Assault on the Marshall and Gilbert Islands
TBD Devastator during torpedo release
| date | February 1, 1942 |
|---|---|
| place |
Marshall Islands : Wotje , Jaluit , Taroa , Roi-Namur , Mili |
| output | American surprise success - only relatively minor damage to the Japanese, but an important first practical test for the American carrier-based aircraft |
| Parties to the conflict | |
|---|---|
| Commander | |
|
High Command: |
Shigeyoshi Inoue (4th Fleet) |
| losses | |
|
|
The attack on the Marshall and Gilbert Islands was the first offensive action by the US Navy in the Pacific War in order to at least slow down the further advance of the Japanese towards the east. The task force with two aircraft carriers , five cruisers and eleven destroyers started on January 21, 1942 and reached their destination on January 27. The fleet was split up and began on February 1 with an artillery bombardment from the ships and aircraft attacks by the carriers on the Japanese bases. Japanese counterattacks caused minor damage to an American carrier and cruiser. As a result of the attacks, the Japanese initially withdrew their aircraft carriers into the domestic waters.
planning
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Extensive observations of the advancing Japanese armed forces in the Pacific led the high command of the US fleet under Admiral Ernest J. King to decide in early January 1942 to better protect the supply line between the US west coast and Australia and to carry out counter-attacks on Japanese installations.
Submarine and other intelligence investigations showed that the Japanese 4th Fleet had taken Truk as a base and was reinforced by a carrier and a cruiser division. In addition, many Japanese submarines were in bases on the Marshall Islands. Their headquarters were located on Jaluit. The radius of operation of the submarines expanded into the eastern Pacific region as far as Hawaii . Attacks by cruisers, destroyers and converted Japanese merchant ships in the Gilbert Islands group also indicated further eastern advances. Makin had been occupied by Japanese landing troops on December 9, 1941 without resistance. There they had set up a base for flying boats (→ Kawanishi H6K ). Clarifications also revealed indications of the expansion of an airfield on the island.
On January 2, the staff around Nimitz recommended a strike against the Marshall and Gilbert Islands, but Vice Admiral William S. Pye first wanted to move troops to American Samoa to prevent the Japanese from advancing in that direction. Both sides agreed to accompany the passage of US Marines to American Samoa with two aircraft carriers , while a third carrier would attack Wake and the fourth would protect Hawaii from the Pacific. Following the Samoa operation, both carriers were to attack the Marshall and Gilbert Islands. Although Nimitz himself supported the plan, some of his staff were against it. The main reasons were the unavailability of the battleships lost in the attack on Pearl Harbor and the fact that the porters did not want to be lost in the event of a possible counter-attack by the Japanese. Only when Admiral Halsey on January 7 with the USS Enterprise to O'ahu returned immediately and the word on Nimitz 'seized side, the other staff members agreed.
The marching orders were issued on January 9th. Task Force 8 (TF8) with the USS Enterprise was intended as an escort for the USS Yorktown to American Samoa. Both should then attack the Marshall and Gilbert Islands. The USS Lexington was intended for the attack on Wake and the USS Saratoga as protection for Hawaii.
In particular, enemy ships and aircraft were named as targets for the attack on the Marshall and Gilbert Islands using ship artillery and carrier-supported combat aircraft. Furthermore, the fuel tanks , radio stations and coastal batteries installed by the Japanese on the islands should be switched off. If troop concentrations and larger supply depots were discovered, these would also have to be attacked. On January 25, the two task forces from American Samoa should start the operation.
The Japanese defenders
The Marshall Islands were conquered by the Japanese during World War I. After the war, Japan was officially entrusted with the administration of the islands by the League of Nations under the Japanese mandate of the South Seas . In 1933 the Japanese Empire withdrew from the League of Nations, which also rendered all obligations of the mandate power to the League of Nations obsolete. From the 1930s the mandate area was militarized. From this time on, military bases were built there. Shortly before the start of the war, part of the 4th Fleet was stationed on Kwajalein under Admiral Shigeyoshi Inoue . She also maintained a base for submarines there.
On December 7, 1941, the day of the attack on Pearl Harbor , the Japanese also landed on the neighboring Gilbert Islands, which were completely in their hands from December 10th. The Japanese established a base for seaplanes in the Makin Atoll.
To defend the Marshall Islands, the Japanese had transferred parts of the 24th Air Fleet under Rear Admiral Eiji Gotō there. The planes had been distributed to various islands. There were a total of 33 warplanes, nine bombers and nine flying boats there. The remaining units of the 24th Air Fleet, especially the other bombers, were stationed further south on Truk and in Rabaul. The airfields themselves were protected with smaller anti-aircraft guns and the Japanese had set up coastal batteries on some beaches.
execution
After all 5,000 Marines had been dropped on American Samoa on January 24th, the two task forces set sail on the following day for the Marshall Islands, which are about 5,000 km away.
