The V Amphibious Corps (VAC) was a formation of the

United States Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through combi ...

which was composed of the

3rd Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * Second#Sexagesimal divisions of calendar time and day, 1⁄60 of a ''second'', or 1⁄3600 of a ''minute'' Places * 3rd Street (d ...

4th Fourth or the fourth may refer to: * the ordinal form of the number 4 * ''Fourth'' (album), by Soft Machine, 1971 * Fourth (angle), an ancient astronomical subdivision * Fourth (music), a musical interval * ''The Fourth'' (1972 film), a Sovie ...

and 5th Marine Divisions in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. The three divisions were the amphibious landing force for the

United States Fifth Fleet The Fifth Fleet is a numbered fleet of the United States Navy. It has been responsible for naval forces in the Persian Gulf, Red Sea, Arabian Sea, and parts of the Indian Ocean since 1995 after a 48-year hiatus. It shares a commander and headq ...

with two goals, removal of Japanese forces from islands so U.S. Seabees could build advance bases to project US power. In doing this VAC was notably involved in the battles for

Tarawa Tarawa is an atoll and the capital of the Republic of Kiribati,Kiribati
''

Saipan Saipan ( ch, Sa’ipan, cal, Seipél, formerly in es, Saipán, and in ja, 彩帆島, Saipan-tō) is the largest island of the Northern Mariana Islands, a Commonwealth (U.S. insular area), commonwealth of the United States in the western Pa ...

, and

Iwo Jima Iwo Jima (, also ), known in Japan as , is one of the Japanese Volcano Islands and lies south of the Bonin Islands. Together with other islands, they form the Ogasawara Archipelago. The highest point of Iwo Jima is Mount Suribachi at high. ...

. V Amphibious Corps was commanded by General Holland 'Howlin Mad' Smith followed by General Harry Schmidt.

History

Cover of V Phib Corps Marianas Report on Phase III (Tinian)

The V Amphibious Corps (formerly Amphibious Corps, Pacific Fleet; ACPF) was formed on 25 August 1943 at Camp Elliot, California. In September 1943, it moved to

Pearl Harbor Pearl Harbor is an American lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. It was often visited by the Naval fleet of the United States, before it was acquired from the Hawaiian Kingdom by the U.S. with the signing of the Re ...

, Hawaii.

Structure

The structure of a United States Marine Corps' amphibious corps by 1945, was broken down into four major subordinate commands with each of them having numerous sub-elements: * The first major element of the Corps was three reinforced Marine infantry divisions. * The second was the Corps artillery, which was composed of a field artillery group made of three battalions of 155mm howitzers, three battalions of 155mm guns, and an Antiaircraft Artillery Group made of three antiaircraft artillery battalions. * The third was the Amphibian Tractor Group, which was made up of four amphibian tractor battalions and an armored amphibian tractor battalion. * The fourth was the Corps Troops, which was composed of a headquarters and service battalion, administrative command, signal battalion, medical battalion, motor transport battalion, engineer battalion,

reconnaissance battalion In military operations, reconnaissance or scouting is the exploration of an area by military forces to obtain information about enemy forces, terrain, and other activities. Examples of reconnaissance include patrolling by troops (skirmishers, ...

, and military police battalion.

Subordinate units

The US Marine Corps, US Army, and Naval Construction Force commands that served under the V Amphibious Corps in World War II include:Rottman ''USMC WWII OOB'', p. 111. 6th Naval Construction Brigade insignia

;Marine Corps *

2nd Marine Division The 2nd Marine Division (2nd MARDIV) is a division of the United States Marine Corps, which forms the ground combat element of the II Marine Expeditionary Force (II MEF). The division is based at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, North Carolina ...

3rd Marine Division The 3rd Marine Division is a division of the United States Marine Corps based at Camp Courtney, Marine Corps Base Camp Smedley D. Butler in Okinawa, Japan. It is one of three active duty infantry divisions in the Marine Corps and together with th ...

4th Marine Division The 4th Marine Division is a reserve division in the United States Marine Corps. It was raised in 1943 for service during World War II, and subsequently fought in the Pacific against the Japanese. Deactivated after the war, the division was re-fo ...

5th Marine Division The 5th Marine Division was a United States Marine Corps ground combat division which was activated on 11 November 1943 (officially activated on 21 January 1944) at Camp Pendleton, California during World War II. The 5th Division saw its first ...

