History of U.S. Marine Corps Operations in World War II

Just keep the chow line moving Private!

Keep the chow line moving!

reply to post by CynicalWabbit


Your right and that was the battle of El Alamein! I give the Britains plenty of props, but then yet Japan was the biggest threat! Who had the testicular fortitude to attack Hawaii, and get the U.S. on their heels?! By the way the Japanese were the only ones to attack pearl harbor aka U.S. soil... The Germans were more worried about the Zionist. Hmmmmmm wait did I just say Zionist?

reply to post by alldaylong

Have you heard of "The Battle Of Britain"?

I sure have. While the Germans were bombing the pith out of Britain, the US was sending those things that the British needed to survive, and not just a little bit. I'm not discounting the fact that British did their major part in protecting the convoys from U-boats, but so did the US Navy and Coast Guard. The things that were in those ships...... I suppose it was all British materials that we had 'borrowed' from them and were giving it back?
No, it was American goods.

It was Anok that said that the British did it all by themselves.......and I was responding to that.

I didn't say that we did it all in WWII. We did play a big role though, and I am not going to sit back and let someone say that we didn't, much less let it be forgotten.

Originally posted by alldaylong
reply to post by SLAYER69

 

I was reading with interest the topic of the US Marines during WW II when "Butcherguy" decided to inform people that Hitler had not invaded Britain. An invasion does not have to be by Land. Hitler invaded Britain by AIR
If there was no invasion was is it called "The Battle Of Britain"

And by the way "Butcherguy" is an American.

This will be my last post that does not specifically refer to the US Marine Corps.

Invasion by air is an invention of the 20th century and modern warfare. The idea involves sending military units into a territory by aircraft. The aircraft either land, allowing the military units to debark and attempt their objective, or the troops exit the aircraft while still in the air, using parachutes or similar devices to land in the territory being invaded.

Invasion


An invasion by air involves landing troops on the soil of the enemy, using aircraft. I don't remember when the German Army occupied areas in England, maybe you can cite that for me.

Hitler did not invade England, he bombed them from the air. I noticed that no one countered the fact that even with ample warning and preparatory time, France and England provided very little defense against the German blitzkrieg on the Continent.

Yes, I am an American. I may be patriotic, which seems to be politically incorrect today, but I'll live with that.
I salute the US Marines for all of their dedication and contributions in their history. Thank you Daddybare for creating this thread to honor them.

reply to post by butcherguy


You are very selective with your definition of the word "Invasion" Try this:-

www.thefreedictionary.com...


You will find that item 3 covers the "Nazi Invasion"

When US Marines invade a country, they put 'boots on the ground'.

It helps to keep the other country from launching 'air invasions' when you control their airfields.

reply to post by butcherguy


Unless of course they launch an "Air Invasion" from air craft carriers. Much like the British and US did in The Pacific during WWII

Originally posted by alldaylong
reply to post by butcherguy

 

Unless of course they launch an "Air Invasion" from air craft carriers. Much like the British and US did in The Pacific during WWII

It took Marine boots on the ground to not only take the airfields away from the Japanese but to put US aircraft on those same airfields.

I doubt that we would have sacrificed all those Marine's lives if all we needed to do was steam aircraft carriers around the Pacific ocean launching 'air invasions'.

Ports were needed for all those ships also. Hard to dock at a port when there are Japanese troops shelling your ship from the shore. As far as the effectiveness of air attacks and ship bombardment, ask a Marine that was there if the bombing and shelling of Saipan, Okinawa and Iwo Jima eliminated Japanese opposition on those islands.

Marines using rifles, pistols, grenades, mortars and flamethrowers eliminated the Japanese opposition, and they didn't do it from helicopters.... their boots were on the ground.

reply to post by butcherguy


Pearl Harbour?

reply to post by butcherguy


I had to go back to look up the referances... But sea power alone did not win the war...
the first major land battle,Guadalcanal took over 6 momths start to finish

On 7 August, assault elements of the 1st Division landed on Guadalcanal and moved inland according to plan without meeting any opposition. Simultaneously, Marines stormed ashore on Tulagi and its neighboring islets, where the landings were opposed violently. Several days of hard fighting were neededto secure Tulagi's harbor, but when this first battle was over the scene of ground action shifted to Guadalcanal. There, engineers worked feverishly to put the partially completed airstrip in shape to receivefriendly fighters. And the Marine defenders desperately needed aerial reinforcement, in fact any kind ofreinforcement that they could get, for the Japanese reaction to the Guadalcanal landing was swift and savage.
For six hectic months, during which it often seemed that WATCHTOWER would prove a fiasco, the 1stDivision and an all-too-slowly swelling number of Army and Marine reinforcements stood off a series ofsharp enemy counterattacks. The Japanese poured thousands of crack troops into the jungles that closed onthe Marine perimeter, but never were able to put ashore enough men and equipment at one time toovercome the garrison. From the captured airfield (Henderson Field), a weird and wonderful compositeforce of Navy, Army, Marine, and New Zealand planes fought the Japanese to a standstill in the air andimmeasurably strengthened the Allied hand at sea by attacking enemy transport and surface bombardmentgroups as they steamed from bases in the upper Solomons to Guadalcanal.

Several times the Navy was forced to withdraw taking with them needed supplies and ammo...
However this really was an air war... with air support the Japs were finally pushed out but not without great cost... this island hopping was all about securing air strips to extend the reach of thir bombers...

