The Japanese Occupation of Guam - A Forgotten Chapter of World War II

On December 8th, 1941, only hours after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the second world war reached the Marianas when Saipan-based, Imperial Japanese Navy planes began bombing and strafing American Navy targets on Guam, the largest island in the Marianas chain. Two days later, Japanese troops landed on the island leading to the first engagement between Japanese and US Marine troops of the war known as the first battle of Guam. A few hours later Island garrison surrendered, making Guam the first piece of American territory to fall into Japanese hands.
If you like the video, please consider subscribing to the channel.
/ @fromthebattlefields
If you want to support the channel, gain access to extra content and source footage used for this video, please consider joining my Patreon page: / fromthebattlefields
Japanese Invasion of Burma 1942 - Part 2: • The Turning Point: Jap...
Japanese Invasion of Burma 1942 - Part 1: • The Forgotten Front: J...
Battle of Peleliu Part 4: • Battle of Peleliu 1944...
Battle of Peleliu Part 3: • Battle of Peleliu 1944...
Battle of Peleliu Part 2: • Battle of Peleliu 1944...
Battle of Peleliu Part 1: • Battle of Peleliu 1944...
Second Battle of Guam Part 3: • Second Battle of Guam ...
Second Battle of Guam Part 2: • Second Battle of Guam ...
Second Battle of Guam Part 1: • Second Battle of Guam ...
Battle of Tinian Part 1: • Battle of Tinian 1944 ...
Battle of Tinian Part 1: • Battle of Tinian 1944 ...
Battle of Saipan Part 1: • Battle of Saipan 1944 ...
Battle of Saipan Part 2: • Battle of Saipan 1944 ...
Battle of Saipan Part 3: • Battle of Saipan 1944 ...
Battle of Eniwetok: • Battle of Eniwetok 194...
Battle of Kwajalein: • Battle of Kwajalein 19...
Battle of Tarawa: • Battle of Tarawa 1943 ...
Hiroshima: • Hiroshima 1945 - The C...
#worldwartwo #militaryhistory #ww2 #pacificwar
Twitter: / fbattlefields

[@marykuss3390]

I was stationed on the Naval Base Annex as a Paralegal. I was sent to have some legal papers signed for a local Husband and Wife. He was one of the Chamorro's who did what they could to help the POWs and his Wife told me the story of how she watched the Japanese planes fly over at the beginning of the War. It was one of the most informative afternoons I have ever spent, I do hope they wrote down what they experienced. It should not be forgotten, the quiet Heroes of war, those who did what they could without being killed themselves, and lived to bare whiteness....

[@Mike-ig2zq]

Whiteness?

[@marykuss3390]

@@Mike-ig2zq stupid spell check. Supposed to be 'Witness'

[@kevinkasp]

@@Mike-ig2zq Expression meaning nothing left but dried bones without even the slightest bit of flesh on them.

[@manuelbermudez211]

I think she meant witness instead …

[@orotewilderness2913]

Grew up on guam. We had a hell of a time exploring and finding things. We played in caves that the Japanese had brutal hand to hand combat with the marines in a last stand. We sat on a crashed Corsair by a airfield. Collected bottles and bullets. Some kids found a bomb crater near gab gab beach defensive pillboxes with a skeleton inside. Not sure if it was true or not. We tried climbing to get to it, but we couldn’t. Coral limestone craters are difficult, always cutting ourselves on those. There was a spirit about that place, forever will be my home. Nothing like building crap with your boys next to a bombed out radio station with bullet holes in it.

[@stevencurtis4325]

Great job, excellent historical details

[@FromtheBattlefields]

Thanks!!!

[@samiam5557]

The USS Penguin sure looks like the same class of ship used to portray the USS Sand Pebbles in the likewise named movie. 😊

[@scarletcrusade77]

Great video FTB! Will we be seeing the recapture video after this one? Also I know it’s technically not a battle per safe but would you ever do a video highlighting all of the bypassed Japanese island garrisons in the war? There’s a lot of interesting facts about the sheer amount of troops bypassed and how over attrition they were neutralised down strength wise, but also many interesting stories how they survived supplies wise by getting creative and desperate.

[@FromtheBattlefields]

Thank you! Yes, recapture of Guam is the next episode in the Pacific series. Video about bypassed Japanese island garrisons is something I consider doing, but I need to figure out how to visualise this topic.

[@robertsmith2227]

Great video. Thank you

[@FromtheBattlefields]

Thank you too!

[@staylitpar]

Hearing him talk about this he sounds so calm but when my grandma tells me her story I feel the pain. She was a lil girl when it happened and her youngest sibling died from lack of nutrition and she don’t even remember where they buried the baby. Her dad and grandpa was forced to dig a hole with others and was massacred. At what point did we say guam was up for grabs nothing but greediness and a lust for power

[@yahkop-io2qd]

My grandpa is said that he survived by barrowing himself underneath dead body's in a pit that been made to put all the dead people in. To hear such a story from another person i don't know how to feel but Im glad I read your comment. For me I don't really know how it all went down so my story of him is kinda cut up into pieces so I hope I get to learn more because I really think it needs to be remembered for such a time like that. I do also know that when Guam was invaded he was about 11 - 13 years of age which had to have so scary.

