Re(3): Some Interesting Marine Corps History Posted on 5/18/2019 at 12:44:58 by John Wells
Much of the animosity in post-war Washington began during the Battle for Okinawa in 1945. Throughout the Pacific War the Marines were receiving all the “glory” from the Press, and the Army, which had more troubles in the Philippines under MacArthur than need be, was jealous. So the Tenth Army (consisting of two Army divisions and two Marine divisions—the 1st Marines and the 6th Marines) was commanded by Army General Simon Bolivar Buckner. The Marines, under General Geiger, were vectored north, where there were few Japanese troops, while the Army divisions—the 7th Infantry and the 96th Infantry—headed south. Within days the Marines had cleaned up the north, while the Army ran smack into the Japanese Shuri line and were stopped cold. Buckner was the type of general who wouldn’t listen and tried the sort of frontal assault tactic that would make any bulldog proud. General Geiger tried to convince Buckner to let his Marines do an “end run” amphibious operation to stick a bayonet up the Japs’ rear, but Buckner wouldn’t listen. Finally, Buckner’s Army troops were exhausted and he had to call in Geiger’s Marines. There were more casualties of both Army and Marine troops than need be. Buckner escaped post-war criticism by getting killed by a Jap artillery shell, and Geiger finished the job. After the war, the “wisdom” of Pentagon politics forecast no more amphibious warfare and stupidly didn’t see the need for a Marine force to conduct “small-scale” operations (like the occupation of Grenada) in which a main Army force would have been too cumbersome. IMHO, this article is the result of Army politicians trying their best to take over the operational deployment that the Marines had become experts at, and almost succeeded in making the Marines little more than the equivalent of National Guard. In those days, the entire Pentagon was run by flag officers who were the wrong ones promoted. C’est la vie. Replies:
