449 Marines Beat Back an Invasion: Wake Island, 1941

Before dawn on 11 December 1941, a Japanese invasion fleet crept towards Wake Island, two thousand miles west of Hawaii. The Marines held their fire, let the ships come close, and then opened up with their 5-inch guns. Two Japanese destroyers went to the bottom, the fleet turned back, and not one Japanese soldier got ashore. Twelve days later, a second invasion came, and the relief force sent to save Wake was ordered home. This is the true story of the defense of Wake Island, told from the U.S. Marine Corps' own histories: the 449 Marines and their Wildcats, the air raids from 8 December, the sinking of Hayate and Kisaragi, the "send us more Japs" myth, the relief that never came, the last stand of 23 December, the 98 civilians executed in 1943, and five popular claims, checked. Chapters 0:00 11 December 1941: hold your fire 0:34 Wake and its defenders 1:31 The first air raid 2:20 The invasion fleet is beaten off 3:31 "Send us more Japs" 3:41 Waiting for help 4:32 23 December: the second landing 5:23 "Issue in doubt" and the recall 6:14 Captivity and the 98 6:49 Five claims checked 7:36 Legacy Sources R. D. Heinl Jr, The Defense of Wake (U.S. Marine Corps Historical Monograph, 1947) R. J. Cressman, A Magnificent Fight: Marines in the Battle for Wake Island (USMC, Marines in WWII Commemorative Series, 1992) Naval History and Heritage Command, H-Gram 002: "Wake Island" and "Vice Admiral Pye's Decision" (2016) G. J. W. Urwin, "The Battle of Wake Island" (The National WWII Museum, 2020) Medal of Honor citation, Capt. Henry T. Elrod, USMC Notes on accuracy "449 Marines" = 388 of the 1st Defense Battalion detachment plus 61 of fighter squadron VMF-211 (Heinl). Also on Wake: 68 sailors, 5 soldiers and 1,146 civilian workers. The invasion was beaten back on 11 December; a second landing on 23 December succeeded and Wake was surrendered. Who gave the "hold fire" order on 11 December is disputed (Devereux and Cunningham both later claimed it). Japanese losses are disputed: at least 381 dead in Japanese records (Cressman) against U.S. estimates of 820 to 1,000. The sinking of Kisaragi is credited to Capt. Elrod; Heinl wrote "in all probability". Wake dates are used throughout; Wake is one day ahead of Hawaii. Maps, models and paintings are original artwork marked ILLUSTRATION or RECONSTRUCTION. Film of Wildcats and later raids is U.S. Navy footage from 1942–45, captioned as such. Image and film credits U.S. Navy / Naval History and Heritage Command and National Archives (80-G, NH, 428-NPC): public domain U.S. Marine Corps History Division monographs (Heinl 1947): public domain; Marine Corps Archives & Special Collections (CC BY 2.0) Japanese photographs taken before 1947: public domain United News newsreels (NARA 208-UN): public domain Maps: Natural Earth; AWS Terrain Tiles (open data) Narration, music, maps, animations and artwork: original #WakeIsland #WW2 #USMC #MilitaryHistory ``` Hashtags Already at the end of the description; YouTube shows the first 3 above the title. `#WakeIsland #WW2 #USMC #MilitaryHistory`