via Naval History and Heritage Command
By December 1941, the garrison on Wake was comprised of a severely reduced detachment of 422 Marines Corps enlisted men and 27 officers of the 1st Defense Battalion under Major James Devereux, as well as Marine aviators of Marine Fighting Squadron (VMF) 211; 10 naval officers and 58 enlisted men (including hospital corpsmen); a small Army communications unit of 1 officer and 4 men; 70 Pan American Airways civilians and 1,146 contractor employees. Most of the Marines on Wake were artillerymen, but all of them were overworked as the detachment was vastly undermanned. The exhausted Marines were just finishing breakfast at 0650 on Monday, 8 December when a message came through that Pearl Harbor, on the other side of the International Date Line, was under attack by the Empire of Japan.
Replace Defense Battalion with Littoral Regiment and its damn near the same thing that failed.
Most of the Marines were artillerymen? Replace Missilemen with artillery and its damn near the same thing.
A bit more.
Described as one of the loneliest atolls in the Pacific, Wake Island is a submerged volcano top, which consists of Wake and two other islets, Wilkes and Peale. Wake Island is 450 miles from the nearest land, and approximately 2,300 miles from Honolulu. Claimed and annexed by the United States in 1899, the military had decided in the 1930s, with the clouds of war suddenly beginning to darken, to use it as an advanced naval and air base that was within striking distance of various Japanese-held territories in the Pacific.
They're describing EABO.
The Japanese naval invasion force, commanded by Rear Admiral Sadamichi Kajioka, arrived three days later. With only 450 special naval landing troops at his disposal, Kajioka just barely outnumbered the defending Marines, who used their six 5-inch coast-defense guns that protected Wake Island with amazing skill and accuracy. The 5-inch/51-caliber seacoast guns hurled a 50-pound shell at 3,150 feet per second up to a range of 17,100 yards.2 Kajioka’s flagship Yubari was hit 11 times, while the lead ship of three destroyers, Hayate, was struck by three two-gun salvos at a distance of only 4,000 yards “so accurately that she blew up, broke in two, and sank immediately.”
The Marines sunk ships.
It did not affect the battle.
I do not mean to belittle their fighting spirit or their sacrifice. They were beyond heroic. What I do mean to do is to say that rehashing a concept that didn't work in WW2 and thinking that somehow today its gold is simply foolish.
They way that this thing was put together should disturb every Marine, Retiree and Vet.
Berger got a bunch of his sycophants together behind closed doors, ran wargames and came up with this plan.
Meanwhile everyone is ignoring the fact that the Marine Corps makes up a significant part of America's ground combat power...more than what we contribute to America's air power!
Long story short. I have to wonder if this hasn't turned into a vanity play by MANY of Berger's staff and the current crop of Marine Corps Officers instead of being as advertised...a way to win a potential war with the Chinese.\
THERE ARE BETTER WAYS TO CONDUCT RECON AGAINST A HIGH TECH FORCE THAN TO PUT YOUR PEOPLE IN HARMS WAY OF ENEMY FIRES THAT CAN BE LAUNCHED AT DISTANCE.
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