Condition Red: Marine Defense Battalions in World War II by Major Charles D. Me/son

apan, its military lead-truction of three aircraft during the plans —Orangestood for Japan in a ersconfidenttheymorning's fighting. seriesof color-coded planning could stagger the Unit- As the Japanese aircraft carriersdocuments —providedthe strategy ed States and gain timewithdrew after the raid on Pearl Har-for the amphibious offensive re- to seize the oil andbor, a pair of enemy destroyers be-quired to defeat Japan and the defen- and other natural resources neces-gan shelling Midway Island shortlysive measures to protect the bases sary to dominate the western Pacif-before midnight on 7 December toupon which the American campaign ic,attacked Pearl Harbor on 7neutralize the aircraft based there. Awould depend. December 1941, sinking or badlysalvo directed against Midway's Sand As a militaristic Japan made in- damaging 18 ships, destroying someIsland struck the power plant, whichroads into China in the 1930s, con- 200 aircraft, and killing more thanserved as the command post of thecern heightened for the security of 2,300 American servicemen. Though6th Defense Battalion, grievouslyWake, Midway, Johnston,and caught by surprise, Marines of thewounding First Lieutenant George H. Palmyra Islands, the outposts pro- 1st, 3d, and 4th Defense BattalionsCannon. He remained at his post un- tecting Hawaii, a vital staging area standing guard in Hawaii foughttil the other Marines wounded by thefor a war in the Pacific. (Although back as best they could. Few heavysame shell could be cared for and his actually atolls —tinyislands clustered weapons were yet in place, and am-communications specialist, Corporal on areef-fringed lagoon —Wake, munition remained stored on ship-Harold Hazelwood, had put the bat-Midway, Johnston, and Palmyra have board, along with many of the guns. talion switchboard back into action.traditionally been referred to as is- Nevertheless, these units had eightCannon, who died of his wounds,lands.) By 1937, the Marine Corps antiaircraft machine guns in actionearned the first Medal of Honorwas discussing the establishment of within six minutes after the firstawarded a Marine officer duringbattalion-size security detachments bombs exploded at 0755. By 0820,World War II. Hazelwood received aon the key Pacific outposts, and the 13 machine guns were manned andNavy Cross. following year's War Plan Orange ready, and they cut loose when a se- proposed dispatching this sort of cond wave of Japanese aircraft be- defense detachment to three of the gan its attack a few minutes later. Hawaiian outposts —Wake,Midway, Unfortunately, shells for the 3-inch For decades before Japan gambled and Johnston. The 1938 plan called antiaircraft guns did not reach theits future on a war with the Unitedfor a detachment of 28 officers and hurriedly deployed firing batteriesStates, the Marine Corps developed428 enlisted Marines at Midway, until after the second and final wavethe doctrine, equipment, and organi-armed with 5-inch coastal defense of attacking aircraft had completedzation needed for just such a conflict.guns, 3-inch antiaircraft weapons, itsdeadly work. The MarinesAlthough the Army provided troopssearchlights for illuminating targets responded to the surprise raid with for the defense of the Philippines, theat night, and machine guns. The small arms and an eventual total of westernmost American possession in Wake detachment,similarly 25 machine guns, claiming the des- the Pacific, the Marine Corps facedequipped, was to be slightly smaller, two formidable challenges: placing25 officers and 420 enlisted men. The On the Cover: The crew of a 90mm gungarrisons on any of the smaller pos-Johnston Island group would consist stands by for action in the Solomonssessions that the Navy might use asof just nine officers and 126 enlisted during November 1943. (Department ofbases at the onset of war; and seiz-men and have only the antiaircraft Defense photo [USMC]) ing and defending the additional guns,searchlights,and machine At left: Defense battalion Marines mannaval bases that would enable theguns. The plan called for the units to a 5-inch seacoast gun at GuantanamoUnited States to project its power todeploy by M-Day—the date of an Bay, Cuba. (Department of Defensethe very shores of Japan's Home Is-American mobilization for war —"in photo [USMC]) lands. A succession of Orange warsufficient strength to repel minor

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Department of Defense photo (USCG) Fires started by bombs dropped by Japanese aircraft are still craft gun on the parade ground of the Marine Barracks. By burning at Pearl Harbor as Marines set up a 3-inch antiair- the end of 1942, 14 Marine defense battalions were in existence. naval raids and raids by small land-potential enemies, defeating Germa-ation of defense battalions to garri- ing parties." In the fall of 1938, an in-fly first, while conducting only limit-sonthecrescentofoutposts spection party visited the sites to looked offensive operations in the Pacificstretching from Wake and Midway to for possible gun positions and fieldsand ultimately throwing the fullSamoa.Influenced by American of fire and to validate the initial man-weight of the alliance against Japan.isolationist attitudes, Major Gener- power estimates. Such was the basic strategy in effectal Commandant Thomas Holcomb Meanwhile,aCongressionallywhen Japan attacked Pearl Harbor.decided to ask for funds to form new authorized board, headed by Ad- defensive—ratherthan offensive — miral Arthur J. Hepburn, a former units.In carrying out the provisions Commander in Chief, Pacific Fleet, of the plan for aconflict with investigated the need to acquire ad- The interest of the Marine CorpsOrange, the Commandant intended ditional naval bases in preparationin base defense predated the proposallstLt George H. Cannon of the 6th for war. While determining thatin the Orange Plan of 1937 to installDefenseBattalion,though mortally Guam, surrounded by Japanese pos-defense detachments at Wake, Mid-wounded by fire from a Japanese sub- sessions, could not be defended; theway, and Johnston Islands. Althoughmarine on 7 December 1941, refused to Hepburn Board emphasized the im-the spirit of the offensive predomi-leave his post on Midway. After the war, portance of Midway, Wake, John- he was awarded the Medal of Honor. nated over the years, both the Ad- Department of Defense photo (USMC) 11158 ston, and Palmyra. As a result,vanced Base Force, 1914-1919, and during 1939 and 1940, Colonel Har-the Fleet Marine Force, established in ry K. Pickett—Marine Officer, 14th1933, trained to defend the territory Naval District, and Commandingthey seized. In 1936, despite the ab- Officer, Marine Barracks, Pearl Har-sence of primarily defensive units, bor Navy Yard—madedetailed sur-the Marine Corps Schools at Quan- veys of the four atolls. tico, Virginia, taught a 10-month In 1940,the Army and Navycourse in base defense, stressing coor- blended the various color plans, in-dination among aviation, antiair- cluding Orange, into a series of Rain-craft, and artillery. bow Plans designed to meet a threat The increasingly volatile situation from Germany, Japan, and Italy act-in the Pacific which led ultimately ing in concert. The plan that seemedto war, the evolving Orange plan for most realistic Rainbow 5, envisioneda war against Japan, and the long- that an Anglo-American coalitiontime interest of the Marine Corps in would wage war against all threebase defense set the stage for the cre-

2 to make the best use of appropriat-rise to the rank of lieutenant gener-creating six divisions and reaching a ed funds, which had only begun toal, assuming command of Fleet Ma-maximum strengthinexcessof increase after the outbreak of war inrine Force, Pacific after the war.450,000, but the frenzied growth oc- Europe during September 1939. InAware that isolationism still grippedcurred after Japan attacked the Pa- doing so he reminded the public thatthe United States in 1939; the twocific Fleet at Pearl Harbor on 7 the Marine Corps would play a vi-planners emphasized the defensiveDecember 1941. tal role in defending the nation. Af-mission of the new units, stressing In the immediate aftermath of the terthe war,General Gerald C.their ability to "hold areas for the ul-outbreak of war in Europe and Presi- Thomas recalled in his oral historytimate offensive operations of thedent Franklin D. Roosevelt's declara- that General Holcomb realized thatFleet:' As the danger of war withtion of a limited national emergency, Congress was unlikely to vote moneyJapan increased, the first of severalthe Marine Corps grew by small for purely offensive purposes as long900-man defense battalions tookincrements that included the defense as the United States remained atshape in the United States. Each ofbattalions. To explain the role of peace. At a time when even battle-the new outfits consisted of three an-these units, General Holcomb in 1940 ships and heavy bombers were beingtiaircraft batteries, three seacoast bat-circulated throughout the Corps a touted as defensive weapons, Hol-teries,ground and antiaircraftclassified document drafted by First comb seized on the conceptofmachine gun batteries, and a team ofLieutenant Robert D. Heinl, Jr., who defense battalions as a means of in-specialistsinadministration andwould serve in a wartime defense creasing the strength of the Corps be-weapons maintenance. battalion, become the author of yond the current 19,432 officers and In late 1939, when the Marinewidely read articles and books and men. Corps formed its first defense battal-active in the Marine Corps histori- Two officersat Marine Corpsions, the future was still obscure.cal program, and attain the grade of headquarters, Colonel Charles D.Japan remained heavily engaged incolonel. Heinl declared that "through Barrett and LieutenantColonelChina, but a "phony war" persistedsheer necessity, the Marine Corps has Robert H. Pepper, turned conceptin western Europe. At Marine Corpsdevised a sort of expeditionary coast into reality by drawing up detailedheadquarters, some advocates of theartillery capable of occupying an un- plans for organizations expresslydefense battalions may have felt thattenanted and undefended locality, of designed to defend advance bases.these new units were all the serviceinstallinganallaround sea-air The Kentucky-born Barrett enteredwould need by way of expansion, atdefense, and this within three days:' the Marine Corps in 1909, served inleast for now. On the other hand, wi- In his annual report to the Secre- the occupation of Vera Cruz, Mexi-thin the G-3 Division of Holcomb'stary of the Navy for the fiscal year co, in 1914, and during World Warstaff, officers like Colonel Pedro A. ending in June 1940, General Hol- II would become a major general; indel Valle kept their eyes fixed on acomb stated that four battalions had 1943, while commanding I Marinemore ambitious goal, the organiza-been established and two others Amphibious Corps, he died as ation of Marine divisions. Eventual-authorized. "The use of all six of result of an accident. Pepper, wouldly, the Marine Corps would expand,these defense battalions can be fore-

3 seen in existing plans," he wrote, ad- for the defense battalions, they had ding that the fleet commanders had definite weaknesses, particularly in already requested additional units of infantry and armor for mobile this type. The new organizations reserves in the event of a large-scale took advantage of the latest advances enemy landing.Thefailings, in automatic weapons, radios, tanks, however, seemed acceptable to the coast and antiaircraftartillery, General Board of the Navy —roughly sound-ranging gear, and the new comparable to the War Department's mystery —radar.Teams of specialists, General Staff—which felt that the which had mastered an array of tech- battalions could nevertheless protect nical skills, it was hoped would ena- outlying bases against raids by air- ble a comparatively small unit to r craft, ships, and comparatively small defend a beachhead or airfield com- landing parties. Concern that the plex against attack from the sea or defense battalions, in their current sky. As time passed and strategic cir- configuration, might not be able to cumstances changed, the defense bat- repulse more ambitious hostile land- talions varied in strength, weaponry, ings caused the Marine Corps to de- and other gear. As an official histor- bate, during the spring of 1941, the ical summary of the defense battal- Department of Defense photo (USMC) 61403 feasibility of creating separate infan- ionshaspointedout,their MajGen Charles D.Barrett, while atry battalions to fight alongside the composition also reflected "the geo- colonel, together with LtCol Robert H.defense units. graphic nature of their location and Pepper, played a major role in the de- velopment of the defense battalion. The proposed 850-man infantry the availability of equipment:' Con- battalions would forestall any pos- sequently, the same battalion mightto cover assigned sectors and meetsible need to detail infantrymen from require a different mix of specialistsspecificthreats.Moreover,theythe regiments to reinforce the defense over the years. might form detachments with a sizebattalions. Consequently, Secretary cfrganizttion uizdEqleip?izent and armament suitable for a partic-of the Navy Frank Knox approved ular task, such as defending various for flu'DefenseBattalion the creation of separate infantry bat- islets within an atoll or protectingtalions to serve with the defense bat- Envisionedas combined armsseparate beachheads. Although rela-talions. After the Japanese attack on teams capable of delivering intensetively static when in place, the abili-Pearl Harbor, the regiments and firepower, defense battalions werety of the battalions to divide in this divisions —andfor a time the special- expected to have their greatest impactfashion provided a kind of flexibili-ized units such as the raiders— in the kind of campaign outlined inty that may not have been fully ap-demanded a lion's share of manpow- the Orange plan. The Navy's seago-preciated in 1939, when the basicer, and with few exceptions, the ing transports provided strategic mo- concept placed one battalion, thoughdefense battalions had to fend for bility for the defense battalions, butof variable size, at a given place. themselves without the planned in- once ashore, the units lacked vehicles Because a defense battalion could,fantry battalions, though occasion- and manpower for tactical mobility. in effect, form task organizations, itally with an organic rifle company. Because the battalion became essen-somewhat resembled the larger in-Every Marine in a typical defense tially immobile when it landed, each fantry regiment, which could employbattalion had to train to fight as an member had a battle station, as onbattalion combat teams. Accordinginfantryman in an emergency, with a ship, to operate a particular crew-to Lieutenant Heinl,in terms ofthe members of gun and searchlight served weapon or other piece of"strength and variety of material;' thecrews leaving their usual battle sta- equipment. As configured in 1939defense battalion "fnight well be ations. Rifle companies served at var- and 1940, a defense battalion couldregiment. Actually, the seacoast andious times with the 6th, 7th, and 51st achieve mobility on land only byantiaircraftartillerygroups areDefense Battalions, and such a com- leaving its artillery, searchlights, andalmost small battalions, while theponent was planned for the 52d, but detection gear and fighting as in-other three separate batteries (search-not assigned. Those battalions that fantry. light and sound locator and the twoincluded a company of infantry bore Marine Corps defense battalionsmachine gun units) are undeniablethe title "composite:' could operate as integral units in sup-batteries in the accepted sense of the Improvements in equipment, a port of a base or beachhead, posi-word:' changing strategicsituation,and tioning their weapons and equipment Despite the lieutenant's enthusiasmdeployment in areas that varied from

