War in the Pacific National Park Service National Historical Park U.S. Department of the Interior War in the Pacific

July 28, 1944: an amphibious tractor or duck loaded with Marines heads for the beach on Guam. A is visible close to shore. 1941 to 1945 ALL PHOTOS NATIONAL ARCHIVES UNLESS OTHERWISE CREDITED The Pacific Theater of World War II involved one-third of the Earth's surface but only Vus of its total land mass. It involved vast distances and new strate­ gy, tactics, equipment, and weapons of war. Moreover, it involved not just ^ and the but Great Britain, , , the Netherlands, Canada, China, France, and the Soviet Union. Caught in the mid­ dle were the people of the Pacific islands, in whose homelands and waters the battles were fought. This chronology tracks significant aspects of the as a framework for understanding the people and the events commemorated at War in the Pacific National Historical Park.

Clark and Iba airfields in the ; invade 18 April Lt. Col. James H. Doolittle leads 16 B-25 Japanese Gen. Yoshijiro Umezu signs document of sur­ Malaya and occupy Thailand; and seize the inter­ bombers from carrier Hornet to bomb targets in render aboard USS Missouri, September 2,1945. national settlement at Shanghai. , Yokohama, Yokosuka, Kobe, and Nagoya. 10 December Japanese capture Guam and begin 7 May Gen. Jonathan Wainwright, MacArthur's Caroline, Mariana, and Philippine islands begins landings on northern . successor in the Philippines, surrenders Corregidor with army landings on Makin and Marine land­ 23 December is surrendered to the and all U.S. troops under his command. ings on , the keystones of Japanese de­ Japanese. 4-8 May Battle of the . This Japanese fenses in the Gilberts. 24 December Gen. Douglas MacArthur, command­ tactical victory but strategic defeat is the first 26 December General MacArthur's Southwest ing United States Army Forces in the Far East, naval battle in which all fighting is done by car­ Pacific offensive to secure the western Solomons, begins evacuation of and withdraws to rier-based planes and the opposing ships never , and the Philippines begins with Bataan. saw each other. Liie landings on , llie idrgesl island 26 December is lost to the Japanese. 3-6 June . This American victory in the Bismarck Archipelago. deals the Japanese their first major naval defeat and proves the offensive power of aircraft carriers. President Franklin D. Roosevelt asks Congress to declare 1942 7 June Japanese occupy Attu and Kiska in the 1944 war on Japan, December 8, 1941. 2 January Japanese occupy Manila. Aleutian Islands. 31 January-4 February American forces capture 7 January Siege of Bataan begins. MacArthur, Roi-Namur and Kwajalein in the Marshalls. headquartered on Corregidor, proclaims the 29 February-7 March MacArthur surprises Japa­ Bataan Peninsula the center of American-Filipino nese by seizing the Admiralty Islands. 1941 resistance to the Japanese invasion of the Philip­ 15 June China-based B-29s make their first attack 7 December Without warning, Japanese planes pines. But its jungles, swamps, and mountains on Japanese homeland. U.S. forces invade bomb and Hickam and Wheeler make supply difficult, and the Bataan Defense . airfields on , and within 30 minutes de­ Force suffers shortages of food and medicines 17-19 June Battle of the Philippine Sea in which stroy the power of the U.S. Pacific battle fleet— throughout the three-month ordeal. U.S. carrier-based aircraft engage and inflict except for aircraft carriers Enterprise, Lexington, 1 February U.S. Navy launches air and surface crippling losses on Japanese carrier-based aircraft. and Saratoga, which are at sea. Japan declares attacks against Japanese bases in the Marshall 21 July U.S. forces invade Guam. war on the United States and Great Britain. The Islands. 24 July U.S. forces invade . Pacific war that the United States suddenly 15 February surrenders. 