Ерл Хэнкок Эллис: Тыныш мұхиты стратегиясының көшбасшысы

United States Marine Corps officer

Lieutenant Colonel Earl Hancock "Pete" Ellis (December 19, 1880 – May 12, 1923) was a United States Marine Corps Intelligence Officer, and author of Operations Plan 712: Advanced Base Operations in Micronesia, which became the basis for the American campaign of amphibious assault that defeated the Japanese in World War II. During World War I, Ellis established his reputation as a superior administrator and trainer when he played a large role in the creation of Marine Corps Base Quantico and operation of the Marine Corps' first Officer Candidate School. He also earned accolades for his work as an organizer when he served as one of the lead staff officers responsible for planning the St. Mihiel and Meuse Argonne Offensives. Ellis was an alcoholic, and frequently alternated between bouts of excessive drinking and hospitalization to receive treatment for the illnesses and complications it caused. In 1922 and 1923, he carried out a covert spying mission to obtain information on Japanese activities on the islands of the Pacific Ocean. He died on Palau in 1923 under circumstances that were somewhat mysterious, but were probably the result of over consumption of alcohol. His remains were cremated and eventually interred at Arlington National Cemetery in 2004. Ellis' prophetic study of Japan and the Pacific established him at the forefront of naval theorists and strategists in the field of amphibious warfare, because he foresaw both the initial Japanese attack, and the subsequent island hopping campaigns in the Central Pacific. He is still regarded as one of the Marine Corps' primary theorists because his advocacy of amphibious operations provided the organization an enduring mission and structure as the need for what had been its primary role—security detachments aboard Navy ships and at naval bases—became less critical.

Ellis was born on December 19, 1880, in Iuka, Kansas, a small farming community. His parents, Augustus and Catherine Axline Ellis, migrated from southeast Iowa to Kansas following passage of the Homestead and Preemption Acts. He was the second oldest of six surviving children. He graduated first in his high school class at Pratt, Kansas, was interested in baseball and was an avid reader, especially enjoying Rudyard Kipling's stories and poems. His inspiration to enlist came from reading magazine and newspaper articles as a teenager; during the Spanish–American War he read about the 1st Marine Battalion (Reinforced), known as "Huntington's Battalion", during its action at Cusco Well, as well as the Marine landing parties serving with Admiral George Dewey in the Philippines. Ellis' parents subsequently made inquiries with Congressman Chester I. Long from nearby Medicine Lodge about the possibility of Ellis obtaining a commission. Long followed up with Marine Corps Commandant Charles Heywood and was informed that the Marines enabled a select number of noncommissioned officers to sit for competitive examinations. As a corporal, Ellis qualified; he was tutored by an Army colonel, performed well on the written examination, and received his commission as a second lieutenant on December 21, 1901. On January 11, 1902, he reported to Colonel Percival C. Pope, commanding officer of the Marine Barracks at the Charlestown Navy Yard in Boston, to receive his initial training, including how to perform inspections and other tasks required of junior officers. On March 1, 1902, he was directed to report to Marine Barracks, Washington, D. C. to receive orders for an assignment in the western Pacific. He departed for San Francisco on April 1, 1902, where he boarded the steamboat Sheridan. On April 13 he arrived in Manila, Philippines, and reported for duty at the naval base along the Cavite Peninsula, where he was assigned as adjutant of the 1st Marine Regiment (also referred to as "1st Marines"). During this period, the boredom and monotony of routine occupation duty began to have a negative effect on him. I think that this is the laziest life that a man could find—there is not a blamed thing to do except lay around, sleep and go 'bug house'. But the same, I am helping to bear the 'White Man's Burden'. Ellis had maintained a good relationship with the commander of the 1st Marine Regiment ("1st Marines"), and in January 1903 he was assigned to command the Marine Detachment on board the battleship Kentucky, the fleet flagship of the United States Navy. The ship's crew conducted exercises in Manila Bay and entertained the British Fleet stationed in the Far East. By late February, Ellis sojourned to Singapore, China, and then to Yokohama, until the United States Secretary of the Navy ordered the Kentucky home to New York City. In March he was promoted to first lieutenant. On May 25, 1904, Ellis was directed to report to the commandant on June 12, 1904. In June received assignment to the staff at the Marine Barracks in Washington, D. C. In September he was transferred to Mare Island, California, where he served as quartermaster until December 31, 1905. In 1906 and 1907 Ellis was on temporary duty as a recruiting officer; he served in Oakland, California, during the summer of 1906, and Des Moines, Iowa from July 31, 1906, to April 19, 1907. He then returned to Mare Island, where he served until November 18, 1907, when he was ordered to Olongapo, Philippines, as the adjutant of the 2nd Marine Regiment ("2nd Marines"), which was commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Hiram I. Bearss ("Hiking Hiram").