4 desolate coral atolls to dense junglestrength during the war was 1,372in the Atlantic. In June 1941, Colonel ensured that no single table of equip-officers and men, including NavyLloyd L. Leech's 5th Defense Battal- ment or organization could apply atmedical personnel. Like manpower,ion, less its seacoast artillery compo- all times to every defense battalion.the equipment used by the defensenent, arrived in Iceland with the 1st Each of the organizations tended tobattalions also varied, although theMarine Brigade, which included the be unique —"one of a kind," as a bat-armament of the typical wartime unit6th Marines, an infantry regiment, talion's history stated. Weapons andconsisted ofeight 155mm guns,and the 2d Battalion, 10th Marines, personnel reflected a unit's destina-twelve 90mm guns, nineteen 40mman artillery outfit. The brigade took tion and duties, much as a child'sguns, twenty-eight 20mm guns, andover the defense of Iceland from Brit- erector set took the shape dictated bythirty-five .50-caliber heavy machineish troops, releasing them from the the person assembling the parts, orguns, supplemented in some in-protection of this critical region for such was the view of James H. Pow-stances by eight M3 light tanks. even more important duty elsewhere. ers, a veteran of the 8th Defense Bat- Once in place, the defense battalion talion. The selection and assignment and the other Marines assumed Beginning earlyin1940,the of men and equipment proved a dy- responsibility for helping keep open defense battalions operated indepen- namic process, as units moved about, the Atlantic sea lanes to the United dently, or in concert with larger units, split into detachments, underwent Kingdom. to secure strategic locations in the At- redesignation, and traded old equip- The 5th Defense Battalion set up ment for new. Much of the weaponslantic and the Pacific. Colonel Har- ry K. Pickett's 3d Defense Battalionits antiaircraft weapons, 3-inch guns and material came from the stocks of and machine guns, around the Reyk- the U.S. Army, which had similarlyundertook to support the current War Plan Orange by occupying Mid-javik airfield and harbor, where it be- equipped coast and antiaircraft ar- came the first Marine Corps unit to tillery units. The first 155mm gunsway Island on 29 September 1940, setting up its weapons on two bleak,make operational use of the Army- dated from World War I, but the developed SCR-268 and -270 radars. Army quickly made modern typessandy spits described by one Marine as being "inhabited by more than aAfter-action reports covering the bat- available, along with new 90mm an- talion's service in Iceland, declared tiaircraft guns that replaced themillion birds:' Contingency plans for theAtlantic approachestothethat only "young, wide-awake, intel- 3-inch weapons initially used by the ligent men" could operate the temper- defense battalions. In addition, theWestern Hemisphere calledfor deploying defense battalions in sup-amental sets satisfactorily. Thanks to Army provided both primitive the efforts of the crews, the Marines sound-ranging equipment and threeport of a possible landing in Marti- nique during October 1940, but theproved able to incorporate their ra- types of Signal Corps radar —the crisis passed. In February of the fol-dar into the British air-defense and early-model 5CR268 and SCR27O fighter-control system for "routine and the more advanced 5CR268,lowing year, the 4th Defense Battal- ion, under Colonel Jesse L. Perkins,watches and training:' Even though which provided automatic target the battalion played a critical role in tracking and gun-laying. secured the rocky and brush-covered hills overlooking Guantanamo Bay,defending against long-range Ger- By October 1941, the tables of or-Cuba. A composite unit of infantryman patrol planes, its members also ganization for the new defense bat-and artillery, the 7th Defense Battal-had to engage in labor and construc- talions had certainfeaturesinion,commanded by Lieutenanttion duty, as became common in common, each calling for a head-Colonel Lester A. Dessez, landed atother areas. Replaced by Army units, quarters battery, a sound-locator andAmerican Samoa in March 1941 andthe last elements of the Marine gar- searchlight battery, a 5-inch seacoastbecame the first element of the Fleetrison force left Iceland in March artillery group, a 3-inch antiaircraftMarine Forcetodeploytothe1942. group, and a machine-gun group.Southern Hemisphere during the Of the seven Marine defense bat- The specific allocation of personnelprewar national emergency. Besidestalions organized by late 1941, one and equipment within each battalionsecuring naval and air bases, the bat-stood guard in Iceland, five served in depended, however, on where thetalion trained a self-defense force ofthe Pacific —includingthe 4th, post- battalion deployed and the changesSamoan Marines. ed briefly at Guantanamo Bay —and "prescribed by the Commandant Plans to forestall a German inva-another trained on the west coast for from time to time:' In brief, thesion of the Azores by sending aa westward deployment. The first defense battalions adhered to certainmixed force of soldiers and Marines,Pacific-based defense battalions were standard configurations, with in-including defense battalions, provednicknamed the "Rainbow Five" after dividual variations due to time andunnecessary, but the most ambitiousthe war plan in effect when the circumstance. The average battalionof the prewar deployments occurredJapanese attacked Pearl Harbor. The

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Photo courtesy of the U.S. Naval Institute On Iceland, 5th Defense Battalion Marines, attached to thepolar bear patches on the right shoulders of the onlooking 1st Provisional Marine Brigade, man a 75mm pack howitzerMarine officers.Inthe background are truck-mounted as British officers of the Iceland garrison look on. Note the .50-caliber antiaircraft machine guns on special tripods. five units were: the 7th in Samoa; theinto victory. In contrast, Technicalrange. Gun crews stayed with their 6th, which took over from a detach-Sergeant Charles A. Holmes, a fire-weapons during the increasingly ment of the 3d at Midway Island; thecontrol specialist, believed that radarstronger air raids, while those Ma- 3d and 4th at Pearl Harbor, and the"would never have affected the out-rines not needed at their battle sta- 1st divided among Pearl Harbor andcome of the situation The set,tions were "hotfooting it for shelter:' Johnston, Palmyra, and Wake Is-moreover, might have fallen into Early on, the Marines realized they lands. A sixth defense battalion, theJapanese hands sufficiently intact towere fightingalosing battle, 2d,remainedintraininginyield useful intelligence. although, as Technical Sergeant Hol- California. On 11 December, the fire of themes pointed out, "We did our best to

5-inch guns of Major George H. Pot-defend the atoll.. .." andto prevent ter's coastal defense batteries forcedthe Japanese from establishing them- The first realtest of the basethe withdrawal of the first Japaneseselves there. With limited means at defense concept in the Pacific War be-naval assault force consisting of threetheir disposal —theweapons of the gan with savage air attacks againstcruisers, their escorting destroyers,defense detachment and a few fight- Wake Island on 8 December and last-and a pair of troop transports. A Ma-er planes —theMarines sank one ed 15 days. Wake's defenders lackedrine communications officer vividlywarship with aerial bombs and radar and sound-ranging equipment,remembered the repeated attacks byanother with artillery fire, and dur- forcing the 400-man Marine garrisonJapanese aircraftthroughout theingthefinalassaultinflicted to rely on optical equipment to spotsiege. During each raid, he said, "onehundreds ofcasualties on the and identify the attacking aircraft,or two would be smoking fromJapanese who stormed ashore from which inflicted heavy losses on themachine gun or antiaircraft fire:'self-propelled barges and two light Americans during the first bombingCaptain Bryghte D. Godbold's 3-inchtransports beached on the reef. On raids. Commander Winfield S. Cun-antiaircraft group seemed especiallythe morning of 23 December, before ningham, who headed the Wake Is-deadly, and sometimes one or twoa relief expedition could get close land naval base, later insisted thataircraft would be missing from aenough to help, the defenders of "one radar" could have turned defeatJapanese formation as it flew out ofWake Island surrendered.

6 While the Wake Island garrisonthe Pacific. The war thus entered a Elsewhere in the Pacific, Lieutenant fought against overwhelming num-defensive phase that contained theColonel Harold D. Shannon's 6th bers and ultimately had to yield,advancing Japanese and lasted intoDefense Battalion strengthened the Japanese naval forces began a short-the summer of 1942. defenses of Midway where, by the lived harassment of Johnston and On 21 January, the 2d Marinespring of 1942, reinforcements ar- Palmyra that lasted until late Decem-Brigade (the 8th Marines and the 2drived in the form of the antiaircraft ber and stopped short of attemptedBattalion, 10th Marines, the latter re-group of the 3d Defense Battalion, landings. On 12 December, shellscently returned from Iceland) arrivedplus radar, light tanks, aircraft, in- from a pair of submarines detonat-in Samoa, along with Lieutenantfantrymen, and raiders. The Palmyra ed a 12,000-gallon fuel storage tankColonel Raymond E. Knapp's 2dgarrison was redesignated the 1st on Johnston Island, but fire fromDefense Battalion. The newcomersMarine Defense Battalion—ofwhich 5-inch coast defense guns emplacedbuilt on the foundation supplied byit had been a detachment before there forced the raiders to submerge.the 7th Defense Battalion and wereMarch 1942—under Lieutenant Similarly, a battery on Palmyra drovethemselves reinforced by the newlyColonel Bert A. Bone, with the off a submarine that shelled the is-activated 8th Defense Battalion un-detachment on Johnston Island land on Christmas Eve. der Lieutenant Colonel Augustus W.reverting to control of the island Cockrell. The Marines in Samoa an-commander. During March, the flow chored a line of bases and airfieldsof reinforcements to the South Pacific The delays and confusion atten-that protected the exposed sea routescontinued, as Army troops arrived dant upon organizing and mountingto Australia and New Zealand, whichin New Caledonia and the New the relief expedition, which includ-were judged likely objectives for theHebrides, while Marine aviators and ed the 4th Defense Battalion andadvancing Japanese. Colonel HaroldS.Fassett's4th ships that had survived the onslaught On 27 May 1942, the 8th DefenseDefense Battalion established itself against Pearl Harbor, demonstratedBattalion moved southwest fromon the island of Efate in the latter the limits of improvisation. As aSamoa to the Wallis Islands, a Frenchgroup. result,the Marine Corps actedpossession. Tanks, field artillery, mo- West of Midway Island, between promptly to reinforce the outlyingtor transport, and infantry reinforced4 and 6 June 1942, the course of the garrisons still in American hands.the defense battalion, which re-war changed abruptly when an The defense battalions at Pearl Har-mained there through 1943. The stayAmerican carrier task force sank four bor provided additional men andproved uneventful except for a visitJapanese aircraft carriers and des- material for Midway, Johnston, andfrom Eleanor Roosevelt, the Presi-troyed the cadre of veteran fliers who Palmyra Islands, and defense battal-dent's wife, who was touring the Pa-had won the opening naval battles of ions fresh from training deployed tocific theater of war. the war from Pearl Harbor to the In- The 5th Defense Battalion lived in Nissen hut camps as thisand weatherproo fed by the Marines upon their arrival and throughout the unit's stay in Iceland. Most of them were builtbefore the onset of the exceptionally cold Icelandic winter. Depcrtment of Defense photo (USMC) 528669

7 eventual victory over Japan, the 6th Defense Battalion remained at Mid- way for the rest of the war. As one of its Marines, Ned Tetlow, pointed p out, the long stay enabled the unit to develop a "distinct identity:' - During the defensive phase of the - a. -Pacific War, the defense battalion un- s—- —.--- —derwent conceptual changes back in the United States. Two new tables of organization and equipment received official approval in the spring of 1942. One called for a battalion of 1,146 officers and men that had a Marine Corps Historical Collection headquarters and service battery, a Smoke rises from Wake Island after a Japanese air attack. The command post used155mm artillery group of two batter- by the detachment of the 1st Defense Battalion lies in the right foreground. ies,a 90mm antiaircraft artillery dian Ocean. A reinforced defenseproved severe,with flames andgroup of three batteries,plus a battlion, though hundreds of milessmoke billowing from a fuel storagesearchlight battery, and a special from the actual sinkings, contribut-area and aircraft hangars. The is-weapons group, made up of one bat- ed greatly to the American victory.land's defenders remained in thetery each of Browning machine guns, Since the fall of Wake Island, Ameri-fight, however, causing the JapaneseOerlikon 20mm cannon, and Bofors can reinforcements had poured intonaval commander to decide on a40mm cannon. The other document Midway. ColonelShannon's 6thfollow-upattack.His ordnancecalled for a slightly smaller compo- Defense Battalion, now 1,700-strong, specialists were inthe midst ofsite unit, in which a rifle company helped build the island's defensesreplacing armor-piercing bombs,and a pack howitzer battery replaced even as it stood guard against an an- designed for use against ships, withsome of the less mobile weapons. ticipated Japanese attack. The laborhigh explosives for ground targets,Moreover, plans called for one of the projects included constructing under-when the American carrier pilotscomposite defense battalionsor- water obstacles, unloading and dis-pounced in the first of their devastat-ganized in 1942 to be manned by tributingsupplies,and buildinging attacks. The resistance by theAfrican-Americans under command emplacements for guns and sheltersMarines at Midway, both the avia-of white officers. for ammunition and personnel.tors and the members of the defense Shannon told his Marines that "Ourbattalion, thus helped set the stage job is to hold Midway . . . . Keep for one of the decisive naval battles cool, calm, and collected; make yourof World War II. The wartime demand for man- bullets count." After making this contribution topower and the racial policy of the On 4 June, the Japanese opened the Battle of Midway by launching Defense battalion commander Maj James P 5. Devereaux pressed this ammunition bunker into service as his command post during the defense of Wake Island. a massive air strike designed to soften Photo by the author the island for invasion. Radar picked up the attackers at a distance of 100 miles and identified them at 93 miles, providing warning for Midway-based . fighters to intercept and antiaircraft batteries to prepare for action. The .11' struggle began at about 0630 and had ended by 0700, with the deadliest of the fighting by the defense battalion compressed into what one participant described as a "furious 17-minute ac- tion." The Marine antiaircraft gun- ners claimed the destruction of 10 of the attackers, but damage at Midway

