above talks about the natural and geographical conditions of Wake Atoll, as well as the history of Wake Island and the hasty preparations made by the US military before the war. Click on the home page to view the above. This article will tell the process of the official battle between the Wick Island defenders and the Japanese army, so as to help everyone better understand this small-scale and little-known battle against the strong in Pacific War.
/8, bad Monday
The 8th is Monday. The soldiers just finished a long-lost comfortable weekend, and many people have not yet recovered from the beautiful aftertaste of the holiday. In the lagoon of Wake Island, the Pan American Airlines "Philippine Express Sail" seaplane floats leisurely on the bright red waves reflecting the sun. The plane was ready to fly from Wake Island to Guam at 6:55.
The soldiers on the island got up very early. As early as 6 o'clock, the wake-up call sounded in the Wick Marine Corps barracks, and the cafeteria began to prepare breakfast. Most of the Marines were packing their tents before leaving for a day of work. Defro himself was shaving in the tent. The soldiers and ground staff refueled the planes in the lake together. The pilots began to check the rudder surface and engines. The passengers were waiting on the shore to board the plane, discussing what happened after arriving in Guam in groups of three or three. Everything seemed as peaceful and peaceful as before, until a radio wave came into the telegram of the communication vehicle...
6:50, the telegrapher pointed the antenna in the direction of Hawaii and immediately intercepted a message. The encoder's font model was slammed on the rapidly rotating paper tape. Among a bunch of unencrypted garbled codes, the telegrapher saw several recognizable words: "... Oahu ... was attacked... air strike..."
A few words instantly made the telegrapher's brain blank instantly, and then immediately tore off the telegraph order and ran towards the commander...
Wilson learned of the news that the Japanese army had attacked Pearl Harbor at 7 o'clock, and he walked and ran into Defrey's tent. De Fro picked up the phone and reported to Cunningham , but it did not open; connected to the base communication room and learned that he had just received a priority telegram from Pearl Harbor (there were four levels of communication at that time: emergency - only for a few types of combat reports, priority, routine, and delay. Priority telegram was a very important communication), but it was now interrupted. Without any hesitation, Defro put down the phone and called the military musician on duty, and ordered the "Preparation for Fight" alarm to sound: then summoned the officers and told them that the war had broken out and the Japanese attacked Oahu, and Wick "can be expected to encounter the same thing soon." After learning that Japan launched a sudden attack, Cunningham immediately left the canteen of Camp 2 and confirmed Defro's order, but allowed civilians to continue working (because the construction site was easily dispersed and concealed when attacked). He then contacted John B. Cook, the airport manager of Pan American Airlines, and asked him to recall the Philippine Express Sail. At 7:5, Cook sent a newspaper to John H Hamilton, the captain of the Martin 130 seaplane, telling him that the war had broken out. At 7:15, the Philippine Express Sail returned to the original place where the atoll was parked. Cunningham immediately asked Captain Hamilton to conduct a reconnaissance flight. The Philippine Express Sail began unloading, and it was equipped with enough reconnaissance and airline gasoline to Midway . Cunningham plans to do a remote search south and send a Grumman dual-plane formation to escort. After the plan was determined, Hamilton called the VMF-211 command post and discussed with Putnam the arrangement for reconnaissance flight, and the departure time was set at 13:00.
Marines squeezed into the truck driving into the camp, artillery sergeants prepared the soldiers and checked whether they had rifles and bullets on them. At 7:35, all positions reported personnel were in place. Company D was the first company to take office. Company commander Gedebred also served as the key commander of Pier Island. At 7:30, he reported that the personnel, artillery, commander, altimeter, and generator were all ready. The three guns were ready, but there were only 75 shells in the underground ammunition depot of the company, which was 75 yards away from the position. Marine Corps munition officer Harold C. Both took Sergeant James W. Hall to climb to the molten iron cabinet at Camp 1 as planned according to the scheduled plan.
Air anti-aircraft guns
Pearl Harbor news arrived, Putnam had already taken Weber to start patrol at dawn.After being recalled by the squadron radio, he received news from Pearl Harbor over the airport. Putnam sent someone to find his vice captain Elrod to start evaluating the safety of the 12 new wild cats. The runway seemed a bit confusing. VMF-211 stayed on Wick for 4 days, but one day was a holiday, so it was hard to say it was ready. The six bunkers on the side of the runway near the sea could not be completed before 14:00 on that day, and the narrow shutdown area also limits the possibility of aircraft deployment. Putnam faced a dilemma, saying himself: "As a squadron leader, facing a choice between two different decisions, it is difficult to avoid making a mistake. Six aircraft bunkers are under construction at the same time, none of which can be used immediately, and can be put into use no later than 14 o'clock. The equipment is not protected or disguised, but can be prepared within 24 hours. foxgate or other personnel positions are not ready for use, but can also be put into use no later than 14 o'clock. To move the aircraft out of the regular shutdown area, any damage means losing a flight … Finally, I decided to avoid operating losses by moving the aircraft on rough roads, delaying the handling of supplies until the storage area is ready, and only hope that personnel can find natural cover when attacked. “So, some pilots and mechanics of VMF-211 work in the morning to evacuate the aircraft as much as possible where TT2B is available, and move the squadron’s radio equipment from the original temporary location to a protected place. The most important thing is to arm all the aircraft and repair them to prepare for battle. This is not an easy task.
