Condition Red: Marine Defense Battalions in World War II

36 Pages·5.2 MB·English

by  Marine Corps Historical Center

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 — Orange stood for Japan in a
ers confident they morning's fighting. series of color-coded planning
could stagger the Unit- As the Japanese aircraft carriers documents —provided the strategy
ed States and gain time withdrew after the raid on Pearl Har- for the amphibious offensive re-
to seize the oil and bor, a pair of enemy destroyers be- quired to defeat Japan and the defen-
and other natural resources neces- gan shelling Midway Island shortly sive measures to protect the bases
sary to dominate the western Pacif- before midnight on 7 December to upon which the American campaign
ic, attacked Pearl Harbor on 7 neutralize the aircraft based there. A would depend.
December 1941, sinking or badly salvo directed against Midway's Sand As a militaristic Japan made in-
damaging 18 ships, destroying some Island struck the power plant, which
roads into China in the 1930s, con-
200 aircraft, and killing more than served as the command post of the
cern heightened for the security of
2,300 American servicemen. Though 6th Defense Battalion, grievously Wake, Midway, Johnston, and
caught by surprise, Marines of the wounding First Lieutenant George H. Palmyra Islands, the outposts pro-
1st, 3d, and 4th Defense Battalions Cannon. He remained at his post un- tecting Hawaii, a vital staging area
standing guard in Hawaii fought til the other Marines wounded by the for a war in the Pacific. (Although
back as best they could. Few heavy same shell could be cared for and his
actually atolls — tiny islands clustered
weapons were yet in place, and am- communications specialist, Corporal on a reef-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 eight Cannon, who died of his wounds,
lands.) By 1937, the Marine Corps
antiaircraft machine guns in action earned the first Medal of Honor
was discussing the establishment of
within six minutes after the first awarded a Marine officer during
battalion-size security detachments
bombs exploded at 0755. By 0820, World War II. Hazelwood received a
on the key Pacific outposts, and the
13 machine guns were manned and Navy 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 the
its future on a war with the United for a detachment of 28 officers and
hurriedly deployed firing batteries
States, the Marine Corps developed 428 enlisted Marines at Midway,
until after the second and final wave
the doctrine, equipment, and organi- armed with 5-inch coastal defense
of attacking aircraft had completed
zation needed for just such a conflict. guns, 3-inch antiaircraft weapons,
its deadly work. The Marines
Although the Army provided troops searchlights for illuminating targets
responded to the surprise raid with for the defense of the Philippines, the at 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 faced equipped, was to be slightly smaller,
two formidable challenges: placing 25 officers and 420 enlisted men. The
On the Cover: The crew of a 90mm gun garrisons on any of the smaller pos- Johnston Island group would consist
stands by for action in the Solomons sessions that the Navy might use as of just nine officers and 126 enlisted
during November 1943. (Department of bases 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
naval bases that would enable the guns. The plan called for the units to
At left: Defense battalion Marines man
a 5-inch seacoast gun at Guantanamo United States to project its power to deploy by M-Day—the date of an
Bay, Cuba. (Department of Defense the very shores of Japan's Home Is- American mobilization for war —"in
photo [USMC]) lands. A succession of Orange war sufficient strength to repel minor
1
dtt* .
-I
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- son the crescent of outposts
spection party visited the sites to look ed offensive operations in the Pacific stretching from Wake and Midway to
for possible gun positions and fields and ultimately throwing the full Samoa. 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 effect al Commandant Thomas Holcomb
Meanwhile, a Congressionally when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. decided to ask for funds to form new
authorized board, headed by Ad- defensive—rather than offensive —
miral Arthur J. Hepburn, a former units. In carrying out the provisions
of the plan for a conflict with
Commander in Chief, Pacific Fleet,
Orange, the Commandant intended
investigated the need to acquire ad- The interest of the Marine Corps
ditional naval bases in preparation in base defense predated the proposal lstLt George H. Cannon of the 6th
for war. While determining that in the Orange Plan of 1937 to install Defense Battalion, though mortally
Guam, surrounded by Japanese pos- defense detachments at Wake, Mid- wounded by fire from a Japanese sub-
sessions, could not be defended; the way, and Johnston Islands. Although marine 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,
he was awarded the Medal of Honor.
portance of Midway, Wake, John- 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, 14th 1933, trained to defend the territory
Naval District, and Commanding they seized. In 1936, despite the ab-
Officer, Marine Barracks, Pearl Har- sence of primarily defensive units,
bor Navy Yard— made detailed sur- the Marine Corps Schools at Quan-
veys of the four atolls. tico, Virginia, taught a 10-month
In 1940, the Army and Navy course 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 seemed to war, the evolving Orange plan for
most realistic Rainbow 5, envisioned a war against Japan, and the long-
that an Anglo-American coalition time interest of the Marine Corps in
would wage war against all three base defense set the stage for the cre-
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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 to al, assuming command of Fleet Ma- maximum strength in excess of
increase after the outbreak of war in rine Force, Pacific after the war. 450,000, but the frenzied growth oc-
Europe during September 1939. In Aware that isolationism still gripped curred after Japan attacked the Pa-
doing so he reminded the public that the United States in 1939; the two cific Fleet at Pearl Harbor on 7
the Marine Corps would play a vi- planners emphasized the defensive December 1941.
tal role in defending the nation. Af- mission of the new units, stressing In the immediate aftermath of the
ter the war, General Gerald C. their ability to "hold areas for the ul- outbreak of war in Europe and Presi-
Thomas recalled in his oral history timate offensive operations of the dent Franklin D. Roosevelt's declara-
that General Holcomb realized that Fleet:' As the danger of war with tion of a limited national emergency,
Congress was unlikely to vote money Japan increased, the first of several the Marine Corps grew by small
for purely offensive purposes as long 900-man defense battalions took increments that included the defense
as the United States remained at shape in the United States. Each of battalions. 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 being tiaircraft batteries, three seacoast bat- circulated throughout the Corps a
touted as defensive weapons, Hol- teries, ground and antiaircraft classified document drafted by First
comb seized on the concept of machine gun batteries, and a team of Lieutenant Robert D. Heinl, Jr., who
defense battalions as a means of in- specialists in administration and would 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 Marine widely read articles and books and
men. Corps formed its first defense battal- active in the Marine Corps histori-
Two officers at Marine Corps ions, the future was still obscure. cal program, and attain the grade of
headquarters, Colonel Charles D. Japan remained heavily engaged in colonel. Heinl declared that "through
Barrett and Lieutenant Colonel China, but a "phony war" persisted sheer necessity, the Marine Corps has
Robert H. Pepper, turned concept in western Europe. At Marine Corps devised a sort of expeditionary coast
into reality by drawing up detailed headquarters, some advocates of the artillery capable of occupying an un-
plans for organizations expressly defense battalions may have felt that tenanted and undefended locality, of
designed to defend advance bases. these new units were all the service installing an all around sea-air
The Kentucky-born Barrett entered would need by way of expansion, at defense, and this within three days:'
the Marine Corps in 1909, served in least 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's tary of the Navy for the fiscal year
co, in 1914, and during World War staff, officers like Colonel Pedro A. ending in June 1940, General Hol-
II would become a major general; in del Valle kept their eyes fixed on a comb stated that four battalions had
1943, while commanding I Marine more ambitious goal, the organiza- been established and two others
Amphibious Corps, he died as a tion of Marine divisions. Eventual- authorized. "The use of all six of
result of an accident. Pepper, would ly, the Marine Corps would expand, these defense battalions can be fore-
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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. The failings,
in automatic weapons, radios, tanks, however, seemed acceptable to the
coast and antiaircraft artillery, 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- r outlying bases against raids by air-
ble a comparatively small unit to 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-
ions has pointed out, their MajGen Charles D. Barrett, while a try battalions to fight alongside the
composition also reflected "the geo- colonel, together with LtCol Robert H. defense units.
Pepper, played a major role in the de-
graphic nature of their location and
The proposed 850-man infantry
velopment of the defense battalion.
the availability of equipment:' Con-
battalions would forestall any pos-
sequently, the same battalion might to cover assigned sectors and meet
sible need to detail infantrymen from
require a different mix of specialists specific threats. Moreover, they the regiments to reinforce the defense
over the years. might form detachments with a size battalions. Consequently, Secretary
cfrganizttion uizd Eqleip?izent and armament suitable for a partic- of the Navy Frank Knox approved
for flu' Defense Battalion ular task, such as defending various the creation of separate infantry bat-
islets within an atoll or protecting
talions to serve with the defense bat-
Envisioned as combined arms separate beachheads. Although rela- talions. After the Japanese attack on
teams capable of delivering intense tively static when in place, the abili- Pearl Harbor, the regiments and
ty of the battalions to divide in this
firepower, defense battalions were divisions —and for a time the special-
fashion provided a kind of flexibili- ized units such as the raiders—
expected to have their greatest impact
in the kind of campaign outlined in ty 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 basic er, and with few exceptions, the
ing transports provided strategic mo- concept placed one battalion, though defense battalions had to fend for
bility for the defense battalions, but of 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, it ally 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 employ battalion had to train to fight as an
member had a battle station, as on battalion combat teams. According infantryman in an emergency, with
a ship, to operate a particular crew- to Lieutenant Heinl, in terms of the members of gun and searchlight
served weapon or other piece of "strength and variety of material;' the crews leaving their usual battle sta-
equipment. As configured in 1939 defense battalion "fnight well be a tions. Rifle companies served at var-
and 1940, a defense battalion could regiment. Actually, the seacoast and ious times with the 6th, 7th, and 51st
achieve mobility on land only by antiaircraft artillery groups are Defense Battalions, and such a com-
leaving its artillery, searchlights, and almost small battalions, while the ponent 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 two included a company of infantry bore
Marine Corps defense battalions machine gun units) are undeniable the 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 strategic situation, and
tioning their weapons and equipment Despite the lieutenant's enthusiasm deployment in areas that varied from
4
desolate coral atolls to dense jungle strength during the war was 1,372 in the Atlantic. In June 1941, Colonel
ensured that no single table of equip- officers and men, including Navy Lloyd L. Leech's 5th Defense Battal-
ment or organization could apply at medical personnel. Like manpower, ion, less its seacoast artillery compo-
all times to every defense battalion. the equipment used by the defense nent, arrived in Iceland with the 1st
Each of the organizations tended to battalions also varied, although the Marine Brigade, which included the
be unique —"one of a kind," as a bat- armament of the typical wartime unit 6th Marines, an infantry regiment,
talion's history stated. Weapons and consisted of eight 155mm guns, and the 2d Battalion, 10th Marines,
personnel reflected a unit's destina- twelve 90mm guns, nineteen 40mm an artillery outfit. The brigade took
tion and duties, much as a child's guns, twenty-eight 20mm guns, and over the defense of Iceland from Brit-
erector set took the shape dictated by thirty-five .50-caliber heavy machine ish troops, releasing them from the
the person assembling the parts, or guns, 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 early in 1940, 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-
lantic and the Pacific. Colonel Har- The 5th Defense Battalion set up
ment for new. Much of the weapons
ry K. Pickett's 3d Defense Battalion its antiaircraft weapons, 3-inch guns
and material came from the stocks of
undertook to support the current and machine guns, around the Reyk-
the U.S. Army, which had similarly
War Plan Orange by occupying Mid- javik airfield and harbor, where it be-
equipped coast and antiaircraft ar-
way Island on 29 September 1940, came the first Marine Corps unit to
tillery units. The first 155mm guns
make operational use of the Army-
setting up its weapons on two bleak,
dated from World War I, but the
sandy spits described by one Marine developed SCR-268 and -270 radars.
