6th Marine Division (United States) - History

History

The division was formed on the Solomon Islands on 7 September 1944. The division had been formed from three infantry regiments (the 4th, 22nd and 29th Marine Regiments) and other units such as Engineer, Medical, Pioneer, Motor Transport, Tank, Headquarters, and Service battalions. The core about which the division was formed was the First Provisional Marine Brigade, which included the 4th and 22nd Marine Regiments, plus their supporting artillery battalions - these artillery battalions were later combined into the 15th Marine Regiment.

After the Battle of Guam had ended in the summer of 1944, the brigade was called to the Solomon Islands with the 1st Battalion of the 29th Marines, which had served with the 2nd Marine Division in the Battle of Saipan on the Mariana Islands. The 2nd and 3rd Battalions of the 29th Marines disembarked from the United States on 1 August 1944, and landed on Guadalcanal on 7 September 1944.

The division trained on Guadalcanal before it was shipped 6,000 miles to land with the III Amphibious Corps on the island of Okinawa on 1 April 1945. By 15 April, the division had swept through the northern Ishikawa Isthmus, where it came under fire by the Imperial Japanese Army. After heavy fighting in the south, the division replaced the Army 27th Infantry Division on the western island. The division advanced south to partake in the assault against the strong Japanese defense line, called the Shuri Line, that had been constructed across the southern coastline. The Shuri Line was located in hills that were honeycombed with caves and passages, and the Marines had to traverse the hills to cross the line. The Marines that had assaulted the line were attacked by heavy Japanese mortar and artillery fire, which made it more difficult to secure the line.

The division made it to the southern island until 16 May, when it ran onto Sugar Loaf Hill near the Okinawan capital of Naha. The division was ordered to capture the hill, which formed the western anchor of the Shuri Line defense. The 22nd Marines had first been ordered to take the hill, before the 29th Marines started fighting on the hill on 16 May. After two days, the hill had been taken. The battle on the island ended on 21 June 1945. The 6th Marine Division had suffered 2,662 Marines and Navy Corpsmen killed in action and 7,470 Marines and Navy Corpsmen wounded in action.

In July 1945, the division was withdrawn to the island of Guam to prepare for Operation Coronet, the planned invasion of Honshū that was supposed to occur in April 1946. After the Japanese surrender in August 1945, the 6th Marine Division had been sailed to Tsingtao, China to accept the surrender. The division remained in China until it was disbanded in Tsingtao on 31 March 1946.