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Department of Defense photo (USMC) 55863 Under a heavily clouded sky, Marines of the 16th Defense Bat- Island. Note the absence of protective parapets or camouflage. talion man a 3-inch antiaircraft artillery position on Johnston Johnston was not seriously threatened in the course of the war. Roosevelt administration caused the manded by whites but manned bydefense battalions, instead creating Marine Corps to agree in FebruaryAfrican-Americans who had trainednumerous independent companies to 1942toaccept African-Americanat the Montford Point Camp, a ra-provide logistics support for am- recruits for the first time since thecially segregated facility at Campphibious operations. Revolutionary War, when a fewLejeune, North Carolina. The steps taken in May 1942 blacks had served in the Continen- A decision to use the draft, begin-toward standardized equipment be- talMarines. The Commandant,ning in January 1943, as the normalgan bringing order to a sometimes General Holcomb, insisted that racialmeans of obtaining manpower for allbewildering array of new and old, segregation —notonly lawful in mostthe services brought more blacks intosimple and complex. When a veteran places at the time, but enforcedthe Marine Corps than a singlemaster sergeant joined one of the throughout much of American battalion —plusits training base anddefense battalions as a replacement, society—would prevail and that theadministrative overhead—couldab-he asked to see the "new 155mm African-Americans would performsorb. The transition of the 51st fromguns," but, to his astonishment, was useful military duty. To gain a mili-a composite unit to an ordinaryshown a weapon fabricated in 1918, tary advantage from these recruits,defense battalion released infantry-"1 thought we had new guns here!" without integrating the races, themen and howitzer crews to help formhe bellowed. The radio gear and ra- Marine Corps decided to group them acadrefora second African-dar required unceasing maintenance in a black unit that could train large-American defense battalion, the 52d.and fine-tuning by specialists who ly in isolation and fight almost in-Because the nature of the conflict wasthemselves were fresh from training. dependently.Holcomb's policyagain changing asthe advanceRadar, in particular, seemed a mys- resulted in the creation of the 51sttoward Japan accelerated, the Marinetery to the uninitiated and a challenge Defense Battalion (Composite), corn-Corps organized no additional blackto the newly minted technicians. In In the 4 June 1942 Japanese air raid on Midway a number Defense Battalion, were killed. Here, the surviving Marines of Marines in the garrison, including some from the 6th prepare to bury their buddies with full military honors. Department of Defense photo (USN) 12703

9 Shoulder Insignia

arines serving with the Army's 2d Division in The designs chosen by the wartime defense battalions World War I wore the Indian-head shouldermight either reflect the insignia of a Marine amphibious patch, and during the occupation of Iceland, corps or of the Fleet Marine Force Pacific, but they might in late 1941 and early 1942, members of the Marine brigadealso be created by the individual battalion. Worn on the adopted the polar-bear flash worn by the British garrisonleft shoulder of field jackets, overcoats, service blouses and they were relieving. The Marines who sewed on the polar-shirts, the patches identified individual Marines as mem- bear insignia included men of the 5th Defense Battalion.bers of a specific unit. On 1 August 1945, Marine Corps Marine shoulder insignia proliferated after the officialheadquarters recognized 33 such designs, although others recognition of the 1st Marine Division's patch in 1943. existed. 'a js& 4s C' 'r -

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evaluating the radar specialists, Cap- The South Pacific sequences clearly reversed the tide of tain Wade W. Larkin explained that The demarcation betweenthewar in the Pacific. the device was "technically complex defensive phase and the beginnings On 7 August 1942, the 3d Defense enough for them to be justifiablyofthe counteroffensive provedBattalion, commanded by Colonel proud of what they were doing;' evenblurred at the time. Despite theRobert H. Pepper, who had been so though they could not talk openlyAmerican victory at Midway, theinstrumental in creating this kind of about so "confidential" a piece ofenemy seemed dangerous, aggres-unit, landed in support of the 1st Ma- equipment. At the time, radar wassive, and capable of resuming therine Divisions attack on Guadalcanal cutting-edge technology; Vern C.offensive. To forestall the threat toand the subsequent defense of the is- Smith, who helped operate one of thethe sea lanes between Hawaii andland against Japanese counterthrusts. new setsintheWallisIslands, Australia, the 4th Defense BattalionThe machine gun and antiaircraft recalled that his SCR-268, acquiredin July 1942 provided a detachmentgroups landed "almost with the first from another battalion, was so newto protect Espiritu Santo. However,waves" at Guadalcanal, although the that its serial number "was a singlethe invasion of the southern Solo-seacoast artillery did not arrive un- digit." mon Islands and its immediate con-tillate August. Once the coastal

10 Battle of Midway—and the naval base established on the nearby island of Tulagi. In early September, the 5th Defense Battalion, led by Lieutenant Colonel William F. Parks, supplied a detachment that took over at Tulagi. A combat correspondent with the 1st Marine Division, Technical Ser- 4 geant George McMillan, described the initial lodgment on Guadalcanal as a "stretch of beach, acres of straight-lined coconut grove,the fields of head-high kunai grass, and jungle-covered foothills." Six months of violent counterattacks by Japanese air, ground, and naval forces shat- teredthe appearanceofcalm. Throughout the fighting "malaria, jungle rot, and malnutrition' plagued the Americans, according to Second Department of Defense photo (USMC) Lieutenant Cyril P. Zurlinden, Jr., of African-American Marines of the 51st Defense Battalion are shown here in train- the 2d Marine Division,which ing at Montford Point, Camp Lejeune, before their deployment to the Pacific War. replaced the 1st Marine Division in defense guns were ashore,theyBattalion lent strength to the defensesJanuary 1943, after the 1st had left scored hits on three enemy ships thatof Lunga Point, Henderson Field—the previous December. had beached themselvesto landnamed for Major Lofton R. Hender- Elements of the 5th Defense Bat- troops. In general, the 3d Defenseson, a Marine aviator killed inthetalion not needed at Tulagi occupied

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11 taught in training or in the manuals. They learned about "air-raid coffee:' strong enough to "lift one's scalp several inches per gulp:' Coffee pots would go on the fire when things were quiet; then the air-raid alarm would signal Condition Red, which 1 meant that an air raid was imminent, A and the Marines would man their ¶ battle stations, sometimes for hours, waiting for and fighting off the at- tackers as the coffee boiled merrily away. The resulting brew became thick enough to eat with a fork, and Master Technical Sergeant Theodore C. Link claimed thatthe coffee "snapped back at the drinker:' Veterans also learned to take ad- Department of Defense photo (USMC) 62095 vantage of members of newly arrived The 3d Defense Battalion operated this 5CR268, the first search radar establishedunits, lavishly supplied but inex- on Guadalcanal after the 1st Marine Division landed there on 7 August 1942.perienced in the ways of the world. Funafuti in the Ellice Islands on 2 Oc- enemy battalion." The MarineA widely told story related how tober 1942. The Ellice force set up itsdefense battalion thereupon began"wolf-hungry" Marines, who had weapons hundreds of miles from thereequipping in preparation for thebeen subsisting on canned rations, nearest major American base andnext move up the Solomons chain.smelled steaks cooking at a field gal- for the next 11 months held theIn January 1943, the 11th Defenseley run by another service. As Tech- northernmost position in the SouthBattalion, commanded by Colonelnical Sergeant Asa Bordages told it, Pacific, just short of the boundaryCharles N. Muldrow, relieved the 9tha Marine shouted "Condition Red! between that area and the CentralBattalion of its responsibilities atCondition Red!" The air raid signal Pacific. The battalion's commandingGuadalcanal. sent the newcomers scrambling for officer, Colonel George F. Good, Jr., South Pacific Tales cover, and by the time they realized recalled that his ragtag antiaircraft Marines serving in the defense bat-it was a false alarm, the Marines and ground defenses "stuck out liketalions learned lessons —someofwere gone, and so were the steaks. a sore thumb:' The Ellice Islandsthem immortalized in legend —not While American forces secured served as a staging area for raids onSearchlights and antiaircraft weapons of the 3d Defense Battalion on Guadalcanal the Japanese-held Gilbert Islands andpoint upwards to detect and destroj Japanese aircraft bombing Allied forces. consequently bore the brunt of some Department of Defense photo (USMC) 63327 10 Japanese air attacks, during which the 90mm antiaircraft guns downed at least six bombers. Meanwhile, ele- ments of the 5th Defense Battalion on Tulagi combined in January 1943 with a 5-inch battery from the 3d to become the 14th Defense Battalion. The 9th Defense Battalion, under Colonel David R. Nimmer, reached Guadalcanal in December 1942, set up its weapons around the airfield complex at Koli Point, and prompt- ly destroyed a dozen enemy aircraft. Francis E. Chadwick, a member of the artillery group, recalled that the — S unit "met only stragglers upon land- ing and found an undersize, beaten

12 Department of Defense photo (USMC) 51652 An aging M1918 155mm gun, manned by the 5thDefenseBat- front palms at Funafuti in the Ellice Islands, the first stop in talion, stands guard over the Pacific surf from amid the beach- the Pacific following the unit's departure from Iceland. Guadalcanal and improved the secu-one jaw of a pincers designed to con-cept did not work, for it overlooked rity of the supply line to Australiaverge on the Japanese base at Rabaulthevulnerabilityof amphibious and New Zealand, increasing num-on the island of New Britain. Whileforces, especially to aerial attack, bers of Marines arrived in the Pacif-General Douglas MacArthur, theduring and immediately after a land- ic, many of them members of defenseArmy officer in command in theing.Experience dictated that the bau:alions. The number of these unitsSouthwest Pacific masterminded thedefense battalions land with the as- totaled 14 at the end of 1942, and theRabaul campaign as an initial stepsault waves, whenever possible, and Marine Corps continued to form newtoward the liberation of the Philip-immediately set up their weapons. ones into the following year. Threepines, Admiral Chester W. NimitzBesides protecting the beachhead other divisions were activated dur-prepared for a thrust across the Pa-during its most vulnerable period, ing 1943, and a sixth would takecific from Hawaii through the Gilbertthe battalions freed other elements of shape during 1944. As the Pacificand Marshall Islands. By the end ofthe Fleet Marine Force from respon- campaigns progressed, the various di-1943, Marines would gain a lodg-sibility for guarding airfields and visions and other units were assignedment in the northern Solomons andharbors. Whatever their role,the in varying combinations to corpsland in the Gilberts and on New Bri-defense battalions received less cover- commands. Eventually the V Am-tain; clearly the United States was onage in the press than airmen, infan- phibious Corps operated fromthe move. try, or raiders. A veteran of the 11th Hawaii westward; the I Marine Am- Once the American counteroffen-Defense Battalion, Donald T. Regan, phibious Corps had its headquarterssive got under way in earnest, thewho would become Secretary of the on Noumea but would become themission of the typical defense battal-Treasury in the cabinet of President III Amphibious Corps on 15 Aprilion changed. Initially, the defenseRonald Reagan, remembered the 1944, before it moved its base to thebattalions were expected to land atanonymity that cloaked these units. liberated island of Guam. asitealready under friendly"1 felt;' he said, "we were doing quite From Guadalcanal, the Marines control —eithera previously deve-a bit to protect those who were do- joined in advancing into the centralloped base or a beachhead secureding the more public fighting." and northern Solomons during theby assault troops —andremain until In providing this protection, in summer and fall of 1943, formingrelieved. In actual practice, this con-which Regan took such pride,

