MARINES ASSAULT TARAWA

Marines assault Tarawa

During the Second World War’s Pacific campaign, the Gilbert Islands became a stepping stone toward the central Pacific. On November 20th, 1943, Marines of the Second Marine Division and soldiers of the Army’s Twenty-Seventh Infantry Division launched amphibious assaults on heavily fortified Japanese positions at Tarawa and Makin. At Tarawa’s tiny Betio Island, coral reefs and misjudged tides forced many landing craft to halt short of the beaches, leaving Marines wading hundreds of yards under intense fire. Casualties piled up, but small groups clawed their way inland, using grenades, flamethrowers, and close-range infantry tactics to clear pillboxes and bunkers. After several days of brutal fighting, the island fell, offering an airfield and a forward base but at a cost that stunned the American public. For planners, Tarawa became a harsh lesson in tides, intelligence, and pre-landing bombardment, influencing how later amphibious operations across the Pacific were conducted.