The Pacific Redstone Fish and the Sea God submarines do not know about the situation in Wick or Pearl Harbor. They dived underwater before dawn and therefore did not receive a telegram from Pearl Harbor.
0 munitions were directly detonated by bombs. When the Arizona ship
8 was attacked by the enemy, the ship in Pearl Harbor was attacked by the enemy. After the explosion of the "Arizona" (BB-39) overturned, the sky of Wake was completely bright, and the flying flag declared that the entire garrison was still ready to fight the Japanese army to the end.
Wick continues to prepare for defense in amid noisy and acceptable chaos. The truck distributes ammunition to each position of the Marine Corps. The excess individual weapon in the storage room is distributed as much as possible to unarmed Army Aviation Soldiers and Navy Aviation Base sailors; gas masks and old-fashioned helmets only have it. Quartermaster John Hamas unpacked the Browning automatic rifle and the Springfield 7.62mm rifle, and distributed it together with ammunition to the construction workers and civilians who volunteered to join the battle. After completing this work, Hamas and a team used a truck to deliver 75 boxes of grenades and to various parts of the island. Later, some other civilians volunteered to work in the VMF-211 squadron. By 9 o'clock, the fastest-progressed Company D had prepared 60 ammunitions for each gun No. 1, 2 and 4. At
9, Putnam sent a patrol plane back to the base. After refueling fuel, smoking a cigarette and stretching his body, the four pilots boarded F4F-3 No. 9-12 and completed the formation in the designated airspace. Putnam's most trusted pilot Elrod led the team, Davidson flew wingman , responsible for searching north; Kenny (promoted lieutenant) and Hamilton formed another squad, climbed to 12,000 feet, reconnaissing the south-southeast direction that the enemy is most likely to approach. When
10, according to Defro's order, the fire control equipment and guns left behind the on-duty personnel, and the rotation personnel began to dig foxholes, filled the remaining sandbags with sand, and established fortifications with higher protection standards. The 76mm anti-aircraft gun company specifically requires that one gun be kept, especially the fire control equipment is full. The battlefield command post was quickly established, similar to the command post set up by the First Garrison Battalion task force in the bushes east of Camp No. 1, so simple that there was only one wiring switch. Cunningham's command post is located in Camp 2, and the VMF-211's command post is still in the officer's tent because the personnel are busy with more urgent tasks, such as loading chains and loading large amounts of fuel into scattered oil barrels. At around
11:40, lunch was delivered to various positions. The Marines hurriedly had a meal and quickly returned to the position. The test for Wick was about to come. As early as 7:10, 36 double-left Mitsubishi 96 land attack aircraft of the 24th Thousand Years Naval Air Force of the Japan Fourth Fleet took off from Roy Island 1,100 kilometers south of Wick.As the combat patrol formation of VMF-211 turned north of Wick at an altitude of 12,000 feet, below them, the Japanese bomber was flying north towards the atoll. When the leader announced that he had fallen to 3,000 meters and approached the height of the atoll, he noticed that the southern bank of the atoll was covered by a 600-meter-high rain cloud. The 12 aircraft formed a V-shaped team and quickly descended into the rain clouds. After a few seconds, when they drilled out of the rain clouds, they almost happened to appear above the Wick runway. At this time, the Japanese plane was about 450 meters tall.
11:58, Lieutenant Lewis, the company commander of the E Company at Picock Point, looked up at the sky and saw 12 unfamiliar aircraft forming a V character above Camp No. 1 and Picock Point. He rushed to a field phone and shouted at Defro's command post through the J line: "Japanese planes are coming! Japanese planes are coming!" Suddenly, a civilian exclaimed, "The plane has dropped a bomb!"