13 R ful in the destruction of enemy air- craft" whenever the improvised warning system was functioning. This experience may well have in- fluenced a decision to convene a ra- darboardatMarine Corps headquarters. Formed in February 1943,the board was headed by Bayler and in- cluded Lieutenant Colonel Edward C. Dyer, who was thoroughly familiar with the techniques and equipment used by Britain's Royal Air Force to directfighters.The board stan- dardized procedures for "plotting, filtering, telling, and warning;' as the radar specialists fed information to a direction center that integrated an- tiaircraft and coastal defense, the primary responsibilitiesofthe defense battalions, with the intercep- tion of attacking aircraft by pilots of the Marine Corps, Army, or Navy. The radar board refused, moreover, to lift the veil of secrecy that con- cealed the radar program, directing that "no further items on the subject would be released" until the Army Department of Defense photo (IJSMC) 59215 and Navy were convinced the enemy This 3d Defense Battalion 90mm antiaircraft gun, dug in at Guadalcanal, servedalready had the information from in a dual role with its ability to engage targets on the ground as well as in the air. some other source. defense battalions on Guadalcanalman off Wake Island, who had car- operated long-range radar integratedried dispatches to Pearl Harbor on with the control network of Marinethe only Navy plane to reach Wake Aircraft Group 23.Lieutenant during the siege —declaredthat the On 21 February 1943, the 43d In- Colonel Walter L. J. Bayler— the lastgroup's fighters were "highly success-fantry Division, the 3d Raider Bat- Antiaircraft Artillery he defense battalions employed several differentby the Army's 90mm antiaircraft weapon. weapons against the attack of enemy aircraft. This excellent M1A1 gun had an increased range and a TThe M3 3-inch antiaircraft gun, initially used ingreater killing power than the M3. It became the standard shipboard and ground defense, was the heaviest weaponantiaircraft artillery piece for the defense and AAA bat- available to the Marines when the defense battalionswere talions. This gun could fire a 23.4-pound projectile, with organized. When positioned, the gun rested on a folding a 30-second time fuze out a horizontal distance of 18,890 M2A2 platform, dubbed a 'spider' mount, which had four yards and had a vertical range of 11,273 yards. The 10-man long stabilizing outriggers. The gun fired a 12.87-poundcrew could crank off 28 rounds-per-minute. The M1A1 high explosive round which had a maximum horizontalcould be towed on its single axle, dual-wheel carriage. It range of 14,780 yards and could nearly reach a 10,000-yardhad a distinctive perforated firing platform. The Marine ceiling. The weapons, each having an eight-man crew who Corps' 90mms generally landed early in an amphibious as- could fire 25 rounds per minute, were organized in the bat- sault to provide immediate AAA defense at the beachhead. talions in four-gun batteries. They were successfully em- It had a dual role in that it could be directed against ground ployed at Wake, Johnston, Palmyra, and Midway Islands. targets as well. By the summer of 1942, however, the M-3 was replaced

14 \\t ¼t

Photo courtesy of the U.S. Naval Institute An LST brings the 9thDefenseBattalion to Rendova Island,set up its artillery and antiaircraft guns to support the assault where the unit helped overcome Japanese resistance and thenon heavily defended neighboring island of New Georgia. talion, and a detachment from theDefense Battalions supported the Ar-one of the heaviest raids. "1 will al- 11th Defense Battalion secured themy's XIV Corps in the central Solo-ways think of July 4, 1943, as the day Russell Islands as a base for furthermons campaign. The stronglythe planes fell;' he said, his memory operations in the Solomons and else-reinforced 9th Defense Battalion,sharpened by the fact that he and his where. Seacoast and antiaircraft ar-now commanded by Lieutenant90mm gun crew had to dive into a tillery landed at Banika, and twoColonel William J. Scheyer, partici-mud hole to escape a Zero fighter weekslater,when the Japanesepated in various aspects of the fight-strafing Rendova. launched their first air strikes, the an-ing. The 155mm and antiaircraft The curtain of antiaircraft fire that tiaircraft weapons were ready. Theartillery groups landed on 30 June atprotected Rendova and the Zanana 10th Defense Battalion,underRendova Island, just off the coast ofbeaches had an unintended effect on Colonel Robert Blake, arrived on 24New Georgia. In the confusion of theone of the two secondary landings on February to reinforce the detach-Rendova landings, during which theNew Georgia —RiceAnchorage and ment. The Russells soon became aassault waves arrived off scheduleWickham Anchorage. Fragments boomtown —ajerry-builtstagingand out of sequence, antiaircraft gun-from antiaircraft shells fired from area for Allied units arriving in theners doubled as infantry in eliminat-Rendova rained down upon Rice An- South Pacific, reorganizing, or mov-ing light opposition, and members ofchorage, to the north, where ele- ing to other battlegrounds. the 155mm unit, looking for firingments of the 11th Defense Battalion positions,clashed with Japaneseguarded a beachhead seized by the The 12th Defense Battalion, com- patrols. The heavy guns set up andMarine 1st Raider Regiment. The manded by Colonel William H. Har- registered in time to support the maincommander of a raider battalion rison, covered the occupation oflandings at New Georgia's Zananarecalledsetting Condition Red Woodlark Island, northeast of New beaches on 2 July. The 90mm antiair-whenever the 90mm guns cut loose Guinea, by Army ground units on 30 craft guns also were ready that sameon Rendova, for their "shrapnel was June 1943. In just 16 days, Army en- day,fortunatelyso,sincethescreaming in the air above the trees;' gineers built an airfield, which the Japanese launched the first of 159 airas it tumbled to earth. battalion protected until the end ofraids carried out during the cam- The main landing on Zanana the year. The main purpose of the paign. The battalion's antiaircraftbeach, New Georgia, took place on Woodlark operation was to screen weapons downed 46 aircraft, includ-2 July under the cover of fire from the landings on New Georgia in the ing 13 of 16 in one formation. Ed-antiaircraft guns and 155mm artillery central Solomons. mund D. Hadley, serving with theon Rendova. Machine guns and light Elements of the 9th, 10th, and 11thantiaircraft group, helped fight offantiaircraft weapons promptly

15 A— 41 -I 4

FL p we -r tfi2 "-K..l*a Department of Defense photo (USMC) 58419 Splattered by mud from a near-miss, Marines operating an prepare for the next Japanese air attack on Rendova. On Vella optical gun director check the equipment for damage as they Lavella, Marines downed 42 enemy aircraft in 121 raids. deployed from Rendova across thethrough the trees. The concealingthe island, and thus speed the distri- narrow strait to New Georgia to helpbranches are left raw and broken."bution of supplies, triggered a savage protect the beachhead there. LightAccording to one analysis of thereaction from Japanese air power. tanks from the 9th, 10th, and 11th fighting, "A handful of Marine tanks,Speed proved less important than Defense Battalions helped Armyhandicapped by difficult jungle, hadsecurity, and after the sinking of an troops punch through the Japanesespearheaded most of the successfulLST on 1 October, 1 Marine Am- defenses barring the way to the prin- attacks on New Georgia:' phibious Corps directed that all ships cipal objective, Munda Point airfield. On 4 August, the Marine tankswould unload at Barakoma under an The M3A1 Stuart light tanks andthat had survived Japanese fire, for-antiaircraft shield provided by the their crews defied jungle, mud, and midableterrain,and mechanical4th Defense Battalion. suicidal counterattacks in spearhead-breakdown, moved onto Munda The tank platoons of the 9th, 10th, ing a slow and deliberate attack. ThePoint airfield, littered with wreckedand 11th Defense Battalions— tank gunners fired 37mm canisterairplanes and pockmarked with shellveterans of the conquest of New rounds to strip away the jungle con- craters. The infantry mopped up onGeorgia —boardedlanding craft and cealing Japanese bunkers, followedthe next day, and the 9th Defensesailed due west to Arundel Island, up with high-explosive shells to pene-Battalion moveditsantiaircraftwhere Army troops landed on 27 trate the fortifications, and usedweapons into position to protect theAugust. As had happened during the machine guns to cut down the sur-captured airdrome, while its 155mmearlier capture of Munda Point, the vivors as they fled. Captain Robertguns prepared to shell the JapaneseStuart tanks used their 37mm guns W. Blake, a tank commander whogarrison on nearby Kolombangara.to breach a succession of defensive earned the Navy Cross in the central The 4th Defense Battalion coveredpositions, suffering steady attrition Solomons, noted that "death on thea landing by Army forces on 15 Au-in the process. On 19 September, all Munda Trail" was noisy, violent, andgust at Vella Lavella, the north-the surviving armor formed two far from romantic. "1 trip the seatwesternmost island in the centralranks, the rear covering the front lever;' he wrote, "and drop down be-Solomons. The battalion's antiair-rank, which plunged ahead, firing hind the periscopic sight. I level thecraft weapons, concentrated near37mm canister to strip away the jun- sight dot at the black slot and pressBarakoma harbor, shot down 42gle concealment as the tanks gouged the firing switch. Wham, the gunJapanese aircraft during 121 raids.paths for advancing soldiers. This bucks,a wad of smoke billowsAttempts to land cargo elsewhere oncharge proved to be the last major

16 fight during the conquest of Arun- del Island. On 1 November 1943, the offen- sive reached the northern Solomons, as the recently organized 3d Marine Division landed at Bougainville. The 3d Defense Battalion, led by Lieu- 1w.- tenant Colonel Edward H. Forney, followed the first waves ashore and had heavy machine guns and light antiaircraft guns ready for action by nightfall. The battalion organized both antiaircraft and beach defenses, taking advantage of the dual capa- bilities of the 90mm gun to destroy Japanese landing barges on the Laru- ma River. The 155mm artillery group Department of Defense photo (USMC) 60625 supported Marine raiders and The 90mm antiaircraft guns on Rendova, as this one, threw up a barrier of fire parachutists at Koiari and joined the to protect the troops attacking Munda airfield from enemy air raids and, in doing so, showered shell fragments on the Marines across New Georgia at Rice Anchorage. 12th Marines, the 3d Marine Divi- sion's artillery regiment, in shellinglanding of the 1st Marine Divisiontor C. Bond, a member of Harrison's Japanese positions at Torokina. Theat Cape Gloucester, New Britain, inbattalion at Cape Gloucester, remem- defense battalion would remain atDecember 1943. The lodgment onbered sitting on the exposed "plow Bougainville into the following year,New Britain marked the end of theseat" of an SCR-268, with 90mm earning the dubious honor of beingRabaul campaign —andof part icipa-guns barking nearby. "During an air "the last Fleet Marine Force groundtion by major Marine Corps units inraid;' he said, "it was difficult to tell unit" to be withdrawn from thethe South and Southwest Pacific—if all the noise and smoke was due Solomons. for the United States had decided toto the 90mms or the enemy:' Colonel William H. Harrison'sisolate and bypass the fortress instead On New Britain, the 12th Defense 12th Defense Battalion supported theof storming it. Radar operator Vic-Battalion suffered most of its casual- The 9th Defense Battalion deployed light antiaircraft guns, asNew Georgia, both to protect the Zanana beachhead and to this Bofors 40mm weapon, in the Solonions on Rendova andsupport the accelerating advance against the Munda airfield. Department of Defense photo (USMC) 60095 by TSgt Jeremiah Sarno

17 Antiaircraft Machine Guns numberof"light"antiaircraftartillery weapons ing to statistics gathered between 1944 and 1045, Another and"heavy" machine gunswereplaced inthe light weapon in the defense battalion arsenal was the Oer- Aweaponsgroups of the defense battalionstopro- likon 20mm antiaircraft gun. It was made in the United vide close-in defense against low-flying aircraft. States by Oerlikon-Gazda, Pontiac Motors, and Hudson Theseweapons were flexibly employed and landed found Motor Car. These were Navy Mark 2 and Mark 4 weapons, on the beach with the assault waves. They were designat- first used on static pedestal mounts, but later mounted in ed dual-purpose weapons as they were used against both pairs on wheeled carriages as a high-speed 'twin twenty: air and surface targets. While organized into batteries by It was a simple blowback-operated gun capable of being weapons types, light antiaircraft weapons were often at- put into action quicker than larger caliber weapons. It fired tached to task-organized teams. explosive, armor-piercing, and incendiary projectiles at a The Bofors-designed 37mm and 40mm automatic guns rate of 450 rounds a minute out to a maximum range of were the backbones of these teams. The Ml 40mm antiair- 4.800 yards. Mobility, reliability, and high volume of lire craft gun became the standard piece by July 1942. It was enabled it to account for 32 percent of identified antiair- manufactured by Blaw-Knox, Chrysler, and York Safe & craft shot down during the 1942 to 1944 period. Lock in the United States. The Ml was recoil operated and designed for use against aircraft and could serve as an an- Finally, the battalions were liberally equipped with heavy titank weapon. It fired 1.96-pound shells at a rate of .30- and .50-caliber machine guns. The Browning M2 water- 120-per-minute with a maximum range of over four miles. cooled machine gun was used on an M2 mount as an an- Its M2 carriage had electric brakes and bullet-resistant tires, tiaircraft weapon by special weapons groups to help de- was towed at up to 50 miles an hour. and could be put in fend artillery and antiaircraft artillery positions. The liring position within 25 seconds. Easily operated and main- Browning M1917 water-cooled machine gun was used for tained, the 40mm gun was credited with 50 percent of the ground and beach defense with crews made up from enemy aircraft destroyed by antiaircraft weapons accord- defense battalion personnel in contingencies. ties from typhus and other diseases, fects of malaria, prevalent in theMarines to take a bitter-tasting medi- falling trees, and lightning. "There isswamps and rain forest, involved thecine that was rumored to turn skin no jungle in the world worse than inuse of atabrine, a substitute for scarceyellow and make users sterile. In a southwestern New Britain;' a mem-quinine. The remedy required hardmoment of whimsy, Second Lieu- ber of the1st Marine Divisionselling by medical personnel andtenant Gerald A. Waindel suggested declared. The effort to limit the ef-commanders to convince dubiousadapting a slogan used to sell coffee Each Japanese flag painted on this 3d Defense Battalion 40mm gun on Bougainville representsa Japanese plane shot down. *w Department of Defense photo (USMC) 74010 :1

