This account has a special significance to the Tunnel Dweller because 17 years later I was privileged to serve with the Second Marine Division for two years in Alpha 1/2. Always we wondered if we would have been as courageous as those Marines on Tarawa in 1943, often fearing we might not be. TD
Battle of Tarawa Overview and history of the War in the Pacific
Battle account: Across the Reef: The Marine Assault of Tarawa
"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:
(Below) The 8th Marines makes its final assault on the large Japanese bombproof shelter near the Burns-Philip pier. These scenes were vividly recorded on 35mm motion picture film by Marine SSgt Norman Hatch, whose subsequent eyewitness documentary of the Tarawa fighting won a Motion Picture Academy Award in 1944.
1st Lieutenant Alexander Bonnyman (pictured, right) leads the assault on the command bunker "... 1st Lt. Bonnyman had inspired his men to heroic effort, enabling them to beat off the counterattack and break the back of hostile resistance in that sector for an immediate gain of 400 yards with no further casualties to our forces in this zone. He gallantly gave his life for his country."
Bonnyman's body was never found and the assumption is that he was buried in a mass grave near the bunker.
Below, the fight for the bunker. Filmed by Norm Hatch.
How would the NY Times cover Tarawa today? ..."Shortly after the battle, a New York Times editorial dealt with the numerous American mistakes at Tarawa by noting that "a cunning enemy like the Japanese will always present us with problems that can never be quite solved in advance." The editorial went on to say that the approach adopted by the enemy "makes the war against Japan a war of extermination in which there is virtually no quarter."
"Incredible! A paper that now worries about depriving captured terrorists of their sleep was writing in 1943 about a war in which enemy garrisons "will have to be killed off to the last man."
"One can only wonder how today's New York Times would have dealt with Tarawa and what the impact might have been on American public opinion."
Col. Theodore L. Gatchel (USMC, ret.), a monthly contributor, is a military historian and a professor of operations at the Naval War College. The views here are his own and do not necessarily reflect those of the Naval War College, the U.S. Navy or the Department of Defense.
Morale boosting narrative of the battle here.
USMC Casualties after The Battle of Tarawa. WARNING: Contains Graphic Material!
With the Marines at Tarawa (1944) - Academy Award Winning Documentary
Battle of Tarawa Overview and history of the War in the Pacific
Battle account: Across the Reef: The Marine Assault of Tarawa
"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:
Combat Photographer Recalls Bloodiest BattleLast 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."
(Below) The 8th Marines makes its final assault on the large Japanese bombproof shelter near the Burns-Philip pier. These scenes were vividly recorded on 35mm motion picture film by Marine SSgt Norman Hatch, whose subsequent eyewitness documentary of the Tarawa fighting won a Motion Picture Academy Award in 1944.
Bonnyman's body was never found and the assumption is that he was buried in a mass grave near the bunker.
Below, the fight for the bunker. Filmed by Norm Hatch.
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How would the NY Times cover Tarawa today? ..."Shortly after the battle, a New York Times editorial dealt with the numerous American mistakes at Tarawa by noting that "a cunning enemy like the Japanese will always present us with problems that can never be quite solved in advance." The editorial went on to say that the approach adopted by the enemy "makes the war against Japan a war of extermination in which there is virtually no quarter."
"One can only wonder how today's New York Times would have dealt with Tarawa and what the impact might have been on American public opinion."
Col. Theodore L. Gatchel (USMC, ret.), a monthly contributor, is a military historian and a professor of operations at the Naval War College. The views here are his own and do not necessarily reflect those of the Naval War College, the U.S. Navy or the Department of Defense.
Morale boosting narrative of the battle here.
USMC Casualties after The Battle of Tarawa. WARNING: Contains Graphic Material!
With the Marines at Tarawa (1944) - Academy Award Winning Documentary
Video; Tarawa - Then and Now "Scenes from the 1943 invasion and Military Historical Tours 2008 "Return to Guadalcanal and Tarawa" visit on the 65th Anniversary of the Tarawa Invasion."
At the 3:36 mark you begin to see relics from the battle as they are now.
The battle plan in 1943:
Betio today from Google Earth; solid streets and houses:
Battle of Tarawa - November 20-23, 1943 Excellent private post on Tarawa.
