We reluctantly leave the beautiful Maloelap atoll for a new adventure. A short 84 miles north is the atoll called Wotje (pronounced whoat jay) which is known as the “Garden Atoll.” Wotje, like its neighbor Maloelap, was a major Japanese base during World War II. We look forward to continuing our search for these relics.
This fairly large atoll is home to the island chain high school called Northern Islands High School and the college which are attended by students from nearby atolls. It also has a small power station, managed by the Marshalls Energy Company so all of the homes are equipped with electricity.
The local police station proudly displays several shell casings in front of their building. There are 4 policemen who work on this island, but they have no jail and rarely have any problems.
Wotje WWII History
Wotje military development began quietly in the 1930’s with a major airbase construction starting in 1939. The war came swiftly on February 1, 1942 with two raids by the U.S. Carrier aircraft. The air-raid totaled 23 aircraft with 58 bombs, leaving behind a deadly legacy of destruction.
However, by mid-1943 the Japanese had developed Wotje into a major base with the construction of 2-runways, hangers, repair facilities, barracks, and living quarters. Defense weapons were installed around the island, a large dock with a crane and a seaplane dock were built, and two runways (3500′ and 5000′). Wotje was given 13 vessels as a guard force and seaplanes made regular visits and reconnaissance missions. At peak strength in December 1943, the atoll consisted of 3,300 men: 2,103 Navy, 770 airmen, and 429 Army personnel.
The U.S. returned late in 1943 and destroyed all Japanese aviation here, sunk all ships in the harbor, and the atoll was left to starve. The atoll was continually bombarded until 1945. By the end of the war, over 60% of the garrison had died leaving only 1,244 survivors. Casualties occurred from air raids, diseases, accidents, and suicides, but mainly from starvation.
The local church has defense weapon on their grounds. This gun was removed from the large, steel, cargo ship, the Toyotsu Maru that sunk at the neighboring island of Egmedoi.
Wotje’s Deadly Weapons
The perimeter of the island, especially the ocean side, was full of guns, which were a mixture of British and Japanese manufacture: six coastal defense guns, and six twin-mount dual purpose guns. The Japanese Army had brought an additional five field artillery guns. In addition, two 120 mm ship guns were emplaced as coastal defense guns. The top is an anti-aircraft gun and the bottom two are coastal defense guns.
This bad boy with 5 barrels lived on a family’s property, right next to their home! I appreciate the historical value of these WWII remnants but I cannot imagine living next to this horrid reminder of the war.
We almost walked right by this cannon which is almost completely covered in vegetation. We just happened to be walking back from a bunker and spied it in the trees. Look how huge the gun hole is compared to Matt’s hand!
It is amazing to see the condition of these deadly weapons. They are still standing, pointing off into the horizon looking for the enemy. Matt was able to put his entire head in the gun hole!
WWII Aircrafts
During the war two squadrons of planes were temporarily stationed here, namely torpedo bombers (“Kate” & “Val”) and patrol bombers (“Nell” & “Betty”). At the beginning of the war the plane contingent of the 801st squadron, consisted of between 6 and 12 Kawanishi H6K flying boats (“Mavis”), which were later replaced by the larger H8K flying boats (“Emily’). We were not able to find the sunken planes in the lagoon, but we did find this massive propeller, from a Betty Bomber, right outside the local bank and post office. This came from an extremely large aircraft as it has 14 pistons!
Inland, we found this Betty Bomber graveyard with (3) engines and propellers. These are simply massive. Right next to the engines was a large cannon that was fully intact (lower right photo).
Toyotsu Maru Sunken Ship
The Toyostu Maru is a gunboat warship that measured over 305′ long, 45′ wise, and 26′ deep weighing in at almost 3,000 tons! She had two masts, one of which still lays across the deteriorating steel. She was struck on the port side which beached her, but then she was used as target practice for many months leaving her virtually unrecognizable.
This should be spelled Toyotsu Maru.
Today, at low tide you easily see huge sections of the once enormous boat. You can see her anchor chain all piled up (bottom right photo), her mast sticking out like a cannon, the gooseneck of one of her booms and other assorted boat parts.
The anchor chain is visible from above the water and yet it still piles 2 meters high below the water as well.
We return on another day to snorkel the wreck at low tide. Top left is the spreader of the aft mast which can be seen in the photo above. We also find a portion of its massive anchor which was well over 2 meters long and several cleats.
The rudder and prop were still intact. Each rudder blade was over 2m long. And the writing was still on one of the prop blades.
This shipwreck has become a very active and flourishing coral reef with dozens of schools of fish. Coral is growing all over the ship and its parts making it a truly fun place to discover.
A Rare Memorial
So many soldiers were lost with the sinking of the Toyotsu Maru that the Japanese erected a war memorial in their honor.
This bereavement memorial is located on the southern end of the Wotje island. The memorial describes the vessel and its losses. There were two memorials right next to each other. One was still standing and intact. However, the 2nd one has fallen over and lays on its side next to its podium. Unfortunately the writing is incredibly faded making it impossible to translate.
The gun displayed by the main church was reportedly removed from the Toyotsu maru. Not sure why they removed the gun and placed it next to the church but here she sits.
We found so many WWII remnants that we had to break it up into 2 blog posts. So, be sure to check in with us for part II of this post.
Some cool links on Wotje’s WWII history:
Our blog posts run 8-10 weeks behind actual live events. This blog post occurred during the 2nd week of November 2024. Be sure to see the true beauty of Maloelap in our last blog post “Maloelap’s Beautiful Motus.”
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