96 Land Attack, one of the main forces of the Japanese attack,
Lewis is an experienced anti-aircraft gunner. Not only does one gun be ready for launch, but another one is on alert according to the order. According to the plan, the E Company should rely on the phone to obtain height information from the D Company on Pier Island. Lewis did not wait for Peel Island's call and immediately estimated the height of the target. He waved the crank to load data at the M-4 commander. In just a few seconds, two 76mm anti-aircraft guns from Company E began to shoot at the Japanese. Company D's No. 1 and No. 2 guns quickly joined the ranks of shooting at the bombers, and 40 shells were knocked out in the entire air strike. The visibility of the bomber's flight altitude was very low, and light rain occurred during the air strike, affecting the function of the 76mm anti-aircraft gun. During the shooting, the sandbags piled up around the D Company's artillery collapsed, and the telephone line of the No. 2 position was broken and it was not restored until 12:15. Along the south bank of Wick, while the incendiary bomb exploded and burned, the 12.7mm anti-aircraft machine gun opened fire and shot at the Japanese plane.
There are 50 boxes of grenades on the Hamas truck, and 25 boxes have just been sent to the defenders at the Kuku point. After seeing the bomber whizzing past his head, Hamas immediately ordered to stop and took his team out of the car to hide. Cunningham was working at Camp 2 and heard the explosion of the bomb at about 11:55. The explosion made the windows sound, and the people in the camp thought it was workers who blasted in the lagoon at first.
76 anti-aircraft gun
Kandman and Graves were wearing full flight suits and were on standby in a special tent to discuss the order to escort the "Philippine Express Sail". After hearing the alarm, the two ran quickly towards their wildcat plane. When Graves ran to a F4F-3 and climbed into the cockpit, the wild cat was hit directly and exploded into a fireball, and Graves died. Condeman was swept to the ground by the bomber's machine gun next to his plane. Then a bomb hit the wild cat on standby, lifting the plane up, and the wreckage pressed on Condeman. Corporal Robert E.L. Page, nearby, came to help Condelman. After hearing the voices of others' requests, Condelman ordered Page to help others first. The bomber fired by the bomber unfortunately killed Holden, and Webber was seriously injured by the bullets and shrapnel.
A batch of 50 kg blasting bombs and incendiary bombs fell to VMF-211 at a 8 wildcat fighter shutdown area at about 100 meters. Another 12-plane team continued to bomb the strafide camp No. 2, and the third 12-plane team left, turned to approach Camp No. 1 and the runway from the west through Kuku Point, and flew to the facilities of the Pan American Airlines in Peel Island, which was also very fiercely bombarded. By 12:10, the enemy formation completed the bomb drop, turned to assemble, and climbed to the cruise altitude. According to a Japanese bomb drop and pilot relocated to the atoll, recalled: "The pilots of every aircraft were satisfied and laughed. Everyone shook the wings and said 'Long live'."
Whether it was the 76mm anti-aircraft guns from the E Company of Wake Island and the D Company of Peel Island, or the 12.7mm anti-aircraft machine guns everywhere in the atoll, the firepower response of air defense was agile and dense, but the enemy's attack should be said to be quite effective, especially the plane runway and around. When the pilots tried to start their plane, seven of the eight F4F-3s had burned out from the tail, and the remaining spare fuel tank was severely damaged, but it could be recovered. Baylor's air-ground radio equipment was broken by shrapnel and strafed bullets. The oil tank containing 25,000 gallons of aviation gasoline was hit in the first wave, and the entire aviation base was in a sea of fire; fortunately, the 50 gallon oil barrel did not burn.The tent of VMF-211 was broken through, including tools and spare parts that the squadron had originally lacked ( spark plug , tires, etc.) and were partially burned. Worst of all, 55 Marine Air Force members on the ground at the time, 23 died on the spot or died before midday due to serious injuries, and 11 were injured. This attack caused 60% of casualties to VMF-211. Graves and Holden died on the spot; Condeman was taken to the hospital, but unfortunately died of ineffective rescue before dawn the next day; Putnam, Salin and Arthur were injured, but were still able to move around; almost half of the ground crew were killed. Near Camp
2, Pan American Airlines' luxury hotel, the most important seaplane, base facilities are burning. Nine of the 66 employees of Pan American Airlines died, five of them were Chamorro employees, and two passengers of the Philippine Express Sail were injured. A miracle occurred during the bombing. The 26-ton Philippine Express Sail was filled with aviation gasoline. A bomb dropped 100 feet in front of the explosion did not hurt it. The bomber's machine gun shot 23 holes in its fuselage, but none of them hit the deadly fuel tank.
Although several bombers were hit by anti-aircraft machine guns, Japanese aircraft retreated safely without losing any aircraft. The Marines' combat patrol formation happened to be above the incoming enemy planes and immediately launched a search, but no target was found in the clouds. After the bombing was over, it returned and landed. When landing, he encountered the last bad luck. The No. 9 F4F-3 propeller driven by Elrod hit an oil barrel. Because the propeller was bent, the engine was damaged and could not perform the flight mission. The original plan for the Philippine Express Sail was cancelled after the
air strike. The unlucky captain Hamilton proposed to evacuate passengers and Pan American Airlines staff, which was approved by Cunningham. The Philippine Express Sail took off at 12:50 after removing all excess equipment. "This has taught me a profound lesson, and punctuality is very important." De Fro commented. Willis A. Rand, the captain of the submarine "Sea God", saw thick smoke rising from Wick from his periscope, and thought that some construction projects were being carried out on the island.
