J+8

August 1, 1944

The front ranks of the two isolated battalions of the 2nd Division were straining to see into the dark ahead of them. Without close artillery support and in their hastily prepared position, backs to a precipitous cliff, they had little hope of withstanding a serious counterattack like the one experienced the night of the landing. Their present situation was disadvantageous enough, and one can only imagine their reaction when screams, shots, and flames appeared to their rear.

Over one hundred Japanese soldiers had appeared on the road. They destroyed two ambulance jeeps, established a roadblock, and began moving towards the top of the cliff. Around 0200, just as the moon set and the night became pitch black, a sizable force of infiltrators raced to the top of the cliff, captured any vehicles they could find, and charged towards the rear of 2/8. The Marines, concentrating forward, were not alerted to the charge until the Japanese were virtually in their foxholes with them, and a wild melee broke out. A quick-thinking major organized an impromptu counterattack that drove off the surviving Japanese, recaptured the vehicles, and established a roadblock of his own to hold against another attack. A reserve platoon spent a nerve-wracking few hours sweeping the area between the opposing roadblocks for straggling Japanese.

As the situation in the rear died down, nervous reports from E/2/8 indicated a mass of enemy troops gathering in the gloom. American artillery fired heavy concentrations at decreasing intervals starting around 0330, and continued up through 0500 - by this point, barrages were landing every two minutes.

The pressure kept mounting and at 0515 the Japanese launched forward with shrieks of "Banzai!" The Marines answered with curses of their own and repeated calls for flares. Mortars and ships instantly obliged, and night became day as the Japanese hit E Company. The fighting raged for half an hour, with Japanese bodies falling within feet of Marine foxholes - sometimes landing on top of the Marines themselves. The 37mm guns spat canister as their crews fell; the thin shields looking like Swiss cheese as bullets whicked through. Other Marines scrambled to take their place. When the Japanese withdrew, only two of the original ten crew were still on their feet.

As the last flares faded, dawn broke and the Marines counted over 100 corpses in an area 70 yards square. The surviving Japanese fled into the woods, and soon the rumble of tanks could be heard as the Shermans and Stuarts supporting the 2nd Division moved up the road. The line had been held.

Down on the 4th Division front the night had been quieter, and after a brief artillery preparation the 23rd and 24th Marines moved out again, following the pattern of the day before (tanks in the lead followed by infantry). Isolated Japanese still held out in caves and other natural positions, but there was nothing like the sharp fighting of the previous days. In the afternoon, the 24th encountered another odd terrain feature of southern Tinian: three distinct levels of ground forming large steps down to the sea. Each battalion of the regiment was assigned a separate level, with 1/24 along the coast on the lowest tier. Again, the amphibious tanks went swimming down the shoreline, blasting away at any unfriendly caves. Aside from the occasional rifle shot or grenade, the 24th moved rapidly down the coast, hit the southern tip of the island, and then turned to the east.

(Tank support of the 24th Marines can be seen on the flatlands; Marine above is likely a member of the 23rd whose area of operations featured significant changes in altitude).

By 1800, the 24th had reached their last objective, and it was clear that organized resistance was ending. The regiment reported taking in a large number of prisoners, mostly civilian, who had been hiding in caves as on Saipan.

Eventually, each regiment reached the O-8 line. Patrols reported "honeycombs" of caves in the cliffs along the edge of the island, the majority of which appeared to be angrily occupied, but there was no place for the Japanese to reorganize or mount another attack.

Tinian was officially declared secure at 1855 on August 1, 1944. The process of mopping up, however, had yet to begin.


Able Company Casualties, August 1, 1944
Killed
PFC Armand Louis Guyot. Age 19.