By Pacific Island Times News Staff
On July, 27 1944, the Stars and Stripes were raised over Guam, symbolizing the return of the Old Glory since the Japanese Imperial Army pulled down the American flag on Dec. 10, 1941, following the attack on Pearl Harbor. War historians John Grehan and Alexander Nicoll will release a new book in August on Amazon.
“Battle of Guam 1944: From Occupation to Liberation: Honor Restored in the Pacific”
contains WWII images that visually narrate the liberation of Guam. It is part of a series on war in the Pacific.
The recapture of Guam was more than just the recovery of lost territory. It was an essential element of Operation Forager, the U.S. offensive to take the Mariana and Palau islands with the aim of neutralizing Japanese bases in the central Pacific and supporting the Allied drive to retake the Philippines.
There was another factor that possibly was of even more significance. Prototypes of the new Boeing B-29 Superfortress were already being flown. The B-29 had an operational range of 3,500 miles, putting the Japanese Home Islands, and even Tokyo itself, well within striking distance of the Marianas.
It would be from the Marianas that the strategic bombing campaign that helped bring Japan to its knees in 1945 would be carried out. The U.S. assault on the Marianas began with the attacks upon Saipan and Tinian. Then, on July 21, 1944, the men of the III Marine Amphibious Corps landed on Guam after the longest preparatory bombardment of the war in the Pacific.
For the next 20 days the Marines and the U.S. Army’s 77th Division struggled through dense undergrowth and jungle and over rugged, wooded mountains to eliminate an enemy determined to fight to the death – and die they did.
In the savage struggle throughout the island, American casualties were more than 6,000 and many hundreds of civilians were also killed in the fighting. But, after more than two-and-a-half years of Japanese occupation, honor was finally restored in the Central Pacific.
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