Remember Wake Island!

[Greg Boeser]

On this day 75 years ago, a small band of US Marines, with a handful of civilian volunteers, on the tiny, windswept atoll of Wake Island, did the impossible. They turned back a Japanese landing attempt, inflicting serious casualties, sinking two destroyers and damaging several other ships. The defense of Wake Island became a beacon of hope to a nation reeling from the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor and the Philippines, and the rapid conquests of the Japanese military as they swept across the Western Pacific and Southeast Asia.
Cut off and left to fend for themselves, the tiny garrison surrendered after a larger landing was made on 23 December, 1941, but not before inflicting punishing casualties on the invaders. Casualties to the dug in defenders was surprisingly light. However, the island commander, US Navy Commander Winfield S. Cunningham, informed that the relief expedition had been recalled, and aware of the overwhelming numbers of the Japanese forces, chose to end resistance to spare the lives of over 1000 civilian contractors caught on the island at the outbreak of the war.

 

[Old Wizard]

 

[GrauGeist]

The Wake Island defenders also included 68 U.S. Navy personnel and 5 U.S. Army personnel (radio operators).

 

[Greg Boeser]

Yes, the navy personnel included the island commander, as well as the troops involved in operating the seaplane base and the medical personnel.

 

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

 

[Thorlifter]

IIRC, didn't they kill 96 or 97 guys? I guess the rest were shipped off to POW camps.

 

[Capt. Vick]

The civilian's were latter murdered by the Japanese garrison.

 

[fubar57]

The 98 Rock of Wake Island

​

 

[GrauGeist]

The casualties at Wake island were:
U.S. Marines - 47 KIA, 2 MIA
U.S. Navy - 3 KIA
Civilians - 70 KIA
Prisoners taken: 450 military, 1,150 civilian

Japanese casualties:
800 +/- KIA
300 wounded

Of the 1,150 civilian prisoners taken, 98 were retained as local laborers, the rest were transported to China and Japan along with the Military POWs.

With the Japanese fearing an invasion, the 98 laborers were to be executed. One prisoner escaped and recorded the massacre on a coral rock. This un-named escapee was recaptured and personally beheaded by the Island Commander, Rear Admiral Shigematsu Sakaibara.

 

[Shinpachi]

Reports of Japanese side tell that POWs from the Wake Island were generally defiant like the Hollywood heroes.
They secretly attempted radio communications with their homeland, seajacks in the transfer ship and jailbreaks in China.
Reality is not movie.

 

[Greg Boeser]

In an ironic twist, the very airfields in the Marshall Islands used to launch the air attacks against Wake Island at the beginning of the war were used by the USAAF after their capture in 1944 to bombard the Japanese garrison on Wake.

 

[Shinpachi]

Until August 15 1945, the U.S. was not serious about taking back the Wake Island because the island was not important anymore but continued attack intermittently.

On October 6 1943, Japanese garrison on the island received a fierce attack from the sea and the sky. They were convinced that U.S. troops would land soon and thought the 97 American POW were risky burden for them to fight the coming ground battle. Since the occupation of the island, the American POW had been trouble makers by snatching the military materials like the radio equipments to hide under the floor. There were originally 98 but one of them was executed of sabotage action on the other day.

On October 7 1943, 96 were executed by the firing squad of machine guns. The last escaped was recaptured and beheaded.
Garrison Commander, Col Shigematsu Sakaibara, was going to announce the 98 POW were killed by the U.S. attack if asked.

After this incident, an IJA soldier happened to desert the island with a tiny boat and did not return. He was thought died in the Ocean. When the war was over, this guy suddenly appeared with U.S. troops. He was rescued by a U.S. submarine and talked everything to Americans. This was the moment the incident was brought to light.

 

[Thorlifter]

I didn't know that. Thank you for the information.

 

[vikingBerserker]

That is pretty informative. There is a great book about it titled "Pacific Alamo - The Battle for Wake Island" by Wukovits.

 

[Gnomey]

 

[Greg Boeser]

Wukovitz gives a good bit of coverage to the civilian experiences as well as the military side.
For a detailed overview focused on the military aspects of the campaign, I recommend Robert J. Cressman's A Magnificent Fight .

 

[XBe02Drvr]

IIRC only 3 or 4 F4Fs survived the initial Japanese strike. Given the damage the Japanese suffered, it appears they were put to good use.

 

[Greg Boeser]

On 8 Dec 1941, The first Japanese airstrike on the island took advantage of a low overcast, and attacked the island from about 500m altitude. The four F4F-3s on CAP failed to intercept, and the initial attack wiped out seven of the eight planes on the ground, damaging the eighth. VMF-211 suffered heavy casualties among ground personnel and pilots attempting to reach their aircraft. Damage to aviation stores was extensive. Another aircraft was damaged when it landed and taxied into debris. For the next two weeks the squadron personnel, reinforced by naval personnel from the seaplane base and civilians with relevant experience kept the remaining aircraft in action. Another Wildcat was lost on 11 Dec 1941, when it was hit by AA while attacking the retreating Japanese fleet. The destroyer Kisaragi was sunk during these attacks. This was credited to Captain John Elrod. Another Wildcat was destroyed on the ground by a later bombing raid, but the engine was salvaged to make the plane damaged on the 8th flyable. the last two flyable aircraft were shot down defending against the carrier attacks by aircraft from Soryu and Hiryu on the 22nd, Lt Davidson failing to return, while the other pilot was able to force land back at Wake.

 

[XBe02Drvr]

Too bad they couldn't hide their planes under camouflage the way they did their artillery.

 

[Greg Boeser]

This was because the construction contracts did not foresee the need for airfield defenses. Prior to the war the civilians followed the base construction plans, and the Marines dug most of the defensive positions by hand. Only after the war started did the military and civilians come to an agreement to divert construction assets to defensive construction. The planes lost on the ground on the 8th were parked in the open waiting for the construction crews to build some revetments. One protected hangar was dug at the airfield and in this was captured the battle damaged Wildcat shot up on the 22nd. The island also lacked radar and only had enough range finding equipment for half the AA guns.