JAPS. IN CAVES

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIII, Issue 241, 12 October 1942, Page 2

JAPS. IN CAVES

BLOWN OUT BY T.N.T.

MARINES IN SOLOMONS

The United States Marines on the sixth day of the Solomon Islands battle hold all k£y objectives in seven islands and are defending them against persistent Japanese counter-attacks, wrote Uobert Miller, United Press correspondent on Tulagi Island. On the first two days the marines captured the five small islands and atolls of Tulagi, Tanambogo, Gavutu, Mbangai and Makambo and objectives which gave them control of the larger Florida and Guadalcanar Islands.

There is no way of estimating the number of Japanese killed. An estimated 000 enemy troops on Tulagi fought to the last man. About 1200, the entire garrison, were killed on Gavutu atoll, the seaplane base.

The Japanese were caught completely by surprise. They had no time to destroy equipment, installations or supplies before they were overwhelmed. This first offensive in the Pacific, in which I went ashore with marine landing parties and saw the entire operation at first hand, opened with a naval bombardment by U.S. Pacific Fleet units, aided by warships of the Royal Australian Navy. Prisoners—malaria sufferers abandoned on Guadalcanal - Island when the enemy garrison fled —said the shell fire was the worst they had experienced.

Japanese Planes Knocked Out

The entire force of Japanese planes at the seaplane base, including nine Zero fighters mounted on pontoons and six heavy seaplanes, was knocked out in the 'first attacks.

In the first 48 hours about 40 Japanese planes which came to the support of the enemy troops were downed over Guadalcanar alone. Within a few hours of the landing, the Guadalcanar air base was being used by U.S. fighter planes, using Japanese fuel.

Two incidents the first night show the intensity of fighting. Major Justin C. Chambers, D.C., suffered fractures of both wrists and superficial wounds on the first afternoon. He kept his command until nightfall. Then he was forced at last to go to a field hospital. A Japanese night counter-attack made it necessary to evacuate the wounded. Major Chambers got out of bed, took command and directed the evacuation.

Major Kenneth D. Bailey's company was held up by the fire from a Japanese machine-gun nest dug deep in the ground on the second morning.

Bailey wormed his way around the pit, jumped to the top of the nest, and tried to kick a hole through the roof so he could drop a hand grenade in it. Failing, he tried to clear away the rocks of the' emplacement. A Japanese rammed a gun through the roof and wounded him through the thigh. But Bailey's single-handed attack on a small fortress had diverted the enemy gunners long enough to enable his men to overwhelm it and rescue him.

Killed 35 Japanese

Before this Bailey had killed 35 Japanese when, braving the crossfire from two machine-gun emplacements, he crammed dynamite down the mouth of a cave and blew the gun crew it shielded to pieces. The work of Platoon Sergeant Harry M. Tully, Hastings, Neb., was described by Captain George R. Stallings, Augusta, Ga., his company commander:

"Several of Tully's best friends were killed or wounded in the landing operations. Instead of becoming unnerved Tully got into a cold rage. For two days and nights he hunted enemy troops, killing Jap after Jap without emotion. He picked off three men in a machine gun nest by firing his pistol, from a distance through a window less than two feet square. Throughout the fight I heard him say only ten words.

"Tully's patience was the greatest I ever have seen. The Japs had a habit of trying to land by night on Gavutu from other islands, shoving logs ahead of them in the water. Tully sat for hours on the beach waiting for them to land. "One Jap landed within six feet of Tullv's position, and went to earth. For 18 minutes neither moved. Then the Japanese raised his head and Tully shot him. His only comment was: 'eighteen minutes, Captain.' "

Fists When Bayonets Lost

Four platoon sergeants, whose companies were held up by a curtain of lire from a honeycombed hill charged up it with automatic rifles. They fired until the rifles were empty and then clubbed and bayoneted the Japanese. They lost their bayonets and fought with their bare fists until they had accounted for every man in the nests.

Captain H. L. Torgerson, Long Island. N.Y., and four scouts blasted 50 Japanese emplacements and machine gun nests with TNT. Torgerson, the only casualty, escaped with a light wrist wound.

Lieutenant-Colonel Merritt A. Edson, Chester, Vt., told how the Marines had landed on Tulagi undetected and made the eastern part of the island before the Japanese saw them and started to fight.

"We killed 17 Japanese in one small limestone cave," he said.

"They manned their machine guns until the last man was dead. Snipers were everywhere, in the trees, in caves, behind rocks.

"Many times the snipers would let us go bv and open up on us from the rear. Some of their holes were natural eaves. Others they had blasted out of the rock. The only way to get them was by dynamite and hand grenades. Many times we held dynamite and hand grenades until the last possible second before we tossed them in the dugouts, only to have the Japanese toss them back."