The landings on Betio were the Americans' third amphibious operation of the Pacific War, after Guadalcanal Island and Cape Torokina on Bougainville Island, but the first in which the Japanese vigorously resisted the landings on the beaches, pinning the Marines down with machine-gun and mortar fire. Worse, American planners at Pearl Harbor had grievously misjudged the timing of high tide at Betio, leaving the landing craft stranded on the shallow coral reefs where the Marines were slaughtered.
The island was declared secure after three days. Given the small size of Betio (0.59 sq. mi.), planners had expected it to take one.
The ships and troops of Operations Galvanic (landings on Tarawa Atoll) and Kourbash (landings on Makin Atoll) were under direct operational command of Rear Admiral Richmond Kelly Turner aboard old battleshipPennsylvania.
Both Admiral Turner and General Holland Smith sailed with the Northern Attack Force even though it was obvious that Tarawa would be the scene of the main ground action. If the Japanese mounted a counterattack, it was most likely to come from the Marshalls since the closest Japanese bases to the Gilberts were located there. Nimitz and Spruance wanted the two highest-ranking officers to sail with the forces that would be the first to encounter any such enemy response. Unbeknownst to the Americans, the Japanese had stripped almost all their naval and air assets from the Marshalls in an attempt to resist the Allied effort in the Central Solomons. Thus, no counterattack materialized.
American
2nd Marine Division command at Tarawa
Maj. Gen. Julian C. Smith
Leo D. Hermle as a major general
Ground forces – Tarawa
Col. David M. Shoup on Betio Island; he was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for his extraordinary leadership during the chaos of the initial assault.A Japanese Type 95 Ha-Go tank at Tarawa after the battle. Three disabled U.S. Marine Corps LVT-1s are visible in the background.The devastated beach on Betio after the island was secured.Maj. Gen. Ralph C. Smith, USA
Clark, George B. (2006). The Six Marine Divisions in the Pacific: Every Campaign of World War II. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland and Co. ISBN978-0-7864-2769-7.
Morison, Samuel Eliot (1951). Aleutians, Gilberts and Marshalls: June 1942 April 1944. History of United States Naval Operations in World War II. Vol.VII. Boston: Little, Brown and Co. ISBN978-0-31658-307-7.
Notes
↑ Generated so much ill-will between the services that he was eventually reassigned stateside.
↑ Also commander of landed troops; awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for his extraordinary leadership during the chaos of the initial assault.
The Marine Raiders were special operations forces originally established by the United States Marine Corps during World War II to conduct amphibious light infantry warfare. "Edson's" Raiders of 1st Marine Raider Battalion and "Carlson's" Raiders of 2nd Marine Raider Battalion are said to have been the first United States special operations forces to form and see combat during World War II.
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.
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This article covers the Japanese garrisons on the by-passed Pacific islands from 1944 to 1945, including the Japanese mandated territory of the South Seas Mandate.
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The 6th Marine Regiment is an infantry regiment of the United States Marine Corps based at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. The regiment falls under the command of the 2nd Marine Division of the II Marine Expeditionary Force. Its combat history dates back to World War I when they were part of the American Expeditionary Force. They fought in the Pacific Theater in World War II, most notably at the battles of Guadalcanal, Tarawa, Saipan, Tinian and Okinawa. More recently, the regiment has seen combat during the Gulf War and in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.
On 15 June 1944, United States Marine forces landed on the southwest coast of the island of Saipan in the central Marianas chain; these were followed a day later by US Army forces. This invasion was part of Operation Forager, an effort to recapture the entire Marianas chain from the Empire of Japan.
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.
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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 Gilbert Islands were naval bases built by the United States Navy in 1943 to support the World War II effort. The bases were located on in the Gilbert Islands in the Central Pacific Ocean. The bases were built as part of the many advance bases in the island-hopping campaign towards the Empire of Japan. The largest base was the Naval Base Tarawa. At Tarawa the Navy built a seaport, supply depots, a small ship repair depot, Carrier Aircraft Service Unit, seaplane base and two airbases. Construction started after the Battle of Tarawa ended on November 23, 1943, part of Operation Galvanic. The bases were built by the US Navy's Seabees, Naval Construction Battalions. After the war the bases were abandoned. Some of the airfields became civilian airports.
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