Unnoticed Victory PTO (id:#62690)

(Dispatches from the Bunker #42 ID: DB128)   [next]   [previous]

Wilkes Island, Wake Atoll 1941-12-23 (15 others)

Overview:

The anticipated relief from the US Navy’s Task Force 11 was not coming; Wake was on its own. The Marine commander, Major James Devereux knew his meager number of defenders could not hope to cover Wake’s 20 miles of beaches; he would have to guess at the likely landing points the Japanese would use and cover them with his forces….and hope that he guessed right. The Japanese began landing on 0235 December 23rd. The Japanese landings concentrated on the south shore of the atoll. One hundred members of the Takano Company landed on Wilkes and after a determined stand at the 3 inch guns of Battery F, the defending Marines and a number of civilians who were aiding in Wake’s defense, were forced to retreat eastward. As dawn approached, Capt Wesley Platt, the commander of Wilkes’ garrison, stealthily approached Battery F from the west and was shocked to see the Japanese troops loitering around the 3 inch AA guns and for the most part setting up their defenses facing east. Platt thought that the small force he had gathered to the west of the battery might be able to retake the guns, especially when gunfire erupted from the east – signaling an American counterattack ably lead by Lt. John McAlister and Gunner Clarence McKinstry.

Defender: Japanese (2nd 'Takano' Company, 2nd Maizuru Special Naval Landing Force)  

Errata (source)