![]() ![]() Four Marines were awarded the Medal of Honor, three posthumously. His division, which had begun the battle with 18,600 Marines, counted 990 dead and 2,391 wounded. Smith, commander of the 2d Marine Division, declared the island secured. The next day, another previously uncommitted battalion continued the attack eastward. By the evening of November 22, the Marines held the western two‐thirds of Betio. On the west end of the island, a fresh battalion was landed. Sometime during the day, Admiral Shibasaki died in his bunker. On the morning of November 21, the Marines jumped off in the attack, and by evening reached the south side of the island. The remaining assault battalion was still afloat beyond the reef. By nightfall, Marines held a shallow box‐shaped perimeter with elements of four battalions, and another battalion held a tiny beachhead on the western end of the island. Behind them, ordinary landing craft were stopped at the edge of the reef and Marines on board had to wade in a half mile under heavy fire. The first waves touched down ashore at 9:14. The 6th Marines, the third infantry regiment of the 2d Division, was held in corps reserve. In the assault was the 2d Marines, reinforced by the 8th Marines, also an infantry regiment. Just 100 were available, enough for the first three waves. As a result, the Marines would have to depend on thin‐skinned amphibian tractors, or amtracs, barely tested at Guadalcanal. The transports would have to stand outside the atoll, there would be a long approach of ten miles for the landing craft, and it was questionable if there would be enough water over the reef to allow them to get to the beach. The United States decided to land three battalions abreast on the northern, or lagoon, side of the island. The commander of the 5,000‐man island garrison was Rear Adm. Most of it was filled with an airstrip the rest was comprised of fortifications and more than 200 guns including two British‐made eight‐inch naval rifles. Betio was two miles long, 500 yards wide at its broadest, and in no place more than 10 feet above sea level. The landing force would be the 2d Marine Division. Richmond Kelly Turner, would carry and support the V Amphibious Corps (VAC) under Marine Maj. The Fifth Amphibious Force, under Rear Adm. The immediate objective of the Fifth Fleet would be Tarawa Atoll, with the target Betio Island. Nimitz, Commander in Chief, Pacific Ocean Areas/Pacific Fleet, to invade the Japanese‐held Gilbert Islands with a target date of November 15. In June 1943, the Joint Chiefs of Staff ordered Adm.
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