There was a big gully that ran from the southeast to northwest and right into the western edge of our area. Anybody in their right mind could have figured that if there was to be any counterattacks, that gully would be used....
During the night ... my men were reporting that they were hearing a lot of Japanese chattering down in the gully.... They hit us about midnight in K company’s area. They hauled by hand a couple of 75mm howitzers with them and when they got them up to where they could fire at us, they hit us very hard. I think K company did a pretty damn good job but ... about 150, 200 Japs managed to push through [the 1,500 yards] to the beach area....
When the Japs hit the rear areas, all the artillery and machine guns started shooting like hell. Their fire was coming from the rear and grazing right up over our heads.... In the meantime, the enemy that hit L company was putting up a hell of a fight within 75 yards of where I was and there wasn’t a damn thing I could do about it.
Over in K company’s area ... was where the attack really developed. That’s where [Lt.] Mickey McGuire ... had his 37mm guns on the left flank and was firing cannister. Two of my men were manning a machine gun [Cpl Alfred J. Daigle and Pfc Orville H. Showers].... These two lads laid out in front of their machine gun a cone of Jap bodies. There was a dead Jap officer in with them. Both of the boys were dead.
Department of Defense Photo (USMC) 87645
For Tinian, as in the Marshall Islands and the Saipan and Guam operations, DUKWs (amphibian trucks) were loaded with artillery pieces and ammunition at the mount out area. At the objective beaches, they were driven ashore right to the designated gun emplacements enabling the gun crews to get their weapons laid in and firing quickly. Here, an A-frame unloads a 75mm pack howitzer from an Army DUKW.
A Marine combat correspondent, described this action:
[Showers and Daigle] held their fire until the Japanese were 100 yards away, then opened up. The Japanese charged, screaming, “Banzai,” firing light machine guns and throwing hand grenades. It seemed impossible that the two Marines—far ahead of their own lines—could hold on.... The next morning they were found slumped over their weapons, dead. No less than 251 Japanese bodies were piled in front of them.... The Navy Cross was awarded posthumously to Daigle and the Silver Star posthumously to Showers.
Just before daybreak, Chambers recalled, two tank companies showed up, commanded by Major Robert I. Neiman. They “wanted to get right at the enemy” and Chambers sent them off to an area held by Companies K and L. Neiman returned in about a half hour and said, “You don’t need tanks. You need undertakers. I never saw so many dead Japs.”
On the night of 24–25 July, a Japanese counterattack accompanied by tanks failed completely with heavy losses. Here a Marine inspects the enemy dead near a destroyed tank. Note the placement of the bullet holes in the helmets in the ditch.
Department of Defense Photo (USMC) 91047
