"Bloody Tarawa"

20th November 1943: The US Marines attack from the sea again - in a costly assault to take a key stepping stone on the route to Japan

The Marines on Tarawa , subsequently colourised.

The Pacific war now moved into a new stage, as the United States began its 'island hopping' campaign across the central Pacific. Some islands could be sidestepped but there were a sequence of islands that needed to be occupied so that the United States could get within striking distance of Japan itself.

Aerial photograph of the south side of the Atoll, taken by Navy Squadron VC-24 on 9 September (+12 long. Time) 1943, from an altitude of 12000 ft. Betio Island is in the foreground, with Bairiki and Eita Islands beyond.

First on the list were the Gilbert and Marshall islands. Prime amongst these was Betio island, part of Tarawa atoll at the end of the Gilbert islands. The airstrip here was of crucial importance - and the Japanese had spent the past year fortifying the two mile long island with gun emplacements and over 500 pillboxes and strongpoints. They were to claim that 'a million men could not take it in a hundred years'. The Marines were to prove them wrong, but at considerable cost.

"Beachhead Scene, Marines at Tarawa," drawing, charcoal and pastel on paper, Kerr Eby 1944.

Carl Jonas was one of the Marines who went in on the first day. Many of the Higgins boats - the assault Landing Craft - were grounded 700 yards or more offshore. A neap tide meant that the depth of water was far below normal at high tide. The Marines were forced to wade the remaining distance, all the way under fire¹: