The Battle of Eniwetok was a battle of the Pacific campaign of World War II, fought from 17 to 23 February 1944 on Enewetak Atoll in the Marshall Islands. The invasion of Eniwetok followed the American success in the Battle of Kwajalein to the southeast. Capture of Eniwetok would provide an airfield and harbor to support attacks on the Mariana Islands to the northwest. The operation was officially known as "Operation Catchpole" and was a three-phase operation involving the invasion of the three main islands in the Enewetak Atoll.
Eniwetok is a large coral atoll of 40 islands with a land area total less than 5.85 square kilometres (2.26sqmi). It has a meanelevation above sea level of 3 metres (9.8ft)[2] and surrounds a deep central lagoon, 80 kilometres (50mi) in circumference.
Following World War I, the atoll became part of the Japanese South Seas Mandate. Japan had no military presence here until November 1942, when an airfield was constructed on Engebi Island. This was used for refueling planes between Truk and islands to the east, with no aviation personnel stationed there; and the island had only token defenses.
On 17-18 February 1944, Vice Admiral Raymond A. Spruance executed Operation Hailstone, an American carrier strike against the Japanese base at Truk in the Caroline Islands[1]:67 destroying 39 warships and more than 200 planes.[1]:67 Among the lost was the 1st Amphibious Brigade's supply ship Aikoku Maru.
Altogether, only 2,586 of General Nishida's men arrived on Eniwetok. These were supplemented by aviation personnel, civilian employees, and labourers. Most were stationed on Parry Island (now Medren), where Nishida established his headquarters.
Battle of Engebi
Engebi Island is at the north tip of Enewetak Atoll. The island is triangular in shape, with a palm grove on its eastern side and an airfield across its north half. The island was lightly defended by a garrison of 60 men with a battery of two 12 cm guns and two twin mounted 13 mm machine guns. The island also had 500 non-combatants. On 4 January 1944, the 1st Amphibious Brigade arrived on Eniwetok. Engebi received 692 men from the brigade and 54 naval personnel, commanded by Colonel Toshio Yano. These reinforcements had two flame throwers, thirteen grenade launchers, twelve light machine guns, four heavy machine guns, two 37 mm anti-tank guns, eleven 81mm mortars, one 20mm automatic gun, two 20 mm cannons, two Type 94 75 mm mountain guns, and three Type 95 light tanks. They were deployed on the lagoon side, where Colonel Yano expected the Americans to land. They constructed a strong point half way along the shore and smaller strong points at the island's three corners.
On 16 February United States Navy aircraft from Task Group 58.4 attacked Engebi. This took the airfield out of operation. It also destroyed up to 14 aircraft and one of the coastal defence guns, at the northeastern corner of the island. The main invasion fleet arrived off Eniwetok early on 17 February.
Naval bombardment of Eniwetok began on 17 February, and at 13:18 US forces landed on Canna and Camelia islets, near Engebi. No resistance was encountered. A blocking force was placed on the island chain to the south of Engebi to stop the defenders from escaping.
At 06:55 on 18 February the battleship USSColorado and the cruiser USSLouisville began to bombard the northern and eastern ends of the island. The battleships USSTennessee and USSPennsylvania opened fire on the beach defences at dawn, and at 07:20 the destroyer USSPhelps(DD-360) began direct fire. At 08:00 a naval air attack began, and at 08:11 the naval bombardment resumed. Artillery from the islets captured on 17 February also added to the bombardment.
The main landings were carried out by two battalions from the 22nd Marine Regiment, commanded by Colonel John T. Walker, which landed on Engebi at 08:43 on 18 February,[1]:69–70 supported by medium tanks and two 105mm self propelled guns. There was very little resistance at the beach, except from the southern tip of the island. The airfield was quickly captured, and within an hour the tanks had reached the northern shore. The 3rd Battalion landed at 09:55 and began to mop up the few remaining defenders. The island was declared secure by 14:50, though mopping-up continued through the next day.[1]:70 US losses included 85 killed and missing plus 166 wounded.[1]:73 The Japanese lost 1,276 killed and 16 captured.
On 18–19 February the Americans cleared the smaller islands on the atoll's east side. There they found evidence that Parry and Eniwetok Islands were more heavily defended than expected, so the battle plan was adjusted. Originally, the 106th Infantry Regiment was to invade Eniwetok and Parry simultaneously. Instead, they cleared Eniwetok first, then Parry.
Battle of Eniwetok
Eniwetok Island is a long, narrow island, widest at the southwestern end, and very narrow on the northeastern end. A road existed on the lagoon shore on the southwestern half of the island, where the settlement was located. This topography meant that defense in depth was impossible. On the island the Japanese had 779 Army troops, 24 civilians, and five naval personnel, all under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Hashida Masahiro. The defenders had two flame throwers, 13 grenade launchers, 12 light machine guns, two heavy machine guns, one 50mm mortar, eleven 81mm mortars, one 20mm automatic gun, three 20mm cannons, and three Type 95 light tanks. Most defenses were foxholes and trenches. Work had also begun on some concrete pillboxes, which were not completed.
At 07:10 on 18 February two cruisers and two destroyers opened fire on Japanese positions from the lagoon side of Eniwetok. At 07:40 a third destroyer opened fire to the east of the landing beaches, and at 08:10 a fourth destroyer also commenced bombardment. At 08:10 naval gunfire halted for 15 minutes to allow carrier aircraft to attack. The first troops landed at 09:17, but the initial landings immediately ran into problems. The short naval bombardment left many Japanese positions intact, and the American LVTs could not scale an 8 feet (2.4m) sand dune just inland. These early problems were quickly overcome, and the Americans reached the island's ocean shore by 11:45. A Japanese counter-attack, carried out by 300–400 men, hit the western part of the American line, which was supported by mortar fire. The attack was over by 12:45 and had failed to break the Americans.
At 14:25 the 3rd Battalion, 22nd Marines landed. They pushed towards the southwestern end of the island. By nightfall, they had reached the west corner of the island.[1]:77 The Marine commander, Colonel Ayers, ordered that the attack continue through the night to eliminate the Japanese pocket in the northwest corner.[1]:78 A Japanese counterattack at 09:10 on 19 February reached the Marine battalion command post but was repulsed. The 3rd Battalion continued to press the attack south, along the east coast. The Japanese spider hole defensive positions were intact, with heavy undergrowth providing good defensive cover. Progress was slow, as spider holes had to be eliminated one-by-one.
The fighting in the west came to an end on the morning of 20 February; however, the island was not declared secured until 21 February.[1]:78 37 Americans were killed or missing and 94 wounded.[1]:78 The Japanese had 800 dead and 23 prisoners.
Battle of Parry Island
Parry Island is smaller than Eniwetok and was more heavily defended. When the invasion began the Japanese had 1,115 troops and 250 other personnel on Parry, equipped with 36 heavy grenade launchers, 36 light machine guns, six heavy machine guns, ten 81mm mortars, three 20mm automatic guns, two mountain guns, one 20mm cannon and three Type 95 light tanks. The island is tear-drop shaped with the larger end to the north, facing the lagoon. The Japanese defences consisted of a series of eight strong points along the beach, protected by trenches and a network of foxholes.
Based on experience at Eniwetok, the American naval bombardment of Parry Island was more thorough. On 22 February the battleships USSTennessee and USSPennsylvania and the heavy cruisers USSIndianapolis and USSLouisville and the destroyer USSHailey delivered more than 900 tons of explosive onto the island, with the 104th Field Artillery on Eniwetok and the 2nd Separate Pack Howitzer Battalions on Japtan Island to the north providing additional fire support.[1]:79 The invasion force consisted of the 1st and 2nd Battalions of the 22nd Marines, who had just finished mopping up at Engebi. The 1st Battalion advance on the right, and the 2nd Battalion advanced on the east. The landing occurred at 09:00[1]:80–81 with a combined force of Marines and tanks advancing rapidly past Japanese positions once machine-gun fire had been suppressed, followed by demolition and flame-thrower squads clearing out spider holes and Japanese defenders who had been bypassed, followed by three four-man squads mopping up any survivors.
At 10:00 remaining Japanese artillery was suppressed by naval bombardment, and by 11:55 the 1st Battalion reached the ocean shore, with the 2nd Battalion taking the northern tip of the island by 13:00. The 1st Battalion then turned to the southern tip of the island, reinforced by the 3rd Battalion along the lagoon shore. At 19:30 the regimental commander radioed "I present you with the island of Parry", though operations continued through the next day.[1]:83–85 U.S. casualties included 73 killed and missing plus 261 wounded.[1]:83 The vast majority of Japanese soldiers were killed, including General Nishida, although 105 survivors were captured.
Aftermath
Private Theodore James Miller; an exhausted US Marine exhibiting the thousand-yard stare after two days of constant fighting on Eniwetok. He was later killed in action, at age 19, on 24 March 1944, at Ebon Atoll. He is buried at the Punchbowl, HI.
Rottman, Gordon; Howard Gerrard (2004). The Marshall Islands 1944: Operation Flintlock, the capture of Kwajalein and Eniwetok. Oxford: Osprey Publishing. ISBN1841768510.
Rottman, Gordon; Dr Duncan Anderson (2004). US Marine Corps Pacific Theater of Operations 1943–44. Oxford: Osprey Publishing. ISBN1841766518.
Heinl, Robert D., and John A. Crown (1954). "The Marshalls: Increasing the Tempo". USMC Historical Monograph. Historical Division, Division of Public Information, Headquarters U.S. Marine Corps. Archived from the original on 16 November 2006. Retrieved 4 December 2006.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
USS Tennessee (BB-43) was the lead ship of the Tennessee class of dreadnought battleships built for the United States Navy in the 1910s. The Tennessee class was part of the standard series of twelve battleships built in the 1910s and 1920s, and were developments of the preceding New Mexico class. They were armed with a battery of twelve 14-inch (356 mm) guns in four three-gun turrets. Tennessee served in the Pacific Fleet for duration of her peacetime career. She spent the 1920s and 1930s participating in routine fleet training exercises, including the annual Fleet Problems, and cruises around the Americas and further abroad, such as a goodwill visit to Australia and New Zealand in 1925.
Enewetak Atoll is a large coral atoll of 40 islands in the Pacific Ocean and with its 296 people forms a legislative district of the Ralik Chain of the Marshall Islands. With a land area total less than 5.85 square kilometers (2.26 sq mi), it is no higher than 5 meters (16.4 ft) and surrounds a deep central lagoon, 80 kilometers (50 mi) in circumference. It is the second-westernmost atoll of the Ralik Chain and is 305 kilometers (190 mi) west from Bikini Atoll.
The Battle of Tarawa was fought on 20–23 November 1943 between the United States and Japan at the Tarawa Atoll in the Gilbert Islands, and was part of Operation Galvanic, the U.S. invasion of the Gilberts. Nearly 6,400 Japanese, Koreans, and Americans died in the fight, mostly on and around the small island of Betio, in the extreme southwest of Tarawa Atoll. At the time, Betio was only 118 hectares.
USS McCord (DD-534) was a World War II-era Fletcher-class destroyer built for the United States Navy during World War II.
The Battle of Kwajalein was fought as part of the Pacific campaign of World War II. It took place 31 January – 3 February 1944, on Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands. Employing the hard-learned lessons of the Battle of Tarawa, the United States launched a successful twin assault on the main islands of Kwajalein in the south and Roi-Namur in the north. The Japanese defenders put up stiff resistance, although outnumbered and under-prepared. The determined defense of Roi-Namur left only 51 survivors of an original garrison of 3,500.
The Battle of Makin was an engagement of the Pacific campaign of World War II, fought from 20 to 24 November 1943 on Makin Atoll in the Gilbert Islands.
USS Haggard (DD-555) was a Fletcher-class destroyer of the United States Navy named for Captain Haggard of the Louisa, who fought in the Quasi-War.
The Gilbert and Marshall Islands campaign were a series of battles fought from August 1942 through February 1944, in the Pacific theatre of World War II between the United States and Japan. They were the first steps of the drive across the Central Pacific by the United States Pacific Fleet and Marine Corps. The purpose was to establish airfields and naval bases that would allow air and naval support for upcoming operations across the Central Pacific. Operation Galvanic and Operation Kourbash were the code names for the Gilberts campaign that included the seizures of Tarawa and Makin, during the Battle of Tarawa on 20–23 November 1943 and the Battle of Makin on 20–24 November 1943. Operation Flintlock and Operation Catchpole were aimed at capturing Japanese bases at Kwajalein, Eniwetok, and Majuro in the Marshall Islands.
The 4th Reconnaissance Battalion is a reserve reconnaissance battalion in the United States Marine Corps. It falls under the 4th Marine Division and Marine Forces Reserve.
A Service Squadron (ServRon) was a United States Navy squadron that supported fleet combat ships and US Navy Auxiliary ships. Service Squadrons were used by the US Navy from their inception in 1943 to as late as the early 1980s. At the time of their inception during the Second World War they allowed the US Navy to operate across the vast reaches of the Pacific Ocean for extended periods of time. Service Squadrons created temporary forward bases to allow the naval squadrons to spend less time in transit and more time in the area of combat. Ulithi, a small volcanic atoll in the central Pacific, is an example of a site converted for use as a forward base of supply. Service Squadrons essentially created a major naval base near the area of operation. With naval bases like, Naval Base Ulithi, to refit, repair and resupply, many ships were able to deploy and operate in the western Pacific for a year or more without returning to a major port facility. Among the vessels operating in service squadrons were tankers, Fleet oilers, refrigerator ships, ammunition ships, supply ships, floating docks and repair ships. They provided diesel, ordnance, aviation fuel, food stuffs and all other supplies. Equally important at places like Ulithi were the portable piers and floating dry docks which allowed many ships damaged by enemy action or Pacific storms to undergo repair without having to travel the thousands of miles back to a major US naval base. Ulithi was as far forward from the US naval base at San Francisco as the San Francisco base was from London, England. To have a fully functional major port in the middle of the Pacific was a significant aid to U.S. Navy operations.