15 September U.S. forces invade Morotai and found itself embroiled in had begun many years 27-28 February Battle of Java Sea results in Peleliu. before the when Japan, Names in red denote major battles or campaigns of the war in the Pacific 1941-1945. most severe U.S. naval losses since Pearl Harbor 20 October U.S. forces invade . lacking the raw materials for modern industrial­ 23-25 October , the last and and leads to the collapse of organized Allied 8-9 August Japanese navy sinks four Allied 2-3 March Battle of the Bismarck Sea. U.S. and ization, looked to mineral-rich Manchuria to greatest naval engagement of the war, results in military resistance in that area. in Battle of Savo Islands. Australian aircraft decimate a 16-ship Japanese supply them. Japanese attacks on China led to near destruction of the Japanese Navy. Japanese pilots prepare for a mission, 1944. 24 August Battle of Eastern Solomons results in supply convoy bound for and Salamaua, open warfare in July 1937. As a result of Japan's 24 November Air offensive against Japan begins sinking of one Japanese carrier by aircraft from New Guinea, demonstrating the effectiveness of involvement in China and the extension of Japan's with B-29 attacks on Tokyo from bases in the USS Enterprise and USS Saratoga. low-level bombing. "Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere" into Marianas. Indochina, the United States, Great Britain, and 12-15 November The decisive American victory 26 March An indecisive naval battle off the other countries froze Japanese assets and exports, in the naval battle of prevents the Komandorski Islands prepares the way for recon- threatening Japan's industrial survival. This led Japanese from landing reinforcements and makes quest of the Western Aleutians. By mid-August to accelerated Japanese economic expansion possible the final conquest of Guadalcanal by Japanese troops have been driven out of both 1945 9 January-23 February Reconquest of northern into and the Dutch East Indies, U.S. forces. Attu and Kiska. Philippines begins as U.S. forces invade Luzon bringing it into direct conflict with western 5 August Munda Airfield, New Georgia, is cap­ and occupy Manila. countries that also had economic interests in tured, providing Allied forces a base from which 19 February-17 March U.S. Marines invade and these areas. By 1941 Japan was committed to a to bomb Japanese air and naval facilities at 1943 conquer island of after bitter fighting. policy of aggression to achieve its goals. Japan's 10 January U.S. troops begin final offensive to . 9-10 March B-29 fire-bomb attack on Tokyo inability to come to diplomatic terms with the clear Guadalcanal. By February 9 organized Jap­ 25 August Americans overrun New Georgia, leaves much of the city in ashes and inaugurates United States, which it saw as its most formida­ anese resistance on the island is ended. The , thus removing the Japanese a series of incendiary strikes against other Japa­ ble opponent, led to the Pearl Harbor attack. American victory opens the way for other Allied threat to forces on Guadalcanal. nese cities. gains in the Solomons. 20 November Nimitz's Central Pacific 8 December Congress declares war on Japan; 19 March-21 June Battle for the Ryukyu Islands, 22 January Papuan Campaign ends in the first offensive to reconquer the Marshall, Gilbert, Japanese bomb islands of Wake and Guam, and in which U.S. carrier-based planes make large Crew of carrier USS Bunker Hill battles fires resulting Japanese submarine 1-370 carrying Kaiten one-man decisive land defeat of the Japanese. from kamikaze attack during Okinawa campaign, suicide torpedoes enroute to attack U.S. fleet off Iwo scale attacks on Japanese ships and airfields in 1945. Jima, 1945. the Ryukyus. 1 April-21 June U.S. troops invade and capture 8 March Japanese land in New Guinea, occupying 22 July Papuan Campaign begins as Japanese Okinawa, main island of the Ryukyus. Japanese Lae and Salamaua and threatening , troops land at Gona and Buna, 100 miles east of military forces inflict heavy casualties on American last defensive post protecting Australia. Lae and Salamaua in northern New Guinea, and troops, but the island is finally secured. 