Month: April 2015

“The Government of the United States has decided to withdraw the American Marine detachments now maintained ashore in China, at Peiping, Tientsin, and Shanghai. It is reported that the withdrawal will begin shortly.”

—Franklin D. Roosevelt, 14 November 1941

It was thus that the 4^th Marine Regiment concluded its fifteen-year duty assignment in Shanghai —and it came as the dark clouds of war began to close in on the old China hands. The United States and Empire of Japan edged resolutely toward hostilities. Everyone felt it. At this time, the 4^th Marine Regiment consisted of only two small battalions of less than 1,000 Marines and U. S. Navy attachments. Should war finally come, the regiment would be in a dangerous position. On this basis alone, the regimental commander, Colonel Sam L. Howard, recommended to Admiral Thomas Hart, Commander of the Asiatic Fleet, that the regiment be evacuated. Over several months, Colonel Howard had diverted a number of Marine replacements to a provisional battalion at the U. S. Navy Yard, Cavite, Philippine Islands. He was not authorized to do this; he simply did it because he was in command —he made a command decision.

Colonel Howard received his order to evacuate China on 10 November 1941 … the Marine Corps 166^th Birthday. On 27 November, Lieutenant Colonel Donald Curtis’ 2^nd Battalion made its way to the SS President Madison[1] via the lighter Merry Moller, which sailed down the Whangpoo, past Soochow Creek, where the Marines boarded for a destination not yet revealed to them. On the following day, Colonel Howard led the regimental staff and the 1^st Battalion, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Beecher, marched smartly through Shanghai toward the SS President Harrison, waiting for them at port. The Harrison made way after 1400 and, once at sea, Admiral Hart ordered the 4^th Marines to land at Olongapo (Subic Bay) Navy Yard. The second battalion came ashore on 30 November, the rest of the regiment on the next day. Admiral Hart ordered Howard to get his Marines into the field without delay. Admiral Hart later explained, “We realized these Marines had been cooped up in Shanghai for years where conditions for any sort of field training were very poor; not much time remained.”

The 1^st and 2^nd Battalions of the 4^th Marines began training immediately; the provisional battalion, designated as 1^st Separate Marine Battalion and commanded by Lieutenant Colonel John P. Adams, organized as both a defense and infantry battalion with only 700 Marines.

Colonel Howard reported to Admiral Hart in Manila on 3 December 1941. Hart placed the Marines under the command of Rear Admiral Francis W. Rockwell commanding the 15^th Naval District. His mission: protect the naval stations on the island of Luzon, primarily Olongapo and the Naval Section at Mariveles. But Howard was given a more important mission: get his Marines ready for field operations. Hart told Howard, war with Japan was imminent. How imminent? Colonel Howard informed his staff, “… only a matter of days, if not hours.” Following a meeting with Admiral Rockwell, Colonel Howard deployed his forces and implemented a training program. Senior Naval and Marine Corps officers were informed of the attack at Pearl Harbor at 0257 hours, 8 December, Philippine Islands time. At this moment, Colonel Howard knew that some of his Marines would never see their families again.

Continued next week

Notes:

[1] SS President Madison was constructed in 1921 by the New York Shipbuilding Company and served with the American President Lines until April 1942, when the ship was acquired for use as a troop transport ship, renamed USS Kenmore (AP-62). The ship was renamed USS Refuge (AH-11) in 1944.

Japan, utilizing Manchuria as a forward base, began a systematic program of seizing Chinese territory from 1932 onward, so it is no surprise that heavy fighting between Japanese and Chinese forces erupted again early in 1937, or that these clashes became steadily worse. The incident at the Marco Polo Bridge outside Beijing is but one example. The Japanese used the battle that they started as justification for sending more troops to Shanghai. After Japanese soldiers were killed by Chinese civilians, Japan dispatched several of its warships to Shanghai and landed troops into the city. Chinese forces soon arrived to oppose the Japanese.

The 4^th Marines was once more deployed along Soochow (today, Suzhou) creek. As before international military units joined forces. The rules of engagement handed to the 4^th Marines included the following: “Prevent both belligerents from entering the American sector of the International Settlement by means other than rifle fire.” Amazing.

Believing that the present crisis could have disastrous consequences to American interests in China, the US government ordered that the 4^th Marines be reinforced. The Second Marine Brigade under the command of Brigadier General John C. Beaumont sailed from California in August 1937. The Brigade was mainly composed of an anti-aircraft battery and the 1^st and 2^nd Battalions of the 6^th Marines. The 4^th Marines became part of the Brigade on September 20^th.

By the end of October, Japanese forces controlled all of the area around Shanghai, leaving the international settlement surrounded by increasingly belligerent Japanese forces. Japan, with its jurisdiction of territory adjacent to the city began a campaign to undermine the position of the Western Powers. The main concern of the 4^th Marines at this point became one of thwarting the Japanese from seizing the American sector of the settlement. Meanwhile, other elements of the international community quietly began a withdrawal from Shanghai. Admiral Thomas C. Hart, then commanding the Asiatic Fleet, believed war with Japan was inevitable and recommended the withdrawal of the 4^th Marines from Shanghai. No action was taken on this recommendation, however, until November 1941 when Washington finally consented to the withdrawal of US forces from China.

Most of the China Marines escaped what happened next —albeit, temporarily. When the 4^th Marines departed China, they went to the Philippines —and eventually to an island called Corregidor.

Not every China Marine made it out before the Japanese declared war on the United States, however. There remained Marines assigned to Embassy Duty; they were stationed in Peking (Beijing), Tientsin (Tianjin), and Chinwangtao (Qinhuangdao) some 140 miles northeast of Tientsin, which in late November 1941 totaled 189 Marines and a 14-man detachment Navy medical personnel. They were scheduled to depart China on 10 December 1941 but on the morning of 8 December, the North China Marines awoke to find themselves completely surrounded by an overwhelming number of Imperial Japanese Army. Outnumbered and outgunned, Colonel William W. Ashurst, USMC surrendered his Marines while under the impression that the Japanese would abide the Boxer Protocol of 1901. Ostensibly, this protocol gave diplomatic status to Embassy Marines, but no such clause seems to exist. It was a misunderstanding that may have prevented Marines from making an escape from Japanese captivity while en route to Shanghai.

End of series