McGaffin: ‘Busy day’ on Saipan Island includes mop up of caves
Major tells how Yanks persuaded Japs in one cavern to surrender
By William McGaffin
With U.S. forces on Saipan, Mariana Islands – (delayed)
Today we visited the boys of Maj. James A. Donovan Jr.’s Command. The major himself ushered us into his command post, in a hollow under a spreading tree. “It’s been a busy day,” he said with a grin.
The young major, only 27 years of age, who hails from Winnetka, Illinois, and is second in command of this battalion, was very happy about the gains his boys had made yesterday – 1,400 yards – although one company had suffered 38 casualties from a sudden burst of enemy fire as they were digging in for the night. Since D-Day, this particular company has lost all but one of its original officers.
Clean out caves
Maj. Donovan explained that his men had come on a network of caves 50 yards away from us and that they were engaged in cleaning them out.
A couple of Jap soldiers rushed out at that moment in an attempt to put up some resistance. They were killed.
Then, as we watched, our boys approached the lip of the cave cautiously and, although their knowledge of Japanese is limited, managed to persuade the multitude inside to come out.
Civilians emerge
A long file of more than 150 began to emerge, some of them men in home guard uniform, but mainly Jap civilians – old men, young women carrying babies on their backs, and some old women too feeble to walk who were carried on litters by our medical corpsmen. Apparently, they had been in the cave ever since invasion day.
The sound of other caves being flushed out was also discernible. This time it was the lethal sound of dynamite and flamethrowers, for these caves were full of Jap soldiers who wouldn’t budge. It was dangerous business. Those cave-dwellers were well armed.
Maj. Donovan told how one of his lieutenants had shot a Jap sniper shortly before we arrived, right in the command post area, and 20 minutes later got it himself when he approached one of the surrounding caves.
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