Army quickly made modern types
as being "inhabited by more than a After-action reports covering the bat-
available, along with new 90mm an-
million birds:' Contingency plans for talion's service in Iceland, declared
tiaircraft guns that replaced the
the Atlantic approaches to the that only "young, wide-awake, intel-
3-inch weapons initially used by the
Western Hemisphere called for ligent men" could operate the temper-
defense battalions. In addition, the
deploying defense battalions in sup- amental sets satisfactorily. Thanks to
Army provided both primitive
port of a possible landing in Marti- the efforts of the crews, the Marines
sound-ranging equipment and three
nique during October 1940, but the proved able to incorporate their ra-
types of Signal Corps radar —the dar into the British air-defense and
crisis passed. In February of the fol-
early-model 5CR268 and SCR27O
fighter-control system for "routine
lowing year, the 4th Defense Battal-
and the more advanced 5CR268,
watches and training:' Even though
ion, under Colonel Jesse L. Perkins,
which provided automatic target
the battalion played a critical role in
secured the rocky and brush-covered
tracking and gun-laying.
defending against long-range Ger-
hills overlooking Guantanamo Bay,
By October 1941, the tables of or- Cuba. A composite unit of infantry man patrol planes, its members also
had to engage in labor and construc-
ganization for the new defense bat- and artillery, the 7th Defense Battal-
talions had certain features in ion, commanded by Lieutenant tion duty, as became common in
common, each calling for a head- Colonel Lester A. Dessez, landed at other areas. Replaced by Army units,
the last elements of the Marine gar-
quarters battery, a sound-locator and American Samoa in March 1941 and
rison force left Iceland in March
searchlight battery, a 5-inch seacoast became the first element of the Fleet
artillery group, a 3-inch antiaircraft Marine Force to deploy to the 1942.
group, and a machine-gun group. Southern Hemisphere during the Of the seven Marine defense bat-
The specific allocation of personnel prewar national emergency. Besides talions organized by late 1941, one
and equipment within each battalion securing naval and air bases, the bat- stood guard in Iceland, five served in
depended, however, on where the talion trained a self-defense force of the Pacific —including the 4th, post-
battalion deployed and the changes Samoan 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, the sion of the Azores by sending a a westward deployment. The first
defense battalions adhered to certain mixed force of soldiers and Marines, Pacific-based defense battalions were
standard configurations, with in- including defense battalions, proved nicknamed the "Rainbow Five" after
dividual variations due to time and unnecessary, but the most ambitious the war plan in effect when the
circumstance. The average battalion of the prewar deployments occurred Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. The
5
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Photo courtesy of the U.S. Naval Institute
On Iceland, 5th Defense Battalion Marines, attached to the polar bear patches on the right shoulders of the onlooking
1st Provisional Marine Brigade, man a 75mm pack howitzer Marine officers. In the 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; the into victory. In contrast, Technical range. 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; the control specialist, believed that radar stronger 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 and come 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, the Japanese hands sufficiently intact to were fighting a losing battle,
2d, remained in training in yield useful intelligence. although, as Technical Sergeant Hol-
California. On 11 December, the fire of the mes pointed out, "We did our best to
5-inch guns of Major George H. Pot- defend the atoll. ." and to prevent
. .
ter's coastal defense batteries forced the Japanese from establishing them-
The first real test of the base the withdrawal of the first Japanese selves there. With limited means at
defense concept in the Pacific War be- naval assault force consisting of three their disposal —the weapons of the
gan with savage air attacks against cruisers, 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 —the Marines sank one
ed 15 days. Wake's defenders lacked rine communications officer vividly warship with aerial bombs and
radar and sound-ranging equipment, remembered the repeated attacks by another with artillery fire, and dur-
forcing the 400-man Marine garrison Japanese aircraft throughout the ing the final assault inflicted
to rely on optical equipment to spot siege. During each raid, he said, "one hundreds of casualties on the
and identify the attacking aircraft, or two would be smoking from Japanese who stormed ashore from
which inflicted heavy losses on the machine gun or antiaircraft fire:' self-propelled barges and two light
Americans during the first bombing Captain Bryghte D. Godbold's 3-inch transports beached on the reef. On
raids. Commander Winfield S. Cun- antiaircraft group seemed especially the morning of 23 December, before
ningham, who headed the Wake Is- deadly, and sometimes one or two a relief expedition could get close
land naval base, later insisted that aircraft would be missing from a enough to help, the defenders of
"one radar" could have turned defeat Japanese formation as it flew out of Wake Island surrendered.