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18 ordivision headquarters. The problem of the future of the defense battalions in a changing situation re- mained unresolved when the year 1944 began. Fig1ii;ig Borecloiii One technique used by a defense battalion's communications specialists in the battle against bore- dom consisted of eavesdropping on the radio nets used by the fighter pi- lots. The chatter among aviators, though discouraged by commanders, rivaled the dialogue in the adventure serials broadcast in late afternoon back in the United States—radio F' —_akvfr a shows such as Captain Midnight or at Hop Harrigan. First Lieutenant Wil- \' liam K. Holt remembered hearing Department of Defense photo (USMC) 71623 cries of: "I'm Deadeye Dick, I never The light antiaircraft artillery of the 12th Defense Battalion on the deck of an LSTmiss"; or, borrowing directly from a approaching Cape Gloucester, New Britain, is poised to fire on Japanese aircraft. yet another radio serial, "Here comes Jack Armstrong, the all-American back in the United States: "Atabrinealong with soldiers and sailors —had boy:' Imitations of machine gun fire —Goodto the last drop:' not taken any "real, honest-to-Godpunctuated the commentary. towns;' just "grass shacks and lizards In March 1944, a detachment from By the end of 1943, as the program and swamp 'gardens' of slimy banyan the 14th Defense Battalion landed at reached its peak wartime strength, 19 Emirau, St. Mathias Islands, in sup-trees:' defense battalions had been or- port ofitsoccupation by Army As the campaign against Japanganized. One of the early units, the troops. Technical Sergeant George H.gathered momentum, defense battal-5th Defense Battalion, was redesig- Mattie reported that "the Marinesions on outlying islands like the El-nated as the 14th Defense Battalion, sent some troops ashore, met no op-licegroup,Samoa, Johnston,so that the 19 units accounted for 20 position, and in a matter of days thePalmyra, and Midway found them-numbers. At the peak of the pro- Seabees ripped up the jungle" for anselves increasingly in the backwashgram, 26,685 Marines and sailors airfield. The deadliest things aboutof war, struggling with boredomserved in the 19 defense battalions, duty at Emirau, Mattie remembered,rather than fighting an armed enemy.a figure that does not include the var- were "boredom and loneliness:' OtherMajor General Alexander A. Van-ious replacement drafts that kept detachments from the 14th Defensedegrift, former commanding gener-them at or near authorized strength. Battalion supported the 1st Marineal of the 1st Marine Division andSince a Marine division in 1943 re- Aircraft Wing's occupation of Greensince July 1943 the commander of Iquired some 19,000 officers and en- Island,the coup de graceforMarine Amphibious Corps, noticedlisted men, the pool of experienced bypassed Japanese forces at Rabaulthe fragile morale of some of thepersons assigned to the defense bat- and throughout the Bismarck Ar-defense battalions, as did his chief oftalions made these units a target for chipelago. The use of Green Islandstaff, Colonel Gerald C. Thomas,reorganization and consolidation as as an air base for hammering theduring their inspection tour of thethe war approached a climax. bypassed stronghold of Rabaul sig-Solomon Islands. "The war had gone naled the attainment of the final rungbeyond them;' recalled Thomas, and The Central Pacific Drive in the so-called Solomons Ladder,a number of the junior field-grade Defense battalions supported the which began at Guadalcanal and re-officers were "pleading just to get intoattack by V Amphibious Corps quired the services of three Marinethe war" and out of the defense bat-across the Central Pacific an offen- divisions, two Marine aircraft wings,talions. As a result, some 35 officerssive that began in November 1943 and a variety of special units, includ-received transfers to the Commandwith the storming of two main ob- ing the defense battalions. In a yearand Staff College at Quantico, Vir-jectives, Makin and Tarawa, in the and a half of fighting, the Marines —ginia, for future assignments to corpsGilbert Islands. Long-range bombers

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7. — ci -__ Photo courtesy of the U.S. Nava' 1nsitute In the jungle, Marines found no towns, few villages, and few- the men of the defense battalions lived in pup tents and, when er permanent buildings to commandeer for shelter. As a result, rain was not falling, took catnaps on uncomfortable surfaces. based in the Ellice Islands helped pre- employing a combination of radar-tenant James G. Lucas, a Marine pare the atolls for the impending as-directed and free-lance searchlightsCorps combat correspondent, it was sault, and the 5th and 7th Defensethat could pick up approaching air-"difficult to imagine they were in the Battalions protected the bases thesecraft at a slant range of 60,000 feet.same world:' Japanese bombers from aircraft used from retaliatory airBetween November 1943 and Janu-the Marshall Islands sometimes raid- strikes by the Japanese. ary 1944, the Japanese hurled 19 aired Apamama, recalledSergeant In the bloodiest fighting of the Gil-raids against True's battalion, alongDavid N. Austin of the antiaircraft berts operation, the 2d Marine Di-with numerous harassing raids bygroup, and one moonlit night the vision stormed BetioIslandinlone airplanes known as "Washing-gunners "fired 54 rounds before the Tarawa Atoll on 20 November andMachine Charlie:' Only once did thecease-fire came over the phone:' overwhelmed the objective withinenemy escape detection. According to The bold thrust through the Gil- four days. On 24 November, the lastone of the unit's officers, Captainberts penetrated the outermost ring day of the fighting, Colonel NormanJohn V. Alden, the Japanese raidersof Japanese defenses in the Central E.True's 2d Defense Battalionusually aimed for the airfields, oftenPacific. The next objectives lay in the relieved the assault units that hadmistaking the beach for the runwaysMarshall Islands, where in a fast- captured Betio. The defense battal-at night and, in one instance, hittingpaced series of assaults V Amphibi- ion set up guns and searchlights togun positions on the coast of Bairiki.ous Corps used Marine reconnais- protecttheairstrip on Betio— On 28 November 1943, the 8thsance troops and Army infantry to repaired and named Hawkins FieldDefense Battalion, commanded byattack Majuro on 30 January 1944 after First Lieutenant William D.Colonel Lloyd L. Leech, went ashoreand, immediately afterward, two ob- Hawkins, one of the 2d Marine Di-at Apamama, an atoll in the Gilbertsjectives in Kwajalein Atoll. The 4th vision's heroes killed in the battle—captured with a minimum of casual-Marine Division assaultedRoi- and another airfield built by Seabeesties,to relieve the Marine assaultNamur—actually two islets joined by at adjacent Bonkiri. The defendersforce that had landed there. Apama-a causeway—on the 31st, and an emplaced radar and searchlights toma lay just 80 miles from blood-Army infantry division landed at guard against night bombing raids,drenched Tarawa, but for First Lieu-Kwajalein Island on 1 February. A

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$' IS.. • — :b 1. ONR* COOK IS. • mixed force of Marines and soldierscraft guns in some of the 50 or moreremoving the rubble. stormed Eniwetok Atoll,atthecraters gouged in the Japanese run- Colonel Hohn's battalion moved western limit of the Marshall group,ways by American bombs and shells.on to Kwajalein Island and Eniwetok on 17 February. Those who watchedMachine gunner Ed Gough recalledAtoll by the end of January, and from shipboard off Roi-Namur sawthat his special weapons group cameLieutenant Colonel Wallace 0. "pillars of greasy smoke billow up-ashore "on the first or second day;' re-Thompson's 10th Defense Battalion ward:' This awesome sight convincedmaining "through the first air raidjoined them on 21 February. The vic- an eyewitness, Master Technical Ser-when the Japanese succeeded in kick-tory in the Marshalls advanced the geant David Dempsey, a combat cor-ing our ass:' The enemy could not,Pacific battle lines 2,500 miles closer respondent,thatthe preliminaryhowever, overcome the antiaircraftto Japan. bombardment by aircraft and navaldefenses, and calm settled over the Far to the south, the African- guns must have blasted the objectivecaptured Marshalls. Marines fromAmerican 51st Defense Battalion, tooblivion,but somehow thethe defense battalions helped is-commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Japanese emerged from the shatteredlanders displaced by the war to returnCurtis W. LeGette, landed at the El- bunkers and fought back. to Roi-Namur, where, upon cominglice Islands in February 1944. One The 1st Defense Battalion, underhome, they helped bury the enemyglance at the isolated chain of deso- Colonel Lewis A. Hohn, and thedead and clear the wreckage from alate islands suggested that the white 15th, led by Lieutenant Colonel Fran-"three-quarter-square-milejunkMarines of the departing 7th Defense cis B. Loomis, arrived in the Mar-yard:' Tractors, trucks, and jeepsBattalion "were never so glad to see shalls and initially emplaced theirground ceaselessly across the airfieldblack people" in their lives. The 51st weapons at Roi-Namur and Majuro.on Roi bringing in constructiontook over airfield defense and en- On Roi, the defenders set up antiair-material for new installations andgaged in gun drills and practice

21 alerts, finally firing on a radar return from a suspected surfaced Japanese submarine on 28 March. The 51st as- sumed responsibility for defending Eniwetok in September, replacing the 10th Defense Battalion, but actual combat continued to elude the black Marines despite unceasing prepa- ration.

Once established ashore in the Gil- berts and Marshalls, the defense bat- talions rarely, if ever, faced the threat of marauding Japanese ships or air- craft.As theactivebattlefields moved closer to Japan, the phenome- non of sign-painting took hold. One of them summarized the increasing TRUK 1270 isolation of the defense battalions KUSAIE5 from the fury of the island war. "Sha- dy Acres Rifle and Gun Club," read the sign, "Where Life Is a 155mm Bore." Such was the forgotten war on the little islands, described as "almost microscopic in the incredible vastness of the Pacific;" which became stops on the supply lines that sustained other Marines fighting hundreds of •"d ar,1 —- miles away. According to one observ- er,the captured atolls served as A Department of Defense photo(USN) "stopovers for the long, gray convoys Asthis sign on Majuro indicates, the advance in the Pacific war to this atoll in heading westward," though some of the Marshall Islands had many interesting and challenging stops along the way. them also became fixed aircraft car- riers for bombing the by-passed ene-and aserviceestablishment —allthreat. The process began in April my bases. While the defensewithout a substantial increase in ag-1944, and five months later,the battalions prepared for attacks thatgregate strength. Most of the mendefense battalions that began the did not come, a relatively small num-that Thomas needed already wereyear had converted to antiaircraft ar- ber of airmen harassed thousands ofundergoing training, but he alsotillery units, though a few retained Japanese left behind in the Marshallrecommended eliminatingspecialtheir old designation, and in rare in- and Caroline Islands. units, including the defense battal-stances the 155mm artillery group re- ions. Abolishing the defense battal-mained withabattalionas an ions promisedtobedifficult,attachment rather than an integral however, for the Navy Departmentcomponent. felt it would need as many as 29 bat- A new table of organization ap- At Marine Corps headquarters,talions to protect advance bases.peared in July 1944 and reflected the General Vandegrift, now the Com-General Vandegriftexercisedhisemphasis on 90mm and 40mm an- mandant, faced a problem of usingpowers of persuasion on Admiral Er-tiaircraft weapons, though it left the scarce manpower to the greatest pos-nest J.King, the Chief of Navalmanpower level all but unchanged. sible effect. Vandegrift's director ofOperations, and talked the navalThe document called for a battalion the Division of Plans and Policies,officer into agreeing not only to formof 57 officers and 1,198 enlisted men, Gerald C. Thomas, promoted tono new defense battalions but alsoorganized into a headquarters and brigadier general, received instruc-to accept deactivation of two of theservice battery, a heavy antiaircraft tions to maintain six divisions andexisting 19 units, while reorientinggroup, a light antiaircraft group, and four aircraft wings, plus corps troopsthe 17 survivors to meet the currenta searchlight battery. Only three

22 Coast and Field Artillery he first defense battalions were equipped with to the South Pacific with the defense battalions. Later, the 5-inch/51-caliber naval guns which werebattalions were issued standard M1A1 155mm "Long Tom" originally designed for shipboard mounting and guns. This piece weighed 30,600 pounds,had a split trail later extensively modified for use ashore. These weaponsand eight pneumatic tires, was pulled by tractor, and was were then emplaced in static positions, but with greatserved by a combined crew of 15 men. It was pedestal difficulty. The guns fired high explosive, armor piercing, mounted on the so-called "Panama" mount for its seacoast and chemical shells. defense role. It combined great firepower with high mo- Initially, the defense battalions were issued the standardbility and proved to be a workhorse that remained in the M1918 155mm "GPF" guns, which had split trails, single inventory after World War II. axles, and twin wheels. These World War I relics deployed units retained the designation ofthe Marines stormed large islands,mas C. McFarland, reached Saipan defensebattalionuntiltheywith broken terrain overgrown byin July, where the 18th Defense Bat- disbanded —the6th, the 51st, and thejungle, a battlefield far different fromtalion, led by Lieutenant Colonel 52d. In the end, most of the defensethe compact, low-lying coral out-William J. Van Ryzin, joined it and battalions became antiaircraft ar-croppings of the Gilberts and Mar-became part of the island garrison. tillery outfits and functioned undershalls. The Marianas group alsoAlthough Saipan was by now offi- the Fleet Marine Force, Pacific. differed from the recently capturedcially secure, danger from various While these changes were takingatolls in that the larger islands hadtropical maladies persisted. After a place, defense battalions participat-a sizable civilian populace thathadbriefing on the island's innumerable ed in the final phase of the Centrallived in towns flattened by bombshealth hazards, Technical Sergeant Pacific campaign —threesuccessiveand artillery. John B. T. Campbell heard a private landings in the Mariana Islands by On 15 June 1944, the conquest ofask the medical officer "Sir, why don't V Amphibious Corps and III Am-the Marianas began when V Am-we just let the laps keep the island?" phibious Corps, and the destructionphibious Corps attacked Saipan with On 24 July, Marines boarded land- by American carrier pilots of thethe 2d and 4th Marine Divisions,ing craft on Saipan and sailed directly naval air arm that Japan had recon-backed by the Army's 27th Infantryto Tinian, the second objective in the stituted in the two years since theDivision. The 17th Defense Battal-Mariana Islands. McFarland's battal- Battle of Midway. In the Marianas,ion, under Lieutenant Colonel Tho-ion landed at Tinian in August and On drab, desolate Eniwetok, the 10th Defense Battalion testlack of threat of any immediate enemy attack, the weapon fires a 155mm gun out across an empty ocean. Despite thewas camouflaged just in case Japaneseplanes flew over. Department of Defense photo ___(USN)

