Major General Harry Schmidt
Major General Harry Schmidt was the leader of the 4th Marine Division in the assaults at Roi-Namur in the Marshall Islands and then at Saipan in the Marianas.
Born in 1886, he entered the Corps as a second lieutenant in 1909. By extraordinary coincidence, his first foreign duty was at Guam in the Marianas Islands, an area he would return to 33 years later under vastly different circumstances!
The Philippines, Mexico, Cuba, and Nicaragua (where he was awarded a Navy Crossósecond only to the Medal of Honor), interspersed with repeated stays in China, were the marks of a diverse overseas career. At home there were staff schools, paymaster duties, and a tour as Assistant Commandant.
By the end of World War II, he had been decorated with three Distinguished Service Medals. Retiring in 1948 after 39 years of service, he was advanced to the four-star rank of general. His death came in 1968.
A contemporary described him as "a Buddha, a typical old-time Marine: he'd been in China; he was regulation, Old Establishment, a regular Marine."
Drove inland to the east towards the key objective of Aslito airfield. With a danger looming of overextended lines, Lieutenant General Holland Smith pulled the 165th Infantry out of his reserve (the Army's 27th Infantry Division) and sent it ashore on D+2 to reinforce the 4th Marine Division. This same day, Major General Ralph Smith came ashore to take command of the additional Army units of his 27th Division as they landed.
With the 165th Infantry on its right flank and the 24th Marines to its left, the 25th Marines was poised on the north edge of Aslito airfield late on D+2. Its patrols found the strip was abandoned, but the 165th, assigned to capture it, decided to wait until the next day.
The division had finally approached the O-1 line, except on the left flank where contact with the 2d Division was again broken, this time near Mount Fina Susu.
This same day, 17 June, saw a crucial command decision by Admiral Spruance.
Aslito airfield and there was chaos initially there. One P-47 plane was destroyed and two others damaged. The Japanese quickly continued on to Hill 500, hoping to reunite there with their main forces. What they found instead was the 25th Marines resting in reserve with an artillery battalion of the 14th Marines. The escaping Japanese were finished off the following morning.
On the front lines in the center of the island, General Jarman, now in temporary command of the 27th Infantry Division, took direct action that same day (D+11). An inspection by two of his senior officers of the near edge of Death Valley revealed that battalions of the 105th Infantry were standing still when there was no reason why they should not move forward." That did it. Jarman relieved the colonel commanding the 106th and replaced him with his division chief of staff. (Nineteen other officers of the 27th Infantry Division were also relieved after the Saipan battle was over, although only one of them had commanded a unit in battle.)
While these developments were taking place in the upper echelons, the junior officers in the front lines had their own, more immediate, daily concerns. As the author recalled:
I had worked out a pre-sleep routine which I followed every night without fail. Before I lay down, I would make careful mental notes of where the company Command Post [CP] was and where my squad leaders' foxholes were. Then I would work out the rotation of the watches with my CP group. Next came a check of my carbine to make sure it was in perfect operating condition. When all this had been done, I'd lie down, adjusting my helmet to serve as a pillow. Last, and most important, was the placing of my weapons: my carbine lay across my body so my hand would fall naturally on the trigger; my combat knife was stuck in the ground where my right hand lay; and my grenades were carefully arrayed at my left hand. Then I'd drift off to sleep.
