The Battle of Fonte Hill, Guam, 25-26 July 1944 | Marine Corps Association

On July 25-26, 1944, the Japanese use banzai attacks against the Americans on Guam. From the article:

"It rained and drizzled throughout the night allowing the Japanese to proceed undetected to their starting positions opposite the Marine lines. Around midnight the Japanese began probing all along the front. This served to keep the infantry Marines on edge in their foxholes as well as to identify gaps in the Marines' defensive positions. Additionally, the Japanese laid down intense artillery and mortar fires along the center and left flank of the Marine lines to cover the movement of other Japanese units. The sounds of increased activity in the form of additional rifle fire and grenade explosions from the Japanese signaled an impending attack.17

After midnight the main assault began all along the lines. Orange flares fired off by the Japanese signaled the Japanese forces to begin their attack. White illumination shells fired by U.S. Navy warships offshore helped light up the battleground in front of the Marine lines.

Directly in front of LtGen Takashina's headquarters, the 2/9 received the full force of the Fonte Hill counterattack. Throughout the night and into the following morning, the 2/9 beat off seven Japanese banzai attacks on their position. As Capt Wilson recalled, "The fighting was brutal, often hand-to-hand with no quarter asked or given."18 The Marines maintained their positions and inflicted severe casualties on the Japanese attackers, although suffering numerous casualties in the process.

As Capt Wilson stated in a later interview:

Our ammunition was about gone as morning neared. We then fixed bayonets and were prepared to withstand the onslaught, when Major Fraser (it was then about 3 o'clock) volunteered to go down the hill to try and get some tanks to come up at first light.

In the meantime, I began to try to rally the remaining Marines, and conserve the ammunition as best we could. We stacked up Japanese bodies that were in front of us to serve as a barricade against the fire that was coming in. By the light of the flares we could see them drinking (presumably sake), laughing, and preparing to charge. Then another charge would come.19

At this point, despite wounds in the shoulder and knees, Capt Wilson took command of all of the surviving Marines on the frontlines. Maj Fraser, shot in the leg on his return trip from the battalion command post, could not rejoin his men.

With ammunition running dangerously low, at 0630 on 26 July, the enemy counterattacked yet again. Just as the first faint outline of dawn showed, tank reinforcements rushed up to the lines at the most critical moment. The Japanese jumped on the tanks and started slashing them with their sabers; however, these desperate attacks posed no real threat to the tanks whose machineguns and high explosives helped stem the tide.20 Capt Wilson, in order to secure a portion of high ground to his front, then organized a small patrol to attack and seize the small hill. Starting out with 17 Marines, only 4 made it to the top. For his conspicuous gallantry throughout the battle, Capt Wilson would later be awarded the Medal of Honor.

When the Japanese attacks finally subsided around 0900 on the morning of 26 July, the surviving members of 2/9 assessed the carnage around them. In the ferocious battle 2/9 suffered 62 Marines killed and 180 wounded.21 The bodies of approximately 600 dead Japanese soldiers lay in front of the battalion's lines.22 None of the Marines knew it at the time, but they had broken the backbone of the Japanese defenses on Guam during the previous night's attack. On the Japanese side of the lines, LtGen Takashina assessed his current situation."