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23 • grueling process of mopping up." - Both defense battalions also bore the twin burdens or working as laborers

S s .' a and doubling as infantry in search- ing out the Japanese and killing or capturing them. The captured Mariana Islands 1 demonstrated their strategic value in SI, •W_ '4? November 1944, when Boeing B-29s based there began the systematic t bombing of targets in Japan's Home tc Islands. From the outset, Marine an- tiaircraft gunners helped defend these airfields.Eventually,the African- American 52d Defense Battalion, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel t David W. Silvey, reached the Man- El:! Pøt anas after service at Roi-Namur and Eniwetok, where it had replaced the r . 4 'p 1st and 15th battalions. The 52d set #: I M') J up its antiaircraft weapons on Guam Photo courtesy of the U.S. Naval Institute in the spring of 1945, patrolling for A violent barrage from the 12th Defense Battalion greets attacking Japanese air-Japanese stragglers and providing craft over Cape Gloucester, New Britain. As the danger from Japanese surface shipsworking parties. The emphasis on diminished, the defense battalions became concerned with Japanese air raids. labor caused one noncommissioned devoted its energy to building andit landed under intense fire, preparedofficer to observe that instead of "be- improving gun positions, roads, andthe beachhead defenses, set up an-ing a defense unit, we turned out to living areas. The battalion's histori-tiaircraft guns, and later helped res-be nothing more than a working bat- an, Charles L. Henry, Jr., recalledcue civilians made homeless by thetalion;' a complaint that members of that "round-the-clock patrols werewar. An account prepared by the 3dother defense battalions would echo. still a necessity, with many JapaneseMarine Divisionrelatedthat, Despite constant patrolling and still on the island:' Skirmishes erupt- although Guam was secured rapid-frequent clashes with the die-hard ed almost daily, as Marines from thely, "the fighting was not over" by Au-Japanese, duty in the Marianas be- battalion "cleaned up the island" Thegust,formorethan10,000came a matter of routine. The same 18th Defense Battalion moved from disorganized Japanese stragglers heldpattern prevailed throughout the cap- Saipan to Tinian, where the 16thout in the northern part of the islandtured Gilberts and Marshalls, as well. Defense Battalion joined it in Sep-until they fell victim to "the long,Aviation units manned the airfields; tember to help protect the new air- The fire from Marine antiaircraft gunners defending the Saipan beachhead against fields. a Japanaese night air attack makes interesting "4th of July" patterns in the sky. Department of Defense photo (USCG) On 21 July 1944, the 9th Defense Battalion, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Archie F. O'Neil, and the 14th, under Lieutenant Colonel Wil- liam F. Parks, landed on Guam. The two units served with distinction in the recapture of the island by the 3d Marine Division, 1st Provisional Ma- rine Brigade, and the Army's 77th In- fantry Division under the overall control of III Amphibious Corps. The 9th Defense Battalion support- ed the Marine brigade at Agat Bay, and the 14th protected the 3d Marine Division on the Red Beaches, where

24 unit, supported the Marine division while it fought to conquer the island. Also present on Peleliu —describedas "the most heavily fortified ground, square yard by square yard, Marines have ever assaulted"—was the light antiaircraft group of the 4th Antiair- !.. craft Artillery (formerly Defense) Battalion. The 7th Defense Battalion, -y now an antiaircraft outfit, worked e—--c.— with the Army's 81st Infantry Divi- —I'- -•_-;--•': sion on Anguar, remaining there af- ter the soldiers took over the fighting on Peleliu. The Marine antiaircraft gunners at Peleliu dug in on what was described as "an abrupt spine of jagged ridges and cliffs—jutting dragon-tooth Department of Defense photo (USMC) 93063 crags, bare and black, where Marine Marines of Battery 1, 14th Defense Battalion, man their twin-barrelled, Mark I1infantrymen fought maniacal Japs." Qerlikon-designed 20mm guns on top of Chonito Ridge overlooking Adelup Point. As the fury of the fighting abated, In the initial stages of the Guam operation, these antiaircraft guns were in support. the 7th Battalion transferred person- antiaircraft gunners peered into anprepared to seize Peleliu in the Palaunel and equipment tothe 12th, empty sky, hoping the enemy wouldIslands to protect MacArthur's flank which —accordingtoitslogistics appear; those members of defenseas he reentered the Philippines. Theofficer, Harry M. Parke —received battalions not otherwise employeddivision landed on 15 Septembernewer material and "men with less wrestled cargo between ship's holds1944, triggering a bloody battle thattime overseas," who would not be- and dumps ashore; and Seabeestied down the bulk of the divisioncome eligible to return home when sweated over construction projects.until mid-October. Army troops didthe units began preparing for the in- While the Central Pacific campaignnot crush the last organized Japanesevasion of Japan. moved through the Gilberts, Mar-resistance until the end of November. By the end of 1944, with Peleliu shalls, and Marianas, the 1st MarineDuring the bitter fighting on Peleliu,and the Marianas firmly in Ameri- Division, after wresting control ofthe 12th Defense Battalion, nowcan hands,74,474 Marines and New Britain and isolating Rabaul,redesignated an antiaircraft artillerysailors served in island garrisons and An optical gun director is manned by Marines from one ofFortunately for the attacking 1st Division Marines, no enemy the defense battalions participating in the Peleliu operation. air appeared overhead to hazard the ground operations. Department of Defense photo (USMC) 97571

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25 18th with V Amphibious Corps). The 52d Defense Battalion, which would reach Guam in the spring of 1945, stood guard at Majuro and Kwajalein Atolls.

Master Technical Sergeant Alvin M. Josephy, Jr., a Marine combat correspondent, wrote in 1944 that "since the beginning of the war many

of the men . . . hadseen action in unitssmallerthandivisions —in defense and raider battalions and other special commands:' These Ma- rines "had been fighting for a long time;' he said. Leatherneck, a maga- Department of Defense photo (USMC) 97570 This Army-developed SCR-584 radar took over the work of the optical gun direc-zine published by and for Marines, tor on Peleliu, to provide automatic target tracking and gun laying for the Marines. predicted in September 1944 that not until the war was won would the base defense forces. As the defensestationed at Guadalcanal (the 3d andcomplete story of each defense bat- battalion program focused on an-4th with III Amphibious Corps), thetalion be told. Because of the vital tiaircraft weapons, defense units — Russell Islands (the 12th with III Am-part they played, "much information mostof them by now redesignatedphibiousCorps), Ellice and the about them . . . mustbe withheld, asantiaircraftartilleryoutfits — Group (the 51st). Locations in thebut there are no American troops servedin Hawaii (the 13th at OahuCentral Pacific included Eniwetokwith longer combat records in this with the Fleet Marine Force, Pacific; (the10th with V Amphibiouswar:' the 8th on Kauai with Fleet Marine Corps), Guam (the 9th and 14th with Force, Pacific; and the 2d, 5th, 7th,III Amphibious Corps), Majuro (the and 16th with V Amphibious Corps) 1st with V Amphibious Corps), Roi- MacArthur's advance from the and at Midway (the 6th). In theNamur (the 15th with V Amphibi-Southwest Pacific by way of the Southwest Pacific, battalions wereous Corps), and Saipan (the 17th andPhilippines and Nimitz's Central Pa- Fire Control combination of convent-planes, to guide friendly aircraft back The radar and fire control equip- ional optical sightstotheir bases, and in support ofment employed by the defense battal- Acoincidence range finders,ground forces as their beams wereions in turn allowed them to become soundlocaters,primitive radarreflected off of low cloud cover in ord-an integral part of the overall air sets, and searchlights comprised the fireer to illuminate the battlefield. defense of a captured target area. control equipment in the early defense Searchlights, radar, and sound de-Although dispersed throughout the battalions. As the war progressed intectors worked in conjunction withbeachhead, this equipment was linked the Pacific, most of these items weregun directors to convert tracking infor-primarily by telephone with a radio modified and improved. mation into firing data. Gun directorsbackup. A battalion fire control center The Sperry 60-inch searchlight firedfunctioned as computers in providingcoordinated the operations of each up a 800-million-candlepower lightthetrigonometic solutions whichgroup of weapons and in turn was in- beam with a slant range of 20,000predicted flight paths and furnishingcorporated with other Allied radar yards.Originally intended foril-fuze settings for the antiaircraft ar-nets. The effective ranges for fire con- luminating ships at sea, the Sperry wastillery. The input of height finderstrol equipment was variously 20-45 soon employed in finding and track-combined with information about themiles for fire control gear and 120-200 ing enemy aircraft overhead. Theazimuth and elevation of the targetsmiles for search radar. searchlights were also used to directalso was fed to remotely controlled nightfighterstointercept enemy40mm and 90mm antiaircraft guns.

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Department of Defense photo (USMC) 08087 by TSgt CV. Corkran Tracers fired by the 5th Antiaircraft Artillery Battalion— over Okinawa during a Japanese air attack. A Marine fighter formerly the 5th Defense Battalion —lightup the night skiessquadron's Corsairs are silhouetted against the spectacle.. cific campaign aimed ultimately atdefense operations." James H. Pow-that would provide adequate shelter, the invasion of the Japanese Homeers recalled that the battalion gotbut he had to keep some other unit Islands. To prepare for the climacticcredit for a Mitsubishi G4M bomberfrom taking it. To enforce his claim, battles, the 2d, 5th, 8th, and 16th (nicknamed "Betty" by the Allies) andhe put up a sign: "Booby Traps. Keep AntiaircraftArtillery(formerlyalsohelped secureadefensiveAway:' After he left to report his dis- Defense) Battalions formed the 1stperimeter against Japanese stragglerscovery and deploy the unit, a demo- ProvisionalAntiaircraftArtillery"making trouble in our vicinity:' Thelitions man saw the sign and, blew Group. The group did not see action5th battalion set up in the Yontan-up the cave, sealing it shut. at Iwo Jima in February 1945, but atKadena area by 6 May, where it Okinawa, the final objective beforereceived credit for making one kill Japanese air attacks attained un- the projected attack on Japan, it cameand assisting in another. These an-precedented savagery in the waters under the operational control of thetiaircraftbattalions demonstratedoff Okinawa, as the Special Attack Tenth Army's 53d Antiaircraft Ar-that they had learned, in the six yearsCorps pressed home the suicidal tillery Brigade. since the first of the defense battal-kamikaze attacks first employed in The Marine and Army divisions ofions was formed in 1939, to makethePhilippines. Hoping tosave the Tenth Army landed across thegood use of weapons, communica-Japan —muchas a storm, the origi- Okinawa beaches on 1 April 1945.tions gear, and radar. nal Kamikaze or divine wind, had On the 13th, the first echelon of the Technical Sergeant John Worthscattered a Mongol invasion fleet in newly redesignated 8th Antiaircrafttold of a Marine officer looking forthe sixteenth century—thesuicide pi- Artillery Battalion arrived at recentlyfiring positions and living quarterslots deliberately dived into American captured Nago, near the neck offor his battery in one of the antiair-ships, hoping to trade one life for Okinawa's Motobu Peninsula,tocraft artillery battalions. The officerhundreds. Other vehicles for suicide conduct "normal AA [antiaircraft]located a cave, free of booby traps,attack included piloted bombs,