The most painful lesson is that the initial air strikes in Japan were not discovered in advance. The rain cloud just blocked the enemy plane's sliding closer to the route, which is indeed a factor that cannot be ignored, but the lack of early warning equipment has far exceeded the bad weather. This exposed Wick's most dangerous shortcomings: the lack of radar . The same will be true in every air strike in the future. No matter how vigilant the lookouts were, because the waves covered the engine noise, the enemy planes were almost discovered when they entered the bomb drop point.
After the enemy plane left, the current problem was to repair the plane runway. Despite being shot on his left shoulder, Putnam visited all the wounded at the airport with injuries. This selfless behavior set a good example. Hamas recalled his team from the bushes and continued to distribute grenades at the airport to carry the wounded who survived the disaster into a truck to the builder's hospital at Camp 2; here he met more civilians who asked to participate in the defense of Wick. The hospital is a one-story building with two wards, isolation equipment, an operating room and an outpatient department, which at this time became the island's battlefield ambulance station. Gustav M. Kahn, a military doctor in the 1st Garrison Contingent, received the help of competent contractor surgeon Lawton M. Shahnke. In defending Wick, Shahnke won a high reputation for maintaining calmness and efficient medical skills during the war. Compared with the casualties caused by the Japanese, Putnam's "smooth and plump" aircraft seemed less important. The three intact aircraft (No. 10, 11, 12) were soon sent to continue their combat patrol missions to prevent them from being destroyed by sudden attacks on the ground. Before the fire was completely put out, Putnam assigned Kenny to replace the dead Graves as a random engineer: "We have 4 aircraft, and if you can keep them flying, I will see you receive a medal that is as big as a pie." "Yes, sir," Kenny replied, "If it is issued in San Francisco ". Kenny's main assistant was technical military advisor Hamilton, a volunteer pilot with many years of experience in the Marine Corps aviation team. For hours, Kenny and Hamilton kept cleaning up the damaged wreckage and finding available tools and parts, which was crucial for VMF-211 to maintain effective combat effectiveness.Due to casualties, it is necessary to assign other positions, and decisions are made quickly. Floyle is responsible for ammunition, Kerry Ville is responsible for radio communications, Elrod and Salin, as experienced pilots, have received various training, including basic doctrines for ground operations, and are responsible for overseeing the construction of foxgloves, bunkers and fortifications in the area where VMF-211 is located. The most important thing in these tasks - besides the already constructed aircraft slide - is to bury explosives at 150 feet of intervals on the aircraft runway. This is a major anti-aircraft measure that completely destroys the runway when the airborne troops land. From that night, as a defensive measure, heavy machinery was parked on the runway at intervals and moved away only when used by a friend. According to the enemy's strength at that time, in addition to continuing patrols at dawn and dusk, a combat patrol at noon was added to prevent subsequent air strikes.
The entire atoll has greatly accelerated its work speed. The enemy's first air strike has shown everyone the destructive power it has. About 10% of the construction workers and civilians volunteered to work for the defenders, they worked well in defending Wick, all of them were brave, and some tried to volunteer to join the army. In all artillery positions, the artillery positions have been partially improved, with foxgloves, camouflage and all possible fortifications. In order to prevent the enemy from using the Wilkes Waterway, a naval barge filled with explosives carried a pile of concrete and directly anchored in the middle of the waterway. The telephone line on the surface was interrupted in many places during the bombing. The steps taken are to add key trunks to try to bury the most important ones underground. A strategic point commander explained, "Although the lines on the surface are all double lines, they cannot withstand attacks. We want to bury the lines underground, but we cannot do it with our hands... considering the lack of manpower. We did not have permission to use the contractor's trenching machine ..." The construction of a stronger permanent battlefield command post and bunker also began before the cold drizzle that day. At 16:00, 18 civilians went to the D Company's position to join the defending Wick. Gardburd ordered Sergeant Walter A. Bowsher Jr. to lead 16 of them to operate the idle No. 3 guns, and the other two stayed in the company's command post to take the lookout. Under the leadership of Bowsher, the No. 3 gun quickly became like a trained Marine. It was also handed over to D Company D's station wagon, which will prove its great value in the battle in the next few days. There were 25 civilians driving trucks on the E Company's position to help strengthen the fortifications. By dusk, Lewis felt that Wick would be under a long siege and might not have the chance to live in the camp, so he sent several soldiers back to the camp to retrieve additional toiletries and clothing for the entire company. Company D also sent 4 soldiers to get the bedding at 8 o'clock.
