Ace of Spades HQ

November 20, 2013

Nov 20-23, 1943: The Battle of Tarawa
— Dave in Texas

Tarawa was a bloody, hard fought 3 day battle that saw the first tough Japanese resistance to island assaults in the war. Over 1,000 Marines were killed, along with 650 sailors when the light carrier USS Liscome Bay was sunk. 2,100 more Marines were wounded.

Up until this point in the Pacific war, American forces met limited resistance to assault landings. That changed at Tarawa. Over 4,500 Japanese defenders (2,600 soldiers and 2,200 laborers, 1,200 of which were Korean slaves pressed into construction work) dug in a fought to the end. When it was over, only 17 Japanese soldiers were captured along with a hundred or so laborers.

The rest were dead.

After Tarawa the 2nd Marine Division shipped back to Hawaii for 6 months until they were called up for the assault on Saipan. The Marines overcame significant obstacles in this fight, poor coordination between the Navy and the Marine landing forces, an inadequate naval bombardment to sufficiently weaken a well dug in enemy, a shortage of landing craft. LVTs were the only landing craft that could get over the coral reefs. After the battle the Marines ordered more LVTs, and reinforced them with heavier armor and bigger guns. The lessons of Tarawa came hard, but the Marines learned them and adapted.

Posted by: Dave in Texas at 03:00 PM | Comments (62)
Post contains 227 words, total size 2 kb.

1 Good post, Dave. Stick around to clear out the trolls if the past is any indication for the present.

Posted by: andycanuck at November 20, 2013 04:01 PM (fIgFc)

2 And it showed us why we needed to use atomic weapons, instead of wasting more boys on beaches. Great remembrance of those days when boys became men in a heartbeat.

Posted by: and irresolute at November 20, 2013 04:03 PM (RqHWH)

3 Good post, Dave. Stick around to clear out the trolls if the past is any indication for the present. Shouldn't the trolls be off thinking up better arguments for why Obamacare is Teh Awesome? Thanks for the post, Dave. Never forget.

Posted by: Sean Bannion[/i][/s][/u][/b] at November 20, 2013 04:04 PM (yz6yg)

4 And the lessons the Marines learned have been forgotten or ignored. Or, GOD forbid, pissed away. We refuse to name our enemy, or go all-out to defeat them.

Posted by: EROWMER at November 20, 2013 04:05 PM (OONaw)

5 Hey, I played this level on Call Of Duty! I pwned those japs!!!

Posted by: Low info voter at November 20, 2013 04:07 PM (doBIb)

6 The M-1 Carbine and K-bar are obvious. Looks like the two guys may be a crew, but IF that is a weapon between them, I can't make it out.

Posted by: Mike Hammer at November 20, 2013 04:09 PM (aDwsi)

7 but the Marines learned them and adapted. and Overcame.

Posted by: toby928© at November 20, 2013 04:09 PM (QupBk)

8 The guy on the far left looks like he has an M1 Carbine. I love mine, but it is wimpy and prone to stovepiping. Can't imagine fighting for my life with THAT as my main weapon.

Posted by: innominatus at November 20, 2013 04:10 PM (tq6K2)

9 We refuse to name our enemy, or go all-out to defeat them. Posted by: EROWMER --------------- That would be insensitive.

Posted by: Mike Hammer at November 20, 2013 04:10 PM (aDwsi)

10 The Pacific war was hell. I knew a guy, now dead, an Annapolis grad, that landed on Iwo Jima. Had 7 of the original members of his company live through the battle.

Posted by: Nip Sip at November 20, 2013 04:11 PM (0FSuD)

11 #6 judging by the handle between them that's a .30 Browning LMG.

