The 4th Division faced a unique obstacle on their sixth day on the island. They had spent a sleepless night in a constant downpour, and there was a brief scare of a Japanese attack - mortar rounds started landing in the 25th Marines' territory, and the front lines heard rustling and muttering to their front, but Marine mortars broke up the invisible enemy and no assault developed. As dawn broke, the soaked and disgusted Marines prepared to move against Tinian Town itself.
Tinian Town and the beaches surrounding it had been considered the most likely place for the Americans to land, and the Japanese had fortified the area accordingly. This was the area where the 2nd Division had made their successful feint on the first day of the operation, and the Navy had suffered several casualties and some damage to their ships from powerful coastal defense guns. Indeed, a good part of the reason that the real landings met with so little opposition was that the lion's share of the Japanese were stationed in the town. However, the defenders had not reckoned on the Marines approaching from the north, and their bunkers and emplacements were facing the wrong direction. Additionally, Tinian Town had been subjected to heavy air and naval attention, and most of its big guns had been destroyed.
The big guns of the 14th Marines blasted away at likely looking positions for ten minutes, then the Marines moved forward at 0745, advancing for a short while under the cover of the artillery. Once again, they moved forward with tanks close by, and eventually 1/24 found themselves embroiled in a fight to eliminate Japanese machine guns and riflemen in caves along the coast. Clearing these emplacements had almost become routine, except there was always a chance of death. Medium tanks and amphtanks blasted the cave mouths with high explosive; one the defenders had been suppressed a light flamethrower tank would scurry up and incinerate the occupants. The Marine engineers, wielding satchel charges, bazookas, flamethrowers and covered by riflemen, ran in to complete the destruction.
Eventually, 1/24 finished its messy work, driving panicked Japanese before them as they advanced into Tinian Town, entering the outskirts at around 1420. It was a town in name only; the amount of explosives hurled into its streets had reduced Tinian Town to a smoldering pile of rubble. Destroyed houses provided good cover for snipers, and the Marines were on their guard, yet the garrison of Tinian Town consisted of a single Japanese soldier. Whether he had been separated from his unit, was the sole survivor of an unlucky gun crew, or hoped to cause his own little bit of damage was never ascertained; as the only visible target to a regiment of angry Marines, his lifespan was correspondingly short.The only other signs of resistance were occasional Japanese shells that burst in the ruins and hit
nobody, abandoned bunkers, and the spikes of horned mines that could be seen lining the beach in their hundreds. Aside from the lone Japanese, no corpses were found. The 24th finished combing through the town by 1700, and dug in for the night on the 0-7 line south of town. The islands most formidably defended obstacle had been taken.The 25th Marines, the other regiment in the assault, easily captured Airfield #4 and was relieved on the line by the 23rd Marines.
By now, fully eighty percent of the island was held by the Marines. The 2nd Division had faced some tougher resistance on J+6, but were still mystified by the lack of strong positions and determined defenders that they had come to expect. The Japanese were still out there, somewhere, and as the Marines looked out from their new positions, they could plainly see a large, wooded escarpment rising ominously in the distance, with sheer cliffs rising to a plateau. The cliffs were impossible to scale on the eastern side; in the center, a road snaked up in double hairpins. Only on the west - where the 4th Division rested - was there anything approaching a reasonable ascent. It was the ideal place for a last stand.
Corporal Richard Theodore Grosch. St. Louis, MO. Age 23. Shot in head by sniper.
Private LeRoy J. Heath
Total: 2
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