Battle of Tarawa

battle_name=Battle of Tarawa

November 20th

The American invasion force was the largest yet put together for a single operation, consisting of 17 aircraft carriers, 12 battleships, 8 heavy and 4 light cruisers, 66 destroyers and 36 transports. The force carried the 2nd Marine Division and a part of the 37th Infantry Division, for a total of about 35,000 soldiers and Marines.

Related Topics:
Aircraft carrier - Battleship - Heavy - Light cruiser - Destroyer - 2nd Marine Division - 37th Infantry Division

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The naval forces opened fire on 20 November, 1943, shelling continually for over an hour and a half, stopping only briefly to allow dive bombers from the carriers to operate against the fixed positions. Most of the larger Japanese guns were knocked out during this period. The island was at most points only a few hundred yards wide, and the bombardment turned much of it into a moonscape. By the time of the invasion, it was thought that no one would be left to defend what was left of the tiny island.

Related Topics:
20 November - Dive bomber

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The attack plan consisted of three major beaches along the northern coast of the island, Red 1 through 3, Red 1 on the extreme west at the "toe" of the island, and Red 3 to the east against the pier. Beaches Green and Black were the western base and southern shore respectively, and not considered suitable for initial landings. The airstrip, running roughly east-west, divided the island into north and south.

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The Marines started their attack on the lagoon at 09:00, later than expected, and found themselves stuck on a reef some 500 yards off shore. The Japanese, hiding in deep shelters during the bombardment, quickly manned their guns when the naval fire stopped to allow the Marines to unload. Japanese fire from the island soon started up, and the boats caught on the reef were soon burning. Troops jumped out and started making their way ashore, under machine gun fire the entire time. The small number of amphtrack amphibious tractors were able to make it over the reef, with some difficultly, but many were knocked out by larger guns as they climbed over, and half were out of action by the end of the day. The first wave was only able to land a few men, who were pinned down against the log wall on the beach.

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Several early attempts to land tanks and break through the wall failed when the landing craft were hit on the run in, and either sank or had to withdraw while taking on water. Two tanks eventually landed on the east end of the beach, but were knocked out of action fairly quickly. Three were able to land on the western end and helped push the line in to about 300 yards from shore, but one of these fell into a shell hole, and another was taken out by a magnetic mine. The remaining tank was used as a portable machine gun pillbox for the rest of the day. A third platoon was able to land all four of their tanks on Red 3 around noon and operate successfully for much of the day, but by the end of the day was down to a single tank as well.

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By noon the Marines had successfully taken the beach as far as the first line of Japanese defences. By 15:30 the line had moved inland in places, but was still generally along the first line of defenses. The arrival of the tanks started the line moving on Red 3 and the end of Red 2 (the right flank, looking south towards the island) and by nightfall the line was about half-way across the island, only a short distance from the main runway.

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During the later hours the Japanese defenders continued harassing fire. In one action one of the Japanese Marines swam out to one of the disabled amphitracks and brought its .50 caliber machine gun into action into the rear of the Marine lines. By the time the US forces retook the ship, several units had been injured or killed.

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