Introduction to Final Campaigns in the Pacific - 1944-1945
By the middle of 1944 the two American thrusts across the Pacific were beginning to converge on Japan, whose main cities were now being continuously bombed. The immediate objective was the Marianas group of islands, including Saipan, Guam, and Tinian. The attack on Saipan was opened on June 15 by Lieutenant General Holland M. Smith's Fifth Amphibious Corps, made up of two Marine divisions and an Army division. After intense fighting, Smith completed capture of the island by July 9.
The aircraft carrier was essential to victory in the Pacific.Battle of the Philippine Sea
The Saipan landing was supported by the Fifth Fleet, commanded by Admiral Raymond A. Spruance. Its principal group of ships, Task Force 58 under Admiral Marc A. Mitscher, had 15 carriers and could put nearly 900 combat planes in the air. The task force also had 7 battleships, 21 cruisers, and 69 destroyers.
On June 14 a Japanese fleet of 9 carriers, 5 battleships, 13 cruisers, and 28 destroyers, under Admiral Toyoda Soemu, was reported entering the Philippine Sea. On June 19, while the fleets were 300 miles (480 km) apart, Japanese planes attacked. Virtually every American plane in the fleet went into action, and during that day some 340 Japanese planes were shot down with a loss of only 30 American planesa battle referred to as the "Marianas Turkey Shoot." An American attack against the Japanese fleet that night was less successful because the planes were sent beyond their range. Two American submarines sank two large Japanese carriers on June 20. In Japan, these losses led to the resignation of Premier Tojo and his cabinet. General Koiso Kuniaki was appointed as his successor.
Guam
On July 21 the Third Amphibious Corps of three divisions under Major General R. S. Geiger landed on Guam. This opened a campaign that lasted until August 10, when organized Japanese resistance ceased. Tinian, needed as a bomber base, was attacked by two Marine divisions on July 24 and was won eight days later.
The Philippines Campaign
On August 26 Spruance's Fifth Fleet was shifted to Halsey's command, becoming the Third Fleet. (Task Force 58 then became Task Force 38.) Halsey sent carrier-plane strikes against the Philippines, Yap, and the Palau Islands. Because of lessening Japanese resistance, he recommended to Admiral Nimitz that attacks on Mindanao, Yap, and other islands be canceled, and that MacArthur strike immediately at Leyte in the central Philippines. This suggestion shortened the Pacific war schedule by two months.
Nimitz, however, rejected Halsey's suggestion that the Palaus be bypassed. This decision was unfortunate, for the casualty rate for the invasion of Peleliu, which began September 15, was one of the highest of the Pacific war. Peleliu was not declared occupied until September 30, and resistance lasted two months more. The island was of little use in the Philippine invasion.
In September MacArthur landed on Morotai, north of Halmahera, with two divisions. Seizure of bases there cleared the way for the Philippines invasion.
On October 20 General Krueger's Sixth Army landed on Leyte Island in the Philippines. The Japanese fleet moved to oppose the landings.
Battle of Leyte Gulf
As long as a war between the United States and Japan had been considered a probability, it had been supposed the issue would be decided in a meeting of the opposing fleets. That battle was fought October 23-26, 1944.
The Japanese commander, Admiral Toyoda, committed his entire available force in a desperate effort to destroy MacArthur's forces landing on Leyte. He divided his fleet into three divisions. Two were to converge on Leyte Gulf: Vice Admiral Nishimura Shoji's through San Bernardino Strait to the south, and Vice Admiral Kurita Takeo's through Surigao Strait to the north. The third division, a force under Vice Admiral Ozawa Jisaburo that included four carriers, was to steam northward as a decoy to draw off American ships.
Admiral Thomas C. Kinkaid's Seventh Fleet, which had backed MacArthur's campaign, was defending the landings. Admiral Halsey's Third Fleet, with six new battleships and the powerful Task Force 38, was nearby. Halsey saw as his main target the Japanese carriers Not realizing that they were without planes and were being used as decoys, Halsey pursued Ozawa and sank three of the carriers. Kinkaid's main force, including six old battleships, destroyed Nishimura's fleet. In this engagement Kinkaid's ships steamed across the front of the Japanese column, executing the classic naval maneuver known as "crossing the T."
Kurita's force very nearly got through, being opposed only by a group of escort carriers and destroyers. This action led to the most disputed point in the battlethe absence of Halsey's battleships, which failed to get into action against either fleet. Kurita had been punished so severely, however, that he withdrew without attacking the transports.
The Japanese lost three battleships, including the 63,000-ton Musachi, to air attack. The Musachi was the largest ship ever sunk in battle, and its 18.1-inch (460-mm) guns were the largest ever used at sea. The Japanese also lost four carriers, six heavy and four light cruisers, and nine destroyers. It was the end of the Japanese navy as a fighting force. United States losses were three small carriers, two destroyers, and one destroyer escort.
Capture of Leyte
During the naval battle, Japan was able to land reinforcements, but air strikes on November 7 sank an entire convoy, and soon Japanese troops on the island were isolated. On December 10 the 77th Division was ferried around the island to Ormoc, confining the defenders to a narrow area. On December 26 the mopping-up operation was turned over to the Eighth Army under Lieutenant General Robert L. Eichelberger, while the Sixth Army prepared to invade Luzon.
Luzon Campaign
Krueger's Sixth Army landed at Lingayen Gulf on the island of Luzon and began an advance on Manila. The XI Corps of the Eighth Army landed at Subic Bay on January 29 and cut off Bataan. Two days later the 11th Airborne Division landed at Nasugbu, and it and the First Calvalry Division advanced towards Manila. There was hard fighting for the city, but it was taken February 24, except for three strongpoints mopped up by March 3.
A parachute landing aided in the attack on Corregidor, which was taken after two weeks of desperate fighting. Landings were made at Legazpi in February, and on Mindanao, Panay, Cebu, Negros, and islands of the Sulu Archipelago in March. Fighting continued in northern Luzon and on Mindanao until July 25.
Iwo Jima
To step up air attacks on Japan, it was now important to seize bases close to the main islands. Iwo Jima, a small volcanic island between the Marianas and the Bonins, was only 775 miles (1,250 km) from Honshu, the main Japanese island. After heavy air and naval bombardment, Iwo Jima was attacked by the Fourth and Fifth Marine divisions on February 19, 1945.
Volcanic caves gave the defenders great advantage and the fighting was severe, especially for Mount Suribachi, which dominated the island. The Third Marine Division was sent into the fight, and resistance did not end until March 16. The Japanese garrison of almost 23,000 was virtually annihilated. American casualties exceeded 20,000, including more than 5,500 killed in action.
Okinawa
Closer to Japan, and even more heavily defended than Iwo Jima, were the Ryukyu Islands. On the principal island, Okinawa, 65 miles (105 km) long, the Japanese had a garrison of 120,000. The Japanese responded to air and naval bombardment with kamikaze, or suicide, air attacks that sank 33 ships and damaged 368. Some 3,400 Japanese planes were shot down, and 800 were destroyed on the ground. The Americans lost 1,000 planes.
Landings by a corps of the 10th Army and a corps of Marines on April 1 were little resisted, but heavy fighting developed during an advance toward Naha and Shuri. This resistance was not overcome until the middle of June, and then fanatical resistance continued in the southern tip of the island until June 22. Four days before the end of the fighting, Lieutenant General Simon Bolivar Buckner, commanding the 10th Army, was killed in action. He was succeeded by General Stilwell. American casualties totaled 49,151, while the Japanese had 109,629 killed and 7,871 captured. Heavy air attacks on the Japanese home islands were launched between July 10 and July 17.