Jin En reassigns naval base personnel to the most urgent combat posts. He sent Navy Lieutenant George E. Henshaw and Bernard J. Lawfort as staff officers for Cunningham. First-class assistant sailor James E. Barnes and 12 sailors were assigned to the command of the garrison battalion, responsible for driving trucks, preparing three meals, and looking out. Three other sailors were sent to the VMF-211 squadron, including first-level assistant aeronautical mechanic James F. Lisen. The Pennsylvanian with light brown hair worked for the airline before joining the Navy, just over 35 years old, and soon became a right-hand man for Kenny and Hamilton. They also received help from two civilian mechanics, Harry Yeager and Stevenson (nicknamed Doc), who volunteered to drive trucks for the VMF-211 squadron. At night, under the light control, Marine Corps aviation personnel and civilian volunteers worked together to build eight aircraft forts with explosion-resistant tops according to an experimental plan.
The people who died in the first wave of air raids had to be temporarily placed in the cold storage of Camp No. 2 because the hospital did not have a morgue.
At night, the "Sea God" and the "Pacific Redstone Fish" floated out of the water north and south of Wick, respectively, and began to charge and replace fresh air. It was then that they learned from the radio that both Pearl Harbor and Wick were air strikes.
November 9 to December 10, the second score was
at 5 o'clock, 45 minutes before dawn, the whole island entered level 1 combat readiness. All phones are on duty, and the routes are kept unobstructed. Weapons and fire control equipment are full of combat alert.At 5:45, three intact F4F-3s passed the warm-up flight and took off over Picock Point, gathered and climbed over the airport, and reconnaissed along the fan surface that the enemy was most likely to approach 100 to 130 kilometers. When the fighter jet
F4F, the fighter jet completed the search and was close to the return range. Marine contingents were reduced to level 2 combat readiness, and each position was reduced to half of the guns and cannons, reducing the operators of fire control equipment, allowing rotational rest personnel to rest around the position. At 7:30, Grumman, who had returned, brought back a report that he did not find any enemy situation. Kenny and other mechanics continued to repair the plane on the runway, and obviously a repair warehouse was urgently needed to maintain the aircraft, so that the lights could continue to work during nighttime. For the above considerations, Putnam decided to renovate two new aircraft bunkers, expand the scale, the entrance was tilted down, the top was I-shaped beam wood, and then covered with very light waterproof canvas . Through this benefit plan, inspection and maintenance can be carried out regardless of time and can be protected to the maximum extent. At 9 o'clock, the No. 8 aircraft, whose backup fuel tank was damaged, began to test flight. The test flight deliberately conducted a 560 km/h dive without trembling, so it was considered "o.k." The engine of the No. 9 aircraft needs to be inspected, the propeller needs to be repaired, and he is still lying in a bunker.
The morning time gradually passed, and everyone stayed near their foxholes, observing the sky vigilantly. According to the known distance of Marshall Islands , after simple calculations, it can be seen that the Japanese bomber formation that took off at dawn may arrive at Wick at any time after 11 o'clock. At 11:45, 27 Type 96 land bombers from the Chitose Naval Air Force departing from Roy Island arrived. This time they were discovered by Bosi, who was responsible for looking out on the iron cabinet watchtower. Within a few seconds, he issued a warning loudly through the J-line. Major Baylor used the ground-to-air radio equipment pieced together by the Navy Aviation Base to issue air raid alarms to the combat patrol formation; on the ground, each company entered the first level of combat readiness ; three gunshots sounded on the island, indicating that the air raid alarms spread throughout the island. (Wick has never had a special air strike alarm sounding device. According to convention, the only available alternative is to use "three gunshots". I once used car horn to connect directly to the battery, but this system did not play the expected role.)
When the leader's Japanese plane approached Picock point from an altitude of 4,000 meters, it was immediately welcomed completely differently from the day before: the anti-aircraft guns at Picock Island and Picock points happened to fire before dropping the bomb. A little earlier, Kerry Weir and Hamilton flew to the side of a V-shaped bombing squad south of Wick. When the Japanese plane slowed down to 160 knots and was ready to drop bombs, it was like a target. They braved the counterattack firepower of the machine gun tower on the top of the bomber to intercept out-of-the-middle Japanese bombers, claiming to shoot down one of them. When the Japanese bomber finally dropped the bomb, the 76mm high-explosive bomb exploded in the middle and around the central unit, and the fighter stopped attacking.
bombs began to explode on the ground: first it was Picock point, concentrated around Company E, a 76mm anti-aircraft gun was fired, a 76mm anti-aircraft gun was injured, and the rangefinder of Company A was destroyed nearby. First, the southeast of Wake Island was hit by bombs continuously; then there was Camp 2. The contractor's hospital was hit directly and burned; civilians and navy barracks, garages and hardware stores, forward base storage rooms and machinery stores were all destroyed by fires and explosions within minutes. The unfinished Naval Air Station, despite being covered by Company D's 76mm anti-aircraft guns, was devastating attacks on the towers, hangars and broadcast stations, and the Wick Navy radio equipment was destroyed. The No. 1, 2 and 4 of Company D fired 100 shells in the battle, but the No. 3 fired water all the way because of the lack of a striker.