On February 14, 1908, Ellis was assigned as executive officer of the 2nd Regiment's Company E. In May 1908 he was promoted to captain. When Major John A. Lejeune arrived in Olongapo to assume command of the brigade which included the 2nd Regiment, he selected Ellis to command the 2nd Regiment's Company F, and he served from July 1 to September 30, 1908. He performed special duty assignments involving disputes about land claims among the local Filipinos until resuming command of Company F from January 1 through May 31, 1909. He then commanded Company E and directed fortification and management of the local post exchange located on Grande Island. During this period, he supposedly shot the glasses off a table to lighten the mood of a 'boring' dinner while visiting a Navy chaplain. He returned to Olongapo in the spring of 1910 and resumed duties as the 2nd Regiment's adjutant, serving until returning to the United States in January 1911. Ellis reported to the Barracks at the Washington Navy Yard on March 22, 1911. William P. Biddle was the commandant; Ellis requested aviation duty, but Biddle suggested that he attend the Naval War College. Ellis acquiesced; after graduating, he remained as a lecturer and seminar leader from October 29, 1912, to October 16, 1913. In 1913, Ellis co authored the "Report of Naval War College Committee on Defense of Guam," with Commander F. N. Schofield. Ellis then reported to the Philadelphia Navy Yard, where he was assigned as military intelligence officer on the staff of George Barnett. Ellis played a significant role in planning the exercises that took place in Culebra of Puerto Rico. The Advance Base Outfit appears to be in efficient condition and it is believed that if called upon for use it would be found thoroughly satisfactory. This condition is mainly due to the excellent work of Captain Earl H. Ellis. On February 9, 1914, Ellis and the Advance Base Force embarked to New Orleans for a possible deployment to Mexico because of tensions in the area. Barnett was slated to succeed Biddle as commandant, and selected Ellis for special assignment as a member of a Joint Army Navy Board committee that studied the defenses of Guam and made recommendations for improvements at the outbreak of World War I. On August 27, 1915, Ellis returned to Washington, D. C. for duty as one of the three aides de camp to George Barnett, and in 1916, Ellis was promoted to major. This action coincided with the beginning of US intervention on the side of the Allies in World War I, and Barnett persuaded Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels to allow participation of the 5th Marines in the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF).

