While the United States considered increasing Guam's defenses during and after World War I, no action was taken other than to deploy a USMC seaplane unit to the island in 1921.
By signing up for this email, you are agreeing to news, offers, and information from Encyclopaedia Britannica.Be on the lookout for your Britannica newsletter to get trusted stories delivered right to your inbox.
… The Hayashi Detachment became the pride of the (Japanese) Imperial Navy (after their seizure of Guam).
Donald Sommerville is a writer and editor specializing in military history. When the Marines landed in 1944, the Hayashi Detachment, still on the island, was annihilated.”
As elsewhere, Guam’s
Articles such as this one were acquired and published with the primary aim of expanding the information on Britannica.com with greater speed and efficiency than has traditionally been possible. Captain At 04:45 on 8 December, the governor of the island, The next day, at 08:30, Japanese air attacks resumed, with no more than nine aircraft attacking at a time. This contribution has not yet been formally edited by Britannica. The Battle of Guam was fought July 21 to August 10, 1944, during World War II (1939-1945).
Battle of Guam, (21 July–10 August 1944), World War II event.
Guam is the largest of the Marianas, 30 miles (48 km) long and 9 miles (14 km) wide. Although these articles may currently differ in style from others on the site, they allow us to provide wider coverage of topics sought by our readers, through a diverse range of trusted voices. In attacking Guam, U.S. forces were not only acquiring a fine harbor and a number of airfields to use in future operations, but were also liberating U.S. territory—Guam had been captured by the Japanese in 1941.
Be on the lookout for your Britannica newsletter to get trusted stories delivered right to your inbox.
A contract for minor improvements to the military facilities on Guam was issued in April 1941, and work began the next month.At the outbreak of war on 8 December 1941 (local time), Guam was defended by small US Navy and USMC units as well as the Insular Force Guard. Six U.S. Navy seamen decided to evade capture from the Japanese rather than surrender; five were eventually captured by the Japanese and beheaded. They were …
The island was not seen as being useful in efforts to reinforce the Despite the low priority accorded to Guam, some minor steps were also taken by other commands to improve Guam's defenses before war broke out. But their pride lasted no longer than Japan's hold on Guam. It was not as heavily fortified as the other Mariana Islands such as Saipan that had been Japanese possessions since the end of World War I, but by 1944 it had a large Japanes… The outcomes of the 1922 Japanese plans for the Pacific War included capturing Guam within the war's first days. Again, Thomas Wilds, "The Japanese Seizure of Guam," Marine Corps Gazette, July 1955Again, Thomas Wilds, "The Japanese Seizure of Guam", Marine Corps Gazette, July, 1955 (out of copyright) “With the island softened up by 2 days of bombing and strafing (and U.S. Marine machine gun and small arms counter fire, which, remarkably, actually, struck and disabled enemy aircraft), … His (Maj. Gen. Horii’s) assumption that the main resistance would be on Orote was well founded, for the Marines under Lt. Col William K. MacNulty, less 28 men on patrols at scattered points, took up positions at the butts of their rifle range near Sumay. The First Battle of Guam was an engagement during the Pacific War in World War II, and took place from 8 December to 10 December 1941 on Guam in the Mariana Islands between Japan and the United States. Interested in participating in the The attack on Guam was intended originally to start only days after the landings on