Category: Tarawa

Tarawa

In 2009 I visited the island battlefield at Tarawa with Valor Tours. While on that tour we also visited Buariki and Butaritari.

The Tarawa Atoll is part of the Gilbert Islands, which lie just one degree above the equator and seven degrees west of the International Date Line. After the war the Gilberts became known as the Republic of Kiribati (pronounced as kiribass). The Gilberts lie just south of the Marshall Islands.
The Gilbert and Marshall Islands were located just north of the Equator between 162 degrees and 175 degrees of East Longitude. The atolls labeled in red were occupied by the Japanese before and during the war up until they were captured by the Marines in 1943.
A Google Earth view of the Tarawa Atoll.
The Tarawa Atoll is located just above the equator seven degrees west the International Date Line. The main battle of Tarawa was fought on the islet of Betio in the southwest corner of the atoll. The Japanese seized the little island three days after Pearl Harbor.
This is a World War II map indicating the invasion beaches. This map indicates the approach and movement of BLT 1/6 once they landed on Green Beach and moved east along the southern coast.
This is a map of Betio (pronounced basho) indicating the four assault beaches, Red Beaches 1, 2 and 3, and Green Beach. There was a Black Beach on the south (ocean) side of the island that was not assaulted. The only part of the island of military importance, and the reason for the battle, was the airstrip. Betio has been described as the profile of a bird.
More islets on the way to Tarawa.
An atoll on the way to Tarawa.
Another view of the atoll.
The islets of the Tarawa atoll on our way to the airfield on the islet of Bonriki, the southeastern most islet of the atoll. The lagoon side is on the right.
Final approach to the airfield on Bonriki. The day we arrived it rained. The rest of our time at Tarawa was beautiful with clear sunny skies.
This is the hotel where we stayed, the Otintaai Hotel, (pronounced oceantie). This was the lobby and dining room.
This is the hotel where we stayed, the Otintaai Hotel, (pronounced oceantie). It was adequate but hardly the Ritz.
This is the view from our hotel looking into the lagoon.
The locals have collected lots of junk from the battlefield including these rifle barrels and this .50 cal machine-gun.
This is the memorial to the 2nd Marine Division. There is a formal ceremony here on the big anniversaries.
This is a Sherman medium tank stuck in a shell hole. We had the tide tables for the dates we were here so we could be at the tank at low tide when there was only a few inches of water around it.
A closer view of the Sherman tank. The turret is pointing mostly backwards.
Another view of the tank.
Here I am sitting on the Sherman tank.
This looks like the treads of an (LVT) amtrac. The tide is out.
This is one of the LVTs used in the assault. This one is up against the seawall on the lagoon side.
This aerial photo of Betio shows the other islets of the atoll looking east. Note that the airstrip takes up nearly all of the 1 sq. mile island.
A Japanese concrete bunker
Japanese bunker where a large caliber shell has knocked out some of the concrete to expose the rebar.
Some derelict ships in the lagoon at low tide.
Engine blocks likely from an LVT.
The lagoon off Red Beach 1 or 2. The northwestern tip of Betio is on the right.
This is the modern day wharf where the World War II wharf was located out into the lagoon that was the battalion dividing line between Red Beach 2 and 3.
This is Red Beach 3 looking mostly west.
Another view of Red Beach 3.
This is the Shibazaki bunker named for the Japanese officer who commanded the Japanese garrison, Admiral Keiji Shibazaki. During the battle he and his staff decided to move to another bunker and left this one. A Marine spotted him and radioed the position to a destroyer off shore that fired a 5 inch salvo that killed Shibazaki and his staff. The loss of Shibazaki has been suggested in the history of the battle as the reason the Japanese did not launch a counterattack that night when the Marines were most vulnerable.
This is the Shibazaki bunker.
Another view of the Shibazaki bunker. We climbed these steps to get to the top.
This is the Shibozaki bunker after the battle with a destroyed Japanese tank..
This is the interior of one of the bunkers. The walls are covered in graffiti and junk. Some of these bunkers are used as toilets by the locals.
Here is a set of ladder rungs on the outside of the Shibazaki bunker.
This is the main entrance to the bunker with its protective blast wall.
The steps from a different view.
Gun ports of the Shibazaki bunker with multple shell and bullet holes.
Another view of the ladder on the Shibazaki bunker.
Holes in the Shibazaki bunker from large caliber shell hits.
This appears to be what is left of a Japanese tank in the lagoon.
One of two 8-in gun mounts and its bunker. Some histories have suggested that these guns were captured at Singapore and moved here for the defense of Tarawa. This myth has been debunked. They were in fact British but acquired by the Japanese in a legitimate purchase before the Russo-Japanese war of 1904-5.
One of the 8-in guns knocked out by 16-in shells from the USS Colorado.
This is the southwestern tip of Betio. The landing craft in the upper left of the photo are from 6th Marines landing on Green Beach. At the tip are two of the 8-in guns.
Two 8-in guns can be seen in this photo at the southwestern tip of the island. The wharf can be seen at the top of the photo . Green Beach is on the far left. Several Amtraks can be seen at the point
