Last updated: July 18, 2024
Place
Piti
National Archives 80-G-247835
Quick Facts
Location:
FM6V+MQ2, Piti, Guam
Significance:
Site of three WWII-era Japanese costal defense guns
Amenities
2 listed
Parking - Auto, Trailhead
On the hills above the village of Piti, three large guns sit in a stand of mahogany planted in 1928 within the Guam Agricultural Experiment Station. They are some of the remains of hastily built fortifications the Japanese forces made the CHamoru build leading up to the American invasion. The guns, manufactured in 1914, are Japanese Vickers-type Model 3 140mm coastal defense guns. The foundry stamp is still visible on the guns’ breech. These guns, which have a range of close to ten miles, were intended to drive back ships and landing craft intending to land at Apra Harbor. The first two guns sit in earthen revetments, built to protect them from American artillery, while the third gun is protected by a low walled concrete emplacement.[1]
After capturing Guam on December 10, 1941, renaming the island Omiya Jima or the Great Shrine Island, the Japanese made a limited effort to fortify the island. At the time, Guam was far from the front line and surrounded by islands that had been under Japanese control for decades. It was placed under the administrative control of the Imperial Japanese Navy, with only a small garrison of 300 sailors stationed on the island. During the first year and a half of the occupation, life was relatively calm as long as the CHamoru obeyed the Japanese officials. They told the CHamoru that their seizure of Guam was “for the purpose of restoring liberty and rescuing the whole Asiatic people and creating a permanent peace in Asia,” and that "good citizens need not worry anything under the regulations of our Japanese authorities and may (sic) enjoy your daily life."[2]
As WWII dragged on, however, the situation in Guam changed dramatically. In 1943, the United States and their allies began a concentrated drive across the central Pacific, and by the middle of the year, the Japanese forces found themselves on the defensive. The Imperial High Command declared that the Marianas, including Guam, were Japan’s final line of defense and must be held at all costs, triggering a rapid build-up of military personnel and defenses. In early 1944, roughly 18,500 troops were transferred from Manchuria to Guam, and in March, the Imperial Japanese Army, under command of General Takeshi Takashina, took control of the island.[3]
In anticipation of an American invasion, the Japanese forces began to rapidly strengthen Guam’s coastal defenses. The coral reefs and lagoons lining the beaches were filled with barbed wire, mines, and other obstacles. The airstrips at Orote and Jalaguac-Tiyan were rushed to completion, and pillboxes, man-made caves, and elaborate trench systems were constructed on the hills overlooking the potential landing spots.
The Japanese forces also focused on increasing the island’s artillery. Machine guns, artillery and mortar emplacements, and coastal defense guns were installed on the high ground near the coast. In lightly defended areas, decoy guns made of coconut logs were added. In total, the Japanese had at least nineteen 200mm, eight 150mm, twenty-two 105mm and six 75mm coastal defense guns. The Japanese Imperial Army defending the beaches were armed with eighteen 75mm guns, forty 75mm pack howitzers, fourteen 105mm howitzers, 580 7.7mm machine guns and eighty-six antitank guns of various calibers.[4]
It was during this frantic build-up of artillery that the three guns were placed at Piti.
As Japanese troops ramped up their defensive preparations, they became desperate for manpower and conditions rapidly deteriorated for the civilians. Males over the age of twelve were forced to join labor crews put to work building fortifications while the women, younger children and elderly were growing food for the Japanese army. Workers were rarely given food and were forced to work long hours without rest. Schools were closed and religious services were forbidden. Most of the island’s food supply was seized by the army, and the CHamoru were reduced to subsistence rations. Malnutrition, starvation, and disease soon took their toll.[5]
As their situation became more desperate, the Japanese troops became more brutal. Dozens of CHamoru were beaten, beheaded, or raped in the final days of the Japanese occupation. Massacres took place at Fena, Tinta, Faha and Yigo.[6]
Ultimately, the Imperial Japanese Army’s desperate attempt to fortify Guam failed. Plans were abandoned due to lack of materials and the American bombardment in the weeks leading up to the invasion destroyed many of the completed defenses before they could be used. When the Americans landed on July 21, 1944, the three guns at Piti were not fully operational, and never fired. Today, they stand as a reminder of a brutal chapter in Guam’s history and of the strength and resilience of the CHamoru who lived through it.[7]
Listen to CHamoru elder Hiram Elliot describe the hardships he and his family encountered during the Japanese occupation and during the American bombardment.
View historic photos of Japanese fortifications on Guam and of the Japanese military occupation of Guam.
[1] Erwin N. Thompson, "War in the Pacific National Historical Park Historic Resource Study," Historic Resource Study (National Park Service, July 1985).
[2] Harry A. Gailey, The Liberation of Guam, 21 July-10 August 1944 (Novato, CA : Presidio, 1988), 30–35; Chris Dimla Lizama, "War Survivor: Lillian Tenorio Dimla," Guampedia, June 18, 2019; Tony Palomo and Katherine Aguon, "WWII: From Occupation to Liberation," Guampedia, May 28, 2024; Robert F. Rogers, Destiny’s Landfall: A History of Guam, Revised Edition (Honolulu: University of Hawaiʻi Press, 2011), 160; Henry I. Shaw, Bernard C. Nalty, and Edwin T. Turnbladh, Central Pacific Drive, vol. III, History of U.S. Marine Corps Operations in World War II (Headquarters: Historical Branch, G-3 Division, U.S. Marine Corps, 1966), 442.
[3] Gailey, The Liberation of Guam, 35–40; Wakako Higuchi, "Japanese Military Administration of Guam," Guampedia, November 6, 2023; Maj O. R. Lodge, The Recapture of Guam (Headquarters: Historical Branch, G-3 Division, U.S. Marine Corps, 1954), 11; Palomo and Aguon, "WWII: From Occupation to Liberation"; Shaw, et al, Central Pacific Drive, 442.
[4] Evans-Hatch & Associates, Inc., "War in the Pacific National Historic Park: An Administrative History," Park Administrative Histories (National Park Service, July 2004); Gailey, The Liberation of Guam, 38–42; Lodge, The Recapture of Guam, 11–12; Palomo and Aguon, "WWII: From Occupation to Liberation"; Rogers, Destiny’s Landfall, 160; Shaw, et al, Central Pacific Drive, 446–47.
[5] Vicente Blaz, "CHamorus Forced into War Effort," Guampedia, June 9, 2019; Gailey, The Liberation of Guam, 38–39; Tony Palomo, "WWII: Rising Sun Dawns on Guam," Guampedia, May 27, 2024; Palomo and Aguon, "WWII: From Occupation to Liberation"; Rogers, Destiny’s Landfall, 163–64; Shaw, et al, Central Pacific Drive, 437–39.
[6] Leo Babauta, "WWII: War Atrocities on Guam," Guampedia, May 28, 2024; Gailey, The Liberation of Guam, 39; Palomo and Aguon, "WWII: From Occupation to Liberation"; Rogers, Destiny’s Landfall, 166–69.
[7] Thompson, "War in the Pacific National Historical Park Historic Resource Study."
This article was made possible through generous support from the Mellon Foundation in partnership with the National Park Foundation and American Conservation Experience. Learn more about the Mellon Humanities Postdoctoral Fellowship.