22nd Marine Regiment The 22nd Marine Regiment (22nd Marines) is an inactive United States Marine Corps infantry regiment. The regiment was commissioned in 1942 and was placed under the command of the 1st Provisional Marine Brigade, and the 6th Marine Division. It t ...

Amphibious Reconnaissance Battalion The United States Marine Corps's Amphibious Reconnaissance Battalion, formerly ''Company'', was a specialized team of Marines and Navy Corpsmen that performed clandestine preliminary pre–D-Day amphibious reconnaissance of planned beachheads an ...

'' ormerly "Company"' ;Army *

XXIV Corps Artillery 24 (twenty-four) is the natural number following 23 and preceding 25. The SI prefix for 1024 is yotta (Y), and for 10−24 (i.e., the reciprocal of 1024) yocto (y). These numbers are the largest and smallest number to receive an SI prefix to da ...

* 7th Infantry Division * 27th Infantry Division * 32nd Infantry Division ;Navy *6th Naval Construction Brigade (Tinian and Saipan) *9th Naval Construction Brigade (Iwo Jima)

Command and Staff

Corps Commanders

* General Holland M. Smith: 25 August 1943 – 11 July 1944 * General Harry Schmidt: 12 July 1944 – 15 February 1946 (Deactivation)

Chiefs of Staff

* Brigadier General

Graves B. Erskine General Graves Blanchard Erskine (June 28, 1897May 21, 1973) was a United States Marine Corps officer who led the 3rd Marine Division (United States), 3rd Marine Division during the Battle of Iwo Jima in World War II. Early life and education ...

: August 1943 - August 1944 * Brigadier General

William W. Rogers William Walter Rogers (December 25, 1893 – October 15, 1976) was a highly decorated officer of the United States Marine Corps with the rank of major general, who served as staff officer in the Asiatic-Pacific Theater during World War II. Ear ...

: August 1944 - December 1945 * Brigadier General

Dudley S. Brown Dudley Southworth Brown (March 30, 1896 – March 10, 1971) was an officer of the United States Marine Corps with the rank of major general, who served on the High staff positions during World War II. Early years Brown was born on March 30, 189 ...

: December 1945 - February 1946

Corps Artillery

*Brigadier general

Thomas E. Bourke Thomas Eugene Bourke (May 5, 1896 – January 9, 1978) was a United States Marine Corps general who, during World War II, commanded Marine artillery units at the Battle of Guadalcanal, Tarawa and Leyte. At the end of World War II, he comman ...

*Colonel John S. Letcher (July 1944 - June 1945)

Personnel Officers

*Lieutenant Colonel

Albert F. Metze Albert may refer to: Companies * Albert (supermarket), a supermarket chain in the Czech Republic * Albert Heijn, a supermarket chain in the Netherlands * Albert Market, a street market in The Gambia * Albert Productions, a record label * Albert C ...

*Colonel

David A. Stafford David Anderson Stafford (October 16, 1893 – July 21, 1959) was a decorated officer of the United States Marine Corps with the rank of brigadier general. He is most noted for his service as assistant chief of staff for personnel ( G-1) of V Amp ...

(October 1944 - February 1946)

Intelligence Officers

*Lieutenant Colonel St. Julien R. Marshall: August 1943 - October 1944 *Colonel Thomas R. Yancey (USA)

Operations Officers

*Colonel

John C. McQueen John Crawford McQueen (July 5, 1899 – December 7, 1985) was a decorated officer of the United States Marine Corps with the rank of lieutenant general, who served as high staff officer during Pacific War. He later served as Director of Ma ...

(August 1943 - August 1944) *Colonel

Edward A. Craig Edward Arthur Craig (November 22, 1896 – December 11, 1994) was a commissioned officer in the United States Marine Corps, and a decorated combat veteran of World War II and the Korean War who eventually attained the rank of lieutenant general ...

(August 1944 - April 1945) *Colonel

Walter W. Wensinger Walter William Wensinger (September 4, 1894July 10, 1972) was a highly decorated officer of the United States Marine Corps with the rank of lieutenant general. He is most noted for his service as commanding officer of 23rd Marine Regiment during ...

(April 1945 - February 1946)

Logistics Officers

*Colonel Raymond E. Knapp (August 1943 - April 1944) *Colonel William F. Brown

Unit awards

A unit citation or commendation is an award bestowed upon an organization for the action cited. Members of the unit who participated in said actions are allowed to wear on their uniforms the appropriate ribbon of the awarded unit citation. V Amphibious Corps has been awarded the following:

References

Sources

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