thedrifter
06-18-07, 09:22 AM
The Lore of the Corps
Marines helped seize Japan before formalized surrender
By Nick Adde - Special to the Times
Posted : June 25, 2007
After the Japanese surrender on Aug. 15, 1945, ended World War II, thousands of U.S. service members were understandably eager to head home to their families.
But before the surrender could be formalized and the troops could go home, they had to occupy Japan.
Serious questions loomed. Would a foe known for fighting to the last man capitulate? Or would the Allied occupation devolve into endless bloody skirmishes against guerrillas who refused to accept their emperor’s order to end hostilities? In any case, both Army Gen. Douglas MacArthur, commander of U.S. forces in the Pacific, and Fleet Adm. Chester Nimitz, commander in chief of the Pacific Fleet, would have the Marine Corps play a key role.
According to official Marine Corps records, Nimitz would tap Fleet Marine Force, Pacific, to provide a regimental combat team to immediately occupy the Japanese navy’s base at Yokosuka.
The landing force, under the command of Brig. Gen. William Clement, received orders to be ready to move from Guam within 48 hours. Joining them were Navy units and British marines. Of the 5,400-member cadre, roughly 2,000 were Marines.
With Japanese pilots guiding the Navy ships, they arrived safely ashore at Yokosuka on Aug. 31. Almost simultaneously, troops occupied the air base at Atsugi.
“The main landing of the 4th Marines, commanded by Lt. Col. Fred Beans, was almost anticlimactic,” Henry Shaw wrote in an official Marine Corps historical pamphlet dated 1969. They landed on schedule and encountered no resistance, he wrote.
Later that day, Japanese officers surrendered control of the military facilities to Clement. Adm. William Halsey Jr., commander of the 3rd Fleet, accepted a formal surrender not long afterward.
As it became clear that the Japanese would cooperate fully, Army units moved in to relieve 4th Marines. They, in turn, moved forward to form perimeters around the Yokosuka and Atsugi bases.
On Sept. 20, 18 days after MacArthur accepted the formal Japanese surrender aboard the battleship Missouri, Beans replaced Clement as commander of the Marine occupying force at Yokosuka and Atsugi.
Within months, the Army assumed the lion’s share of occupation duty. Marines still aided the operation by conducting security and military police patrols, helping dispose of Japanese ordnance and supervising the unloading of Japanese troops from ships as they returned from island outposts that had been bypassed during the Allied advance.
By year’s end, faced with pressure from the public and on Capitol Hill, commanders accelerated plans to send Marines back to the States. The last leathernecks taking part in the occupation, members of Marine Aircraft Group 31, departed Japan in June 1946.
While today’s Marine presence in Japan is largely centered on the island of Okinawa, 1,000 miles away from Tokyo, the U.S. Navy still maintains a significant presence at both Yokosuka and Atsugi.
Ellie
Marines helped seize Japan before formalized surrender
By Nick Adde - Special to the Times
Posted : June 25, 2007
After the Japanese surrender on Aug. 15, 1945, ended World War II, thousands of U.S. service members were understandably eager to head home to their families.
But before the surrender could be formalized and the troops could go home, they had to occupy Japan.
Serious questions loomed. Would a foe known for fighting to the last man capitulate? Or would the Allied occupation devolve into endless bloody skirmishes against guerrillas who refused to accept their emperor’s order to end hostilities? In any case, both Army Gen. Douglas MacArthur, commander of U.S. forces in the Pacific, and Fleet Adm. Chester Nimitz, commander in chief of the Pacific Fleet, would have the Marine Corps play a key role.
According to official Marine Corps records, Nimitz would tap Fleet Marine Force, Pacific, to provide a regimental combat team to immediately occupy the Japanese navy’s base at Yokosuka.
The landing force, under the command of Brig. Gen. William Clement, received orders to be ready to move from Guam within 48 hours. Joining them were Navy units and British marines. Of the 5,400-member cadre, roughly 2,000 were Marines.
With Japanese pilots guiding the Navy ships, they arrived safely ashore at Yokosuka on Aug. 31. Almost simultaneously, troops occupied the air base at Atsugi.
“The main landing of the 4th Marines, commanded by Lt. Col. Fred Beans, was almost anticlimactic,” Henry Shaw wrote in an official Marine Corps historical pamphlet dated 1969. They landed on schedule and encountered no resistance, he wrote.
Later that day, Japanese officers surrendered control of the military facilities to Clement. Adm. William Halsey Jr., commander of the 3rd Fleet, accepted a formal surrender not long afterward.
As it became clear that the Japanese would cooperate fully, Army units moved in to relieve 4th Marines. They, in turn, moved forward to form perimeters around the Yokosuka and Atsugi bases.
On Sept. 20, 18 days after MacArthur accepted the formal Japanese surrender aboard the battleship Missouri, Beans replaced Clement as commander of the Marine occupying force at Yokosuka and Atsugi.
Within months, the Army assumed the lion’s share of occupation duty. Marines still aided the operation by conducting security and military police patrols, helping dispose of Japanese ordnance and supervising the unloading of Japanese troops from ships as they returned from island outposts that had been bypassed during the Allied advance.
By year’s end, faced with pressure from the public and on Capitol Hill, commanders accelerated plans to send Marines back to the States. The last leathernecks taking part in the occupation, members of Marine Aircraft Group 31, departed Japan in June 1946.
While today’s Marine presence in Japan is largely centered on the island of Okinawa, 1,000 miles away from Tokyo, the U.S. Navy still maintains a significant presence at both Yokosuka and Atsugi.
Ellie