Battle of Wake Island
The Battle of Wake Island was a battle of the Pacific campaign of World War II, fought on Wake Island. The assault began simultaneously with the attack on Pearl Harbor naval and air bases in Hawaii on the morning of 8 December 1941 (7 December in Hawaii), and ended on 23 December, with the surrender of American forces to the Empire of Japan. It was fought on and around the atoll formed by Wake Island and its minor islets of Peale and Wilkes Islands by the air, land, and naval forces of the Japanese Empire against those of the United States, with Marines playing a prominent role on both sides.
The battle started with a surprise bombing raid on December 8, 1941, within hours of Pearl Harbor, and the air raids continued almost every day for the duration of the battle. There were two amphibious assaults, one on December 11, 1941 (which was rebuffed) and another on December 23, that led to the Japanese capture of the atoll. In addition, there were several air battles above and around Wake and an encounter between two naval vessels. The U.S. lost control of the island and 12 fighter aircraft; in addition to the garrison being taken as prisoners of war, nearly 1200 civilian contractors were also captured by the Japanese. The Japanese lost about two dozen aircraft of different types, four surface vessels, and two submarines as part of the operation, in addition to at least 600 armed forces. It is typically noted that 98 civilian POWs captured in this battle were used for slave labor and then executed on Wake Island in October 1943. The other POWs were deported and sent to prisoner of war camps in Asia, with five executed on the sea voyage.
The island was held by the Japanese for the duration of the Pacific War theater of World War II; the remaining Japanese garrison on the island surrendered to a detachment of United States Marines on 4 September 1945, after the earlier surrender on 2 September 1945 on the battleship USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay to General Douglas MacArthur.[8]
Starting in January 1941, the United States Navy constructed a military base on the atoll. On 19 August, the first permanent military garrison, elements of the 1st Marine Defense Battalion[9] deployed to Wake Island under the command of Major P.S. Devereux, USMC with a force of 450 officers and men. Despite the relatively small size of the atoll, the Marines could not man all their defensive positions nor did they arrive with all their equipment, notably their air search radar units.[10]
The Marine Detachment was supplemented by Marine Corps Fighter Squadron VMF-211, consisting of 12 F4F-3 Wildcat fighters, commanded by Marine aviator Major Paul A. Putnam, USMC. Also present on the island were 68 U.S. Navy personnel and about 1,221 civilian workers for the Morrison-Knudsen Civil Engineering Company. The workers were to carry out the company's construction plans for the island. Most of these men were veterans of previous construction programs for the Boulder Dam, Bonneville Dam, or Grand Coulee Dam projects. Others were men who were in desperate situations and great need for money.[11]
A couple dozen or so Pan-American employees, and forty-five Chamorro men (native Micronesians from the Mariana Islands and Guam) were employed by Pan American Airways at the company's facilities on Wake Island, one of the stops on the Pan Am Clipper trans-Pacific amphibious air service initiated in 1935. The civilian facility was part of a string of seaplane bases that opened the first commercial air route across the Pacific, and other stops were at islands across the Pacific. The flying boats were some of the largest fixed-wing aircraft of the day, and the tickets were very expensive but did allow a much faster trip to Asia and Australia.
Morris-Knudsen, was a company that had been contracted to build military facilities on Wake starting in 1941. They brought in over 1000 contractors to build, starting in 1941:[12]
Pan Am remained in operation up to the day of the first Japanese air raid in December 1941, the airline had been operating a seaplane base and hotel since the mid-1930s.[13]
The Marines were armed with six 5-inch (127 mm)/51 cal pieces, originating from the old battleship USS Texas (1892); twelve 3 in (76 mm)/50 cal anti-aircraft guns (with only a single working anti-aircraft director among them); eighteen .50 in (12.7 mm) Browning heavy machine guns; and thirty .30 in (7.62 mm) heavy, medium, and light water- and air-cooled machine guns.
