In the late 1940s and early 1950s, in order to block and encircle some Asian countries, including China, the United States proposed the "Eastern Arc" crescent-shaped blockade strategy. The most critical of the first island chain is Taiwan, which controls the choke points of the East China Sea and the South China Sea; the core of the second island chain is Guam, which can reach any target in the Asia-Pacific region within 12 hours; the third island chain, centered on Hawaii, is the strategic rear of the US military in the Far East and the last line of defense for the United States. Strictly speaking, Guam is not a territory of the United States, it is only under the jurisdiction of the United States. In 1950, the President of the United States declared Guam an "unincorporated territory" of the United States.
Guam is located in the western part of the Pacific Ocean. It is the largest of the Mariana Islands, with a total area of 549 square kilometers, which is three-quarters of the area of Singapore and slightly larger than the Zhoushan Islands. It is about 3,000 kilometers from Guam to China; about 9,000 kilometers to the mainland United States; about 3,700 kilometers to Hawaii; about 2,500 kilometers to Luzon Island in the Philippines; about 2,700 kilometers to Japan; and about 5,000 kilometers to Australia.
Guam’s historical ownership
Guam is a typical volcanic island. Below it is the Mariana Trench which is 10,000 meters deep. As early as more than 4,000 years ago, there were aborigines in Guam known as the "Austronesian people". Today's residents of Indonesia, Philippines, Malaysia and other Southeast Asian coastal countries are all regarded as possible descendants of the "Austronesian people". The "Austronesian people" on Guam later evolved into the Chamorro people and established an early human civilization society. On the island, the Chamorro people divided the residents into four levels from high to low. Just imagine it as a pocket version of India.
In the 16th century (probably in the middle and late Ming Dynasty of China), a group of uninvited guests came to Guam: this was Spain's global sailing fleet. Sailing to prove that the earth is a sphere. In the third year of their voyage, Magellan's fleet arrived at Guam. When the fleet arrived in Guam, Magellan's ship had run out of food and fresh water. Magellan led the crew to Guam. The Chamorro people were very curious about these outsiders and gave them some food. When Magellan's fleet was preparing to leave, Magellan discovered that some Chamorro people had boarded the ship and were taking away their knives, lifeboats and some items. With the language barrier between the two parties, Magellan believed that such behavior was "theft", so he ordered the crew to kill seven Chamorros and burn down their houses. Before leaving, Magellan Labeling Guam "Bandit Island."
One month after arriving in Guam, Magellan's fleet arrived at the Philippine Islands . Magellan sincerely despised the primitive people and began to intervene in tribal disputes on the island. Not only did he attack the indigenous people on the island, he also set fire to their homes. The angry natives threw a large number of bows, arrows and axes at them. In the chaos, Magellan was shot to death with an arrow by the natives. After Magellan's death, his deputy Juan Lasano took over as captain and led the fleet to complete the voyage. After Magellan's circumnavigation, Guam became Spain The Spanish colonial rule here lasted for more than 300 years.
In 1776, the United States was founded. With the help of France, Britain reluctantly agreed to the independence of its colony America in 1783. When the United States gradually rose in the 19th century, it found that its colonies in the world had been swept away by old colonial countries such as Britain and France. Since there is no way to expand colonies overseas, there is only one option left: grab them. The United States has its sights on Spain, an old colonial country that has gradually declined after the industrial revolution, and wants to grab a colony from it.
In 1895, the same year that the Sino-Japanese War of 1894 broke out, revolutions against Spanish colonial rule broke out in two Spanish colonies: Cuba and the Philippines. In 1898, the United States dispatched a warship, the USS Maine, under the pretext of protecting expatriates in Cuba. As a result, an explosion occurred at the port of Havana, killing all 266 people on board. Why the warship exploded is still a mystery. Spain said that the boiler of the Maine exploded, while the United States said that it was hit by a Spanish torpedo. Anyway, the United States claimed that "Spain should be responsible for the explosion." So he intervened in the war between Spain, Cuba and the Philippines.
The war lasted for 4 months and ended with Spain's disastrous defeat. Spain had to sign the "Paris Peace Treaty" with the United States in the same year and ceded the three islands of Cuba, Guam, and Puerto Rico to the United States. Another Spanish colony: the Philippines, was acquired by the United States at a low price of US$20 million. In order to disgust Americans, Spain sold " Northern Mariana Islands " to Germany in an attempt to make the United States and Germany compete with each other and export bad luck. However, the Germans' luck is not ordinary.
