LtGen Hideyoshi Obata, Thirty-first Army commander, who took command of the defense of Guam after Gen Takashina’s death, was himself killed by soldiers of the 306th Infantry, when they overran the Mataguac command post.
Major General Kiyoshi Shigematsu, shoring up the morale of his 48th Independent Mixed Brigade, told his men: “The enemy, overconfident because of his successful landing on Saipan, is planning a reckless and insufficiently prepared landing on Guam. We have an excellent opportunity to annihilate him on the beaches.”
Premier Hideki Tojo, supreme commander of the war effort for Japan, also had spirited words for his embattled commanders: “Because the fate of the Japanese empire depends on the result of your operation, inspire the spirit of officers and men and to the very end continue to destroy the enemy gallantly and persistently; thus alleviate the anxiety of the Emperor.”
Back to visit Guam a half century later, a former Japanese lieutenant said the tremendous American invasion fleet offshore had “paved the sea” and recalled what he thought on 21 July: “This is the day I will die.”
“Conditions,” said Admiral Conolly, “are most favorable for a successful landing.”
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General Allan H. Turnage
Allan H. Turnage was commissioned in 1913, and went to France as commanding officer of the 5th Machine Gun Battalion, 5th Brigade of Marines. In the interwar period, Turnage had an assortment of assignments to sea duty and to duty overseas, and in 1935 he reported as director of The Basic School, then at the Philadelphia Navy Yard. At the outset of World War II, he commanded Camp Lejeune and its training center, which was responsible for the organization and training of two regimental combat teams slated for duty with the 3d Marine Division. In October 1942 he became assistant division commander of the 3d Marine Division and its commander the next September. General Turnage led the division in the landing on Bougainville and the liberation of Guam. Following the end of the war, he became Assistant Commandant of the Marine Corps. Lieutenant General Turnage’s final assignment was command of Fleet Marine Force, Pacific, at Pearl Harbor. Upon his retirement in 1948, because he was decorated in combat, he received a fourth star. He died in October 1971.
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