The Japanese defended against the fighter's attack very effectively. They lined up well, carefully leaned together and concentrated machine gun fire, but when the bomb hit Peel Island, Company E saw five bombers starting to smoke from the ground. After a while, one of the frames spewed out a fire and disintegrated in the air. This was Wick's second result. The 24x air defense altimeter tracked the Japanese planes out of sight, and four other smoked planes struggled to return. Japanese records show that 14 bombers were injured by air defense fire during the attack, but only one died and one was slightly injured. The damage caused by
ended up being almost the same as the first air strike.The day before, the hospital filled with wounded began to burn, and two doctors rescued the patient first, followed by medicines and medical devices. Dr. Shank's outstanding performance impressed Hamas present, who was transporting shells and distributing medicine bags to Peel Island because of the air strikes. Hamas later recommended the congressional Medal of Honor for Shank's heroic behavior, and Shank finally received the Naval Cross . The situation after the air strike at Camp No. 2 and Naval Air Station were as bad as the camp and flight track of VMF-211.
On this day, the Japanese Air Force completed the performance, giving the defenders a very impressive lesson. From December 9 to the last aircraft carrier attack, Putnam wrote in the lesson summary: "The initial air strike... was smartly constructed and performed well, and the tactics were stupid. Their best thing should be said to be their excellent flight training and discipline. The time and altitude they arrived at the island were almost unchanged and their attack methods were unchanged, so it was a simple matter to find them. From the first day, they had never changed..." From this afternoon, there was a sad and arduous process every afternoon: transporting the wounded, collecting and rescuing undamaged items in the ruins, and rearranging the equipment in places where they were not attacked. A total of 4 Marines and 55 civilians were killed in the air strike.
The destruction of the hospital has caused an urgent problem. In the afternoon, Cunningham ordered the ammunition stored in the No. 10 and 13 ammunition warehouses reinforced by reinforced concrete were removed, and two 21-bed wards were vacated. ammunition library is 40 feet long and 20 feet wide, and has a maximum of 15 feet on the top. The new battlefield ambulance station also implements light control and uses a small gasoline generator to supply power to the lights. The newly completed ammunition depot is distributed at the north and south ends, each with a set of bunkers, each with 4 bunkers. The two separate wards were deliberately separated for safety and were evenly divided into two wards. Marine field ambulance stands in the southern bunker, led by Dr. Kahn, and a civilian field ambulance stands in the northern bunker, led by Dr. Shank. It works normally until dusk.
During the air strike, Marine gunner Clarence B. McCainstrey observed a Japanese bomber leaving the formation near Picock point, guessing that it was taking air photography, so he suggested that Company E transfer. The Japanese attack on Picock Point Anti-Aircraft Company (E Company) also hints at the order of attack by Major Defro's enemies. The day before, they attacked the fighter jets defending Wick; today they not only bombed the Navy Air Station, but also attacked the 76mm anti-aircraft guns that quickly counterattacked in the first air strike. In order to protect the remaining air defense weapon , Defro ordered the E Company to move the position to a place 600 yards from the original position, where the company can also complete the current air defense. Ernstre brought a F Company unmanned 76mm anti-aircraft gun from Wilkes Island to replace the broken air strike. The position was transferred very carefully, and the second platoon did not withdraw from the old position until one platoon was arranged in the new position.
All night, E Lian carefully completed the redeployment. With the help of about 100 civilian volunteers and trucks of several contractors, artillery, sandbags (which were very precious, were transported from old positions), fire control equipment and ammunition were moved to new artillery positions; filled sandbags; re-launched artillery; and wooden fake cannons were also placed on the original positions. Because the loading machinery was blown up, a group of civilians helped the Marines load the 12.7mm bullets onto the chain at night. Food, drinking water and wood were scattered and stored in different places on the atoll, and the communication center and command post were also transferred.
December 10, after waiting in the morning, the Japanese confirmed the defenders' speculation: according to the previous day's pattern, they would attack Wick again. At 10:45, 26 bombers of the same model appeared. The altimeter showed an altitude of 1,800 feet, and this time it came from the east. VMF-211 intercepted again, and Captain Elrod, who led the combat patrol formation, claimed to shoot down two bombers before the 76mm anti-aircraft gun fired.