17 March MacArthur, who had left the Philip­ begins an overland drive across the Owen Stanley 6 August Army Air Corps drops atomic bomb on pines six days before, arrives in Australia. Here Mountains to capture Port Moresby on the Hiroshima. A second atomic bomb is dropped on he utters the now-famous words, "I came through southern coast. In the months that follow, Aus­ Nagasaki three days later. and I shall return." tralian and U.S. forces frustrate every attempt to 14 August Japan accepts Allied unconditional 30 March MacArthur is designated Allied Supreme take the port and eventually drive the Japanese surrender terms. back to Gona and Buna. Commander, Southwest Pacific Areas (Australia, 2 September Japan signs formal terms of sur­ 7 August U.S. Marines invade Guadalcanal in most of the Indies, and the Philippines); Adm. render. Chester Nimitz is designated Commander in Chief, the Solomon Islands in the first American offen­ Pacific Ocean Area. sive of the war. Subsequent Japanese efforts to 9 April Bataan surrenders. The starving U.S. and drive the Americans off the island are consis­ U.S. Navy task group returns to anchorage for repairs Filipino survivors begin a 60-mile death march tently unsuccessful. Navy officer scrambles to aid a Hellcat pilot who has U.S. Marines hurl grenades at Japanese positions in and supplies after strikes against the Japanese in the to Japanese prison camps. crash landed on the deck of the carrier USS Enterprise, the fighting on Saipan, 1944. Philippines, December 1944. 1944. The Guam operation "was brilliantly and valorously conducted Guam and resulted in the recovery of important American Territory and the liberation of loyal people. Well Done." —Admiral Chester w. Nimitz

U S MARINE CORPS U S MARINE CORPS II S ARMY SIGNAL CORPS JS MARINE CORPS Lt. Commander Homura, rice. Chamorro and Korean for airstrips, and dig hill­ Assault troops of the 3rd Their objective: capture ations to the east and Marines take cover behind U.S. Army tanks of the view the damaged ruins Marines of the III Amphi­ 305th Infantry's attack on governor of Japanese- laborers were forced to side caves, trenches, and Marine Division wade the cliffs and high ground southeast. bomb and shell debris 77th Infantry Division take of Agana (now Hagatha). bious Corps Artillery fire the Orote Peninsula, July occupied Guam, inspects work in the fields to pro­ other Japanese defense ashore under fire at Asan immediately inland and and fallen coconut trees, a few moments' rest to one of their 155-mm how­ 22-24, 1944. Chamorro workers planting duce food, clear runways fortifications. Beach, July 21, 1944. prepare for further oper- July 1944. itzers in support of the

Guam 1941-1944: Conquest and Liberation

The Japanese conquest of Guam began about The map at left shows the Guam remained in Japanese hands for two and held in Agana to reinforce the Nippon Seishen Had they not been moved, many Chamorros would an hour after the attack on Pearl Harbor, when 1944 liberation of Guam. a half years, and Chamorros were forced to endure (spirit of Japan). Schools were reopened and have been killed by the American pre-invasion Saipan-based Japanese dive bombers launched It followed the same a military occupation in a war not of their making. Chamorros were required to learn the Japanese bombardment and the Japanese crossfire. pattern as several dozen the first in a series of raids on the island. At that For the first four months the island was controlled language and customs. English was forbidden. similar campaigns con­ time Guam's total protection consisted of 153 ducted by American forces by army troops, who were housed in schools On the morning of July 21, 1944, after one of Marines, 271 U.S. Navy personnel, 134 civilian between 1942 and 1945: and government buildings in Agana. The island In early 1944, with the war going badly for Japan the longest and heaviest pre-assault naval bom­ construction workers, and 247 members of the the opening air and naval was renamed Omiya Jima (Great Shrine Island) and an American invasion threatening, the Jap­ bardments of the war, the American recapture local Chamorro Insular Force Guard and the Naval barrages, the amphibious and Chamorros were required to learn the Japa­ anese Army returned to Guam, bringing with it of Guam began with simultaneous landings