6
While the Wake Island garrison the Pacific. The war thus entered a Elsewhere in the Pacific, Lieutenant
fought against overwhelming num- defensive phase that contained the Colonel Harold D. Shannon's 6th
bers and ultimately had to yield, advancing Japanese and lasted into Defense 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 Marine spring of 1942, reinforcements ar-
Palmyra that lasted until late Decem- Brigade (the 8th Marines and the 2d rived in the form of the antiaircraft
ber and stopped short of attempted Battalion, 10th Marines, the latter re- group of the 3d Defense Battalion,
landings. On 12 December, shells cently returned from Iceland) arrived plus radar, light tanks, aircraft, in-
from a pair of submarines detonat- in Samoa, along with Lieutenant fantrymen, and raiders. The Palmyra
ed a 12,000-gallon fuel storage tank Colonel Raymond E. Knapp's 2d garrison was redesignated the 1st
on Johnston Island, but fire from Defense Battalion. The newcomers Marine Defense Battalion— of which
5-inch coast defense guns emplaced built on the foundation supplied by it had been a detachment before
there forced the raiders to submerge. the 7th Defense Battalion and were March 1942—under Lieutenant
Similarly, a battery on Palmyra drove themselves reinforced by the newly Colonel 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 airfields of reinforcements to the South Pacific
The delays and confusion atten- that protected the exposed sea routes continued, as Army troops arrived
dant upon organizing and mounting to Australia and New Zealand, which in New Caledonia and the New
the relief expedition, which includ- were judged likely objectives for the Hebrides, while Marine aviators and
ed the 4th Defense Battalion and advancing Japanese. Colonel Harold S. Fassett's 4th
ships that had survived the onslaught On 27 May 1942, the 8th Defense Defense Battalion established itself
against Pearl Harbor, demonstrated Battalion moved southwest from on the island of Efate in the latter
the limits of improvisation. As a Samoa to the Wallis Islands, a French group.
result, the Marine Corps acted possession. Tanks, field artillery, mo- West of Midway Island, between
promptly to reinforce the outlying tor transport, and infantry reinforced 4 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 stay American carrier task force sank four
bor provided additional men and proved uneventful except for a visit Japanese aircraft carriers and des-
material for Midway, Johnston, and from 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 to cific theater of war. the war from Pearl Harbor to the In-
The 5th Defense Battalion lived in Nissen hut camps as this and weatherproo fed by the Marines upon their arrival and
throughout the unit's stay in Iceland. Most of them were built before 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:'
- -a. - During the defensive phase of the
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 used 155mm 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 defense proved severe, with flames and group of three batteries, plus a
battlion, though hundreds of miles smoke billowing from a fuel storage searchlight 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 the tery each of Browning machine guns,
Oerlikon 20mm cannon, and Bofors
Since the fall of Wake Island, Ameri- fight, however, causing the Japanese
can reinforcements had poured into naval commander to decide on a 40mm cannon. The other document
Midway. Colonel Shannon's 6th follow-up attack. His ordnance called for a slightly smaller compo-
Defense Battalion, now 1,700-strong, specialists were in the midst of site unit, in which a rifle company
helped build the island's defenses replacing armor-piercing bombs, and a pack howitzer battery replaced
some of the less mobile weapons.
even as it stood guard against an an- designed for use against ships, with
ticipated Japanese attack. The labor high explosives for ground targets, Moreover, plans called for one of the
projects included constructing under- when the American carrier pilots composite defense battalions or-
ganized in 1942 to be manned by
water obstacles, unloading and dis- pounced in the first of their devastat-
tributing supplies, and building ing attacks. The resistance by the African-Americans under command
emplacements for guns and shelters Marines at Midway, both the avia- of white officers.
for ammunition and personnel. tors and the members of the defense
Shannon told his Marines that "Our battalion, thus helped set the stage
job is to hold Midway Keep for one of the decisive naval battles
. . . .
cool, calm, and collected; make your of World War II. The wartime demand for man-
bullets count." After making this contribution to power and the racial policy of the
On 4 June, the Japanese opened
Defense battalion commander Maj James P 5. Devereaux pressed this ammunition
the Battle of Midway by launching
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
8