The 4th Division spent another day holding position as other units attempted to gain the O-6 line. The 24th Marines were kept fairly busy, as an intrepid group of Japanese had discovered one of the gaps in the line. These individuals set about raising hell in the division rear, and 2/24 - kept in reserve for just such an occurrence - spent the day chasing and killing the infiltrators. G/2/24 had apparently been detached at an earlier date, and remained on the Kagman Peninsula on "coastal observation" duty - just the kind of job the men wanted after two weeks on the island.
Advances by the 27th Division decreased the length of the left flank, and by 1700 that day 1/24 was pinched out and returned to reserve duty.
Nothing but partially obscured tracks provided a way for the keeps to haul up supplies. Yet once again we suffered no shortages. There's a familiar ring to that statement, for from "D plus 1" on, not once in the campaign did we have any acute supply deficiencies for the front line units. Each company possessed a jeep and trailer with a two man team to operate and ferry the supplies from the quartermaster dump (and elsewhere) up to the men needing them. As Corporal Robbins, one of the supply men, put it-- "Give us a goddam jeep and we'll 'borrow' enough gas and gear to keep your _______ bellies and guns full!"
This often involved travel over terrain which had been merely scouted for Japs rather than searched over. Occasionally it meant use of roads to the front of our lines, or a two-man reconnaissance to discover the shortest approach to that the hand-carry could be brief. Sometimes these men were forced to make night runs with danger equally from the Japanese and our own security-conscious sentries. Improvising as necessary for the moment, this dependable supply system was an important factor in the battalion's ability to keep on the move for four consecutive weeks.
- Captain Frederic Stott, 1/24, "Saipan Under Fire"
Finally, 3/24 lost their commander. Lt. Col Vandegrift (whose father was the commandant of the Marine Corps) had been wounded on June 27, and was finally evacuated. Lt. Col. Otto Lessing, of the 20th Marines, stepped in to command 3/24.
The 25th Marines remained back in reserve with no action to report; certainly this was the best place to be on all of Saipan.
No comments:
Post a Comment