During the air strike that day, Company E fired 100 shells on the new position and counterattacked. The bomb hit the 76mm anti-aircraft gun again at the original position of Picock Point, and it was very lucky that it was now empty.Company D, another 76mm anti-aircraft artillery company on duty on Pier Island, was successfully fired through it twice, but an enemy plane caught fire and turned back to sail, causing serious smoke. The second time, the No. 3 gun was broken and the gunman quickly completed the replacement and continued to shoot. Company D was not injured or killed, and 275 shells were fired.
Wilkes Island, although there were no casualties until this time, a successful enemy attack made up for the bad bombing of Peel Island. A bomb hit the "New Waterway" (the "New Waterway" excavated in the center of Wilkes has been partially completed) a hidden building to the west, with 125 tons of construction explosives piled up. The explosion shaved away a large area of bushes on Wilkes Island. The 127mm awaited shells of Company L and the 76mm awaited shells of Company F were all detonated. The only comforting thing is that Company F has never entered service. Due to the shortage of supplies, sandbags are given priority for personnel protection, and L's light equipment and all other moving things were swept away. What is even more surprising is that only one Marine was killed, four Marines were injured and one civilian was mentally ill due to fright. Even if the damage suffered by L Lian is not at its limit, it is very serious. When the gunners who were dizzy and were scrambling to get up from the ground, they found that all the artillery fire control equipment (except the scope of the No. 2 gun) were destroyed, blown away or damaged by shock waves, and cannot be repaired. The artillery itself, the reinforcement components produced by the Naval Ordnance Factory for long-term use in the marine environment, were also broken. The barrel was bent, the firing device fell off, and the horizontal and pitch racks were also damaged. Company F, the 76mm anti-aircraft gun company that has not been operated so far, has also suffered losses. More than one cannon (excluding the one that was replaced from the Picock point) was severely damaged in shock waves and splashed debris. Marine Gunner McCainstrey was just appointed by the contingent commander that morning to command the temporary pieced together company, including sailors and civilian volunteers, responsible for anti-ships, and lost half of his weapons at the beginning. Finally, a 60-inch searchlight on Wilkes Island was hit by multiple pieces of debris, and the exquisite, directional, millions of candlelight were broken.
Japanese records show that one bomber did not return.
Major de Fro judged that the enemy was trying to destroy Wick's air defense force and ordered the E Company to transfer its position, which was closely watched by the enemy. This time the new position was set at the inner corner of the lagoon north of the plane runway. The original anti-aircraft gun position at Picock Point was attacked violently. On the afternoon of December 10, fake guns were arranged, and the third unmanned gun of the E Company was drawn out of the E Company and deployed on the aircraft runway and the anti-ship positions south of the VMF-211 area. Lewis' subsequent explanation of the position selection was: "Most of them entered the bombing route from east or west, and bombs were thrown in the direction of the island's longest. In this position, the Japanese had to fly along the anti-aircraft guns, and most of the bombs would be thrown into the lagoon." All night, Company E was busy moving the position for the second time. Company D began to strengthen the position at 11:45, repair the generator, and install a small diesel generator obtained from Camp No. 2. The Marines seemed to have a premonition of the fierce battle that was about to take place. At 17:15, Company D had prepared 900 anti-aircraft shells in the company's ammunition depot and reserved 600 armor-piercing shells near the position; Company E also rushed to let the 76mm anti-aircraft cannons enter the position before dawn and prepare for shooting.
The island marines who have experienced the battle of life and death are all guessing that they can resist the next wave of attacks?
From the perspective of the Japanese army, the plan to attack Wake Island
Lieutenant General Inoue commanded the Fourth Fleet of Japan from Truke and started a large number of plans and actions starting on December 8. The combat plan he was responsible for not only the occupation of Wick and the construction of a base, but also the more important Guam and Gilbert Islands (especially Makin and Tarawa Islands). On December 8 and 9, actions against Wick, Guam, Makin and Tarawa appeared very similar.
From the night of December 10, a small number of marines guarding Guam, with heavy weapons not exceeding machine guns, has fallen into the hands of the Japanese Army and Navy Joint Forces, which has an absolute advantage. Earlier that day, Makin Island surrendered, Tarawa Island was attacked by Japanese landing troops, local British officials hid, and the Japanese captured several prisoners of war and then retreated.
Wick is still insisting, despite its small size and Inoue's instructions from above to ignore its defense, members of the Fourth Fleet in Truk and Qujalin did not expect to easily occupy Wick. Despite occupying other targets as planned, everyone knows that Wick has a stronger defense, and the Fourth Fleet is estimated to be composed of 1,000 soldiers and 600 laborers. Even though the initial air strikes fully met the expected target, Wick's fighter jets were still very active, and if the anti-aircraft fire was not fierce, it would at least be continuous and accurate. Because of these two, the Twenty-fourth Air Force has determined to lose five aircraft, and there are four more planes that saw smoke in Wick that were unable to return to the base on Roy Island.
