Marine units were
badly jumbled when landing craft scrambled off course to avoid fire from a
well-concealed and perfectly situated 75mm antiboat gun. Fourteen landing craft in all were hit by the one gun before it could be neutralized. Nevertheless, once on the beach, junior troop leaders rallied ad hoc assault squads
and platoons that fought bitterly to overcome expertly camouflaged defenses
gallantly held by a reinforced Imperial Army infantry company. Pinpoint
fire by the 3d Marines’ 75mm halftrack tank destroyers was crucial to the
destruction of five of the twenty-five stoutly built bunkers that were eventually located and reduced. By midmorning victorious Marines counted 153
dead Japanese in the defended zone.
On Puruata Island, off Cape Torokina, the main body of the 3d Raider
Battalion (one company had been attached to the 2d Raiders) faced about
seventy determined foes who had to be pried out of the dense growth, one
position at a time. The battalion became fully committed in intense fighting
and was able to advance only after the 9th Marines sent its 75mm halftracks
to Puruata. The island was declared secure at 1530 on November 2.
Air and Naval Cover
130
The first D-day air raid mounted from Rabaul against the landing force commenced at about the time the first assault waves hit the beaches. As the first
of two linked attack waves approached from the north, the transports upped
anchor and took violent evasive action that disrupted the flow of troops and
goods to the beach for two hours. Several beaches were strafed and bombed
with little effect, and one destroyer was slightly damaged by a near miss.
Fifteen Japanese aircraft were shot down by AirSols fighters, which patrolled
overhead from north to south of the invasion fleet in dawn-to-dusk relays.
A third attack wave of seventy aircraft arrived at about 1300, and the transports fled again. One transport briefly ran aground, but the attack inflicted
no other damage. In all, claims for Japanese planes shot down on November
1 reached twenty-six while AirSols lost four fighters and one pilot.
Marines In the Solomons
Dear Reader,
If you enjoyed this book from Pacifica Military History and IPS Books, please visit our website
at
http://www.PacificaMilitary.com
where many other books of similar high quality are offered in printed or electronic versions.
The site also offers a free book-length sampler with excerpts from most of our active titles.
Your patronage is deeply appreciated.
Pacifica Military History
280