27 4

Marine Corps Historical Collection The 13th Defense Battalion passes in review at Guantananio these battalions, who often endured months of waiting pun c- Bay, Cuba, in 1943. Marine historian and veteran defense bat- tuated by days of savage action, as a "hard worked and frus- talion Marine Col Robert D. Heinl, Jr., described the men oftrated species." The 13th was shortly to deploy to the Pacific manned torpedoes, and explosives-tiaircraftArtilleryBattalion ondistantplaces,some dangerous, laden motorboats. These desperateOkinawa recall tracking the last airothers boring. They did not benefit measures could not prevail, however, attack of the war, a raid that turnedfrom post-battle rest— though few and the United States seized an es-back short of the target when therest areas lived up to their name — sential base for the planned invasionJapanese government agreed to sur-norwere their accommodations com- of Japan. render. The formal cessationofparable to those of an aircraft wing In the Marianas, Marines on Tin-hostilities, effective 15 August 1945,sharing the same location. The Ma- ian witnessed the takeoff on 6 Au-also put an end to the systematicrines of the defense battalions en- gust of the B-29 Enola Gay, whichmopping-up in northern Okinawa.dured isolation, sickness, dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshi-The dour prediction of the early daysmonotonous food, and primitive liv- ma. Three days later, another B-29, in the South Pacific "Golden Gate ining conditions for long periods, as also from Tinian's North Field,'48:' gave way to a new slogan,they engaged in the onerous task of dropped a second atomic bomb on"Home Alive in '45." The actualprotecting advance bases in areas that Nagasaki. The shock of the atomichomecoming would be delayed,by no stretch of the imagination weapons, the entry of the Soviet Un-however, for those Marines sched-resembled tropical paradises. After ion into the war against Japan, theuled for occupation duty in Japan orputting up with these conditions for cumulative effectsofattritionNorth China. months, many of these same Marines throughout the vast Pacific, months Gone But Not Forgotten went on to serve as replacements in of conventional bombing of the the six Marine divisions in action Home Islands, and an ever-tightening Defense battalions deployed ear-when the war ended. submarine blockade forced Japan toly and often throughout the Pacific Throughout their existence, the surrender. Members of the 8th An-campaigns, serving in a succession ofdefense battalions demonstrated a Armor and Support

hile defense battalions could defend themselves amphibious assault. In some cases, however, infantry, ar- with small arms and machineguns, they mor, and artillery support was provided to reinlrce defense Wlacked maneuver elements which, in turn, battalionsin certain operations. During the Pacific War, made them vulnerable when deployed independently of provisional rifle companies were formed and assigned to other ground forces. In 1941, the Marine Corps decidedthe 6th, 7th, 51st, and 52d Defense Battalions, and tank not to form separate infantry units to support the defenseplatoons were assigned at various times to the 9th, 10th, battalions. For the most part, they would haveto depend and 11th Defense Battalions. upon the infantry elements with which they landed in an

28 fundamental lesson of the Pacificin the Corps throughout World War 1st Defense Battalion War— the need for teamwork. AsII, the creation of the 51st and 52d (November 1939-May 1944) one Marine Corps officer has point-Defense Battalions signaled a break The unit, formed at San Diego, California, ed out, the Marine Corps portion ofwith racist practices and becamea deployed to the Pacific as one of the Rain- the victorious American team was "it- bow Five, the five defense battalions sta- milestone on the road toward today's tioned there in accordance with the Rainbow self the embodiment of unification."racially integrated Marine Corps. 5 war plan when the Japanese attacked Pearl The Corps had "molded itself into the Colonel Robert D. Heinl, Jr., a Ma-Harbor. Under Lieutenant Colonel Bert A. team concept without the slightest Bone, elements of the battalion arrived in rine historian who had helped shape difficulty... . Marinetank men, ar- Hawaii in March 1941. The unit provided tillerymen, and antiaircraft gunnersthe concept of the defense battalion defense detachmentsforJohnston and and served in one of the wartime Palmyra Islands in March and April of that of the defense battalions, interested year and for Wake Island in August. The only in doing a good job, gave equalunits, described the members as a "hard-worked and frustrated species." Wake Island detachment of the 1st Defense support to. ..[the]Army and Navy Battalion received the Presidential Unit Ci- He felt that the defense battalions tation for the defense of that outpost—which represented the culmination of Ma- earned the battalion the nickname "Wake Is- Relations with other combat serv-rifle Corps thinking that could trace land Defenders"— and other elements dealt ices, arms, and units defined the roleits evolutionary course back to the with hit-and-run raids at Palmyra and John- of the defense battalions in the Pa-turn of the century. The weapons, ra- ston Islands. In March 1942, the scattered cific, for they functioned as a part ofdars, and communications equip- detachments became garrison forces and a a combined effort at sea, in the air, reconstituted battalion took shape in Hawaii. ment inthe battalionsat timesCommand passed to Colonel Curtis W. and on the ground. During the war,represented the cutting edge of war-LeGette in May 1942 and to Lieutenant there were examples of independenttime technology, and the skill with Colonel John H. Griebel in September. Lieu- deployment, as at Wake Island andwhich they were used paid tribute to tenant Colonel Frank P. Hager exercised com- Midway. It was equally common,the training and discipline of the mand briefly; his successor, Colonel Lewis H. Hohn, took the unit to Kwajalein and Eniwe- however, for battalions or their com-members of these units. Charles A. ponents to serve with brigades or di- tok, in the Marshall Islands, in February Holmes, a veteran of the defense bat- 1944. The following month found the bat- visions, as at Iceland, Samoa, ortalion that fought so gallantly attalion on Majuro, also in the Marshalls, Guadalcanal, or to operate underWake Island, said that, in his opin- where it became the 1st Antiaircraft Artillery corps-level commands, as at New Ge-ion, anyone could serve somewhere Battalion on 7 May 1944, under the com- orgia. Finally, especially after thein a division or aircraft wing, but "it mand of Lieutenant Colonel Jean H. Buck- transition to antiaircraft artillery bat- ner. As an antiaircraft unit, it served as part was an honor to have served in a spe- of the Guam garrison, remaining on the is- talions, the units tended to performcial unit of the U.S. Marines." land through 1947. base-defense or garrison duty under the Fleet Marine Force, Pacific. The 2d Defense Battalion shift of the defense battalions from (March 1940-April 1944) fighting front to backwater of the war Defense battalion war diaries, reflected changing strategic reality The battalion was formed at San Diego, muster rolls, and the unit files held California, under Lieutenant Colonel Bert A. and not an arbitrary decision toby the Marine Corps Historical deemphasize. Some of the Marines Bone. By the time the unit deployed to Center provide the basis for the fol- Hawaii in December 1941, five officers had in these units may have felt that the lowing brief accounts of the service exercised command; Major Lewis A. Hohn spotlight of publicity passed them by of the various defense battalions. The took over from Colonel Bone in July 1940, and focused on the assault troops, followed in August of that year by Colonel actionsof some unitsarewell Thomas F. Bourke, in November 1940 by even though antiaircraft gunners anddocumented: for example, the 1st even artillerymen sometimes accom- Lieutenant Colonel Charles I. Murray, and Defense Battalion on Wake Island in panied the early waves to an embat- in February 1941 by Lieutenant Colonel Ray- 1941; the 6th at Midway in 1942; and mond E. Knapp. Under Knapp, who received tled beachhead, but the apportion-the 9th in the Central Solomons dur- apromotiontocolonel,thebattalion ment of press coverage stemmed froming 1943. Few of the battalions deployed in January 1942 from Hawaii to the composition of the Marine Corps Tutuila, Samoa. Lieutenant Colonel Norman received group recognition commen- and the nature of the fighting. E. True briefly took over, and Knapp succeed- surate with their contributions to vic- ed him from October 1942 to May 1943, but Becausethedefense battaliontory, although the 1st, 6th, and 9thTrue again commanded the battalion when could train and serve as an essentiallywere awarded unit citations. Each it deployed in November 1943 to Tarawa independent organization, it becamedefense battalion created its own dis- Atoll in the Gilbert Islands. True remained a logical choice for the first African- in command when the unit was redesignat- tinctive record as it moved from one ed the 2d Antiaircraft Artillery Battalion on American unit formed by the Ma-island to another, but gaps and dis- 16 April 1944. The organization subsequent- rines. Although segregation prevailedcrepancies persist nevertheless. ly served in Hawaii and Guam before land-

29 4th Defense Battalion (February 1940-May 1944)

The organization took shape at Parris Is- land, South Carolina, under Major George E Good, Jr.; Colonel Lloyd L. Leech took over in April; and Lieutenant Colonel Jesse L. Per- kins in December 1940. Colonel William H. Rupertus commanded the unit whenit deployed in February 1941 to defend the naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Un- der Colonel Harold S. Fasset, the battalion arrived in the Pacific in time to become one of the Rainbow Five. Its strength was divid- ed between Pearl Harbor and Midway, and helped defend both bases against Japanese at- tacks on 7 December. The unit deployed in March 1942 to Efate and Espiritu Santo in the New Hebrides. It moved in July 1943 to New Zealand and then to Guadalcanal before landing in August 1943 at Vella Lavella in support of the I Marine Amphibious Corps. National Archives Photo 127-N-62097 After becoming the 4th Antiaircraft Artillery The Sperry 60-inch searchlight was employed by the 3d Defense Battalion both Battalion on 15 May 1944, the unit returned to Guadalcanal in June but ended the war on to illuminate incoming enemy aircraft and to spot approaching surface vessels. Okinawa, arriving there in April 1945. ing on Okinawa in April 1945. It returned to Guadalcanal in September 1943 and in to the United States in 1946 and was deac- November of that year, while commanded by 5th Defense Battalion tivated. Lieutenant Colonel Edward H. Forney, land- (December 1940-April 1944) ed at Bougainville, remaining in the north- 3d Defense Battalion ern Solomons until June 1944. Redesignated Organized at Parris Island, South Caroli- (October 1939-June 1944) the 3d Antiaircraft Artillery Battalion on 15 na, under Colonel Lloyd L. Leech, the 5th June 1944, the organization was disbanded Defense Battalion subsequently became the Activated at Parris Island, South Caroli-at Guadalcanal on the last day of that year. 14th Defense Battalion, thus earning the un- na, with Lieutenant Colonel Robert H. Pep- Marines of the 7th Defense Battalion, one of the "Rainbow Five," give their new per in command, the battalion deployed inM3 Stuart light tank a trial run at Tutuila, American Samoa, in the summer of 1942. May 1940 to Hawaii where it became one of Department of Defense Photo (USMC) 54082 the Rainbow Five. Colonel Harry K. Pickett took command in August of that year, and 0 in September approximately a third of the battalion, under Major Harold C. Roberts, went to Midway and assumed responsibility for the antiaircraft defense of the atoll. Lieu- tenant Colonel Pepper brought the rest of the unit to Midway in 1941, but the battalion returned to Hawaii in October and helped de- fend Pearl Harbor when the Japanese at- tacked on 7 December. A detachment of 37mm guns and the 3-inch antiaircraft group S —. joined the 6th Defense Battalion at Midway, r"a M3't— opposed the Japanese air attack on 4 June 1942, and shared in a Navy Unit Commen- dation awarded the 6th Battalion for the Cs defense of that atoll. In August 1942, the bat- talion, still led by Lieutenant Colonel Pep- per,participatedinthe landingsat Guadalcanal and Tulagi in the Solomon Is- lands. During 1943, the unit experienced a change of commanders, with Harold C. Roberts, now a lieutenant colonel, taking over in March 1943, Lieutenant Colonel Ken- neth W. Benner in May, and Lieutenant Colonel Samuel C. Taxis in August. After a stay in New Zealand, the battalion returned

30 official title of "Five: Fourteenth." Colonel Leech took the 5th Defense Battalion (minus the 5-inch artillery group) to Iceland with the Marine brigade sent there to relieve the Brit- ish garrison. He brought the unit back to the United States in March 1942, and in July it sailed for the South Pacific, where one detachment set up its weapons at Noumea, New Caledonia, and another defended Tulagi in the Solomons after the 1st Marine Divi- sion landed there in August 1942. The bulk of the battalion went to the Ellice Islands; there Colonel George F. Good, Jr., assumed command in November, and was relieved in December by Lieutenant Colonel Willis E. Hicks. On 16 January 1943, the part of the unit located at Tulagi was redesignated the 14th Defense Battalion, while the remainder inthe Ellice group became the Marine Defense Force, Funafuti. In March 1944, the Marine Defense Force, Funafuti, sailed for Hawaii, where, on 16 April, it became the I 5th Antiaircraft Artillery Battalion, seeing ac- Department of Defense Photo (USMC) 56812 tion under the designation during the latterThis Browning M2 watercoo led antiaircraft machine gun, operated by 9th Defense stages of the Okinawa campaign. Battalion Marines, shot down the first attacking Japanese aircraft at Rendova. 6th Defense Battalion Hawaii where, on 16 April 1944, it became ber 1942 to reinforce the defenses of Guadal- (March 1941-February 1946) the 7th Antiaircraft Artillery Battalion. As canal. In preparation for further action, the an antiaircraft outfit, it deployed to Anguar, battalion emphasized mobility and artillery Lieutenant Colonel CharlesI.Murray Palau Islands, in September 1944, where itsupport of ground operations at the expense formed the battalion at San Diego, Califor- served in the garrison force for the remainder of its coastal defense mission. Lieutenant nia, but turned it over to Colonel Raphael of the war. Colonel William Scheyer commanded the 9th Griffin, who took it to Hawaii in July 1941. during the fighting in the central Solomons. It relieved the 3d Defense Battalion at Mid- 8th Defense Battalion Here it set up antiaircraft guns and heavy ar- way in September. In June 1942, the 6th, now (April 1942-April 1944) tillery on Rendova to support the fighting on commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Harold Lieutenant Colonel Augustus W. Cockrell neighboring New Georgia before moving to D. Shannon, helped fight off a Japanese air raised this battalion from Marine units atNew Georgia itself and deploying its light attack and repair bomb damage, thus earn- Tutuila, Samoa. In May 1942, the battalion tanks and other weapons. The battalion's ing a Navy Unit Commendation. The bat- deployed to the Wallis Islands, where it wastanks also supported Army troops on Arun- talion remained at Midway until redesignated redesignated the Island Defense Force. Lieu- del Island. Lieutenant Colonel Archie E. Marine Barracks, Naval Base, Midway, on 1 tenant Colonel Earl A. Sneeringer assumed O'Neil was in command when the unit land- February 1946. The wartime commanders command for two weeks in August 1943 be- ed at Guam on D-Day, 21 July 1944. The bat- who succeeded Shannon were Lieutenantfore turning the unit over to Colonel Clyde talion was awarded the Navy Unit Colonels Lewis A. Hohn, Rupert R. Deese, H. Hartsel. Colonel Lloyd L. Leech became Commendation for its service in action at John H. Griebel, Charles T. Tingle, Frank P. battalion commander in October 1943, a Guadalcanal, Rendova, New Georgia, and Hager, Jr., Robert L. McKee, Herbert R. Nus- month before the unit deployed to Apama- Guam. Redesignated the 9th Antiaircraft Ar- baum, and Wilfred Weaver, and Major ma in the Gilberts. On 16 April 1944, aftertillery Battalion in September 1944, the unit Robert E. Hommel. moving to Hawaii, the organization becamereturned to the United States in 1946. the 8th Antiaircraft Artillery Battalion and, 7th Defense Battalion as such, took part in the Okinawa campaign, (December 1940-April 1944) 10th Defense Battalion remaining on the island until November 1945 (June 1942-May 1944) Lieutenant ColonelLester A.Dessez when the unit returned to the United States. formed the unit at San Diego, California, as Formed under Colonel Robert Blake at San a composite battalion of infantry and ar- 9th Defense Battalion (February 1942-September 1944) Diego, California, the Unit arrived in the tillery. In March 1941, he took the outfit to Solomon Islands in February 1943, and par- Tutuila, Samoa, as one of the Rainbow Five. Formed at Parris Island, South Carolina, ticipated in the defense of Tulagi in that group The 7th later deployed to Upolu and estab- and known as the "Fighting Ninth," the bat-and Banika in the Russell Islands. The bat- lished a detachment at Savaii. Colonel Cur- talion was first commanded by Major Wal-talion's light tanks saw action on New Ge- tis W. LeGette took command in December lace 0. Thompson, who brought it to Cubaorgia and nearby Arundel Island. Under 1942, and in August of the following year, where it helped defend the GuantanamoLieutenant Colonel Wallace 0. Thompson, the battalion moved to Nanoumea in the El- naval base.Lieutenant Colonel Bernardwho assumed command in July 1943, the lice Islands in preparation for supporting Dubel and his successor, Colonel David R. 10th landed at Eniwetok, Marshall Islands, operations against the Gilbert Islands. Lieu- Nimmer, commanded the battalion while itin February 1944. The unit was redesignat- tenant Colonel Henry R. Paige took over in served in Cuba, and Nimmer remained ined the 10th Antiaircraft Artillery Battalion December 1943 and brought the unit to command when the unit landed in Novem-on 7 May 1944.

