222nd INFANTRY REGIMENT

[corbulo]

THe 222nd Infantry Regiment held off 2 american divisions (41st and 24th) for 2 months in defending BIAK. They did receive 2K reinforcements and have tank support ( company of type 95s).

[mdiehl]

There were around 9000-11000 Japanese defenders entrenched and in fortified caves at Biak. The 222 was the battle hardened core of this group. They did not hold out for 2 months against 2 US divisions. They held out for less than one month against an initial force of 2 regimental combat teams (162, 186) US 41st Division. Subsequently the 363/41 was committed, along with the 34th RCT of the 24th infantry division. At no point were two divisions commtted to the attack. Indeed, based on these numbers, the US army guys were outnumbered through most of the fight.

The invasion began on 27 May. The most important feature of Biak, an airfield and some fresh water sources in its vicinity, were taken by the US on 15 June. So the objective of the US invasion was taken in 18 days.

[zed]

Colonel Naoyuki Kuzume was the commander of th 222d Infantry. If things were so easy for the U.S., why was the commander of the 41st relieved?

[mdiehl]

Things weren't easy for the US. You can blame Mac for something controversial. Washington intel decrypts and traffic analysis indicated at least 9000 defenders on Biak. Mac choose his local aerial recon interpretations that put the numbers around 3000. As a result, only the first 2 US RCTs were committed to the initial invasion, with the predictable result (given the actual number of defenders) that they got stalled. At one point one of the US battalions was actually surrounded, but they fought clear.

Mac sacked the c/o after sending two fact-finding teams (who produced disparate conclusions) to find out why progress was "slow," choosing to accept the finding that the US c/o was lacking in aggressiveness. Once the replacement c/o arrived and things stayed "stuck," the other two RCTs were committed.

Despite all that, the objective, the airfield on Biak, fell in two weeks.

It was bloody of course. IIRC something like 2400 US casualties and of course the entire Biak contingent of Japanese, plus a bunch of Japanese army guys drowned (several thousands) when their transport TFs were sunk.