Posted by: Richard McEnroe at November 20, 2013 04:13 PM (XO6WW)

12 I read this as a child in the Readers Digest history of WWII. I've never forgotten it. After the battle: " The generals Smith began to tour the island. Even Julian Smith, who had been on Betio since November 22, was stunned by what he saw. Both generals understood at last why pillboxes and blockhouses which had withstood bombs and shells had eventually fallen. Within each of them lay a half-dozen or more dead Japanese, their bodies sprawled around those of three or four Marines. Julian Smith's men had jumped inside to fight it out at muzzle range. Many of the pillboxes were made of five sides, each ten feet long, with a pair of entrances shielded against shrapnel by buffer tiers. Each side was made of two layers of coconut logs eight inches in diameter, hooked together with clamps and railroad spikes, with sand poured between each layer. The roof was built of two similar layers of coconut logs. Over this was a double steel turret, two sheathings of quarter-inch steel rounded off to deflect shells. Over this was three feet of sand. 'By God!' Howlin' Mad exclaimed. 'The Germans never built anything like this in France. No wonder these bastards were sitting back here laughing at us. They never dreamed the marines could take this island, and they were laughing at what would happen to us when we tried it'. Howlin' Mad shook his head in disbelief. 'How did they do it, Julian?', he began, and then, below and above the sea wall he found his answer. Below it as many as 300 American bodies floated on that abundant tide. Above it, leaning against it in death, was the body of a young Marine. His right arm was still flung across the top of the sea wall. A few inches from his fingers stood a little blue-and-white flag. It was a beach marker. It told succeeding waves where they should land. The Marine had planted it there with his life, and now it spoke such eloquent reply to that question of a moment ago that both generals turned away from it in tears. 'Julian,' Howlin' Mad Smith went on in soft amendment-- 'how can such men be defeated?'"

Posted by: Weirddave at November 20, 2013 04:13 PM (uxW8g)

13 I loathe the military.

Posted by: Bill Clinton, National Medal of Freedom recipient at November 20, 2013 04:13 PM (aDwsi)

14 I attended church with a retired AP Photog named Ted Powers. Ted went in with the first wave. He did that throughout the war.

Posted by: Dept. Of Acuracy at November 20, 2013 04:14 PM (MhA4j)

15 For further reading on Operation Galvanic

The US Army and Makin Island.
http://www.history.army.mil/books/wwii/makin/mak-fm.htm

Posted by: Anna Puma (+SmuD) at November 20, 2013 04:15 PM (BXhlo)

16 Marines wading across 900 yards of water, under mortar and flanking MG fire. Piled up against the seawall because of the intense machine gun fire. The few tanks available were swallowed up in shellholes . The reserve tanks were buried deep in their transports' holds. Important lessons learned at a terrible price.

Posted by: mrp at November 20, 2013 04:15 PM (HjPtV)

17 And this is why I have no problem with using gas in a war. It's a fucking war. Gas em. Is that any worse than burning them with flame throwers?

Posted by: Nip Sip at November 20, 2013 04:17 PM (0FSuD)

18 God bless the USMC. When you consider how small that island was, the casualties per square foot take on an even greater significance. But those were the days when we fought wars to win them.

Posted by: RS at November 20, 2013 04:18 PM (YAGV/)

19 It's a fucking war. Gas em. Is that any worse than burning them with flame throwers? Posted by: Nip Sip at November 20, 2013 08:17 PM (0FSuD) Or a low yeild nuke. Like they should have done in Tora Bora.

Posted by: Oldsailors Poet Palin/Bolton 2016 at November 20, 2013 04:19 PM (XIxXP)

20 I often wonder how many of us, today, would board a landing craft under fire and charge a beach knowing we had a 50/50 chance of being cut down.

Posted by: Oldsailors Poet Palin/Bolton 2016 at November 20, 2013 04:21 PM (XIxXP)

21 Betio Island (the location of the battle) today: http://tinyurl.com/nxlcdo7

Posted by: RS at November 20, 2013 04:23 PM (YAGV/)

22 I had a teacher in Grade School who was a retired Marine. He was in two landings in WW II, Tarawa and Okinawa! That is the sum total of what he would say about the subject!