Marine Division was officially relieved on Guadalcanal, its mission completed. The tide of battle hadswept full course to the Allied favor, and strong Army and Marine forces of the XIV Corps were nowcapable of annihilating the remaining Japanese. When evacuation orders were received from Tokyo,however, the Japanese Navy in a series of high-speed night runs managed to bring off about 13,000 menfrom the island. On 9 February, Guadalcanal was cleared of enemy units and the campaign was ended.American losses in dead and wounded by ground action were close to 6,500, but more than 23,000 enemylay dead in the jungles around Henderson Field, victims of combat and disease. The loss of additionalthousands of enemy sailors and pilots, hundreds of planes, and more than a score of warships andtransports increased the wastage of Japanese strength that marked the fruitless effort to retake Guadalcanal.
With the victories in Papua and on Guadalcanal, the Allies had flung down the gauntlet. The Japanese hadto accept the challenge; they had lost the initiative.

but this was not the only thing going on over there

The Australian 7th Division and the American 32d Infantry Division closed on the perimeter. TheAustralians came overland for the most part, the majority of the Americans by air and sea. The fightingwas bitter and protracted in jungle terrain even worse than that encountered by the Marines on Guadalcanaland against a deeply dug-in enemy who had to be gouged out of his bunkers. Gona fell to the Australianson 9 December and Buna Mission to the Americans on 2 January; the last organized resistance wasovercome on the 22d, six months to the day after the Japanese had landed in Papua. On the same day thatthe Australians drove the Japanese out of Gona, the 1st Marine Division was officially relieved on Guadalcanal.

yes this was truly a global world war...

Originally posted by alldaylong
reply to post by butcherguy

 

Pearl Harbour?

Your point?

The Japanese launched an air attack against Pearl Harbor. They did an air strike.
Had they launched an invasion, and put soldiers in place in the Hawaiian Islands, we would not have had a port there and no Hickam Field. They would have had a nice place to launch attacks against the mainland US.

That is what we did in our island hopping campaign in the Pacific Theater of Operations.

Thank you for backing me up.

Daddybare is absolutely correct in that we saw a truly integrated military operation in the Pacific. We needed long range bombers with fighter escorts to bring the war to the Japanese home islands, but in order to get them in range, we needed airfields for them to operate from. The Navy transported the bulk of the personnel and material that was needed to do all of that, but it took ground troops (Marines) launched by amphibious operations (Navy) to take and hold the islands that we needed to launch the bombers and fighters (Army Air Force, later US Air Force) from.

Originally posted by butcherguy

Originally posted by alldaylong
reply to post by butcherguy

 

Pearl Harbour?

Your point?

My point? Pearl Harbour was a major Japanese tactical victory. The point of o war is to be "Victorious" is it not?

Read it for yourself:-

en.wikipedia.org...

Originally posted by alldaylong

Originally posted by butcherguy

Originally posted by alldaylong
reply to post by butcherguy

 

Pearl Harbour?

Your point?

My point? Pearl Harbour was a major Japanese tactical victory. The point of o war is to be "Victorious" is it not?

Read it for yourself:-

en.wikipedia.org...

Goodness.
The point of war is to be victorious. Yes, I'll agree.

Tactical victory, yes.

I do believe that as far as the war was concerned, the United States celebrated Victory over Japan, not the other way around. I can't help you if you want to argue that point.

You didn't address my point at all. The Japanese did not invade Pearl Harbor, they attacked it with aircraft. We stayed there and used it throughout the war. We, on the other hand, actually invaded Japanese territory closer to the end of the war, and used that territory to launch aircraft to attack Japan itself.

edit on 20-9-2011 by butcherguy because: Oh my.

Im thinking about my hometown hero USMC Cpl. Tony Casamento who was awarded the Medal of Honor for actions at Guadalcanal. He commanded a company machine gun squad that held off an entire Japanese infantry battalion on November 1st 1942. He had to wait until 1979 to get his medal due to a lack of living witnesses (most of his squad was killed/wounded in the fighting).

The President of the United States in the name of The Congress takes pleasure in presenting the MEDAL OF HONOR to CORPORAL ANTHONY CASAMENTO UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS for service as set forth in the following CITATION: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while serving with Company "D", First Battalion, Fifth Marines, First Marine Division on Guadalcanal, British Solomon Islands, in action against the enemy Japanese forces on November 1, 1942. Serving as a leader of a machine gun section, Corporal Casamento directed his unit to advance along a ridge near the Matanikau River where they engaged the enemy. He positioned his section to provide covering fire for two flanking units and to provide direct support for the main force of his company which was behind him. During the course of this engagement, all members of his section were either killed or severely wounded and he himself suffered multiple, grievous wounds. Nonetheless, Corporal Casamento continued to provide critical supporting fire for the attack and in defense of his position. Following the loss of all effective personnel, he set up, loaded, and manned his unit's machine gun, tenaciously holding the enemy forces at bay. Corporal Casamento single-handedly engaged and destroyed one machine gun emplacement to his front and took under fire the other emplacement on the flank. Despite the heat and ferocity of the engagement, he continued to man his own weapon and repeatedly repulsed multiple assaults by the enemy forces, thereby protecting the flanks of the adjoining companies and holding his position until the arrival of his main attacking force. Corporal Casamento's courageous fighting spirit, heroic conduct, and unwavering dedication to duty reflected great credit upon himself and were in keeping with the highest traditions of the Marine Corps and the United States Naval Service. /S/ JIMMY CARTER

We have a town park/community pool here in West Islip, NY (his postwar residence) and a stretch of highway in Farmingdale, NY named after him.

en.wikipedia.org...