| Description: | Photo shows group of Marines, pinned down for the third day, in a draw on the side of Chonito Ridge. They are only 700 or 800 yards from the beach and provide an unusual photographic record of a group of fighting men in perilous position. The dead and wounded are among them as most of them could not be gotten out because of withering Japanese fire coming from machine guns and mortars in commanding positions of the ridge. When this picture was taken- on the third day- (this group of Marines was pinned down at 12 noon on July 21, several hours after the landing). A tremendous barrage of artillery was being laid on the hill against the Japanese positions in hopes of relieving the trapped Marines. From fighting in the jungles of Guadalcanal and Bougainville, this switch to country where warfare was more or less visual, furnished a surprising contrast to the Marines and for the first time many of the fighting Marines actually saw what went on right before their eyes. July 23, 1944 (USMC #87283) |
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Box 5