[@bryanquichocho1280]

Its really sad what our people went through during the war. I wished i had asked my grandparents while they were alive. 🤙🏾

[@oneshotme]

Watched a video a few days ago of the Americans taking it back hahaha Enjoyed your video and so I gave it a Thumbs Up

[@FromtheBattlefields]

😂 Thank you!

[@oneshotme]

@@FromtheBattlefields You're welcome and keep up the great videos!!

[@stevencurtis4325]

Thanks!

[@FromtheBattlefields]

Thank you very much!!!

[@lilmike2710]

These are my bedtime stories 💤

[@yahkop-io2qd]

My grandpa was born in Guam and he was about 11 - 12 years old when Japan invaded Guam. He witnessed his guardian get decapitated, but I don't know who they were to him. I hope to get more insight from my family history as I never really heard much about it. Now that I've learned about some of it I've been so intrigued. 😶‍🌫

[@Joeysan24]

Most of the village pronunciation is wrong in this video.

[@FromtheBattlefields]

Yes, I know. After all, it is a robot who is speaking.

[@manuelbermudez211]

I would say it’s because Anglo Americans don’t bother with pronounciations of other cultures words. It’s a habit brought down by the British and most Europeans. They look at brown and black skinned people and see them as inferior. Especially during the empire and colonial times. Modern Europeans and Americans are paying more attention to what other cultures are calling themselves and the pronounciations of their languages. Just sayin …

[@oldspicey6001]

​@@manuelbermudez211no it's cuz it's a robot 😂😂😂

[@eancurtis9333]

Awesome

[@FromtheBattlefields]

Thank you!

[@crystaldbj]

Forgotten by whom?

[@brandongarcia3127]

I live on orote peninsula!

[@FromtheBattlefields]

I'm guessing you have a nice view from there. 😀

[@ricodiaz8099]

We prefer to be called Chamorus not Guamanians

[@FromtheBattlefields]

I apologize. I took the term for the local population that I found in the sources used while making this video.

[@ricodiaz8099]

@@FromtheBattlefields all good man. Sorry my words sound pretty brash online. But yeah, there are misconceptions when it comes to the perspectives of the locals.

[@johndelper1404]

Evacuating the island, yet another hint that FDR knew Japan was readying itself for a war of aggression in the Pacific, but the US population had no idea of Roosevelt's war of antagonism against Japan, most people still don't know about it.

[@graceneilitz7661]

Most people were knowledgeable enough to know that a US-Japan was probably going to happen. After all, they were two powers headed for collision since the early 1900s. It’s just that most people didn’t expect the Japanese to start another war while already deep in China.

[@willboudreau1187]

"Roosevelt's war of antagonism against Japan" ??? Eff off. You sound like the palestinian apologists describing the hamas butchery in the news of recent.

[@williamlouie569]

Not much of a fight in taken of the island. Like US gave up without a fight.

[@wisemankugelmemicus1701]

The odds were 10-1 against the US Navy and Marine Corps. When you’re swarmed with that much enemy that fast there’s really only so much you can do

[@nerva-]

Bizarre that you would say that -- did you WATCH the video, particularly the part where it says the island had no fortifications, just a few machine guns, and the Navy labeled it a "category F defensive rating", which was their way of saying it was essentially undefended and in the event of war was so indefensible that it should be abandoned at the outset of hostilities.

[@joeywheelerii9136]

​@Nerva although I imagine If the men knew what would was waiting for them in Japanese captivity they might of elected to fight to the death.

[@kenneth9874]

That's more your style

[@haggantaotaomona]

Go invest in your families...don't go to war for the government profiteers...the time the military requires if invested within yourself u will be a multi millionaire...do not b a tool of oppression... protect your families the hell w those elite that choose war...unless u love being a slave that finances your own injustice

[@3nheaven]

That has nothing to do with World War ll . If you dont like war, why are you watching old war stories.

[@scotth5038]

Tell that to the locals during after invasion. of Guam, Phillipins, Nanking, Europe, oh yes Ukraine. local villages on many different continents. etc. HISTORY IS VIOLENT.

[@joeywheelerii9136]

We zoomer men don't have families or even the slightest hope of obtaining one unless we are in the top 10-20% of men.

[@kenneth9874]

I guess that you'd watch your family be enslaved

[@manuelbermudez211]

War making has always been a profitable venture. It’s gotten way more profitable since WWII. Even Eisenhower warned of the military industrial complex back in 1960. Even the axis powers paid a lot for the weapons produced by their own companies and sent their soldiers with bare minimum of support when things got worse for their countries. They could’ve surrendered like Italy did and spare the lives of their people. Both civilians and military. Just thinking out side the box …

[@steelanut1]

Narrator is horrible!

[@FromtheBattlefields]

Yes, I fired him.

[@thomasbernecky2078]

This is just a Fraud from Croatia, albeit with Drach's robo voice. Unsubbed. I recommend Jon Parshall, Vincent O'Hara, the late great James Hornfischer, Ian Toll and Armoured Carriers if you want the real deal?

[@fufuk80]

this video deserves more views and likes.

[@FromtheBattlefields]

Thanks!