Posted by: Old Dog at November 20, 2013 04:23 PM (tQYJH)

23 @20 Well we still have a lot of brave men/women who board helicopters in the middle of the night to go to the rescue of their brothers in harms way, knowing that it's not going to turn out very well. AKA, Seal Team six ambush, that was set up by afgan turncoats.

Posted by: Nip Sip at November 20, 2013 04:23 PM (0FSuD)

24 My ex-girlfriend's father fought at Tarawa.

I asked her what he did, and she didn't know. When she went home for Christmas, she asked him, and he spoke about it for the first time since 1943.

He was a combat engineer, and his job was to pump gasoline into the fortifications and follow it with satchel charges.

They always gave the Japanese a chance to surrender, but they never would. So the engineers filled the caves with gasoline pumped through hoses and touched it off with satchel charges.

Sort of a DIY thermobaric bomb.

Posted by: Tacky Adhesive at November 20, 2013 04:24 PM (Az/z4)

25 This pretty sums up why we did everything we could to avoid invading Japan proper. If they did this on one island imagine how they would have defended their homeland.

Posted by: tsrblke, PhD(c) (tablet) at November 20, 2013 04:24 PM (GaqMa)

26 I remember reading about an improvisational method of pillbox destruction some Marines in the Pacific devised during a battle.

They got on top of the pillbox. They lowered another Marine by his heels to the pillbox slit. And he threw a satchel charge in.

Posted by: Taro Tsujimoto at November 20, 2013 04:24 PM (celt+)

27 Thanks for this post.

Posted by: artisanal 'ette at November 20, 2013 04:25 PM (IXrOn)

28 I could swear that there's a quote by Rommel to the effect that nobody is worse at war than the Americans, but nobody learns faster. Apocryphal?

Posted by: Taro Tsujimoto at November 20, 2013 04:27 PM (celt+)

29 >>>>I often wonder how many of us, today, would board a landing craft under fire and charge a beach knowing we had a 50/50 chance of being cut down.>>>>

Wonder no more. Today's all-volunteer military engaged in the most brutal, dangerous fighting their is: urban combat.

Read David Bellavia's "House to House," about the Second Battle of Fallujah. The enemy rigged entire houses as IEDs and put concrete Jersey barriers in them.

The only reason we didn't lose more troops in that battle was because we had such good intelligence, training, weapons, and tactics.

But Fallujah was just as bad as anything in World War II. The only difference is that the current military is all volunteer.

Posted by: Tacky Adhesive at November 20, 2013 04:30 PM (Az/z4)

30 Farads taught s how to win.....

salute and God bless

Posted by: sven10077 at November 20, 2013 04:34 PM (9jfyN)

31 >>>>I could swear that there's a quote by Rommel to the effect that nobody is worse at war than the Americans, but nobody learns faster. Apocryphal?>>>>

Here's the real quote:

"What was really amazing was the speed with which the Americans adapted themselves to modern warfare. Starting from scratch an army has been crafted in the very minimum of time, which, in equipment, armament and organization of all arms, surpasses anything the world has yet seen."

Posted by: Tacky Adhesive at November 20, 2013 04:34 PM (Az/z4)

32 "Read David Bellavia's "House to House," about the Second Battle of Fallujah. The enemy rigged entire houses as IEDs and put concrete Jersey barriers in them."

---------------

Reminds me of a more recent improvisation. Seems American troops in Iraq used Silly String in combat. They'd shoot it across the room and it would hang up on tripwires.

Of course, they didn't go to Harvard, so... rubes.

Posted by: Taro Tsujimoto at November 20, 2013 04:34 PM (celt+)

33 Read David Bellavia's "House to House," about the Second Battle of Fallujah. The enemy rigged entire houses as IEDs and put concrete Jersey barriers in them.

Not only that, they drilled small holes through walls and houses, basically a very narrow field of view pillbox. They had 99% cover and just waited until a GI passed by the hole to shoot.

Posted by: EC at November 20, 2013 04:34 PM (doBIb)

34 #31 - Thanks!