31 11th Defense Battalion landed at Guam in July and in September be- come together on the latter island, where it (June 1942-May 1944) came the 14th Antiaircraft Artillery Battal- remained until the end of the war. ion, remaining on the island until after the This battalion was activated at Parris Is- war had ended. 51st Defense Battalion land, South Carolina, under Colonel Charles (August 1942-January 1946) N. Muidrow and deployed during December 15th Defense Battalion 1942 to Efate in the New Hebrides. Beginning (October 1943-May 1944) Organized at Montford Point Camp, New in January 1943, it helped defend Tulagi in River, North Carolina, this was the first of the Solomons and Banika in the Russells OrganizedinHawaii by Lieutenant two defense battalions commanded by white group. During the Central Solomons cam- Colonel Francis B. Loomis, Jr., from the 1st officers, but organized from among African- paign, it fought on Rendova, New Georgia, Airdrome Battalion at Pearl Harbor, the unit American Marines who had trained at Mont- and Arundel Islands. In August, the entire bore the nickname "First: Fifteenth:' Begin- ford Point. Colonel Samuel Woods, Jr., who battalion came together on New Georgia and ning in January 1944, it served at Kwajaleincommanded the Montford Point Camp, in March 1944 deployed the short distance and Majuro Atolls in the Marshalls. Lieu- formed the battalion and became its first to Arundel Island. Redesignated the 11th An- tenant Colonel Peter J. Negri assumed com- commanding officer. Lieutenant Colonel Wil- tiaircraft Artillery Battalion on 16 May 1944, mand in May 1944, shortly before the unit, liam B. Onley took over in March 1943 and the unit moved in July to Guadalcanal where on the 7th of that month, became the 15th Lieutenant Colonel Floyd A. Stephenson in it was deactivated by year's end. Antiaircraft Artillery Battalion. April. The initial plan called for the 51st to be a composite unit with infantry and pack- 12th Defense Battalion 16th Defense Battalion howitzer elements, but in June 1943 it became (August 1942-June 1944) (November 1942-April 1944) a conventional defense battalion. Lieutenant Curtis W. LeGette assumed command in Colonel William H. Harrison activated this Lieutenant Colonel Richard P. Ross, Jr.,January 1944 and took the battalionto unit at San Diego, California, and took it to formed the unit on Johnston Island from ele- Nanoumea and Funafuti in the Ellice Islands, Hawaii in January 1943. After a brief stay ments of the 1st Defense Battalion that hadwhere it arrived by the end of February 1944. in Australia, the 12th landed in June 1943 at been stationed there. Lieutenant Colonel In September, the 51st deployed to Eniwetok Woodlark Island off New Guinea. Next the Bruce T. Hemphill took over in July 1943 and in the Marshalls where, in December, Lieu- 12th took part in the assault on Cape Glou- turned the unit over to Lieutenant Colonel tenant Colonel Gould P. Groves became bat- cester, New Britain in December 1943. Lieu- August F. Penzold, Jr., in March of the fol-talion commander, a post he would hold tenant Colonel Merlyn D. Holmes assumedlowing year. Redesignated the 16th Antiair- throughout the rest of the war. In June 1945, command in February 1944, and on 15 June craft Artillery Battalion on 19 April 1944, the Lieutenant Colonel Groves dispatched a com- the defense battalion was redesignated the outfit went to Hawaii by the end of August. posite group to provide antiaircraft defense 12thAntiaircraftArtilleryBattalion.It It subsequently deployed to Tinian, remain- for Kwajalein Atoll. The battalion sailed from moved to the Russell Islands in June and in ing there until moving to Okinawa in Aprilthe Marshalls in November 1945 and dis- September to Peleliu, where it remained 1945. banded at Montford Point in January 1946. through 1945. 17th Defense Battalion 52d Defense Battalion (March 1944-April 1944) (December 1943-May 1946) 13th Defense Battalion (September 1942-April 1944) At Kauai in Hawaii, Lieutenant Colonel This unit, like the 51st, was organized at Thomas C. McFarland organized this unitMontford Point Camp, New River, North Colonel Bernard Dubel formed the battal- from the 2d Airdrome Battalion, which hadCarolina, and manned by African Americans ion at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where it returned from duty in the Ellice Islands. Thecommanded by white officers. Planned as a defended the naval base throughout the war. redesignation gave rise to the nickname 'Two: composite unit, the 52d took shape as a con- In February 1944, Colonel Richard M. Cutts, Seventeen;' and the motto "One of a Kind:'ventional defense battalion, It absorbed the Jr., took command. The unit became the 13th On 19 April, the defense battalion becamepack howitzer crews made surplus when the Antiaircraft Artillery Battalion on 15 April the 17th Antiaircraft Artillery Battalion. It51st lost its composite status and retrained and was disbanded after the war. moved to Saipan in July and to Tinian in Au-them in the employment of other weapons. gust, At the latter island, it provided antiair-Colonel Augustus W. Cockrell organized the 14th Defense Battalion craft defense for both Tinian Town andunit, which he turned over to Lieutenant (January 1943-September 1944) North Field, from which B-29s took off withColonel Joseph W. Earnshaw in July 1944. the atomic bombs that leveled Hiroshima andUnder Earnshaw, the 52d the unit deployed Colonel Galen M. Sturgis organized this Nagasaki. to the Marshalls, arriving in October to man battalion from the elements of the 5th the antiaircraft defenses of Majuro Atoll and Defense Battalion on Tulagi, which inspired 18th Defense Battalion Roi-Namur in Kwajalein Atoll. Lieutenant the nickname "Five: Fourteenth:' Lieutenant (October 1943-April 1944) Colonel David W. Silvey assumed command Colonel Jesse L. Perkins took command in in January 1945, and between March and June 1943, and during his tour of duty, the Activated at New River, North Carolina, May the entire battalion deployed to Guam, battalion operated on Tulagi and sent a by Lieutenant Colonel Harold C. Roberts, remaining there for the rest of the war. Lieu- detachment to Emirau, St. Mathias Islands, who was replaced in January 1944 by Lieu-tenant Colonel Thomas C. Moore,Jr., to support a landing there in March 1944. tenant Colonel William C. Van Ryzin, thereplaced Silvey in May 1945, and in Novem- Lieutenant Colonel William F. Parks took unit became the 18th Antiaircraft Artillery ber, the 52d relieved the 51st at Kwajalein and over from Perkins that same month and in Battalion on 16 May of that year. By August, Eniwetok Atolls before returning to Montford April brought the unit to Guadalcanal to pre- echelons of the battalion were located at Sai-Point; where in May 1946 it became the 3d pare for future operations. The organization pan and Tinian, but by September it hadAntiaircraft Artillery Battalion (Composite).

32 U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE: 1996 386-768/20003 Sources The basic sources for this pamphlet ajor Charles D. Melson, USMC (Ret), was are the five volumes of the History of Mborn in the San Francisco Bay area. He is U.S. Marine Corps Operations in World married to Janet Ann Pope, a former Navy nurse, War II. Other books that contributed to and has two children, David and Katie. Major the narrative include: Jane Blakeny, Melson completed his graduate training at St. Heroes, U.S. Marine Corps, 1861-1 955 John's College, Annapolis, Maryland. He is (Washington: privately printed, 1957); coauthor of The War That Would Not End, a Antiaircraft Defense (Harrisburg, Penn- volume in the official history of Marine Corps sylvania: Military Service Publishing operations in Vietnam, and contributed to U.S. Company, 1940); Robert D. Heinl, Jr., Marines in the Persian Gulf, an anthology. He Soldiersof the Sea (Annapolis,also wrote Up the Slot: Marines in the Central Solomons, another pamphlet in Maryland: U.S. Naval Institute Press, the World War II commemorative series. 1962); Uncommon Valor (Washington: A Marine for 25 years, 1967-1992, Major Melson served in Vietnam, during the Infantry Journal Press, 1946); Ordnance Gulf War, and carried out a variety of assignments in the Fleet Marine Force. He School, Handbook of Ordnance Materi-also taught at the United States Naval Academy and served at Headquarters, U.S. al(Aberdeen,Maryland: AberdeenMarine Corps. For six years, he was a historian at the Marine Corps Historical Proving Ground, 1944); Patrick O'SheelCenter, Washington Navy Yard, and he continues to deal with the past as a writer and Gene Cook, eds., Sem per Fidelisand teacher. (New York: William Sloane,1947); Robert Sherrod,History of Marine Corps AviationinWorld War II (Washington: Combat ForcesPress, 1952); Stanley E. Smith, ed., The Unit- ed States Marine Corps in World War II (New York: Random House, 1969); Carolyn A. Tyson, A Chronology of the 945 .Ø United States Marine Corps, 1935-1946 WORLDWAR II (Washington:HistoricalDivision, HQMC, 1965); and Charles Updegraph, THISPAMPHLET HISTORY, one in a series devoted to U.S. Marines in the Jr., U.S. Marine Corps Special Units of World War II era, is published for the education and training of Marines by World War II (Washington: Historical the History and Museums Division, Headquarters, U.S. Marine Corps, Division, HQMC, 1972). Washington, D.C., as a part of the U.S. Department of Defense observance of the 50th anniversary of victory in that war. Available in the archives at the Ma- Editorial costs of preparing this pamphlet have been defrayed in part by rine Corps Historical Center is an im- grants from the Special Marine Corps Units Fund, Defense Battalion Associ- pressive body of primary source material ation; the Defense Battalion Association; Mr. Charles L. Henry, Jr.; the Ameri- prepared by individual defense battal- can Lighting Company; Mr. James H. Powers; and the Marine Corps Historical ions during the Pacific War. Also in the Foundation. Marine Corps Historical Center are the WORLD WAR II COMMEMORATIVE SERIES Oral History and Personal Papers Col- DIRECTOR OF MARINE CORPS HISTORY AND MUSEUMS lections, containing many first-hand ac- Colonel Michael F. Monigan, USMC counts of World War II. Acting The author wishes to thank members GENERAL EDITOR, of defense battalion reunion groups and WORLD WAR II COMMEMORATIVE SERIES associatioñs, who providedletters, Benis M. Frank manuscripts, recollections, and photo- graphs to aid in the writing of this sto- CARTOGRAPHIC CONSULTANT George C. MacGillivray ry.Especially helpful were Frank Chadwick, Curtis Cheatham, and Jim EDITING AND DESIGN SECTION, HISTORY AND MUSEUMS DIVISION Powers. Special recognition also goes to Robert E. Struder, Senior Editor; W. Stephen Hill, Visual Information Mary Beth Straight, U.S. Naval Institute; Specialist; Catherine A. Kerns, Composition Services Technician Alice S. Creighton, the Nimitz Library; Marine Corps Historical Center Lena M. Kaljot, Marine Corps Histori- Building 58, Washington Navy Yard cal Center; the staff of the Historical Washington, D.C. 20374-5040 Electronics Museum, Inc.; and David A. 1996 Melson for their help with the photo- PCN 190 003133 00 graphs.