US Marine Corps - The Black Vault

Success, Then C~iff Hanging 353
BEACH TROUBLES--TULAGI
Over at Tulagi, according to the transport AJeville’s War Diary
It was not until about midnight that the first word had been received to
send the important food rations and ammunition ashore and from then till
daylight it went slowly due to insufficient personnel to unload and conflicting
orders as to where to land the stores.Gg
Not all the beach trouble was caused by inadequate Pioneer parties. Often
the transports and cargo ships overloaded the landing craft.
A considerable number of landing boats, chiefly ramp lighters, were
stranded on the beach, adding to the confusion. These ramps had been loaded
too deeply by the head, and could not be driven far enough up on their
particular beach to keep from filling and drowning the engine when the ramp
was lowered.Gg
Rear Admiral Turner after the landing wrote:
There were two primary reasons for failure to completely unload. First the
vast amount of unnecessary impediments taken, and second a failure on the
part of the 1st Division to provide adequate and well organized unloading
details at the beach.
Rear Admiral Turner summed up his attitude on all these unloading
problems in this way:
The Marine officers on my staff feel very strongly on these matters-as
strongly as I do.70
When all was said and done, however, the amphibians in 26 actual hours
of unloading had gotten a very large percentage of the Marines logistic
support out of the holds and on to the beaches. This was accomplished
despite three Japanese air raids, one of 45 planes, and another of 43, and
rumors of other raids which had caused the amphibians to stop unloading
and get underway. But the transports and cargo ships did not get 100 percent
of the logistic support ashore and that was the least that they would have
to do to accomplish their mission and satisfy the Marines.
- Neville War Diary, 9 Aug. 1942.
m Hunter Liggett War Diary, 8 Aug. 1912.
TORKT to colonel James W. Webb, USMC, CO 7th Marines, letter, 20 Aug. 1942.