Posted by: Taro Tsujimoto at November 20, 2013 04:37 PM (celt+)

35 AKA, Seal Team six ambush, that was set up by afghan turncoats
And their own C-in-C's big mouth.

Posted by: andycanuck at November 20, 2013 04:38 PM (fIgFc)

36 Speaking of Rommel, one of the coxwains piloting a Higgins boat at Tarawa was a cousin of Erwin Rommel. And Eddie Albert, of "Green Acres" was a boat officer who was responsible for saving quite a few Marine.

Posted by: That SOB van Owen at November 20, 2013 04:38 PM (8bBsO)

37 I've never read a biography of Rommel, but I'll bet that it is interesting. I found a couple of quotes, here's one: "Be an example to your men, in your duty and in private life. Never spare yourself, and let the troops see that you don't in your endurance of fatigue and privation. Always be tactful and well-mannered and teach your subordinates to do the same. Avoid excessive sharpness or harshness of voice, which usually indicates the man who has shortcomings of his own to hide." ------------------- Be nice to have a CinC with that perspective, eh?

Posted by: Mike Hammer at November 20, 2013 04:40 PM (aDwsi)

38 Tarawa really was something. It boggles the mind that it all took place on an island smaller than Central Park. If you've got time, the entire story of the battle, in detail, can be found here: http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USMC/USMC-C-Tarawa/ . Col. David Shoup, the only MOH recipient from Tarawa who lived through the fight, gave a terse update to General Smith at the end of day two: "Casualties: many. Percentage dead: unknown. Combat efficiency: We are winning." And they did.

Posted by: Weirddave at November 20, 2013 04:40 PM (uxW8g)

39 Not only that, they drilled small holes through walls and houses, basically a very narrow field of view pillbox. They had 99% cover and just waited until a GI passed by the hole to shoot. Posted by: EC at November 20, 2013 08:34 PM (doBIb) And yet, our troops prevailed. Because it's simply what the do. No matter the odds, no matter the obstacles. I think here is a good place EC. Apologies to DiT for the slight OT. Horde, I've been trying to set up a little charity action for a Ron. It's military related. If anyone is interested in chipping in, please email me at bcochran1981 at gmail dot com for the details.

Posted by: BCochran1981 - Credible Hulk at November 20, 2013 04:41 PM (GEICT)

40 Thank you for the post and thank you to the Marines. They left us a country we did not deserve.

After being defeated by the Marines on Guadalcanal, the badly mauled and, until then, invincible Japanese Army, struggled to make sense of what had happened it to it for the first time. "'The army', a Japanese historian sadly notes, 'had been used to fighting the Chinese.'" William Manchester, Goodbye Darkness.

Posted by: Yawkey at November 20, 2013 04:42 PM (YBusZ)

41 Our son had a Taliban POS in his sights. Was told, "Don't shoot. He has to shoot at us first."

He's still enraged over that.

Thanks, PC progs.

Posted by: Jane D'oh at November 20, 2013 04:42 PM (lVPtV)

42 29. "But Fallujah was just as bad as anything in World War II. The only difference is that the current military is all volunteer."

The Marines on Tarawa were volunteers as well.

Posted by: Yawkey at November 20, 2013 04:46 PM (YBusZ)

43 Old Marines our son has spoken with about the difference between fighting a war to win, and "winning hearts and minds" are furious.

Our young Marines are trying to fight an enemy, without uniforms, who are pretending to serve along side them in some cases, and are being told they can't shoot until they are shot at.

It's killing their spirits. Imagine telling the Marines on Okinawa, "Don't shoot until they shoot at you first."

Posted by: Jane D'oh at November 20, 2013 04:50 PM (lVPtV)

44 Anyhow, our son is out (thank God). However, in the next four years, if C-i-C Choom Boy puts his war panties on and decides to go after Iran, our kid could be called back up.

Posted by: Jane D'oh at November 20, 2013 04:51 PM (lVPtV)

45 Horde, I've been trying to set up a little charity action for a Ron. It's military related. If anyone is interested in chipping in, please email me at bcochran1981 at gmail dot com for the details.