On board the USS Enterprise , the detailed attack plans for the individual islands were worked out and distributed between the two task forces. Task Force HOW received targets Wotje and Taroa in the Maloelap Atoll, Task Force FOX Makin in the Gilbert Islands and Jaluit and Mili in the southern Marshall Islands. After recent reports from the submarine USS Dolphin , in which previous suspicions about strong coastal defenses of the Marshall Islands could be refuted, Kwajalein was assigned to Task Force HOW. The risk was that the USS Enterprise now had to operate very close to the enemy bases on Wotje and Taroa.
On January 31st (when crossing the dateline from the western to the eastern hemisphere a whole day was skipped) at around 3:00 a.m., preparations began on the ships for the first simultaneous air strikes.
Task Force HOW
At 6:30 a.m., the entire first squadron of the USS Enterprise was in the air, heading for Roi-Namur in the Kwajalein Atoll. The squadron consisted of 37 scout bombers , nine torpedo bombers and six fighters . Due to the foggy weather shortly before sunrise and the obsolete maps they carried with them, the pilots had difficulties identifying Roi in the atoll range, but they succeeded at 7:05 a.m. At this time the second season of the USS Enterprise was already taking off .
Meanwhile, the task force's cruisers and destroyers began shelling the islands of Wotje and Taroa.
The destination on Roi was left to each pilot himself, since no current information about it was available. After the first overflight, the Japanese anti-aircraft guns began to fire on the American machines, which on the second approach shot at the first identified targets and dropped the bombs they carried. In doing so, they caused damage to the runway at the airfield and destroyed an ammunition depot , two hangars and a radio station. However, the Japanese managed to launch some fighter planes that pursued the attackers and tried to intercept them, but they did not succeed.
On Kwajalein, the approaching pilots of the second season spotted a Japanese cruiser and several transport ships at anchor. Without much resistance, they scored a few hits and saw two transporters sinking as they took off. On Taroa, the pilots discovered a newly created, fully functional airfield. The Japanese bombers lined up there were bombed immediately, but it was only possible to set one on fire. However, others had been irreparably damaged by machine gun fire. However, the Japanese managed to start some fighters, so that the American planes were involved in dogfights. Despite their relative inexperience, the Americans were able to shoot down at least one Japanese machine and escape the others.
After the squadrons returned from their missions and were refueled and armed, the American ships intensified their coastal bombardment of the islands. The fire was subsequently directed onto Japanese ships leaving the port.
The fighters and bombers of the USS Enterprise flew further air strikes against Taroa and Wotje until noon that day. Most of the Japanese planes were still on the ground on Taroa, so many of them could be destroyed.
In the early afternoon the USS Enterprise was heading north at 30 kn . For the time being, there was no expected Japanese counter-attack. Enemy machines that were sighted often caused alarms, but did not come within range of the guns. It wasn't until 1:30 p.m. that five Mitsubishi G3M bombers reached the carrier. Four of their own hunters could not stop them because they disappeared into the clouds at a higher altitude. Only shortly before reaching the USS Enterprise did they emerge from the clouds again. The defensive fire, which started immediately, prevented a direct hit on the aircraft carrier, but a close explosion inside the carrier caused a fuel line to tear and thus a fire. Four bombers escaped shortly thereafter, but the damaged fifth tore off some of the tail sections of a parked Dauntless on the flight deck in a dive before crashing into the sea.
A few hours later two fighters ascended to cover the USS Enterprise chased an approaching Japanese flying boat, which escaped. A little later, the carrier's escort was bombed from a great height without suffering any damage. Shortly after 7:00 p.m., all aircraft had landed on the USS Enterprise again , and the carrier and its escort fleet headed northwest. There were no further counter-attacks by the Japanese.
Task Force FOX
The target point for the ships of Task Force FOX was between the Marshall and Gilbert Islands and was chosen so that targets in both groups of islands could be attacked.
The first fighter planes took off at around 5:17 a.m. aiming at Jaluit. The group consisted of 17 scout bombers and 11 torpedo bombers. Due to the bad weather at the time, parts of the group lost themselves as they circled over the USS Yorktown to gather. This not only delayed the departure time, but also the fuel available was calculated differently.
The planes reached Jaluit at 6:30 a.m. and were caught in heavy rain and storms during the approach. But from around 7:00 a.m., the first attack against the port was launched. A freighter lying there was hit in the stern area, and other smaller units were hit. Due to the bad weather, however, it was hardly possible for the pilots to adequately examine the damage caused. The base for the flying boats was then the next destination. After some buildings and shelters were shot at, the pilots made out a smaller ship anchored, which also received several hits. Almost no enemy defense was observed during the attack, but the very bad weather and lack of fuel meant that six aircraft of the enemy were lost.
