AVB
Jesus of Cool, I'm bad, I'm nationwide
to conquer Tarawa. So stated Rear-Admiral Keiji Shibazaki, who commanded the Japanese garrison. In the end it took about 35,000 Marines and soldiers 3 days from November 20 to November 23, 1943. Tarawa was the first heavily defended and the second island to be taken after Guadalcanal. Marines won 4 Medals of Honor in those 3 days while inflicting over 4,500 casualties in the 4,700 man defending force. One Japanese Officer, 16 enlisted men and 129 Korean workers survived. The Marines lost 990 killed and 2,300 wounded. These heavy casualties sparked off a storm of protest in the United States, where the high losses could not be understood for such a tiny and seemingly unimportant island in the middle of nowhere. The losses at Tarawa can be explained by the difficulty of coordinating combined amphibious operations, one of the most demanding military missions. At the time, Tarawa was the most heavily defended atoll invaded by Allied forces in the Pacific. Later the lessons learned at Tarawa would pay off for the Marines in the Battle of Iwo Jima.
