Support from tanks, aircraft, artillery, and a handful of bulldozers, methodically reduced these remaining defensive positions. By then, the only remaining Japanese resistance on Betio consisted of small pockets on the island’s eastern side. Were the last organized Japanese effort to throw the Americans off the island. Again, the Marines fought to hold the line, and again they pushed the Japanese back. In the early morning hours of November 23, the Japanese launched a second, a third, and then a fourth banzai charge. The American line wavered, throwing in every last reserve, including cooks and administrative staff, but the line held. That night, the JapaneseĬonsolidated for a banzai-style counterattack against the Marines. Even so, on November 22, continued American pressure from the north and west pushed most of the remaining Japanese defenders into a small area east of the central airstrip. When the Marines began to advance east the next day, supported by two borrowed Sherman tanks, Japanese machinegun nests impeded Green Beach), where naval gunfire enabled the Marines to quickly secure a beachhead. Marines have the greatest success on the western beach (codenamed

forces pushed inland toward the airstrip positioned in the island’s center and continued to work to secure the beaches. In total, it amounted to less than a quarter of a mile. By the end of the day, the Marines held the extreme western tip of the island, as well as a small beachhead in the center of the northern beach. When the Marines reached the beach they struggled to move past the sea walls and establish a secureīeachhead. Their landing craft on the reef that surrounded Betio and wade hundreds of yards to shore under intense enemy fire. The men encountered lower tides than expected and were forced to abandon

On the morning of November 20, following a naval bombardment, the first wave of Marines approached Betio’s northern shore in transport boats. Pillboxes were designed to offer clear lines of fire against approaching enemies from the shore, and defensive shelters and a network of trenches were positioned throughout the island’s In the year prior to the battle, these laborers worked to construct and enhance theĭefensive capabilities on Betio. Than 2,500 Japanese soldiers defended it, along with some 1,000 Japanese construction workers and 1,200 Korean forced laborers. At the time of the battle, this long, narrow island held a Japanese air strip, as well as the majority of Japanese troops in the Gilberts. Betio is the largest island in the Tarawa Atoll.

Tarawa atoll