USS James M. Gilliss (AMCU-13/YMS-262) was a YMS-1-class minesweeper of the YMS-135 subclass named after James Melville Gilliss, a US naval officer credited with establishing the US Naval Observatory.
USS President Monroe (AP-104) was a President Jackson-class attack transport. that served with the US Navy during World War II. She was named after Founding Father and the fifth U.S. president, James Monroe.
The United States Marine Corps's Amphibious Reconnaissance Battalion, formerly Company, was a Marine Corps special operations forces of United States Marine and Hospital corpsman that performed clandestine operation preliminary pre–D-Day amphibious reconnaissance of planned beachheads and their littoral area within uncharted enemy territory for the joint-Navy/Marine force commanders of the Pacific Fleet during World War II. Often accompanied by Navy Underwater Demolition Teams and the early division recon companies, these amphibious recon platoons performed more reconnaissance missions than any other single recon unit during the Pacific campaigns.
USS Rogers Blood (APD-115), ex-DE-605, was a United States Navy Crosley-class high speed transport in commission from 1945 to 1946.
Naval Base Funafuti was a naval base built by the United States Navy in 1942 to support the World War II effort. The base was located on the Island of Funafuti of the Ellice Islands in the Western Pacific Ocean. The island is now Tuvalu, an island country in the Polynesian. After the surprise attack on Naval Station Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, the US Navy was in need of setting up more advance bases in the Pacific Ocean. At Naval Base Funafuti the Navy built a sea port, a small hospital, PT boat base, a seaplane base and an airbase. The United States Marine Corps landed on Funafuti on 2 October 1942 and on Nanumea and Nukufetau in August 1943. The Japanese had already occupied Tarawa and other islands in what is now Kiribati, but were delayed by the losses at the Battle of the Coral Sea.
Naval Base Tarawa was a naval base built by the United States Navy in 1943 to support the World War II effort. The base was located on Tarawa atoll in the Gilbert Islands in the Central Pacific Ocean. The base was built as one of many advance bases in the island-hopping campaign towards the Empire of Japan. At Naval Base Tarawa the Navy built a seaport, seaplane base and two airbases. Construction started after the Battle of Tarawa ended November 23, 1943, part of Operation Galvanic.
Naval Base Kwajalein was United States Navy base built on Kwajalein Atoll, in the Marshall Islands to support the World War II efforts in the Pacific War. The base was built after the Battle of Kwajalein ended 3 February 1944. The US Navy built airfields, a seaport and a craft repair depot on the captured islands. The base was part of the vast Naval Base Marshall Islands.
Naval Base Majuro was a major United States Navy base built on Majuro Atoll, in the Marshall Islands to support the World War II efforts in the Pacific War. The base was built after the Battle of Majuro-Kwajalein ended 3 February 1944. Majuro was found to be unoccupied and abandoned when the United States Army arrived. The US Navy built airfields, a seaport, and other facilities on the captured islands. The base was part of the vast Naval Base Marshall Islands.
Naval Base Marshall Islands were United States Navy advance bases built on the Marshall Islands during World War II to support the Pacific War efforts. The bases were built by US Navy after the Marshall Islands campaign that captured the islands from the Empire of Japan. By February 1944 the United States Armed Forces had captured the islands. Most of the airfields and other facilities Japan had built were destroyed in allied bombing raids and naval bombardment. US Navy Seabee Construction Battalions arrived as soon as the area was secured and remove the debris. The Seabees quickly repaired, built and improved the airfield/runways and seaport. Seabees often worked around the clock to get airfields operational so that fighter aircraft and bombers could start operating. The bases were used for staging upcoming campaigns and for repair.
Naval Base Eniwetok was a major United States Navy base located at Enewetak Atoll in the Marshall Islands, during World War II. The base was built to support the island-hopping strategy used by allied nations fighting the Empire of Japan in the Pacific War. During 1944-5 Eniwetok was one of the busiest naval bases in the world with over 488 ships.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
United States 
Japan 
