Word: 27th
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Dates: during 1940-1949
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Smith sent another Army officer, Major General Sanderford Jarman, to see the 27th's Ralph Smith. Jarman reported back the Army commander's admission: "If he didn't take his division forward tomorrow, he should be relieved." Next morning, the division did not budge. "In this context of all-round poor performance by the 27th Division," Howlin' Mad wrote, he took map in hand and went to see the overall operation commander, Admiral Raymond Spruance. He told him: "Ralph Smith has demonstrated that he lacks aggressive spirit and his division is slowing down our advance...
Fatal Gap. Smith v. Smith became Smith v. the 27th (and, finally, the Army as a whole). Twelve days after Ralph Smith was replaced, two of the 27th's battalion commanders settled down for the night without bothering to cover a 300-yard gap between their flanks. Though forewarned, the ailing regimental commander never bothered to check up on his front lines. Through that gap the Japs rammed their last, desperate banzai charge...
...Then they were overrun, partly because their own 3rd Battalion made no attempt to shift over to help stop the fanatical Japs. The attack was finally halted by Marine artillerymen and a Reserve Army infantry regiment, after U.S. troops had suffered over 1,000 casualties. Smith then yanked the 27th out of the line, never let them do any more fighting in the Marianas...
Things Were Tough. As Smith's article hit the newsstands last week, the Army leaped to the defense. Things had been much tougher for the 27th than Howlin' Mad had had any idea of, the Army insisted. In the center, it had been up against the main enemy defenses. It was late jumping off only because the Marine division it was relieving had lost about 500 yards during the night, which the 27th had to regain. Finally, the Army pointed out that an all-Army board of inquiry had declared Smith's relief "not justified...
...Lack of Spirit." To prove its point, the Army unlocked long-secret files. But some of the Army's own testimony went far to corroborate Howlin' Mad. After relieving Smith, General Jarman reported simply: "The problem . . . was to get the 27th to advance." In an official memo on the conduct of the 27th, Jarman explained: "I have noted ... a lack of offensive spirit ... A battalion will run into one machine gun and be held up for several hours." Other Army officers reported "fainthearted" attacks, noted "a lack of spirit in moving forward...