at Militia. (Chamorros are the indigenous people assault, the contested land­ nese custom of bowing. Japanese yen became a new and stricter form of government—the kai- Asan and Agat beaches by 55,000 men of the of Guam.) The garrison had no artillery, only a ing, and the hard jungle the island's currency, and civilian affairs were kontai. Social activities were terminated, schools 3rd Marine Division, 1st Provisional Marine Bri­ few .30-caliber machine guns, and various small fighting against well-en­ handled by a branch of the army called the min- were closed, and Chamorro men, women, and gade, and 305th Regimental Combat Team of trenched Japanese forces. arms. For two days the Japanese bombed and seisho. Cars, radios, and cameras were confiscat­ children over the age of 12 were forced to work the 77th Army Infantry Division. By day's end, strafed the island. Early on December 10, a spe­ ed and food was rationed until supplies became long hours in the fields, repair or build airstrips despite some initial confusion over landing sites The only questions were cial Japanese naval landing party of about 400 exhausted. Chamorros suspected of hiding fam­ and defense installations, and dig hundreds of and stiff resistance by the island's 18,500 Japa­ how long the campaign men from the 5th Defense Force based on Saipan would last and how many ily members wanted by the Japanese, or of aid­ Japanese shelter caves, many of which are with­ nese defenders, both beaches had been secured. began landing at Dungca's Beach in Agana Bay. lives it would cost. The ing the few Americans that did not surrender, in the boundaries of today's park. Chamorros, In the three weeks that followed (see map at far At the same time, a Japanese Army unit known as black lines and dates on were harassed, beaten, or tortured, and, in some laboring at bayonet point, were mistreated and, left), the Americans cleared Orote Peninsula and the landed on the beaches the map signify the stages instances, executed by order of the authorities. in some cases, executed after completing defense secured Fonte Plateau. They then moved north of Aporguan, Tumon, Togcha, Agat, and other in which the Americans installations. Without warning, 10,000-15,000 toward Agana, Barrigada, Mount Santa Rosa, occupied the island and areas. The Insular Guard made a gallant attempt Control of the island came under the Imperial Chamorros, young and old, were forced to march and on to Ritidian Point, where the island was to stop the Japanese advance at the Plaza de cleared it of its Japanese with only the belongings they could carry to con­ declared secure. The recapture of Guam cost more defenders. Japanese Navy in March 1942. The keibitai, as it Espaha in Agana but was soon driven back. By was known, governed the populace for about 19 centration camps in Guam's central and southern than 7,000 American and about 17,500 Japanese 5:45 a.m. Capt. George J. McMillin, USN, the is­ months. Chamorros were allowed to remain on jungles. With inadequate shelter, little food, casualties. Japan's grip on the Marianas was bro­ land's governor, realized that his tiny command their farms and trade for products they needed. and no sanitary facilities, life in these camps ken and the end of the war was now just slightly was no match for the invasion force and began Social activities included parties, Japanese movies, was miserable. Despite the hardships, however, over a year away. to surrender his post and the island. and competitions. Mass meetings were incarceration proved to be a blessing in disguise:

Seeing the Park War in the Pacific National Historical Park, autho­ The park contains World rized on August 18, 1978, was established "to War II relics including three commemorate the bravery and sacrifice of those Japanese coastal defense participating in the campaigns of the Pacific guns in the Piti Guns Unit 3 Kilometers (far left) and the remains Theater of World War II and to conserve and in­ of American military equip­ terpret outstanding natural, scenic, and historic ment sunk offshore during Nortn values and objects on the Island of Guam the July 1944 landings.

