_by Colonel Joseph H. Alexander, USMC (Ret)_
In August 1943, to meet in secret with Major General Julian C. Smith
and his principal staff officers of the 2d Marine Division, Vice
Admiral Raymond A. Spruance, commanding the Central Pacific Force, flew
to New Zealand from Pearl Harbor. Spruance told the Marines to prepare
for an amphibious assault against Japanese positions in the Gilbert
Islands in November.
The Marines knew about the Gilberts. The 2d Raider Battalion under
Lieutenant Colonel Evans F. Carlson had attacked Makin Atoll a year
earlier. Subsequent intelligence reports warned that the Japanese had
fortified Betio Island in Tarawa Atoll, where elite forces guarded a
new bomber strip. Spruance said Betio would be the prime target for the
2d Marine Division.
General Smith’s operations officer, Lieutenant Colonel David M. Shoup,
studied the primitive chart of Betio and saw that the tiny island was
surrounded by a barrier reef. Shoup asked Spruance if any of the Navy’s
experimental, shallow-draft, plastic boats could be provided. “Not
available,” replied the admiral, “expect only the usual wooden landing
craft.” Shoup frowned. General Smith could sense that Shoup’s gifted
mind was already formulating a plan.
The results of that plan were momentous. The Tarawa operation became a
tactical watershed: the first, large-scale test of American amphibious
doctrine against a strongly fortified beachhead. The Marine assault
on Betio was particularly bloody. Ten days after the assault, _Time_
magazine published the first of many post-battle analyses:
Last week some 2,000 or 3,000 United States Marines, most of them
now dead or wounded, gave the nation a name to stand beside those
of Concord Bridge, the _Bon Homme Richard_, the Alamo, Little Big
Horn and Belleau Wood. The name was “Tarawa.”
_Setting the Stage_
The Gilbert Islands consist of 16 scattered atolls lying along the
equator in the Central Pacific. Tarawa Atoll is 2,085 miles southwest
of Pearl Harbor and 540 miles southeast of Kwajalein in the Marshalls.
Betio is the principal island in the atoll.
The Japanese seized Tarawa and Makin from the British within the first
three days after Pearl Harbor. Carlson’s brief raid in August 1942
caused the Japanese to realize their vulnerability in the Gilberts.
Shortly after the raid, the _6th Yokosuka Special Naval Landing Force_
arrived in the islands. With them came Rear Admiral Tomanari Saichiro,
a superb engineer, who directed the construction of sophisticated
defensive positions on Betio. Saichiro’s primary goal was to make Betio
so formidable that an American assault would be stalled at the water’s
edge, allowing time for the other elements of the _Yogaki_ (“Waylaying
Attack”) Plan to destroy the landing force.
The _Yogaki_ Plan was the Japanese strategy to defend eastern
Micronesia from an Allied invasion. Japanese commanders agreed to
counterattack with bombers, submarines, and the main battle fleet.
Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, Commander-in-Chief, Pacific Fleet/Commander
in Chief, Pacific Ocean Areas (CinCPac/CinCPOA), took these
capabilities seriously. Nimitz directed Spruance to “get the hell in
and get the hell out!” Spruance in turn warned his subordinates to
seize the target islands in the Gilberts “with lightning speed.” This
sense of urgency had a major influence on the Tarawa campaign.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff assigned the code name Galvanic to the
campaign to capture Tarawa, Makin, and Apamama in the Gilberts. The
2d Marine Division was assigned Tarawa and Apamama (a company-sized
operation); the Army’s 165th Regimental Combat Team of the 27th
Infantry Division would tackle Makin.
By coincidence, each of the three landing force commanders in Operation
Galvanic was a major general named Smith. The senior of these was a
Marine, Holland M. “Howling Mad” Smith, commanding V Amphibious Corps.
Julian C. Smith commanded the 2d Marine Division. Army Major General
Ralph C. Smith commanded the 27th Infantry Division.
Spruance assigned Rear Admiral Richmond Kelly “Terrible” Turner,
veteran of the Guadalcanal campaign, to command all amphibious forces
for the operation. Turner, accompanied by Holland Smith, decided to
command the northern group, Task Force 52, for the assault on Makin.
Turner assigned Rear Admiral Harry W. “Handsome Harry” Hill to
command the southern group, Task Force 53, for the assault on Tarawa.
Julian Smith would accompany Hill on board the old battleship USS
_Maryland_ (BB 46). The two officers were opposites--Hill, outspoken
and impetuous; Julian Smith, reserved and reflective--but they worked
together well. Spruance set D-Day for 20 November 1943.
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