US Marine Mortar Squad on the Matanikau

Image size: 1600 x 1272 pixel. 601 KB
Date: Sunday, 1 November 1942
Place: Matanikau River, Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands
Photographer: Unknown

1st Marine Division Mortar crew prepares for action during final offensive to take the Matanikau area. The Matanikau River on Guadalcanal was the scene of several engagements during the campaign. The First Battle of the Matanikau (August 19, 1942) annihilated a Japanese reconnaissance in force that was scouting before the main force arrived for the Battle of the Tenaru River. The Second Battle of the Matanikau (September 23-27, 1942) resulted in the near destruction of 1st Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, which was cut off and had to be withdrawn under fire by US Coast Guard landing craft. The Third Battle of the Matanikau (October 7-9, 1942) trapped the Imperial Japanese Army's 2nd Battalion, 4th Infantry in a wooded ravine. 700 were killed. Once Henderson Field was secured after the destruction of the Imperial Japanese Army's 29th and 16th Infantry Regiments under 17th Army's Lieutenant General Harukichi Hyakutake (October 23–26, 1942) the Marines began an offensive to clear the Matanikau area completely. In addition to two Japanese crossings built over the shallow river, American engineers built four personnel and one vehicular bridge by November 1. Three bridges were built overnight on October 31. The 2nd and 5th Regiments of the 1st Marine Division were detailed for the offensive. They crossed the Matanikau on November 1 and encircled the remnants of the Imperial Japanese Army's 2nd Division the next day. Artillery, mortars, and half-tracks mounting 75mm howitzers opened fire on the trapped Japanese on November 3. Two 70mm field pieces, sixteen 37mm antitank guns, and almost forty machine guns were captured and 28 officers and 201 enlisted soldiers were killed, including a colonel commanding the regiment. Another Japanese unit was also annihilated. Meanwhile a Japanese convoy with reinforcements landed, and the accompanying naval units fired on Marine positions, causing heavy casualties. However the Matanikau was cleared, and the Americans were now able to go over to the offensive as the 2nd Marine Division and the US Army's Americal Division began to land in strength. 

Source:

http://www.worldwar2database.com/gallery3/index.php/wwii1080

Artillery Fires in Support of Tenth Army Advance on Shuri

Image size: 1600 x 965 pixel. 397 KB
Date: Friday, 11 May 1945
Place: Southern Okinawa Near Shuri, Japan
Photographer: USMC Corporal Eastman

Marine M114 155mm howitzer of III Amphibious Corps fires in support of Tenth Army advance. On May 9, 1945, US Army Lieutenant General Simon Bolivar Buckner, Jr. ordered a coordinated Tenth Army attack for May 11. The plan of attack called for Tenth Army to renew the assault on the Shuri defenses with its two corps abreast, III Amphibious Corps on the right, XXIV Corps on the left. The initial scheme of maneuver was an envelopment of Shuri by the Marine divisions on the west and the Army divisions on the east, while a strong holding attack was maintained in the center The Tenth Army staff believed that the Japanese positions were weaker on the right and that the fresh Marine divisions had a chance for a quick break-through on that flank. Moreover, the terrain was more favorable along the western coast. The wide flanking maneuver around Shuri that later developed was not projected in the original plans. General Buckner explained on May 10 that there would be nothing spectacular. He added: "It will be a continuation of the type of attack we have been employing to date. Where we cannot take strong points we will pinch them off and leave them for the reserves to reduce. We have ample firepower and we also have enough fresh troops so that we can always have one division resting." The initial order for the attack provided for a 30-minute general preparation by the artillery just before the ground attack. This provision was revoked two days later in favor of pinpointing of targets. The new order stated that "the maximum practicable number of known enemy guns and strong points will be destroyed or neutralized" prior to the infantry assault. The attack launched on schedule, although coordinated initially along the entire front, soon broke down into a series of intense battles for particular landmarks. For ten days of continuous fighting, from Sugar Loaf on the west coast to Conical Hill on the east, the Japanese, except for local and relatively minor retreats, held tenaciously to their long-prepared positions. Finally, on May 21, after some of the fiercest action of the battle of Okinawa, the American forces were to seize the eastern slope of Conical Hill, close to the east coast, and thereby to make an opening in the enemy lines which permitted an attempt at envelopment. 

