Battle of Tarawa

battle_name=Battle of Tarawa

November 23rd

At 04:00 the expected assault finally took place, in the location of the earlier probe at 23:00 the night before. After the battle ended about 1 hour later, 200 of the 300 men involved were found dead in front of the US lines, the vast majority due to artillery fire. By this point the Japanese had little left to defend the island with.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

When the battle opened again the next morning, the US had little trouble forming up. The pockets remaining in the western end were gone by noon, while the 6th Marines continued their advance and reached the eastern tip of the island just past 13:00. A pocket remained near the eastern end of the runway until the afternoon.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The battle was essentially over by sunset, with the entirety of the island now a single continuous line. Nevertheless, small numbers of individual Japanese soldiers still came out of hiding during the night to continue the fight.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~