It's for a good cause!

Do it!

Posted by: EC at November 20, 2013 04:54 PM (doBIb)

46 I knew a vet who fought at Tarawa. I knew him a long time before he told me he was there. He was an amazing person.
Rest in Peace Howard.

Posted by: Pecos at November 20, 2013 05:05 PM (2Gb0y)

47 Rommel was just paraphrasing me.

Posted by: heavier armor and bigger guns at November 20, 2013 05:05 PM (IX7iP)

48 Served aboard USS Tarawa (LHA - 1) from 1/94 to 8/96. 2000 Marines, 800 sailors on deployment. No problems. Captain Hayes was the best C.O. ever.

Posted by: Andy in FL at November 20, 2013 05:08 PM (nf/Xx)

49 After being defeated by the Marines on Guadalcanal, the badly mauled and, until then, invincible Japanese Army, struggled to make sense of what had happened it to it for the first time. "'The army', a Japanese historian sadly notes, 'had been used to fighting the Chinese.'" William Manchester, Goodbye Darkness.
Another point is the the japs were told that Americans were weak and had no moral spirit-similar to what the germans thought. They got this, strangely enough, from American movies. I wonder what lessons Hollywood is teaching our current enemies?

Posted by: Bookdoc at November 20, 2013 05:09 PM (Opyrm)

50 "I often wonder how many of us, today, would board a landing craft under fire and charge a beach knowing we had a 50/50 chance of being cut down. Posted by: Oldsailors Poet " I'm a younger feller still of fighting age and I've contemplated this at times. I honest to God can't say. Probably, much like the vast majority of those men, once you're resigned to the fact that the only road home lies on that island (or up that mountain, or across that field, etc) and the sooner you take it the closer you are to getting to go home it's a Hell of a motivator. I hope none of us ever have to find out.

Posted by: Ricardo Kill at November 20, 2013 05:12 PM (P0MPF)

51 "With the Old Breed" by E.B. Sledge, a young Marine who landed at Peleliu and Okinawa is one of the best first-hand accounts of fighting in the Pacific in WWII.

Posted by: Andy in FL at November 20, 2013 05:15 PM (nf/Xx)

A 20 minute documentary "With the Marines at Tarawa", filmed by Marine Combat Cameramen, contained scenes of American dead so disturbing that the decision to release it to the public was deferred to FDR. Released in 1944 it won the 1945 Academy Award for Best Documentary Short Subject.

When the writer Robert Sherrod, who had been on Betio during the battle, asked the chief of Marine Corps public relations what kind of effect the film had on the Corps, he said; "A strong one. Enlistments are down thirtyfive percent."

Posted by: ExSnipe at November 20, 2013 05:22 PM (57ubW)

Rural America..... hell, even lots of Suburban America, still produces such young men, in the millions. Urban cesspools? Not quite so much.

What pains me, is that the current Shitheel in Chief, squanders their blood, their limbs and their lives, without the faintest hint of true respect.

Those young men and women deserve a CinC, worthy of that position.

Get that charity up n' running, BCochran..... More from Morons!

Jim

Sunk New Dawn

Galveston, TX

Posted by: Jim at November 20, 2013 05:23 PM (vvk2F)

54 "House to House" by Bellavia is a hell of a read, and brutally frank in the brutality of war. Yes, just as bad as any battle in WWII, or WWI (trench warfare), or Viet Nam (going down into tunnels to find them, or besieged at Khe Sahn). War is Hell. We shouldn't go if we aren't prepared to go all the way and win. It just isn't worth the cost in brave men to do less.

Posted by: Severe Conservative riding Orca at November 20, 2013 05:29 PM (v6hyJ)

55 Tarawa was a bloody, hard fought 3 day battle that saw the first tough Japanese resistance to island assaults in the war. Over 1,000 Marines were killed, along with 650 sailors when the light carrier USS Liscome Bay was sunk. 2,100 more Marines were wounded. With the American public feminized as much as it has been, such a campaign would be unthinkable these days. Any single battle in a future war that resulted in a similar casualty count would likely result in leftists baying for the blood of the senior staff.

