Tarawa (CV 40) - Naval Cruise Book

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Admiral Hargf W. Hill, USN

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The BATTLE for Which the U S S TARAWA Was Named Before Novembcx 20 1943 the n unc of Tarawa was known to only a few Three days later that name and the name of Betio Bcach head went around the world like the flash from an exploding shell Today those names stand for the first sea borne assault on a defended atoll They will continue to endure as monuments of unsurpassed heroism of the Second Division remforced of the United States Marine Corps For all Americans Betio Beach head Tarawa takes its place beside such names as Concord Bridge and Belleau Wood where men died that democracy might live As one of his last acts as Commandant of the Marine Corps General Thomas Holcomb brought four men back to prepare an authentic story of the assault From memory from notes taken during the battle and from operational and intelligence reports at Marine Corps Headquarters these men pro duced a book entitled Betzo Beach head a clear accurate and vivid story of every step of the battle from the day plans were laid until the last shot was fired and the Stars and Stripes were raised over the torn battlefield The Marines responsible for this exceptional literature are Captain Earl Wilson now in Washing ton D C and Combat Correspondents MT! Sgt irn G Lucas later lst Lieut now with SCRIPPS HOWARD MTX Sgt Sam Shaffer now with NEWSWEEK and Sf Sgt C P Yurhnden Jr Cnow 2nd Lieutj who was wounded later at Iwo Jima. o 0 0 0 ,- - . Y I 9 a f C I , ' 31 - ' 0 9 ' C 9 1 I - c o , sk ' 7 n 9 j 0 9 ' 9 a , ' , ' cc ' - 79 -- J 7 7 R. 1 . J. , . - , - -, -J - ,C -D - , I 9 4 3 n o 1 JI , n In respectful memory of the valor of all who engaged in that heroic battle, condensations from the book are herein presented to you with the compliments of its authors, its publishers CG. P. Putnam Sonsj and those of the Commanding Gflicer of this ship, that you may place thesewords among your mementos of your cruise aboard the USS TARAWA. - ' For two dragging weeks the crowded triinsportsfhad been Zig-zagging through the blue waters of the South Pacific, and for the Marines aboard it hadlbeen two weeks of weary monotony. They were headed for one of the bloodiest battles in Marine Corps history, but they did not know that then. They did not even know where they were going. the end of these two weeks, on November 14 1943, they found out.. t '4Tarawa, . . . The Marines rolled the strange name off their tongues and repeated it to each other. In theiriwildest,speculations, none had ever said the name Tarawa. J Six days la'ter the first assaultiwas landed. Nine days later the bloody battle was history. If ou want to place the small solitude of Tarawa, start from San Francisco, go roughly two thousand Y nautical miles toward the southwest and youlll be at Pearl Harbor, or Oahu . . . travel three thousand more nautical miles along the general route and you reach, where they straddle the Equator, the Gilbert Islands. One of them, a few degrees Ifiiyou looked down on it from the air, the atoll would make you think of a lopsided, skinny V. The longer arm of this V, which stretches toward the north, covers eighteen miles, while the bottom arm runs west for twelve. north of the line, is the atoll of Tarawa. A chain of low-lying coral islands separated by sand channels are fordable at low water. Completely hl ' ofthisVisa surrounding the seaward side of the atoll is a broad reef. Within the s e tering arm , lagoon, entered through' one small gap in the barrier reef. . Betiolflids at'Tarawa's southwestern end. It is somewhat smaller than New York City's Central Bark. With a length of two it narrows down to a fraction. and a half miles, it is only eight hundred yards across at its widest, and .

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Upon Betio was fought one of the bloodiest battles in the one hundred and sixty nine years of Marine Corps history. Of the attacking force three thousand and fifty-six men were either killed, wounded, or missing. Over a period of fifteen months the Japanese did a very soundijob of perfecting their defenses for the Gilberts, and the heart of their efforts was little Betio. Its beaches and the reef were lined with obstacles-concrete, pyramid-shaped obstructions designed to stop landing boats, tactical wire in long fences, coconut-log barricades, mines, and large piles of coral rock. For beach defense there were grenades, mortars, rifles, light and heavy machine guns, 37 mm. guns, 70 mm. guns, 74 mm. guns, 75 mm. dual purpose guns, 80 mm. anti-boat guns, 127 mm. twin-mount dual-purpose guns, 140 mm. coast-defense guns, and 8-inch defense guns. The emplacements for these weapons were often seven feet thick of solid concrete reinforced by steel, coral sand, and coconut logs The pillboxes for the automatic weapons, and even the riflemen's pits, were scientifically constructed to withstand heavy bombardment-a concrete floor in a three to five foot excavation-twelve inch reinforced concrete walls-alternate layers of coral sand, coconut logs and sandbags-the roof made in the same wav and tapering to prevent shadows which would show in aerial photographs. In places the blockhouses were of concrete with a roof thickness of five feet. On top were palm tree trunks with a diameter of eighteen inches, and a final layer of angle iron made of railroad steel Guarded by these defenses was a landing field that gave the Japanese a position nearest to our travel routes from San Francisco to Hawaii and Australia. It was our first major obstruction on the road to Tokyo. In addition to Japanese-made defenses, there was the reef, there were the tides The Japanese who manned this islet fortress were all volunteers. They possessed a finer physique and training than any other group in the Emperor s forces There were four thousand of them Their Rear Admiral had stated: HA million men could not take Tarawa . The Admiralis confidence was based on realism Three months before D-Day, a guard detail was posted before the door of a room on the third its headquarters. This was K Room To this room came admirals and generals, colonels and naval captains. Occasionally Major Generaljulian Smith or some of his staff would be gone for several days Fresh data stamped USECRETM and CCULTRA SECRETU piled up on the desks of K Room The task confronting these men was peculiarly difficult For the first time in military history, a e stormed and taken from the enemy It was a case of precedents h ' t be created not followed. Previously, American troops landed fas military gospel dictatesj avrng o , on the least strongly held areas on the large land masses. This could not be done at Tarawa. floor of the musty old Windsor Hotel in Wellington, New Zealand, where the Second Division made strongly defended coral atoll was to b . The maps of K Room showed every installation the Japanese had built. This was the first problem to be solved. Next was the problem of reefs. This was a tough one. The information as to the depth of water over the reefs was indefinite. General Smith and his staff did know that part of the reef was . . . . f ex osed at low tide. Their reports told them that during the period of a neap tide, a maximum o P three feet or less of water, even at high tide, might be experienced. So they could not be sure that even at high tide they could get landing boats not be much time. The span of high tide is only four hours. ' to the beach. Even with the best of breaks there would Th th r thin s which they knew: that added to the natural barrier of the reef were under- ere were o e g water obstacles which the enemy had built, which were certain to stymie the ordinary landing boat. ossible answer. Before committing himself to such a They considered the amphibious tractor as a p plan, General Smith decided to test them. Every conceivable underwater obstacle was erected, and l h b h. l' 't' was fired at the Hamphibs 7 as they moved through and over obstac es to t e eac ive ammuni ion Following this preliminary test General Smith transported the whole battalion to conduct experi- ments over coral reefs. The results of this rehearsal satisfied him that amphibian tractors could cross edium tanks could be disembarked from LGT's on the edge of such a fringing coral reefs and that m reef.