As the American offensive prepared to claim the coral atoll of Tarawa in November of 1943,
they were confident that their more potent force
and resources would be enough to defeat the outnumbered Japanese on the island.
Previous amphibious landings had met little resistance, but the
Japanese were angrier and more prepared than ever this time.
The resistance posed by the enemy proved a massive challenge for the Americans, who fought a force
that had given up on any chance of winning and only wanted to create as much damage as possible,
resulting in one of the most brutal battles in Marine Corps history with much more losses than
expected and a harsh public outcry that haunted President Franklin D. Roosevelt for years.
Still, while Japanese top brass initially bragged that it would take the United States 100 years
and a million soldiers to claim Tarawa, 18,000 Marines did it in just 76 hours.
And part of it was even caught on camera…
The Most Fortified Island In The Pacific
By the fall of 1943, the war on the Pacific was nearing its second anniversary, and the United
States, now fully recovered from the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, was leading the charge.
Around that time, the United States Armed Forces had battered the Imperial Japanese
fleet at Midway, ejected Japanese forces from Alaska's Aleutian Islands,
and managed to punch a hole in the defense perimeter at Guadalcanal.
With the year nearing its end, Admiral Chester W. Nimitz then set his sights on an
island-hopping attack across the Central Pacific, targeting the Japanese-held Gilbert Islands.
According to official reports written by US Navy Fleet Admiral Ernest J King,
the Gilbert Islands were of great importance. Seizing the Gilberts would set off a chain of
events that would finally put mainland Japan within the United States range.
The primary target was the tiny coral atoll of Tarawa,
and it required a direct assault by United States Marines.
Betio, the largest and southernmost island of the atoll, was only two miles long and a half-mile
wide but contained an airstrip in the center, the main reason Nimitz chose it as the primary target.
The Japanese garrison in the atoll, consisting of around 4,700 troops, dug deeply into the island
of Betio, anchoring an impressive defense system in the area, with 100 dug-in concrete bunkers,
seawalls, an extensive trench system for defensive movements, and an array of coastal guns,
anti-aircraft guns, machine guns, and light tanks protecting the airstrip.
In addition, the natural protection of coral reefs around the area was
further covered by barbed wire and hidden mines,
turning the small island into one of the most heavily fortified territories in the Pacific.
Confident in his leadership and his men, Japanese Commander Rear Admiral Keiji Shibazaki
reportedly gloated that it would take the United States one million men
and one hundred years to conquer Tarawa.
Still, the Japanese knew that they would not win against the superior Allied forces, but
they intended to create as much chaos and damage as possible, even at the cost of their own lives.
Massive Amphibious Attack
The invasion of Tarawa was set for November 20, 1943.
According to Rear Admiral Harry Hill, the commander of Task Force 53,
he warned his force that the battle for Tarawa was the first American
assault of a vigorously defended atoll of the Pacific Theater.
The attack would be a massive effort of combined arms coordination in the Atoll War tactic,
a warfare method that heavily relied on heavy pre-invasion
bombardment by battleships and carrier planes.
A vast array of land, sea, and air power began arriving near Tarawa on November 19.
The caravan included 17 aircraft carriers, 12 battleships,
66 destroyers, and 36 types of transport, all supporting the more than 18,000 Marines
that would try to seize the island and be one step closer to Japan.
In total, the United States had over 30,000 men from the 2nd Marine Division
and parts of the United States Army 27th Infantry Division in the Gilberts,
a ten-to-one advantage over the defenders.
To begin the operation, the Marines would approach
the shore directly in new amphibious warfare vehicles and landing crafts
capable of carrying 20 troops each and crawling over shallow reefs and other substantial barriers.
While the Americans were confident that they would win the battle, a frontal assault had
guaranteed struggles, and taking the island proved much more complex than initially anticipated.
A Twist of Fate
A little after 3:00am, the task force's transports started loading their landing craft.
Although the initial plan called for pre-attack airstrikes and naval fire
for three hours before the 8:30am landing, several setbacks, mix-ups,
and schedule changes plagued the American strategy in the hours before the attack.
One of the most significant problems on the morning of D-Day
was a lower-than-expected tide level around Betio.
