Tinian Island Recon &
Expedition
The Marauders will explore
the region from Mt. Lasso to Asiga Bay
(Note map below).
Marauders' intelligence
reports indicate high likelihood of Japanese remains.
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Team Leader:
Dr. Tom Arkle,
United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) (Ret.),
Consultant for resource development, environmental scientist. |
Other
Members:
Dr.
Francois Claassens, MD, Steve Baacke,
Rita Arkle,
Don Farrell,
Dr. Wijay, MD,
Matt
Christiansen,
Scotty Moen, Donn
Dunlop, Ronnie
Moore,
Vangie Claassens, RN,
Honda San
Known Dead
Allies = 77
Known Dead Japanese =
1,241
Missing in Action (MIA) = Over 200 |
Marines land on Tinian Island, late July
24,
1944
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Objective:
To explore the Mt. Lasso region to determine what
if anything, Tinian defender Colonel Ogata left behind. He had
moved his command post repeatedly during the U.S. attack. The possibility of recovering the remains of Japanese soldiers is
considered high.
Background:
It was the island from which the
Enola Gay, the Bocscar, and THE LIFE OF RILEY
once flew. It's name, "Tinian Isle" in the Northern Mariana
archipelago. Its nearest neighbor Saipan, lies just 3 miles east.
Amongst Tinian's highest elevations is Mt. Lasso.
The
Japanese military defending the Mariana islands from U.S. forces were
plagued by a disease which ultimately brought about their demise.
The disease was "consistency," a disease that clouded their minds,
impaired their judgment and left them saddled to a
military strategy devoid of flexibility.
The Japanese military consistently made
the same mistakes island after island, with every island commanders
failing to learn from the errors of the other. |
Among such bloody errors in
judgment was a reliance upon antiquated military doctrine, the reliance upon the coming of one decisive
sea battle that would ultimately drive the Americans out of the
Pacific, the inability to effectively coordinate the use each
island's natural terrain as an offensive rather than a
defensive asset, unrelenting in-fighting between Army and
Navy personnel, the failure to position their
land-based artillery to allow for the coordination of mass fire
power on one target, and a blind adherence to a doctrine that
placed spiritual super powers over hard
intelligence one's enemy, competent
supply lines, and other such
invaluable combat realities.
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Marines take cover behind a
staircase, Tinian Island, late July, 1944
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The Japanese defense forces on Saipan were under the command of
Lt. General Yoshitsugo Saito. Those on neighboring Tinian, were
under Colonel Takashi Ogata. Ogata had none of the disadvantages
that plagued Saito. The Tinian Island command was fully
equipped. By happenstance, there was no shortage of food,
clothing and ammunition. Ogata had no stragglers from
other Japanese units, and all of his troops were
veterans...veterans of the bloodshed, tyranny and intimidating
horror that they inflicted upon the civilians of Mukden, China.
These were the men of the "elite" 50th Infantry Regiment, a
group whose ranks had fought together since 1941. Also in the
regiment was one 75mm mountain artillery battalion with three,
four gun batteries, a tank company, an engineer company, a
supply company, a signal company, and a medical company.
Together with the Navy's 1,400 strong 56th Naval Guard Force and
a 900 man battalion from the 135th Infantry on temporary duty
from Saipan, Ogata had a force of 9,000 when the United States
Marines came to call.
 As
Saipan fell, so did Ogata's Tinian. Like his boss Saito, Ogata
failed to coordinate mass artillery fire. The ideal spot from which
to do so would have been immediately south of Tinian's Mt. Lasso, an
area from which no American on the tiny 6 by 12 mile long island
could have escaped heavy shelling from any of Ogata's four, 75mm
cannons.
Mt. Lasso would have been the ideal spot from which Ogata
could have had commanded complete control over the island. Instead,
Ogata used Mt. Lasso as a Command Post, reinforcing it with
armament, keeping his reserve units south and southeast of Lasso in
lower lying areas. Three ton, four wheel drive Toyota amphibian
trucks known as "Suki's" were retained in the jungles immediately
south of Lasso, having never been put to effective use.
On
the morning of July 24th at 0750 the United States Marine Corp
landed on Tinian Island. They were a force of 15,614 confronting
Ogata's 9,000 veterans. Had Ogata used them effectively, the odds
would have been near even in spite of the numerical difference. But
Ogata did exactly what Saito did, ordering his men to go toe-to-toe,
with the heavily armed Marines on the beach, resulting in
uncoordinated pockets of resistance as the Japanese
forces subsequently retreated into the hills.
On
July 26th, 1944 Mt. Lasso became target #1 for the Marines on Tinian.
But before the first rounds were fired, scouts had reported that
Ogata had moved out. He had abandoned his command post the night
before. As a result, Mt. Lasso was left unscathed.
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About Moore's Marauders...
 Moore's
Marauders is a non-profit organization that receives no government funding. We
rely solely on your contributions to help us locate the 35,000
WWII MIAs the
U.S. government maintains are still recoverable.
For as
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ultimate sacrifice so that we could live in freedom.
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