In 1905, the Russo-Japanese War broke out and ended with Japan's victory. Japan seized some of Russia's rights and interests in the Northeast, which also expanded Japan's ambitions. World War broke out, and Japan made full preparations, declared war on Germany and seized the German Mariana Islands, Caroline Islands and Marshall Islands . After World War I, the League of Nations announced that Japan would administer these places under trusteeship. In fact, it recognized Japan's colonial rule over these places. Japan established the "Nanyang Agency" and actively immigrated here. It also became an important naval base for Japan during World War II.
On December 7, 1941, Japan launched a sneak attack on the Pearl Harbor Naval Base in the American Territory of Hawaii. The Pacific War broke out in an all-round way. The day after the Pearl Harbor incident (December 8), Japan began to attack Guam. The U.S. Navy in Guam only had one minesweeper, which was completely vulnerable. At 2:15 a.m. on the 10th, the Japanese troops began to land on the beach in large numbers. The U.S. Marine Corps put up a symbolic resistance and persisted until 6 a.m., when the U.S. Governor of Guam announced his surrender and the fighting stopped. In the following three years, the Japanese army built a large number of fortifications and deployed a large number of artillery , preparing to defend to the death. The U.S. counterattack on Guam in July 1944 was not that easy. A total of 36,000 U.S. troops were dispatched to deal with the 18,500 Japanese troops defending the island. The two sides fought fiercely for 18 days, and the US military occupied Guam at the cost of 7,800 casualties.
Almost no one in the Japanese army surrendered. After the organized resistance ended, there were still about 1,000 remaining Japanese soldiers fighting guerrillas in various parts of Guam. It took the US military up to a year to basically eliminate them. What is even more exaggerated is that there is a military officer named Shoichi Yokoi who has been hiding in a cave in Guam for 28 years. The order given to them by their superiors was to hold their position. If they really couldn't hold on, they would flee to the jungle and fight guerrillas until they died. Soichi Yokoi and two other soldiers moved to a volcanic cliff area that ordinary civilians could not reach, and began to live in seclusion.
While hiding in caves in the jungle, Yokoi Shoichi used his tailoring skills. Weaving his own clothes from plant fibers, he spends much of his time venturing outside the caves where he hides to avoid detection. When Shoichi Yokoi was captured, he said that he actually knew that the war was over in 1952, but because the spirit instilled in the Japanese army was that surrender or arrest would be extremely dishonorable, he did not surrender (even though two other soldiers who lived with him died in flash floods until they were discovered in 1972). What’s interesting is that the Japanese media has been crazy about Yokoi Shoichi, promoting him as a “hero who has fought alone for 28 years.” Yokoi Shoichi is relatively honest and never calls himself a hero, but "a soldier who is unwilling to surrender but does not dare to commit suicide."
Let’s talk about Guam.After the victory of World War II, the Pacific islands formerly ruled by Japan were taken away by the United States. It was an "international trusteeship" in name, but in fact it was an "American trusteeship." The United States divided them into four political entities: Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, Micronesia, and the Marshall Islands.
Guam's offensive and defensive battle
For the United States, Guam is a transit point between the United States and the Japanese archipelago and the Philippine archipelago. It is a maritime and air transportation hub that controls the Western Pacific. Therefore, the United States built a large number of military facilities on Guam, which once accounted for one-third of the entire Guam area. Apra Nuclear Submarine Base, Agana Naval Air Station , Anderson Strategic Air Base are all built in Guam.
The U.S. military's "Troika" B1B, B52, and B2 have all been deployed to Anderson Air Force Base , as well as a variety of special aircraft, including RC135 electronic reconnaissance aircraft, P8 anti-submarine patrol aircraft , and KC135 tanker aircraft .
The Apra nuclear submarine base is the main docking place for US military nuclear submarines operating in the Western Pacific region. The three "Los Angeles" class attack nuclear submarines of the US Seventh Fleet are deployed here.
As for the Agana Naval Air Station, it is mainly used by the US Navy Carrier Air Wing. When the U.S. Navy aircraft carrier HT4 deployed in the Western Pacific region docks at the port, the HT3 carrier-based air wing HT4 it carries will be transferred to the Agana Naval Air Station for maintenance and repair here.
These three military bases play a very important role in the deployment and even combat operations of the US military in the Western Pacific region. They are an indispensable backbone of the US military in the Western Pacific region. China has no intention of going to war with the United States, and it is even less likely to engage in undeclared war and sneak attacks like Japan. If the U.S. military really wants to intervene in the Taiwan Strait with force, it will be an armed confrontation with China and a blatant act of aggression. Then the Rocket Force can bring out the "Guam Express" (DF26 missile).
This does not mean that we must use Dongfeng-26 missiles costing hundreds of millions of dollars to blow up targets one by one, but it means that we also have means to fight back (certainly in conjunction with other military means). Even Guam, which has been built by the United States like an iron wall, is not absolutely safe.
