The Battle of Tarawa
Chapter 28
“With God and the U.S. Navy in direct support of the 2d Marine Division, there was never any doubt that we would get Betio. For several hours, however, there was considerable haggling over the exact price we were to pay.”
20-23 November, 1943
US Marines wade ashore at Tarawa
US Marine Corps
As the Americans secured their hold on the Solomons the eyes of strategic planners in Honolulu and Washington began to shift northward, where the next moves of the “Island Hopping” campaign were set to commence. With the primary aims of US strategists being the liberation of the Philippines as well as the conquest of Japan itself, the next target was identified as the Marianas Islands, but in order to strike there it was concluded that the Marshall Islands would need to be secured before that, and prerequisite to that the Gilbert Islands needed to fall.
A propaganda shot of a Japanese battery on Tarawa
The main Japanese position in the Gilberts was the small island of Betio, a two mile long affair at the end of the Tarawa Atoll. Since the US Marine raid on nearby Makin Atoll the previous year, the Japanese had been digging in on Tarawa with just under 2,700 men, backed up by a unit of light tanks. With coastal guns positioned around the island and an extensive network of trenches and pillboxes, the Japanese garrison commander, Rear Admiral Keiji Shibazaki, famously stated that it would take a million men a century to conquer the island.
A wrecked Japanese coastal gun on Tarawa
US Marine Corps
Despite the strong defenses, the Americans were determined to reduce the Japanese positions, and massed a huge fleet to support their planned invasion. Over one hundred warships, including seventeen carriers, were deployed to the Gilberts for Operation Galvanic, with 18,000 US Marines packed into transports for the assault. The opening moves came at sea, as US battleships dueled with the Japanese coastal guns until they fell silent, after which US carrier planes and lighter ships joined in for a heavy bombardment over the next three hours.
A landing craft laden with supplies heads for the beach, passing the wreck of another sunk by Japanese fire
US Coast Guard
At 0900 the Marines started for the beaches in their landing craft, but the tides had not risen as planned, resulting in the Higgins Boats grounding on the coral reefs in the landing sector. As the Japanese pillboxes along the beach opened fire, the Marines within were forced to drop into the three foot sea and struggle to the shoreline under their heavy loads, with only the tracked Alligator LVTs being able to discharge their men onto the beaches themselves. One major features was a long wooden pier constructed by the Japanese to allow ships to dock beyond the reef, and this structure was infested by Japanese snipers and machine gunners, who could rain fire on the Marines from their flanks as they landed on either side of it. Marine Colonel David Shoup, commander of the 2nd Marine Regiment, despite being wounded by a shell while wading inland from his sunken LST was able to rally the men pinned down along the seawall and bring them up to storm and clear the pier, earning the Medal of Honor.
Marines on the pier after it was secured
US Navy
Landing subsequent waves was further complicated by the jumble of abandoned craft along the reef as well as the beach, with half of the assault force LVTs being disabled by gunfire and left so sink. The Marines who did make it ashore quickly found themselves pinned along the log seawall as resistance intensified as the Japanese recovered from the pre-landing bombardment, and although tanks had been alloted to breach this obstacle they too were grounded on the reefs, uselessly out of range of the beaches. By the end of the first day on Betio little ground had been taken for a total of 1,500 Marine casualties.
A Marine Sherman tank on Tarawa. The deployment of the larger medium tanks provided a major advantage over Japanese armor
US Marine Corps
Despite the difficulties in the American landing, not all was well for the defenders. The bombardment had effectively destroyed their local communications network, making it nearly impossible for Admiral Shibazaki to coordinate his men. The Admiral, for his part, was not to play a major role in the conduct of the battle, as he and most of his staff were killed by shellfire as they prepared to relocate their headquarters farther south on the island.
Marines come ashore amid their own fallen
US Marine Corps
Some Americans had managed to land with limited support on less defended areas of the island, and began to slowly crawl inland with a handful of Sherman tanks. By nightfall on the first day the Marines were up against the first Japanese line, but that was still mainly on the beach. Disorganized by the destruction of both their communication lines and command staff, the Japanese failed to organize an effective counterattack in the hours of darkness.
Marines fire on Japanese pillboxes
US Marine Corps
On the second day (22 November) the Marines continued to attempt to expand their small beachhead, with the separate landing sectors attempting to link up. Japanese forces had reinforced their positions facing the Marines along sectors Red 2 and Red 3, and continued to offer stout resistance through the day, but by the afternoon the Marines had broken through onto the airfield and captured a number of Japanese pillboxes. Around midday the tide conditions improved enough to allow the Americans to land reinforcements, as well for US destroyers to move closer to provide more accurate artillery support to the attackers.
A wrecked Japanese tank, along with three knocked out US LVTs on the beach
US Coast Guard
The battle for Tarawa now became one of fierce close quarters combat as the Marines moved from one Japanese pillbox to the next, clearing them with satchel charges, flamethrowers and bayonets. Reports that the Japanese were attempting to evacuate northward off Betio to the island of Kiribati (the next islet of the atoll), but this proved to be little more than a small diversionary force as US forces landed there and secured it quickly. By the end of the second day of fighting the western end of the island was under the Stars and Stripes as the Marines linked the Green and Red landing sectors.
Two Marines help a wounded comrade to safety
US Marine Corps
Day three was more of what had occurred on the 22nd; a brutal melee as the Marines continued to push the Japanese toward the sea. By the end of the day the ruins of the airfield were entirely in American hands, and attempts to launch another counterattack by the remaining defenders were dispersed by US artillery overnight. At 0300 hours on 23 November the remaining defenders launched a mass Banzai charge into the Marine lines, succeeding in killing and wounding a significant number of Marines, although then Japanese took far more serious losses from the desperate attack. In the morning a large air, naval and ground artillery bombardment slammed into the remaining pocket of Japanese resistance, before the infantry moved in with armor support. By noon almost 500 Japanese soldiers had been killed in the fighting.
Marines engage Japanese positions with flamethrowers
US Marine Corps
Tarawa was declared secure in the early afternoon of 23 November, with only seventeen of almost 2,700 defenders surviving to be taken prisoner. The Americans sustained just over 1,000 casualties and twice that number wounded. The reports reaching home were uncharacteristically honest, with photos of casualties accompanying articles on newspaper headlines around the country. Despite this, the battle resulted in valuable lessons being learned for the planned campaign of island hopping. Improved waterproof communications gear was developed, along with the creation of specialized Underwater Demolition Teams (UDTs), which would evolve after the war into the famous US Navy SEALS. The heavy casualties of the battle would see it entering the ranks of such actions of US Marine history as Belleau Wood in the last war, but it was only the beginning. As stated by Admiral Nimitz: “The capture of Tarawa knocked down the front door to the Japanese defenses in the Central Pacific.”
A Marine surveys a ruined Japanese bunker and a wrecked tank on Tarawa
US Marine Corps
The Commanders
Strength
The Battlefield
US Marine Corps