Ellis believed that US acquiescence to Japan's South Seas Mandate, which allowed Japan to occupy islands that had previously been controlled by Germany, would enable Japan to operate behind a defensive screen to expand its territory and influence without being observed. Convinced that this course would eventually lead to war between Japan and the United States, Ellis determined to carry out intelligence gathering activities to obtain details on Japan's activities. On April 9, 1921, Ellis submitted a pro forma request to the commandant to conduct a clandestine reconnaissance mission to the Central Pacific to examine the Marshall and Caroline Islands. His request indicated that he expected to travel as a civilian and to provide an undated resignation that would enable the Marine Corps to deny knowledge of his actions if necessary. (In fact, the Marine Corps did not use the letter of resignation, and retained Ellis on its roll of active officers until he died. At the time of his death, Ellis was listed in payroll and personnel records as being on "extended leave," a status the commandant had directed his staff to use.) Shortly after he submitted his request he suffered another occurrence of neurasthenia; after recovering he asked to resume the intelligence mission in the Pacific. On May 4, 1921, Assistant Secretary of the Navy Theodore Roosevelt Jr. approved the request as the acting Secretary of the Navy. Ellis left the hospital the same day, and reported to Headquarters Marine Corps to finish making arrangements. To hide his identity as a military officer gathering intelligence abroad, Ellis turned to John A. Hughes, who was commissioned from the ranks with him in 1902. Hughes had been medically retired in 1920, after which he joined his father's import export business, the Hughes Trading Company. Hughes provided Ellis with a cover identity as a traveling representative of the company. After a brief visit home to Kansas, Ellis traveled to San Francisco on May 28, 1921. Ellis ignored them, cabled Marine Corps Headquarters for a draft of one thousand dollars he could receive at a local bank, and departed for Saipan. Upon arrival aboard NBK Lines Kasuga Maru, he debarked at the Tanapag Harbor, and checked into a hotel in Garapan with the intention of scouting the Mariana Islands, which Japan was using as a central hub for their activities in Micronesia. As Ellis continued his intelligence gathering mission and heavy drinking, he attracted the attention of the Japanese authorities, who began to keep track of his movements and activities. A friend, Kilili Sablan, suggested that Ellis check out of the hotel and live with the Sablan family. Ellis traveled around Saipan for several weeks, and produced detailed maps and charts. On December 3, 1922, he boarded the ship Matsuyama Maru to travel to the Carolines, Marshalls, Yap, and the Palaus. Upon arrival, he checked into a hotel in Koror, and again boarded the Matsuyama Maru, intending to travel to Truk; Ellis was unable to survey this island because Japanese authorities denied him passage, which was an indication that they remained suspicious of him. During a trip from Kusaie, Ellis became ill aboard the Matsuyama Maru and was hospitalized in Jaluit by missionary Jesse "Mother" Hoppin who assigned her student Benjamin Lajipun to be Ellis' houseboy. After his recovery in January 1923, he continued to survey the Marshalls, Kwajalein, Ponape, Celebes, and New Guinea aboard the copra collecting sailboat Caroline Maru. Ellis slept on deck and took copious notes charting the reefs and inventorying local facilities, populations, and products. Japanese officials assigned Dr. Uichi Ishoda to watch Ellis on these voyages, and during a storm which nearly capsized Caroline Maru Ellis demonstrated a knowledge of seamanship which caused Ishoda to conclude Ellis was a naval officer. While staying on Koror, he met a teenage Palauan woman named Metauie, who became his wife. Ellis' official medical records indicate that not long before his death, he was admitted to a naval hospital for treatment of delirium tremens and hallucinations. In November, 2004, the remains were disinterred from Greenlawn Cemetery in Pratt and reburied with full military honors at Arlington National Cemetery, Section 54 Site 3082. Ellis' maps and papers were confiscated by Japanese authorities. An inquiry undertaken at the behest of General Douglas MacArthur after World War II found no trace of any of Ellis' effects, nor a report on Ellis' activities by the Japanese governor of the island. Ellis was not married before traveling in the Pacific islands, and he had no children. Ellis had a Marine Corps wide reputation for excellence in organizational, administrative, intelligence analysis, and strategic planning, as evidenced by the fact that successive Commandants, including Biddle, Barnett, and Lejeune, relied on Ellis for their most important activities, including covert information gathering, despite being aware that he consumed alcohol so excessively that he often required a doctor's care and extensive hospitalization before he could return to duty. Despite the loss of the maps and notes from his final intelligence gathering effort, Ellis' overall strategic view of the Pacific Ocean islands remained valid, especially in light of events at the start of US involvement in World War II. In Operations Plan 712: Advanced Base Operations in Micronesia, drew particular attention to the strategic value of the Marshall and Caroline islands, noting that they "form a ‘cloud’ of islands stretching east and west.” This cloud concept contrasts with later emphasis on the north to south "Second Island Chain," running from Japan through the Nanpo Shoto and Mariana Islands to Indonesia. In addition to predicting the circumstances of World War II in the Pacific, Ellis is regarded as a significant strategic theorist in the history of the Marine Corps because his advocacy of amphibious warfare aided the Marines to identify and organize for an enduring mission, which replaced what had previously been their primary function—small security detachments on ships and at naval bases. Ellis is listed on the Roll of Honor of the Marine Corps Intelligence Association, which lists Marines from the Intelligence field who were killed in the line of duty. Ellis Hall, one of the main educational buildings at the Marine Corps' Quantico base, is named for Ellis.