Nine scout bombers had turned off towards Makin after the first group at 5:44 a.m. There they sighted a seaplane tender and two flying boats at around 6:30 a.m. in bad weather . The group decided to focus all bombs on these targets. The tender was bombed on fire immediately after the first approach, and the two flying boats received several hits from the on-board guns. A small-caliber anti-aircraft gun was mounted on the tender, with which the Japanese tried to get a few hits on the attackers, but they did not succeed. Another target for the USS Yorktown bombers was a small barge anchored there . No defensive fortifications or anti-aircraft guns could be made out on Makin. Shortly afterwards, the bombers set course again for the USS Yorktown .
The bombing of Mili began at 7:20 a.m. after the five scout bombers launched from the USS Yorktown first surveyed the situation there. Since they could not see any anti-aircraft guns or other military installations, they decided to attack the warehouses and a larger water tank that had been identified there. The damage caused was only minor.
The USS Yorktown itself was able to keep an attacking Japanese bomber at a distance with its onboard guns, which was then shot down by two returning fighter planes. Shortly thereafter, the USS Yorktown turned and began to sail northwest.
consequences
After the end of the war, the damage caused by this attack turned out to be significantly less than originally assumed, especially against the background that the American newspapers highlighted the operation as the "Japanese Pearl Harbor". The number of sunken ships reported by the pilots had to be roughly halved.
According to Halsey's report, the real success was not in the comparison of enemy and own losses, but in the learning effect for the pilots and squadron leaders and the knowledge about the poor hit rate of the ship's own air defense. The Japanese fighter planes were reported to give up quickly with coordinated defense by two to three SBDs .
The Japanese high command was surprised at the American advance and subsequently withdrew the larger units such as aircraft carriers and battleships into local waters. Most of them, however, were used at this time of the war in Southeast Asia in the actions against the Dutch East Indies and the adjacent islands (→ Japanese invasion of Southeast Asia ).
composition
The two task forces are composed as follows:
Task Force HOW
Command: Admiral Halsey
Carrier group
- USS Enterprise , Capt. George D. Murray - Task Force flagship
- USS Ralph Talbot , Commander Ralph Earle Jr.
- USS Blue , Commander Harold N. Williams
- USS McCall , Commander Frederick Moosbrugger
Attack group for Wotje under Rear Admiral Raymond A. Spruance :
- USS Northampton , Capt.William D. Chandler - flagship
- USS Salt Lake City , Captain Ellis M. Zacharias
- USS Dunlap , Lieutenant Commander Virginius R. Roane
Attack group for Maloelap under Captain Thomas M. Shock:
- USS Chester , Captain Shock - flagship
- USS Balch , Commander Charles J. Rend
- USS Maury , Lieutenant Commander Elmer D. Snare
Refueling
- USS Platte , Captain Ralph H. Henkle
- USS Craven , Lieutenant Commander Allen P. Calvert
Task Force FOX
Command: Admiral Fletcher
Carrier and attack group
- USS Yorktown , Captain Elliott Buckmaster - flagship
- USS Hughes , Lieutenant Commander Donald J. Ramsey
- USS Sims , Lieutenant Commander Willford M. Hyman
- USS Russell , Lieutenant Commander Glenn R. Hartwig
- USS Walke , Lieutenant Commander Thomas E. Fraser
- USS Louisville , Captain Elliott B. Nixon
- USS St. Louis , Captain George A. Rood
Refueling
- USS Sabine , Commander Houston L. Maples
- USS Mahan , Lieutenant Commander Rodger W. Simpson
credentials
- ↑ a b c d e f g h Office of Naval Intelligence - The Raid on the Marshall and Gilbert Islands - Combat Narrative under: USN Combat Narrative: Early Raids in the Pacific Ocean
- ↑ a b c d USS Enterprise CV-6 - Marshall Islands Raid: 1 February 1942 (Page 1)
- ↑ Stanley Coleman Jersey: The Battle for Betio Island, Tarawa Atoll - A Japanese Perspective: Operations in the Gilbert Islands by the 4th Fleet and the 6th Base Force under: Japanese Forces in the Gilbert and Nauru Islands, Stan Jersey ( Memento from 21. June 2008 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ a b USS Enterprise CV-6 - Marshall Islands Raid: 1 February 1942 (Page 2)
- ^ Office of Naval Intelligence - The Raid on the Marshall and Gilbert Islands - Combat Narrative Page 3 under: USN Combat Narrative: Early Raids in the Pacific Ocean
literature
- Stanley Sandler, World War II in the Pacific: An Encyclopedia , Garland Pub November 2000, ISBN 978-0-8153-1883-5
- US NAVY FACT FILE Aircraft Carriers CV-6 USS Enterprise , Kindle Edition, Amazon Digital Services
- US NAVY FACT FILE Aircraft Carriers CV-5 USS Yorktown , Kindle Edition, Amazon Digital Services
Web links
- THE MARSHALL-GILBERT ISLANDS RAID (English)
- The Early Carrier Raids: February and March, 1942 (English)