This is the northwestern corner of Betio named Green Beach. Two battalions of the 6th Marines landed here providing some relief for the battalions struggling on the Red Beaches. This opened a front to bring in badly needed supplies that were otherwise held up from landing on the Red Beaches. The garbage on this beach is a sad example of the large amount of garbage collecting on the all of the beaches, especially on Red Beach 1.
This is near Black Beach on the ocean side of the island. This side was never assaulted. The tail of Betio is on the horizon on the right.
This is the Lagos view from our hotel on Bonriki.
This is another view from our hotel looking north and the islands that make up the eastern side of the atoll.
Another Japanese bunker on the eastern end of Betio.
The concrete bunkers were covered with coral to harden them. It could survive all but a direct hit from a large caliber shell. The flat trajectory of naval gun fire made it difficult to take out these targets, which usually required a plunging hit.
One of two Japanese steel pillboxes. This one is in relatively good condition.
Another view of the steel pillbox.
This is one of two steel pillboxes on the island.
Another Japanese bunker.
This is the ocean side of Betio with a Japanese gun platform just off the beach.
A large caliber gun platform.
A Japanese anti-aircraft gun with pedestal and base. This was on the ocean side of the island.
This is Black Beach (on the ocean side of the island), which was never used, but shows two of the 8-in gun emplacements on the beach on the left.
Another 8-in gun mount.
A closer view of the 8-in gun.
A second 8-in gun. This gun is in relatively good condition. It is on the ocean side of the island.
Another 8-in gun.
A closer view of the 8-in gun. The barrel of this one appears to have been blown off.
The beach on the ocean side of the island.
The length of the 8-in gun from the breach.
This gun was manufactured at the W. G. Armstrong Whitworth company in England at the end of the 19th Century and sold to Japan to place on one of their cruisers and was later emplaced on Betio for shore defense.
This is a bunker at one of the 8-in on the eastern end of the island.
Nice palm trees.
Looking toward the ocean side of the eastern end of the island. The fringing reef goes out quite far.
This is the Bonnyman bunker. Today it is next to the police station.
This is the interior of the Bonnyman bunker.
This is the Bonnyman bunker. Lt Bonnyman has been identified in this photo as the Marine standing at the top of the bunker with his bayoneted rifle pointing up. Lt Bonnyman was killed leading his men to take this bunker and was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor.
1st Lieutenant Alexander Bonnyman.
Tarawa is a very poor country. This is a typical home.
This is all that remains of an LVT (Amtrak)
This is a machine gun pivot post on the LVT.
This is a derelict run aground on the lagoon reef.
This is a sad example of the garbage on the beach. This is near the junction of Red Beach 1 and Green Beach on the western end of the island.
Tank treads.
The reef goes out for what looks like at least a half mile.
An idyllic scene looking out to the ocean side of the island.
Island life.
This is likely a Japanese anti-aircraft gun pedestal.
A nice view looking southwest from the western end of Betio.
A village on Betio.
Marston Matting was used in the war on dirt runways. After the war it was used by locals all over the Pacific for house siding and fences, and in this case, as a pigpen.
Another of the many bunkers on the island.
I believe this is an ammunition magazine.
This is an ammunition magazine.
An 8-in gun position on Black Beach looking east.
The reef off of Black Beach looking southeast.
Gun position on Black Beach.
A gun position on Black Beach.
Some guns on Black Beach.
Some more bombed bunkers back of Black Beach.
This is Black Beach on the ocean side of Betio. It is a lot clearer than the beaches on the Red Beaches.
This is another bunker.
This is an idyllic beach scene at Black Beach.
Another nice beach scene.
Another nice beach scene.
This is the other steel pillbox. A pig was sleeping in this one.
A view looking across the placid lagoon at the other islets of the atoll looking mostly north.
This sign was located on the very eastern tip of the Betio.
This is all that is left of an LVT as it rusts away to oblivion.
Some of the local kids who liver here. Very friendly.
We stopped at a school. The guy in the back on the left is our guide, Wilbur Jones.
This is a school we visited.
Our hotel was near the airport so that we had to drive each day to the battlefield on Betio. The islets were connected by a causeway like this one. We are driving west.
The memorial to the Marines who fought and died here.
The woman on the left is another passenger on our tour and the woman on the right is a nun who lives on the island. They are standing with our wreath at the memorial commemorating the battle.
Sherman tank.
The Sherman tank. This was my favorite relic to visit on our tour.
One of the other passengers, Eric, on our tour threw out the wreath.
A closer view of the tank at a lower tide.
We went back to see the tank, this time with the tide not quite as low. We threw a memorial wreath into the lagoon near the tank.
Another view of Red Beach 1 with the tide out.
Front of the quonset hut.
Old quonset hut left over from the war.
Looking across the lagoon from our hotel to the islets that make up the atoll.