by John Krohn PhD

Created on: August 28, 2008   Last Updated: September 29, 2008

Beneath the pearl gray sands of Tarawa, a whispered saga of courage and valor can still be heard when the night is moonless and as still as death. On such a night, November 20, 1943, thousands of brave soldiers came ashore to taste the baptism of battle as never before. The sands of Tarawa are still laced with suffering and death, for those who lived to tell the true story of those few days of chaos and fierce fighting. On the eve of this night, in VA Hospitals, country farms, in towns and cities across America, the silhouettes of old soldiers with stooped shoulders, who survived that fateful battle, bow silver gray heads and clasp calloused hands, give homage to their fellow soldiers who died there.

There are times in military history when there are critical defining events that, however costly, shape the course of battle and ultimately lead to the pathway of victory. Such an historical event took place on the Island of Tarawa, two years after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Tarawa lay some 2,500 miles southwest of Hawaii and 1,300 miles southeast of Truk, which was the principal US Naval base in the Carolinas. The Battle of Tarawa was fought from November 20 to November 23, 1943. It was the second time the United States was on the offensive, Guadalcanal being the first, and the first offensive in the critical central Pacific region.

Australia and New Zealand were threatened by the forward held positions of Japan, which were snaking southward like a venomous dragon. The attack on Tarawa would be the US Marines' first amphibious assault. Previous US amphibious landings had met little or no initial resistance. The 4,500 Japanese defenders were well-supplied and well-prepared, and would be fight almost to the last man, exacting a heavy toll on the American Marines.

The battle was designed to seize an airfield the Japanese had constructed on Betio Island, Tarawa Atoll, in the Gilbert Islands. The 4,000-foot landing strip was destined to become the first step in the long and bloody march across the Pacific toward Japan. It would also shock the nation for the price that was paid in dead and wounded US Marines.

To better understand the aftermath of this strategic battle, there must be a clear understanding of the critical stages that took place throughout the battle itself. Lessons learned on Tarawa, while costly in American lives, would prove to prevent the loss of thousands more in the waning years of the war with Japan.

Day 1: November 20

The Island of Tarawa

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