. Small arms and machine gun fire, and the incessant fires of two 75mm guns and a 37mm gun from a concrete blockhouse with a four-foot thick roof built into the nose of Gaan Point, greeted the invading Marines as the LVTs churned ashore. He also wanted to prevent the piecemeal commitment of his division and to preserve its integrity.III Corps's Geiger knew Obata's probable route of retreat and drew up a succession of objectives across the island which would incrementally seize all potential enemy strong points. The 2 Battles of Guam were significant because they allowed the USA to keep Guam as part of their territory. Searching a corridor between the 3d and the 9th Marines, the 21st Marines came upon the bodies of 30 Guamanians near Chaguian. During World War II the Japanese took over Guam for a period of two years. These new arrangements were to take effect on 7 August.Making new strides to end the campaign, the 3d and 21st Marines progressed handily but the 9th Marines kept running into dense jungle that was such a tangled mess that tanks passed each other 15 feet apart without knowing the other was there. The major Japanese counterattack of the night came on this front, where there were three large attacks between 0230 and 0400. There were not too many Japanese planes in the sky, and so the antiaircraft artillerymen could concentrate on firing across the water into the southern flank of the enemy's Orote positions. By now the Japanese had evacuated the southern half of the island. The Japanese now had no central command. The 9th Marines met relatively little resistance as it overran many abandoned Japanese positions in its drive toward the former American naval base at Piti on the shore of Apra Harbor. The island was long and narrow, with the Orote Peninsula the only major one. On Cabras Island, the 14th Defense Battalion moved into position where it could equally provide direct flanking fire on the peninsula's northern coast and stand ready to elevate its guns to fire at enemy planes in the skies above.The 5,000 Japanese defenders on Orote took part in General Takashina's all-out counterattack and it began in the early morning hours of 26 July. The Japanese landed about 400 troops of the 5th Defence Force from SaipanIn the meantime the Japanese South Seas Detached Force (about 5,500 men) under the command of Major-General Horii made separate landings at Tumon Bay in the north, on the southwest coast near Merizo, and on the eastern shore of the island at Talafofo Bay.The Japanese now faced an overwhelming number of attack forces. It takes a brave man indeed to go in search of food. Many lives were lost and the suffering was great for all those involved in the battles on Guam and throughout the Pacific theater. Major General Henry L. Larsen assumed command of the Guam Island Command at 1200, 15 August. By nightfall of 8 August, Colonel Craig's Marines could wave to the soldiers of the 306th patrolling to their south.General Geiger was not ready to declare Guam secure until a pocket of tanks still existing in the 3d Division zone was wiped out. On the night of 8-9 August near Tarague, the regiment was hit by a last-resort Japanese mortar and tank attack. The 21st Marines in the center held up its advance on 22 July until the 3d Marines could get moving, but the men in their exposed positions along the top of the ridge, seized so rapidly on W-Day, were hammered by Japanese mortar fire, so much so that Colonel Butler received permission to replace the 2d Battalion by the 1st, which had been in division reserve. It was in contact with the 9th Marines on the division boundary.
Most of the others fled when encountered. Just in case of enemy air attack, the beach defenses from Agat to Bangi Point were manned by the 9th Defense Battalion. Colonel Douglas C. McNair, 77th Division chief of staff, was there, too, seeking a site for a division CP and was killed by a sniper. It wasn’t until the last 30 seconds of the period when the Angels managed to end the scoreless drought. One regiment from the 77th Division took over on the left, allowing the rest of the marine brigade to wheel right and advance north. The American patrol boat was scuttled by means of fire during the event and was captured by Japanese naval forces. "On the same busy day, 10 August, only hours after Major Culpepper's battalion had knocked out the last of the Japanese tanks, the While Guam is only 212 square miles, the island is rich in history. They then turned north, with the 3rd Marines on the left and the 77thj Infantry on the right. Enemy survivors of the Mount Santa Rosa battle kept drifting into the 9th Marines lines on the Army flank, slowing the regiment's advance. At 0833, the same airborne announcer confirmed the battle was on, with: "Troops ashore on all beaches. The structure had been well camouflaged and not spotted by photo interpreters before the landing nor, unfortunately, selected as a target for bombing. The enemy defenders killed seven Americans and wounded 17 before they went down to defeat, buried in the rubble of blown caves and emplacements. Our souls will defend the island to the very end. By 1440 the Army had reached the cliffs by the sea and could look right down to the ocean.
The division accelerated its advance in battalion columns. On the right the 77th Infantry Division (General Andrew Bruce) and the 1st Brigade (General Lemuel Sheperd) landed south of Apra Harbor. After two days of strafing, the Japanese came ashore and hours later the naval governor surrendered the American territory. The FD Friars won a showdown in a battle of unbeaten teams in an inter-league boys basketball game against the Okkodo Bulldogs at the FD Phoenix Center.