SIMULTANEOUSLY WITH THE STRIKE ON HAWAII, JAPAN . . . (7, Dec. 1941)

     Simultaneously with the strike on Hawaii, Japan attacked the Philippines, Guam, Wake, Hong Kong, Thailand, ranging as far east as Kota Bharu in British Malaya in a perimeter of seemingly half the world; and in that area her naval might was bolstered by convoys in which tens of thousands of battle-hardened veterans of the China campaigns longed to storm ashore and assert the Emporer's will for a greater "Co-Prosperity Sphere."  One objective of these troops was Guam in the Marianas, one of our tiniest advanced bases in the Pacific, which had been principally used by the United States Navy for forty-two years as a communications center.  The entire island garrison was composed of 30 naval officers, seven Marine officers, five naval nurses, six warrant officers and 246 members of the Insular police--a less than miniscule force which was promptly overwhelmed in a few hours.
     Next on the enemy's timetable for conquest came Wake Island.  Strategically important to Japan because it was only 620 miles from Roi and Namur Islands in the Marshalls, and as such could be used as a weapon against them, the capture of Wake Island was undertaken 8, December with a preinvasion air strike by the enemy's Fourth Fleet.  While this raid destroyed many of the island's facilities and killed several civilians, it did nothing to dampen the garrison's ardor for a fight.  The raid was followed up three nights later by the arrival of three light cruisers and several destroyer transports, lifting 450 special naval landing troops and a small number of regular garrison troops.  However, accurate Marine gunfire drove off the flagship, light cruiser Yubari.  Closing to within 6000 yards of the beach, she twice sustained hits.  Other Marine batteries, meanwhile, worked on the destroyer transports with similar results, and the Japanese deferred their landings.  The Marine commander, Major Devereaux, and his opposite number, Commander Cunningham, were elated.
     In Pearl Harbor at this time, a Wake Island relief expedition was formed under the command of rear Admiral Frank Jack Fletcher -- some cruisers and destroyers screening the aircraft carrier Saratoga.  These departed 16, December and promptly ran into heavy weather; moreover, Fletcher's destroyers were badly in need of fuel; in a ten hour period only three of his tin cans had fueled, and heavy seas had parted several fueling hoses.  Whatever the reason, Fletcher decided to abandon the expedition.
     Wake Island was left to fend for itself with a superb Marine fighter squadron and a handful of guns.
     On 23, December the Japanese returned, and in force.  Rear Admiral Kajioka aboard the flagship, now repaired, came with two other light and four heavy cruisers, plus destroyers, for gunfire suppirt.  In the interim, the enemy was sending over devastating bomber strikes from Kwajelein in the Marshalls, and the attrition in men and planes had all but exhausted Wake's capacity to fight on.
     By 02:34 23, December Kajioka was ready.  His force effected four simultaneous landings with more than 1000 troops.  The enemy swarmed ashore and fanned out.
     Within the hour Japanese troops had captured the hospital and the remains of the airfield; then an air attack began which coincided with a concerted bombardment by the naval units.
     The key events of the island's capture are told by Winfield Scott Cunningham and his collaborator, Lydel Sims.  Many of the notes which served to refresh Cunningham's memory were jotted down later, while in a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp.

--S. E. Smith
From: The United States Navy in World War II
Introduction to Part I: Chapter 4, Wake Island Surrenders

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