[whitesharkseeker]

I started the Japanese rifle with a story to tell thread and thought this would interest a few folks.

This is a Japanese Type 95 75mm field gun atop a steep hill on Peleliu. It fired from an adjacent cave on the advancing Marines during the battle in 1944. Frontal assault on the hill failed so the Marines flanked the cave and tried to assault the hill from another connected hill. The Japanese rolled the gun out and were just about to fire on the exposed Marines when a well-placed bazooka round destroyed the gun and gun crew. A few more rounds killed a the crew to a heavy machine gun that was supporting the gun. It took me many years to research this field gun but I was finally able to locate the son of the Marine who destroyed the gun. Sadly, the Marine was later killed on Okinawa. Notice the two bazooka rocket hits in the gun shield along with numerous small arm hits. Also notice the round still loaded in the chamber of the gun! This is the most intact and pristine battlesite that probably exists anywhere. The remains of the machine gun were nearby and shells still inside the cave along with other relics.

Amazing. Eric

 

[raym]

Thanks Eric! Do you know which unit it was that attacked this gun? It would be great to be able to tie it in with the stories we have read. I think most of us wish we could prowl the old battlefields but posts like this are about as close as most of us will get. Thanks for sharing!

 

[whitesharkseeker]

Ray,

B Company, 1st Bn, 5th Marines, 1st Mar. Div. had the assignment of taking the hill. The gun didn't cause any damage (knocked out) to the platoon clawing up the hill but the machine guns were another story...

-Eric