The 24th Air Force is under the jurisdiction of the Chitose Naval Air Force and the Yokohama Naval Air Force, and there is also a spy ship "Shenwei". The former has the Type 96 land attack aircraft, while the latter has 15 4-engine Type 97 seaplanes in West Sichuan. The Chitose Naval Air Force is based on the island of Roy and is responsible for bombing or reconnaissance of the Yokohama Naval Air Force, which is responsible for bombing or reconnaissance of Baker, Howland, Nauru and Ocean Islands, at this time on Majuro Island, 840 miles south of Wick.
The commander of the 24th Air Force, Lieutenant General Goto Hideji, was responsible for the initial air operations, including the necessary air softening to Wick. His plan to prepare for the Japanese landing for Wake was orthodox and correct. The first air strike pointed directly at the runway and VMF-211's 12 brand new fighters, without them, subsequent air strikes would be much easier. The second air strike was essentially the first sweep. The principles aimed at naval air stations, seaplane equipment and several other facilities that support atoll air defense. After the above goals are completed, the 24th Air Force can systematically and gradually eliminate several companies on the island, whether it is the anti-aircraft gun company or the coastal gun company. For this reason, the air strikes on December 10 were concentrated on Pier Island and Wilkes Island. Pier Island returned in vain due to the counterattack of the D Company. The bombing effect was poor and he returned without success. The Wilkes Island ammunition depot was hit and a large-scale explosion occurred, which made the pilot very satisfied.
may be sufficient to do so according to Japan's aviation preparation standards for weakening the defense of targets on the island. However, the next process proved that although the three-day bombing caused considerable losses to Wick, it was obviously not enough to log in immediately.
login operation was commanded by Rear Admiral Kuang Dingdao, commander of the Sixth Mine Team. His commander's flag fluttered on the light cruiser "Xizhang". The chief counselor of the Sixth Mine Team, Satoshi Koyama, later said to the landing plan during the US military interrogation: "Basically, it is planned to send 150 people to Wilkes Island, 300 people to the southern part of Wake Island, and occupy the airport. The northeast coast is not suitable for amphibious landings, and we do not think it is beneficial to defense. The backup landing plan is that when the wind direction on the south bank is unfavorable, we will land on the northeast and north coasts... We expect a rough opportunity, the difficulty is that the landing troops have only 450 people. When the war begins, , We failed to assemble the necessary forces and planned to use the destroyer's sailors to attack the beach in an emergency." ,Week's strategy troops commanded by Shougang include the flagship "Xizaka" of the Sixth Water Mine Team, the destroyer "Zhaofeng" of the 29th Destroyer, and the destroyer "Muyue", "Ruyue", "Yaiyo" and "Wangyue". The landing troops were transported by the 32nd and 33rd sentry boats modified from the old second-class destroyers "Kui" and "Di", as well as the special cruisers "Kingangmaru" and "Kinglongmaru". The light cruisers "Tianlong" and "Longtian" of the 18th Team were responsible for artillery support and cover. It is the 24th Air Force that provides air support, and it is almost impossible for small islands like the "Nanyang" Wick to be approved for carrier-based aviation.
The 450 special marines responsible for logging in are organized into two squadrons, lacking special equipment for logging in, and possessing light machine guns, grenade launchers and infantry artillery. The information on the boarding situation is unknown. According to the deployment of Japan's successful landing, the attack echelon of the Special Marine Corps may be installed on two sentinel boats, and the subsequent garrison and base construction echelons are installed on two ad hoc cruisers.
On December 3, the landing formation departed from Truke arrived on Roy Island. On December 9, the formation took a detour westward route to Wick.Although it was expected that the US fleet would not meet, the Japanese fleet would send out alert ships cautiously. Lu 62 of the 26th Diving Team and Lu 66 of the 27th Diving Team remained 120 kilometers in front of the formation. The submarine was also responsible for making a normal measurement of the detailed size of Wick before the formation arrived, because the estimated time for the submarine to arrive at Wick was before dawn, and it is questionable whether the submarine watchman could make any contribution to amphibious reconnaissance. Japan has always paid great attention to guarding against possible torpedo boats. Behind the submarine, 16 kilometers ahead of the formation, a leading destroyer was responsible for reconnaissance and guidance tasks.
resisted several waves of air raids of Wick Island. Although they were exhausted physically and mentally, they still dared not slacken in preparing for the war, because they understood that it was the turn of the main course that went hand in hand for the air to go hand in hand...
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