Japanese Offensive Operations Immediately After the Outbreak of War: The cooperative operation of the Army and Navy to occupy Guam

From the Micronesian Journal of the Humanities and Social Sciences, December, 2003.

The paper is based on a translation of Japanese military plans before and during the capture of Guam.

The Guam operation was referred to as the G Operation, and the Bismarck Operation was referred to as the R Operation.

One very interesting point is that , on November 5, 1941, over a full month before Pearl Harbor, “Imperial Naval Headquarters...ordered the Commander-in-Chief of the combined Fleet to prepare for operations against the USA, England, and the Netherlands.

Further, it refers to these operations being used “...for the sake of our survival and self-defense.”

There are those in Japan who say that World War II was not a war of Japanese aggression, but was a war for their self-defense against the Western Powers stranglehold on their economy and territory.

The paper refers to another order, this one on December 1, that stated that the “Imperial Realm” had decided to fight the USA, England and the Netherlands.

The US armed forces on Guam found out about the attack on Pearl Harbor, which led to the imprisonment of the Japanese people who were on the island. The paper then discusses the Japanese invasion procedure and how they took over the island.

The U.S. Navy acknowledged the Japanese occupation of Guam on December 13th. There were some regular American residents on the island, and they were returned to the U.S. on October 15th. The military people and civilians working for Pan-American Airlines and other businesses became prisoners. On January 10th, 1942, they were taken by ship to Japan.

The paper then talks about the setting up of a civilian government (under Japanese oversight) on the island.

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