Today marks 83 years since the Paramarines came ashore on Choiseul, a raid I wrote about last week. That raid was the head fake. The real move came four days later. On November 1, 1943, the 3d Marine Division landed at Empress Augusta Bay on Bougainville, the largest island in the Solomons. This Sunday marks 83 years, and it's one of my favorite stories in Marine Corps history, partly because some of the heroes that day had four legs.
Why Bougainville
The Marine Corps History Division describes Bougainville as roughly 125 miles long and about 30 miles wide on average. It had room for fleet units and aircraft, and taking it would help contain the big Japanese base at Rabaul and neutralize the one at Truk. Bougainville was also the 3d Marine Division's first combat assignment.
A rough morning at Cape Torokina
The History Division's account of the landing reads like a lesson in how plans meet reality. Marines were up before 0400. At 0710 the first landing craft pulled away for a 5,000-yard run across the bay, carrying almost 7,500 Marines toward 12 color-coded beaches: eleven stretching west from Cape Torokina, and one on Puruata Island just offshore. The first wave touched ground at 0726, four minutes ahead of H-Hour.
Then the trouble started. A high surf tossed the boats around, pushing them onto the wrong beaches and into each other. By mid-morning, 64 LCVPs and 22 LCMs were wrecked on the sand, and three beaches had to be abandoned. On the left, the 9th Marines came ashore unopposed. On the right, the 3d Marines ran into a crossfire, and a single 75mm gun on Cape Torokina smashed 14 boats. One company landed in the middle of another battalion's zone and had to run through swamp to reach its own flank. When the battalion commander asked where they had been, the company commander pointed back at the cape: “Ask the Navy!”
The Devil Dogs on the beach
Bougainville was also the first combat test for Marine war dogs. The 1st Marine War Dog Platoon, 24 dogs and 55 Marines, went in with the 2d Raider Regiment. According to the Camp Lejeune base paper in March 1944, a Doberman named Andy led a Raider company up the trail to a key roadblock and alerted on three snipers along the way. A German shepherd named Caesar became the only link between a cut-off company and its battalion command post, making nine round trips totaling 31 miles, two of them under fire. He was wounded on the second day and recovered.
The regiment's commander wrote that the platoon had “proven itself to be an unqualified success.” Writing in Naval History, a retired Marine officer noted that no dog patrols on Bougainville were ever ambushed.
Why it stays with me
I served from 2014 to 2018 as an Airborne and Air Delivery Specialist, so the part about the surf gets me every time. Picture 86 wrecked landing craft on the beach and everything that was supposed to come off them. Getting Marines and supplies to the right place is half the fight, and on Bougainville the ocean had a vote.
The other detail I love is in that same Naval History piece. The most universal gift the dogs gave was sleep. With a dog on watch, a Marine could close his eyes for a few minutes even with the enemy close by. Anyone who's been in the field knows what that's worth. Rest is part of readiness, and it's something I think about a lot with the veterans we host through The Calm Seas Project. Sometimes the best thing you can give someone is a safe place to finally exhale.
The 3d Marine Division was relieved by Army units in January 1944 so it could get ready for Guam. So this Sunday, if you've got a dog at your feet, give them an extra scratch for Andy, Caesar and the rest of that first platoon. And if you served with the 3d Marine Division, I'd love to hear your stories.
Semper Fi.
Sources: Marine Corps History Division: Top of the Ladder, Marine Operations in the Northern Solomons · Marine Corps History Division: Bougainville and the Northern Solomons · Marine Corps History Division: The 3d Marine Division and Its Regiments · Camp Lejeune Globe, March 29, 1944 (DVIDS): Marine War Dogs Do Real Job · Naval History Magazine: Marine's Best Friend
