America's Forlorn Hope

First Attack: Air Raid

by Mike Joslyn

The Marines were just finishing their morning chow when the Army radio station on Wake received the first news of the attack on Pearl Harbor. Major Devereaux ordered an immediate "call to arms" and by 7:30, all the guns that could be manned had crews at the ready, while four of the Wildcats were sent aloft to look for the Japanese.

At around the same time, thirty-six fork-tailed "Nell" bombers from 24th Air Flotilla were warming up on their airfield in the Marshalls, their crews about to enjoy the luckiest day in their flying careers. Navigating 600 miles without being spotted, the Nells made their final approach to Wake shortly before noon, hidden under the cover of a convenient rain squall. Without radar or sound detection gear, the Marines had to rely on lookouts stationed in the highest point on the island: a five-story high water tower. These sentries, unfortunately, had to rely entirely on their sight, because the surf at Wake was so loud, no one could hear the drone of even six dozen engines until the bombers were right over them. The garrison got barely a minute's warning.

As the anti-aircraft gunners struggled to take aim, the Nells passed directly over the airfield, bombing seven of the eight Wildcats into spare parts. Equally disastrous, the ten minute raid left over half the ground crew and three pilots dead or dying. Not counting the wounded, over half the Marines who would die in the struggle for Wake were casualties in this one raid. The bombers droned off to the south with some damage but no losses, and by their own account, the crews were grinning.

"We have erased the Yankees on Wake!"

    --Anon. Japanese Bomber Pilot, 24th Air Flotilla, December 8, 1941

The Japanese airmen may have been satisfied by the pummeling given Wake on December 8th, (one of them went so far as to state in his diary that "a squad of .. Tokyo police could take the place"), but Rear Admiral Sadamichi Kajioka- commander of the force charged with capturing Wake remained skeptical. His staff estimated the garrison to number somewhere around a thousand, with an additional 600 construction workers that the Marines could call on for support.

Against this, he had 450 Special Naval Landing Force troops and a fleet of second rate ships. The two light cruisers slated to bombard Wake prior to the landing, the venerable Tenryu and the equally antique Tatsuta, had been in service since the end of World War I, while Kajioka's flagship, the cruiser Yubari, was only slightly younger.

Further complicating Kajioka's planning was the natural geography of the atoll. Wake was not an ideal spot for an amphibious invasion; the wind drove breakers mercilessly onto a shelving coral reef. The reef, in turn, enclosed Wake, prevented landing craft from grounding anywhere close to the shore. The admiral chose the south side of Wake because it was somewhat sheltered from the winds and the reef was narrower there than any place else--but he was not overly optimistic. As his chief of staff wrote: "We expected to have a rough time..." The day after the Arizona settled on the floor of Pearl Harbor, Kajioka's fleet struck out on its hopeful course for Wake.

Meanwhile, the 24th Air Flotilla staged the second in its series of attacks. Convinced that the airfield had been thoroughly neutralized, they turned their attention to the anti-aircraft batteries and the naval air station. They came uncomfortably close to Battery E on Wake island, but damaged only one gun. Peale island was not so lucky; the naval air station, barracks and the hospital were all flattened.

Fifty-five civilians lost their lives on December 9th, but only four Marines. From here on out, the Marines would suffer very few casualties from the Nells, thanks to lessons taught in the first raid. To defeat the noise of the pounding surf, a constantly open telephone circuit ran between the observation post on the water tower, Devereaux's HQ and the anti-aircraft batteries. The lookout had only to yell and the batteries would fire three shots in rapid succession. This warning could be heard instantly at any point on the island, and the system, make-shift though it was, saved countless Marine lives.

The Japanese were absorbing a few lessons, as well. After inspecting the flak damage suffered in the first raid, they chose never to bomb from low altitude again; a decision which may have saved them a few aircraft, but which cost them in reduced accuracy.

The second raid demonstrated that Wake's air complement was far from "erased," as two Wildcats shot down one of the Nells. The 24th Air Flotilla was, however, committed to a pre-ordained plan of pre-invasion bombardment, and so the third raid fell on previously untouched Wilkes island. A lucky bomb set off 125 tons of dynamite stored there and with it went all of the ammunition at every gun as well as every sighting and ranging fixture on Battery L. Miraculously, only one Marine was killed and nascent Battery F (currently with no crew) suffered heavy damage to only one of its four guns.

"Knock it off, you bastards, and get back on those guns! What d'ya think this is, a ball game?"

    --Sergeant Henry Bedell, encouraging the crew of Battery L, December 11, 1941

Another group of Nells took on Battery D (Peale Island) and Battery E on Wake -- or at least what they thought was Battery E. Devereaux, having discerned the Japanese pattern from the previous days' targets, had ordered Battery E moved 600 yards away from its original position and dummy guns installed in their place. The 24th obligingly plastered the dummy position while Battery D escaped with a trivial hit on its power plant. Having expended their bombs and bullets, the Japanese left Wake momentarily in peace.

America's Forlorn Hope US Marines Defend Wake Island: Dec 8-23, 1941

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