Posted by: Blacque Jacques Shellacque at November 20, 2013 07:13 PM (VVsZ2)

56 Small detail little known about Tarawa that explains why it was so deadly. There is a lagoon in front of the beach at Tarawa. At the entrance to the lagoon was an underwater coral reef. The top bras, using hydrological maps from the early 1900's beleied the reef was deep enough that landing craft would motor over it. Unfortunately, the coral reef had grown, since coral is the skeleton of once living creatures. The landing craft got stuck on the reef. The Japanese, who were aware of this had pre sighted their artillery on the reef and thus, they were able to hit the stalled landing craft with deadly accuracy. The Marines soon realized they had to ditch their craft quick and wade through the lagoon where they were sitting ducks for machine gun fire. Once on the beach, the Marines were relatively safe. It was the lagoon and the reef that were the killing grounds

Posted by: Callmelennie at November 20, 2013 07:25 PM (Z6Bqu)

57 Nitpicking... (sorry, aircraft carrier history is a hobby of mine)

Liscome Bay (CVE-56) was a Casablanca-class escort carrier, not a light carrier. Escort carriers (CVE) typically displaced about 7,500 tons on a 510-foor hull; a light carrier (CVL) displaced around 11,000 tons on a 620-foot hull. A CVE had a top speed of 20 knots with two propellers; a CVL about 31 knots with four shafts. Both types carried 28-33 aircraft, the number varying depending on the type of airplane (fighter, bomber, torpedo). Crew (ship + air complement) was about 900 on a CVE; about 1,600 on a CVL.

Posted by: Rusty Bill at November 20, 2013 07:34 PM (lmbUA)

58 Veery late to this tread. I am amazed on how build out Tarawa is. It's almost like a secret place to get away.

Posted by: YIKES! at November 20, 2013 08:27 PM (mETGQ)

59 Hey this is a funny AND true family story. My Dad (WWII generation the greatest generation of all)....enlisted under age, helied about his age! So down to the induction center he went. They had this sarge, that went down the line pointing AND saying .Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines! When they they got to Dad he ended up Navy! He exclaimed "I can't swim sir but I want to fight" The sarge switched him in the line....and went down there saying Army , Navy, Airforce, Marines! Dad was in Berlin when the Nazi's fell. He told me a funny story when I showed him my mosins. He said I saw a lot of Russians carrying them and a lot of Russian women soldiers too! You got a girly gun! I had to laugh! Hey the Mosin is awesome, like a 30.06.... But I never argue with Dad!

Posted by: Judge_Roy_Bean at November 21, 2013 03:21 AM (arjzO)

60 I have a 2006 audio interview with Tarawa veteran Leon Cooper, who talks about approaching the beach, posted here:

http://www.mputtre.com/id47.html

It's unedited. The interview was for a project I was working on.

Posted by: Michael Puttre at November 21, 2013 05:34 AM (nJ32z)

Late to the thread, too...

"Tarawa was a bloody, hard fought 3 day battle that saw the first tough Japanese resistance to island assaults in the war. Over 1,000 Marines were killed, along with 650 sailors when the light carrier USS Liscome Bay was sunk. 2,100 more Marines were wounded."

Reading about volunteer 19- and 20-year-old corporals and their volunteer squaddies in Iraq and Afghanistan, I firmly believe that the kids are alright.

Our young men and women and with the weapons, training and tactics at their disposal, render Tarawa-style large-scale frontal assault warfare (no disrespect to the men who endured it) as consigned-to-the-past as the shoulder-to-shoulder close-order drill of Pickett's charge.

Posted by: furious_a at November 21, 2013 08:19 AM (8lw4l)

62 The lesson of Tarawa was to lead with your nukes.

Posted by: Tantor at November 21, 2013 02:48 PM (659DL)

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