Like many other Pacific islands, Guam contains PRO, NIPS / JIM J BRANDT historical features associated with World War II, The Liberators' Memorial, at Asan Point, was in­ The Mt. Chachao/Mt. Tenjo Unit provided the especially the 1944 American liberation. The park stalled at Liberation of Guam 50th Anniversary Japanese defenders with a view of United States Use caution when swim­ itself has seven separate units. They are located ceremonies. It honors armed forces veterans who troops landing at Asan Beach and a scenic over­ ming, snorkeling, or diving along the reefs. Use the in or near the villages of Asan, Piti, and Agat, on took part in the 1944 landing. The Guam Combat view of and Orote Point. The unim­ buddy system and be aware Patrol is also honored. The Guam Chapters of proved trail leads to foxholes, trenches, and a the west side of the island facing the Philippine Sea. of your surroundings. There World War I American gun emplacement. the National Association for Uniformed Services, are several species of poi­ The Asan Beach Unit is the site of the northern the Third Marine Division Association, and the sonous marine life on the landing beach. It was here that the 3rd Marine people of Guam provided the funding. Discover The Agat Unit is the site of the southern landing reef. The strong, unpredict­ Division came ashore for the initial assault and hidden Japanese fortifications and historic sites beach. It was here that the First Provisional Ma­ able currents also can was met by troops of the Japanese 320th Inde­ along the Asan Ridge Trail. rine Brigade and the 305th Regimental Combat be hazardous. pendent Infantry Battalion. War-related structures Team of the 77th Army Infantry Division came are located at Asan Point and Adelup Point. The The Asan Inland Unit is directly opposite the Asan ashore, met by the Japanese 1st Battalion, 38th remains of some American military equipment Beach Unit across Marine Drive. It was on the Infantry. The beach and offshore area here pro­ and coral-encrusted ordnance lie underwater. face of these cliffs and hillsides that the American vide a good impression of how they looked in landing forces met heavy resistance. Today, thick 1944. Several pieces of American military equip­ Park headquarters is located in Hagatha, the is­ jungle growth or swordgrass savannah covers ment still lie underwater near the edge of the land's capital. The T. Stell Newman Visitor Center the area, making hiking fairly difficult. reef. is located near the village of Piti, on Marine Corps Drive (adjacent to the front gate of U.S. Naval Asan Bay Overlook, on Route 6, features the The Mt. Alifan Unit, site of a Japanese command Base Guam). Here you will find museum exhibits memorial wall. The wall honors the American post, has bomb craters, foxholes, and trenches. and audiovisual programs telling the story of the servicemen who died liberating the island from The slopes of these hills saw intense battles be­ Pacific Theater of World War II, the recapture of a two-and-a-half-year Japanese occupation. tween United States Marines and the defending Guam by American forces, and the war experi­ Aiso honored are the Chamorros who died or Japanese forces. Access to this undeveloped ences of the Chamorros (the indigenous people suffered atrocities in the battle for Guam. area is difficult. of Guam). Programs are available in English, Japa­ nese, Chinese, and Korean. Uniformed rangers The Piti Guns Unit is on the ridge behind the vil­ The Fonte Plateau Unit, site of a former Japa­ at the information desk will answer questions lage of Piti. After a steep ascent, the 0.25-mile nese naval communications center, is currently and assist you. trail leads to three Japanese coastal defense guns. undeveloped.

Things You Should Know Guam's warm climate, (80°F) and the ocean give ample warning of public lands. Please do privately owned. Please War in the Pacific sandy beaches, and tur­ temperature a pleasant their coming, and there not remove or mar the respect these property National Historical Park quoise waters beckon 27.2°C(81°F). May to is plenty of time to historic or natural ob­ rights. If in doubt, check 135 Murray Blvd. visitors to rediscover November is the rainy take shelter. jects beneath the wa­ with the ranger at the Hagatha, Guam 96910 the island's rich heritage. season, and you can ter's surface. They too information desk in wapa_administration expect wet, hot, and are protected by law. the visitor center. ©nps.gov For a Safe Visit Caution: Do not dis­ Fishing, hiking, picnick­ humid days. Tempera­ Park historic structures www.nps.gov/wapa turb any ammunition ing, and (for those with tures cool down from and military equipment Do not enter any caves More Information GPO:2015—383-437/30497 Last updated 2006 that you may find on Printed on recycled paper. experience) snorkeling November through are over 50 years old or tunnels. Some may War in the Pacific Na­ or off shore. It is ex­ and diving are among April, the dry season, and are very fragile. contain hidden explo­ tional Historical Park is tremely dangerous and the many recreational and tropical trade winds Do not disturb any of sives. • Do not open one of more than 380 may detonate at any opportunities available are common. Typhoons the historic ground any sealed caves; it is parks in the National time. Report its loca­ tion to a ranger, who in the individual park can occur in any month, features like foxholes, illegal and dangerous. Park System. To learn will have it removed although they are units and around the trenches, and bomb more about National by qualified personnel. island. more common during craters. Do not trespass on pri­ Park Service programs the rainy season. But vate property. Some visit www.nps.gov. The year-round temper­ don't worry; typhoons It is unlawful to disturb lands in the park are ature averages 27°C or remove artifacts from