bigpigeon.us webpage WW II - Japan > North & Central Pacific > Gilbert & Marshall Islands, updated by RAC 7 Oct 2020. Not yet complete.
Overview - The Gilbert and Marshall Islands Campaign - November 1943 - February 1944
Overview - The Gilbert and Marshall Islands Campaign - November 1943 - February 1944
- The Marshall Islands were a former German colony administered by Japan as a League of Nations mandate after WW I.
- Japan invaded portions of the Gilbert Islands, a British protectorate, soon after the War with Japan began.
- The US Central Pacific campaign began with the invasion of Tarawa and Makin Atolls in the Gilbert Islands on 20 November 1943.
Major Invasions:
Due to quick success in the invasions of Kwajalein and Eniwetok, it was decided to bypass the Caroline Islands to the southwest and next attack Saipan in the Mariana Islands, 1,200 miles NW of Eniwetok. |
The Gilbert Islands
The Gilbert Islands - Tarawa Atoll:
On 20 November 1943, the Second Marine Division landed on the west shore of Betio Islet, on the southwest end of Tarara Atoll. Betio was heavily fortified and strongly defended - five days of combat followed, with the first day being particularly deadly. Various internet sources err when they state that the Tarawa battle ended on the fifth day, 24 November. Indeed combat on Betio Islet ended on 24 November, but combat on Tarawa Atoll ended with the Battle of Buariki Islet, in the northeast corner of Tarawa Atoll, on 27 November. Two men with Pottawattamie County connections died while securing Buariki. The 2nd Marine Division lost more men in eight days on Tarawa than the 1st Marine Division had lost the previous year in their nearly three months of combat on Guadalcanal. On Tarawa, 894 men were killed in action and 84 later died of wounds. |
The Sinking of the Liscome Bay:
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The Marshall Islands
Sources for the Gilbert and Marshall Islands webpage:
Pottawattamie County, Iowa Area WW II Dead - Gilbert and Marshall Islands:
† Brunk, Edwin Samuel, SN 859-18-62, USN, Polk & Pott. Cos.
- The Gilbert & Marshall Islands map is from the Seizure of the Gilberts and Marshalls volume in the United States Military in World War II series, produced by the Department of the Army's Office of Military History at https://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USA/USA-P-Gilberts/maps/USA-P-Gilberts-2.jpg
- The Battle of Betio, Tarawa Atoll and Battle for Butaritari, Makin Atoll maps are courtesy of The Map Archive.
- The stateside photo of the USS Liscome Bay is courtesy of http://www.navsource.org/archives/03/0305607.jpg.
- The Kwajalein Atoll, January 1944 map is courtesy of the United States Military Academy at https://www.westpoint.edu/academics/academic-departments/history/world-war-two-asia.
- The Eniwetok Atoll, 1944 map is courtesy of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Battle_of_Eniwetok_map.png.
Pottawattamie County, Iowa Area WW II Dead - Gilbert and Marshall Islands:
- Taken from the bigpigeon.us WW II Dead webarea.
† Brunk, Edwin Samuel, SN 859-18-62, USN, Polk & Pott. Cos.
- Escort Carrier USS Liscome Bay (CVE-56); KIA 24 Nov 1943 near Makin Atoll, Gilbert Is.; Japanese submarine I-175 sank Liscome Bay during the US Tarawa/Makin invasion; 702 dead, 272 survivors; North & Central Pacific > Gilbert & Marshall Islands; BNR.
- 392nd Bomb Sqdn., 30th Bomb. Gp, 7th AF; the group, but perhas not the squadron, was based at Nanumea, Ellice Islands; B-24 aerial photographer; KIA (sic, perhaps WIA) 28 Dec 1943 Gilbert or Marshall Is. (admitted to hospital on Canton Is. w/ a hemorrhaging bullet wound in thorax); North & Central Pacific > Gilbert & Marshall Islands.
- Co. C, 8th Marine Regt., 2nd Marine Div.; KIA 21 Nov 1943 Tarawa Atoll, Gilbert Is.; Battle of Tarawa - North & Central Pacific > Gilbert & Marshall Islands; BNR.
- Co. L, 2nd Marine Regt., 2nd Marine Div.; KIA 20 Nov 1943 Tarawa Atoll, Gilbert Is; Battle of Tarawa - North & Central Pacific > Gilbert & Marshall Islands.
- Escort Carrier USS Liscome Bay (CVE-56); KIA 24 Nov 1943 near Makin Atoll, Gilbert Is.; Japanese submarine I-175 sank Liscome Bay during the US Tarawa/Makin invasion; 702 dead, 272 survivors; North & Central Pacific > Gilbert & Marshall Islands; BNR.
- Co. E, 6th Marine Regt., 2nd Marine Div.; KIA 27 Nov 1943 on Buariki Is., Tarawa Atoll, Gilbert Is.; Battle of Tarawa - North & Central Pacific > Gilbert & Marshall Islands.
- Co. E, 6th Marine Regt., 2nd Marine Div.; KIA 27 Nov 1943 on Buariki Is., Tarawa Atoll, Gilbert Is.; Battle of Tarawa - North & Central Pacific > Gilbert & Marshall Islands.
- Ralph Paulson was the nephew of my uncle, Louis Petersen.
- Max Rommel was the brother of Margaret Rommel, earlier a Big Pigeon area schoolteacher.
- The Second Battalion, previously in reserve during the Battle of Betio Islet, was assigned to pacify the remaining Tarawa Atoll islets. Ralph and Max died on Buariki Islet at the north end of Tarawa Atoll at the very end of the Tarawa Campaign.