The Marines were still equipped with bolt-action M1903 Springfield rifle (firing 30-06), as they had yet to switched over to the semi-automatic M1 Garand rifle.[14] Other small arms included Thompson submachine guns and pistols in .45 caliber, as well as hand grenades.[15]
One of the tasks of the newly built air base was resupplying B-17 bombers transiting the Pacific Ocean.[16]
On 28 November, naval aviator Commander Winfield S. Cunningham, USN reported to Wake to assume overall command of U.S. forces on the island. He had 10 days to examine the defenses and assess his men before war broke out.
On 6 December, Japanese Submarine Division 27 (Ro-65, Ro-66, Ro-67) was dispatched from Kwajalein Atoll to patrol and blockade the pending operation. (see also Japanese Type L submarine)
December 7, 1941 was a clear and bright day on Wake Island. Just the previous day, Major Devereux did a practice drill for his Marines, which happened to be the first one done because of the great need to focus on the island's defenses. The drill went well enough that Major Devereux commanded the men to rest on the Sabbath and take their time relaxing, doing laundry, writing letters, thinking, cleaning, or doing whatever they wished.[17] On Monday, December 8, 1941, the day started normally enough, a China Clipper flew in on its way to Guam, but on then radio word of an attack on Pearl Harbor arrived. Wake was on the other side of the date line, so though just hours away in time from Pearl, the massive attacks by Japan came on Monday, not Sunday.[18]
PBY visit and carrier strike (December 20–21)[edit]
A PBY Catalina flying boat arrived on December 20, 1941, with a delivery of mail, and when it left, one marine was sent away on orders because he was required on Midway, thus, Lt. Colonel Bayler became the last person to leave Wake Island before its loss.[33] The PBY Catalina was very exciting for the military and civilians on the island, especially those hoping for an evacuation; indeed, the PBY carried secret orders to begin the evacuation of civilians. The orders for the Wake commander were to prepare most of the contractors for evacuation and also to let him know what equipment was going to be supplied by the relief mission, such as a radar, ammunition, and additional personnel. This also allowed the Wake Island staff to provide a detailed account and paperwork for the battle that had been occurring. The PBY was refueled and took off the next morning of December 21, 1941, with one additional passenger.[34]
The Japanese intercepted radio transmissions from the PBY, which caused them to move the second landing attempt forward one day. On the morning of 21 December, the second and larger invasion fleet departed their base in the Marshalls, and the carrier group accelerated. The carrier group came within range of Wake on December 21, 1941.[34]
On December 21, 49 aircraft attacked Wake, striking from a Japanese carrier group consisting of the Hiryu and Soryu .[35] After the raid, a F4F Wildcat was launched to try to follow the carrier planes back to their base, and the Wake commander also notified Pearl of the attack. There was an additional air raid later that day, with 33 G3M2 Nells striking Wake, and this killed a platoon sergeant and wounded several others; these came from the Japanese base on Roi.[34]
On December 22, a carrier air raid from the Hiyru and Soryu consisting of 39 planes arrived. The Wildcats defended, and in the ensuing air battle, both were shot down, with one just making it back to base and the other was not heard from. Interestingly, the Japanese admiral Abe of the carrier group was impressed by the courage of two Marine pilots and made a note of this.[34]
Meanwhile, back at Pearl, Commander Pye was also impressed by the brave defense, who had gotten the reports from the PBY visit. This increased the Americans resolve to rescue Wake even if it meant risking the Tangier. The idea would be to send the Tangier in with two destroyers to do the relief mission. Further out to sea the two carrier groups would support the operation. However, it was a race against time, as the Japanese fleet would arrive the morning of the 23 December 1941.[34]
During this time, there was a US Naval force on the way that was going to resupply Wake on December 24, but it did not work as planned as the Japanese 2nd wave took the island on December 23 before this could take place.[35] American and Japanese dead from the fighting between December 8 and 23 were buried on the island even before the last stand on 23 December.[36]
A rusted shore battery
Revetments for aircraft built by POWs
WW2 Bunker
WW2 bunker on Wake overlooking a beach
The battle left the island filled with WW2 bunkers and landmarks.