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MARINE TANKERS IN THE SOUTH PACIFIC The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor propelled the United States in the Second World War. Although Marines had been working at a breakneck pace to prepare for war, the Corps was just not ready for hostilities. Nevertheless, Marines did the best they could. Wake Island fell with its gallant garrison. The Philippines surrendered after a bloody campaign and the heroic 4th Marine Regiment was forced into captivity. The Marine Corps' expansion went into overdrive. In May 1942, the Tank Training School was officially established at Jacque's Farm, subordinate to Camp Elliott, north of San Diego. Units continued to deploy overseas to shore up the thin defensive crust in the Pacific. In January 1942 the 2nd Marine Brigade — the first wartime expeditionary brigade — deployed to American Samoa. With them went the brand new M3A1 light tanks of Company B, 2nd Tank Battalion. In June 1942, a tank platoon of the 6th Defense Battalion took part in the defense of Midway Island. In the summer of 1942, the 1st Marine Division began deploying to New Zealand. With only a few weeks to mount out, the Old Breed was alerted for its first combat assault in World War II. This was the landing on Guadalcanal, in August 1942. Among the forces that splashed ashore were tankers from the 1st Tank Battalion, equipped with M2A4 and M3 lights tanks, and Company C, 2nd Tank Battalion, equipped with new M3A1 light tanks.
The fight for Guadalcanal was a complex series of land, sea and air engagements that left mud Marines wondering what was going on. Early in the campaign the threat of Japanese naval attack forced the withdrawal of transports filled with desperately needed supplies. Both sides viewed the island as essential to their war aims and poured combat power into the battle. The Solomon Islands were a harsh place for men and machines. Tankers faced many tough challenges. There were shortages of spare parts, lubricating oil, gasoline and ammunition. At the end of a long supply chain, Marines on the 'canal quipped, "We're short of everything but Japs." The climate itself seemed to conspire against survival. Temperatures and humidity soared in the tropical jungles. The poorly ventilated tanks became furnaces that soaked up heat and kept it in long after dusk. Engines overheated and metal surfaces became hot enough to burn the skin of unwary Marines. Hordes of mosquitoes infected Marines with malaria and dysentery ran rampart through the ranks. It was, to say the least, an austere, dangerous and utterly exhausting existence:
Just driving from place to place was hard. Tanks sometimes bogged down in heavy mud and jungle streams. If self- or buddy-recovery wasn't possible, a tank might have to be abandoned. And of course, there was a war on. Tankers went in the line every day, fighting against a tough and resolute enemy. From D-Day on, the learning curve was steep because the Japanese were relentless in their quest to destroy tanks. War correspondent Robert Tregaskis accompanied the 1st Marine Division on the 'canal and he was a witness to the battles along Alligator Creek (known to Marines as the Tenaru River) on the night of 20-21 August 1942. In this series of actions, elements of the Japanese Ichiki Detachment launched massed attacks against defensive lines of the First Marines on the Lunga Perimeter's eastern flank. The enemy was utterly defeated. After daylight on 21 August, a light tank platoon of Company A, 1st Tank Battalion, assisted infantry Marines in the final destruction of the Ichiki Detachment. Tregaskis described the scene:
1stLt Leo Case, platoon leader of the Company A tanks, earned one of the first awards for heroism by a Marine tanker in World War II. During the battle on 21 August 1942, his tank bogged down in the midst of Japanese troops. According to the official citation:
On more than one occasion, tanks were knocked out when the crews lost contact with accompanying infantry. Struggling to see through the tiny periscopes of their Stuarts, tank commanders sometimes had to open their hatches for better observation. This made the tanks extremely vulnerable to hand grenades thrown into the turrets. The high octane aviation gasoline used in the Stuart tank gave it speed and agility, but also turned it into a funeral pyre when the gas tank was penetrated.
On 14 September 1942, four tanks of 2nd Platoon, Company C, 1st Tank Battalion were knocked out or abandoned in an uncoordinated attack against Japanese antitank guns on the Ilu River sector. One Marine described the action:
Like all Marines on the 'canal, tankers lived though nightly harassment from Japanese bombing raids nicknamed "Washing Machine Charlie" and "Louie the Louse". They endured the pounding of Japanese battleships on "Dugout Sunday", and sweated through chill-wracked nights with dysentery and malaria. Marines learned a great deal about their tanks and how to employ them in combat. They found out the Stuart's 37mm gun wasn't big enough to reliably destroy Japanese fortifications. But the Marines also learned they could beat Japanese armor. For instance, in October 1942, 37mm antitank guns destroyed Japanese armor in three major engagements on the Matanikau River. The Guadalcanal campaign ended in January 1943, but the war went on as U. S. forces pushed north through the Solomon Islands. From July-September 1943, light tank platoons of the 9th, 10th and 11th Marine Defense Battalions supported Army forces in the capture and occupation of the New Georgia group.
These islands were, if anything, more pestilential than Guadalcanal. But, Marines and Soldiers kept up the fight, learning as they drove forward through malarial swamps and thick jungle. The Stuart tank continued to show its shortcomings— primarily the small size of its gun, its thin armor, and high octane gasoline. One tanker remembered, "Anything would have helped that would have thrown something bigger than a 37mm."(5) Meanwhile, the Marine Corps kept growing. In September 1942, the 3rd Tank Battalion was formed at Camp Pendleton, Calif. In January 1943 the 1st Corps Tank Battalion (Medium) was activated at Camp Elliott, Calif. This was the Corps' first M4-equipped battalion. In May 1943, the 1st Tank Battalion, then in Australia refitting and recovering from the 'canal, received 24 brand new M4A1 medium tanks and new M5 Stuart light tanks. That same month, the 4th Tank Battalion formed at Camp Pendleton.
As 1943 came to a close, the war shifted northward into the Central Pacific. Marines were heading for a new combat zone every bit as dangerous and demanding as the South Pacific, but the foundation was laid for the coming campaigns. In the Solomon Islands, our Marine tankers fought with old equipment and thinly stretched supply lines. But new technologies were on the way, many of which would impact them directly. Even while Marines and Soldiers pushed northward through the Solomons, their hard won lessons were being applied for future campaigns.
Notes
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