Source:

NARA (National Archives)

http://www.worldwar2database.com/gallery3/index.php/wwii1056

155mm "Long Tom" Fires at Japanese on Guam

Image size: 1279 x 1600 pixel. 478 KB
Date: Thursday, 3 August 1944
Place: Finegayan, Guam, Mariana Islands
Photographer: USMC Corporal A.F. Hager

III Corps Artillery of the 7th Marine 155mm Gun Battalion "Long Tom" M1 firing during the night of August 2-3, 1944, during operations to liberate the town of Finegayan. Commanded by Lieutenant Colonel John S. Twitchell; Executive Officer Major Dale H. Heely. 7th Battalion's "Long Toms" were initially set up in the open 500 yards from White Beach 2. The positions were in the shadow of the mountain range secured by the 4th Marines and the Army's 305th Infantry after heavy fighting. At the start of the campaign, enemy opposition might be fierce enough to contain the beachheads and prevent the planned link-up on the Force Beachhead Line, where 3rd Marine Division and 1st Provisional Marine Brigade would protect the beachhead. Successful employment of corps artillery presented a problem. The minimum effective range of the powerful 155mm guns and howitzers was so great that they might be limited to deep support missions should the assault move slowly. To meet this contingency, US Army Brigadier General Pedro A. del Valle and his newly-formed artillery staff planned to land two 155mm battalions in the south behind the brigade. This would permit the heavier guns of the 7th 155mm Gun Battalion, with only long range capabilities, to reinforce the fires of the 12th Marines in support of the 3d Division. All artillery battalions of the 12th Marines had displaced forward by 2 August in order to be in position to provide continuous support to regiments of the division. Corps artillery had also moved, so that its longer range guns could now be used more effectively. By nightfall, units had brought forward a good supply of ammunition in anticipation of the increased need for artillery support in the Finegayan area. During the night 2-3 August, the 12th Marines delivered 777 rounds of harassing and interdictory fires on roads and trails within the division's zone of action. On August 9, investigation showed that a Saipanese civilian report of 2,000-3,000 Japanese located in the northern cliff area had caused a sudden halt in the American advance. Corps artillery was notified to place all fire possible in that region. With the 7th 155mm Gun Battalion being the only corps unit that could reach the suspected enemy concentration, it received orders to cover the densely forested terrain. In two and a half hours of uninterrupted firing, the 7th hurled an unprecedented 1,000 rounds into the area from the 12 guns of its battalion. Division artillery batteries added 2,280 75mm and 105mm shells to the same target. No resistance met the 9th Marines when it moved in, but neither were there many Japanese bodies. As the Corps Artillery A-3 later wrote: "The intelligence information on which all the firing had been based was wrong, and we had made this great effort for nothing. However, it did provide a bang-up end to the campaign." The M1 155 gun has a range of 14.4 miles (23,221 meters) and can fire 6-inch shells at the sustained rate of 40 per hour. 

Source:

http://www.worldwar2database.com/gallery3/index.php/wwii1051

Haircuts for 363rd Field Artillery Battalion

Image size: 1600 x 1294 pixel. 833 KB
Date: Sunday, 10 June 1945
Place: Shuri, Okinawa, Japan
Photographer: Hendrickson

With their M1 155mm howitzer behind them, Private First Class Troy Dixon, Leadhill, Arkansas, uses a Japanese barber chair to cut the hair of Sergeant John Anderson, Anita, Pennsylvania. Both men are from the 363rd Field Artillery Battalion, 96th Infantry Division, XXIV Corps, Tenth Army. War weary from days of heavy combat operations, the 363rd Field Artillery Battalion left Buckner Bay, Okinawa on July 27, 1945 on Coast Guard-manned LST-832 for Mindoro, Philippine Islands for rest and relaxation. The M1 155mm towed howitzer was introduced in combat in 1942. The weapon could fire 40 rounds sustained fire per minute to a range of over 9 miles (14,600 meters.) The howitzer fired separated ammunition, which means that the projectile could be fired with different charges of propellant. After the war this weapon was re-designated the M114. 

Source:

NARA (National Archives) FILE #: 111-SC-208582 WAR & CONFLICT BOOK #: 928

http://www.archives.gov/historical-docs/todays-doc/?dod-date=610

http://www.worldwar2database.com/gallery3/index.php/wwii1039