Evening star., 1944-02-03
Surprised Japs Lose
Cockiness in Face Of
MethodicaI Attacks
By ALVA DOPKING.

rs Assocldteu Press war correspondent,
Representing the Combined American Press.
- NAMUR ISLAND, Kwajalein Atoll
In the Marshalls, Feb. 2 Delayed -
United States marines are mopping
up on the last enemy resistance to-
day on Roi and Namur Islands, all
but leveled by the heaviest naval
bombardment in history that cleared
the way for the invasion forces.
=. Massed graveyards of Uttered
Japanese blown from pillboxes and
heavily-reinforced concrete block
houses told the story OF the heavy,
deliberate and accurate pounding
from the sea.
There is plenty of evidence that
the japanese were completely sur
'prised. They must have de1uded
themselves into believing that we
didn't have the power or the heart
to knife at the center of their Mar
shalls stronghold.
Keeling Japanese who survived
the inferno of shellfire had only
small arms to fire at the marines
from battered blockhouses as the
leathernecks landed shortly before
noon yesterday. Shore batteries had
been blown sky high.
The marines moved swiftly through
the japanese but ran into spotty
sporadic resistance in the interior
during the first day. The triple
runway Roi airstrip fell in four
hours. Mild opposition from snipers
on Roi was quickly suppressed.
Harassed remnants of the Japanese
troops escaped over a causeway
to join their forces on adjacent
Namur.
The Americans stormed nearly 200
yards across Namur on their first
blow, then methodically began
blasting out the enemy, pillbox by
pillbox, the rest of the way across
the little island
landed shortly after the assault
waves yesterday noon on Namur
The Japanese defenses not only
were knocked out but so were the
minds of those who had miracu-
lousy managed to live through the
bombing that sheared the tops off
coconut trees.
The Japanese sniped from trees
and ruins of pillboxes. The marines
picked off hundreds of them before
nightfall the first day. After dark,
the enemy began infiltrating, but
they were systematically thwarted.
The marines took some prisoners,
including crack naval guard forces.
The Japs' cockiness was gone.
They looked frightened. One trem-
bling prisoner told an American off,
Ger, 1t. William Brown, Scarscale,
N. Y, that he and others on the
island knew that the japanese no
longer had a chance to win the war
All Buildings Razed Except One.
All buildings on Namur were razed
except one badly battered concrete
structure. Only the steel frame
work of hangers at Roi were left
standing. Coral runways there were
pocked with bomb craters as was
Namur's cocoanut grove and beach |
area. Marines used the craters for
foxholes until they had time to dig
in.
slept in a foxhole with 1t. Clark
Kinney, Chicago, and Corpl. Leonard |
G. Riley, Boston. Enemy bullets
whined overhead throughout the
darkness. Our casualties appear
light. I saw one pillbox where Isl
Japanese, including several officers,
had been exterminated by the naval
bombardment. Their charred and
broken bodies were buried in debris.
Two prisoners were taken from the
same pillbox.
The pier at Namur was left a |
mass OF debris. A giant steel crane
at its end was twisted like so much |
wire. Ammunition dumps were still
exploding when walked to the
beach with Col. Franklin A. Hart,
La Jolla, Calf, and Col. Charles
D. Roberts, Kansas City, Mo. We
dlved toward a tank for protection.
I feel alongside Alton Thomas, a
big broad-shouldered Texan, and
we were showered by rocks, concrete
and wood as an ammunition dump
near the middle of the island ex-
ploded.
You know" Alton drawled, It'd
just as soon be reading about this
In the morning paper"
Maps Outdated by Smelling.
Barracks once dotted Namur and
1t was marked off by streets. But
they're hard to find now. The maps
given us to find our way around
were outdated after the savage
salvos from the Navy's big guns
the day before the marines landed
on Roi and Namur.
We could see the mushroom of