While most of the amphtracs used for the initial assault wave reached the beach as planned,
nearly all the larger landing crafts behind them jammed right
into the coral reefs exposed by the low tide.
Thus, many Marines were forced to abandon their craft and made their way into Betio,
wading through chest-level waters and withering enemy fire.
The lethal mix of mortars, machine guns, and rifle fire that threatened to halt the advance
of the Marines was carried out by elite troops of the Imperial Navy's Special Naval Landing Force,
often called Japanese Marines.
On the other side of the fight,
Rear Admiral Shibazaki ordered his command post to move towards the island's south side,
as he was frustrated with the lack of communication with his men on the field.
By sheer luck, sometime that afternoon,
one of the United States Navy destroyers lobbed a shell directly into Shibazaki’s path.
His demise threw the Japanese command structure out the window, and the defending troops were
unable to coordinate an early banzai charge that could have potentially given them an advantage.
By the end of the initial assault, while the US Marines had a tenuous
hold on all three landing zones, no units had advanced more than 70 yards inshore.
5,000 Marines had successfully landed at Betio while another 1,500 perished in the process.
Formidable Fighting
The low tides would continue to hinder the American assault troops the following morning.
However, by noon the tide was high enough,
and the destroyers could maneuver closer to land to lend supporting fire.
As the reserve combat teams and support craft transporting weapons and tanks raced to shore,
the ground assault finally began to take form.
Aware of their advantage but also knowing their perilous and vulnerable position,
the Marines fought with extraordinary courage, even as many were severely wounded.
As they continued to move inland, the men used grenades, demolition packs,
and flamethrowers to blast through the remaining enemy placements.
The fighting on the second day of the Battle of Tarawa is considered to be
one of the most brutal battles in Marine Corps history, as the two sides continually
clashed while defending their positions, resulting in massive damage and casualties.
As the Marines continued to fight during the following day,
they destroyed as many Japanese pillboxes and fortifications as they could.
That night, the last remaining Japanese defenders, unwilling to ever surrender,
launched a furious and futile banzai charge, an all-out self-harm attack to
take as many American lives as they could while sacrificing their own lives in the process.
Aftermath
When the sun rose on November 23, the Japanese resistance had mostly
collapsed. After 76 hours of fighting, the Battle for Betio island was over.
Close to 97 percent of Betio's defenders are thought to have perished during the battle,
either from the attack or from self-inflicted injuries,
as the Japanese preferred taking their own lives than surrender.
All but 17 Japanese soldiers remained from the initial several thousand defenders.
A little over three days after the invasion began, the Marines declared Betio secure. More than 1,000
Marines and sailors perished during the fighting, while nearly 2,300 men were wounded in the battle.
The heavy losses of the Battle of Tarawa sparked an outcry from American civilians, who
were stunned by the high casualty toll despite the size of the island and the duration of the battle.
In addition to intense press coverage from correspondents in Tarawa, the battle received even
more attention when Marine Staff Sergeant Norman Hatch captured video from the combat as close
as 15 yards to the enemy. Hatch was armed with a .45-caliber pistol and used a hand-cranked camera.
The footage was eventually turned into a short documentary film showing the Marines at Tarawa.
The 18-minute film, shot in color, narrates the story of the American servicemen's role
in the operation, from the planning to the final taking of the island and flag raising.
The documentary was approved by President Franklin D Roosevelt, and despite the wishes of many of
his advisors, showed more gruesome scenes of actual combat than other war films until then.
‘With the Marines at Tarawa’ eventually took the Oscar for Best Documentary Short in 1943.
Despite the criticism, commanders involved in the planning of the battle,
including Admiral Chester Nimitz, the Navy, and the Marine Corps,
learned essential lessons from the striggle that were later applied to future atoll wars.
Amongst the observations and notes that led to many advancements were the need for better
reconnaissance, more precise and sustained pre-landing bombardment techniques, additional
amphibious landing vehicles, and improved equipment, including a waterproofed radio.
In the end, the battle for the small island achieved what Nimitz initially desired.
According to the Pacific fleet's commander in chief: [QUOTE] "The capture of Tarawa
knocked down the front door to the Japanese defenses in the Central Pacific."
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