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Posted: 10/2/2022 7:48:40 PM EDT
 Battle of Tarawa 1943 – The Start of the Island Hopping. Found this YouTube channel recently and thought some of you might like it. Lots of videos from ww2. Enjoy Youtube channel Edit to add a book ( online pdf download) could be interesting Across the reef Tarawa Casualties |
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Posted: 10/2/2022 8:00:16 PM EDT
[#1]
OST
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Posted: 10/2/2022 8:03:49 PM EDT
[#2]
I can't imagine wading hundreds of yards to shore in neck deep water holding my rifle above my head while under MG fire.
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Posted: 10/2/2022 8:12:59 PM EDT
[#3]
Thanks. I enjoyed it. Tarawa was where a Lt Deane Hawkin's Scout-Sniper platoon stormed ashore to capture a pier. He was killed but earned the MoH for himself there. Hawkin's was succeded by Sgt. Morris C. Owens.
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Posted: 10/2/2022 8:17:13 PM EDT
[#4]
Tagged
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Posted: 10/2/2022 8:35:37 PM EDT
[#5]
Thanks for that video…My Mom’s older brother James F Rice of the 2nd Marines died on the 1st day of the invasion, on his 20th birthday…
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Posted: 10/2/2022 8:42:23 PM EDT
[#6]
Grandad was there.
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Posted: 10/2/2022 8:45:26 PM EDT
[#7]
Island hopping warfare seems pretty fucking horrible...
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Posted: 10/2/2022 8:49:49 PM EDT
[#8]
Just the mission in Call of Duty World at War was frightening enough to give me flashbacks man!
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Posted: 10/2/2022 8:51:41 PM EDT
[#9]
Quote HistoryQuoted: I can't imagine wading hundreds of yards to shore in neck deep water holding my rifle above my head while under MG fire. This. 
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Posted: 10/2/2022 8:52:19 PM EDT
[#10]
My grandfather landed his B-25 there immediately after the island was secured.
he said as he was landing they were burying body's on both sides of the runway. interestingly, that runway is still used today. |
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Posted: 10/2/2022 9:00:46 PM EDT
[#11]
My grandfather missed Tarawa, he was in the Army. He did land on Saipan, and Iwo Jim. He had quite a few medals and a bring back Arisaka and a sword. I have both now. He was a 1919 gunner. My brother did a videotaped interview with him for a college project in the 90s. It was actually a little scary for him to tell the stories. You could see him go back in time. Almost like he was hypnotized.
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Posted: 10/2/2022 9:01:45 PM EDT
[#12]
Adm Shibasaki stated One Million Marines would not be able to take Tarawa in 100 years.
The Marines accomplished it in 3 days. And paid a heavy price. |
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Posted: 10/2/2022 9:02:08 PM EDT
[#13]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Thanks for that video…My Mom’s older brother James F Rice of the 2nd Marines died on the 1st day of the invasion, on his 20th birthday… Sorry for your family's loss, do you have any pictures of him? |
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Posted: 10/2/2022 9:05:56 PM EDT
[#14]
Good info in there, thank you.
"With the Marines at Tarawa" won the 1944 Oscar for Best Documentary Short Subject. Worth a watch if you haven't seen it.  With the Marines at Tarawa |
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Posted: 10/2/2022 9:17:38 PM EDT
[#15]
This was the America that, you know it - has been the greatest of all times.
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Posted: 10/2/2022 9:22:38 PM EDT
[#16]
The little island nation of Tarawa made a big mistake picking a fight with the USMC. Not sure why they thought they could win.
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Posted: 10/2/2022 9:25:03 PM EDT
[#17]
Quote HistoryQuoted: OST |
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Posted: 10/2/2022 9:25:03 PM EDT
[#18]
Quote HistoryQuoted: The little island nation of Tarawa made a big mistake picking a fight with the USMC. Not sure why they thought they could win.  Attached File |
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Posted: 10/2/2022 9:32:29 PM EDT
[#19]
Take note..
at 12:15 the footage you see is the ONLY time in the pacific that Marines AND Japanese troops were in the same frame of movie... Norm Hatch was a combat photographer and filmed that. I got to meet him in 2002. Also I met an old Scout/Sniper who went ashore with 2/8. I'd like to think the footage of the sniper a few minutes earlier than the above footage was him...but probably not. I asked if he used the scope much he said nope...it was all hundred yards or so ..so he left it in the Micarta can. He did use it once on like day 2 or 3 as a jap had swam out to a latrine (those huts sticking out in the water) and were shooting at them from behind. He used the scope for that one..that's it. He looked like Grandpa Joe from Hee Haw. But as we talked his voiced went back to a 20 year old and so did his language....lol. He nephew who brought him by said he never heard him tell those stories or talk like that! |
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Posted: 10/2/2022 9:33:49 PM EDT
[#20]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Good info in there, thank you. "With the Marines at Tarawa" won the 1944 Oscar for Best Documentary Short Subject. Worth a watch if you haven't seen it.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JolhiCbU_u8 |
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Posted: 10/2/2022 9:36:54 PM EDT
[#21]
My dad was with the 2nd Marines. He was there.
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Posted: 10/2/2022 10:01:52 PM EDT
[#22]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Sorry for your family's loss, do you have any pictures of him The family kind of fell apart after his death, one of the sisters ( there was 8 sisters) intercepted the mail that had the 10K dollar government check and split. Unfortunately I don’t have any pictures of him…the family was dirt poor at the time, greed showed it’s ugly head. I never knew most of that family. |
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Posted: 10/2/2022 10:17:05 PM EDT
[#23]
Okinawa: Combat footage.
NSFW or kids or the queasy.  Okinawa: Combat Footage |
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Posted: 10/2/2022 10:30:50 PM EDT
[#24]
As bloody as Tarawa was, there was one luck shot that turned the entire tide and prevented a counter attack the first night. God willed it.
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Posted: 10/2/2022 10:39:42 PM EDT
[#25]
Quote HistoryQuoted: I can't imagine wading hundreds of yards to shore in neck deep water holding my rifle above my head while under MG fire. Don't forget Wading Hundred of Yards to shore in deep water holding your rifle, or MG or Radio or other gear over your head while being under heavy Rifle, MG, Mortars & Field Guns. Even if you could "ride over the reef" A lot of the Amtracs were hit & knocked out. They ran on Aviation fuel for their Gasoline Wright Aircraft engines - when hit they burned big time. Even if you didn't get hit, many Marines on the 800 yard "walk" stepped into shell holes from the bombardment - they often went under and never came back up ... A LOT of expensive lessons about what an "opposed beach landing" would really be were learned - at great cost in blood. But just as the lessons of Dieppe were applied to Overlord in the ETO - the lessons of Tarawa were widely studied & applies in the PTO. Bigger_Hammer 
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Posted: 10/2/2022 10:48:35 PM EDT
[#26]
A friend of mine and the father of a good friend from university had an interesting time on Tarawa and Okinawa both....... He advanced in rank through attrition. By the time he walked off of Tarawa, he was a Sgt. By the time he walked off of Okinawa, he'd gone from 2nd Lt to Cpt. 2nd Marine Division. He was slated to take part in DownFall but the bombs were dropped.
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Posted: 10/2/2022 10:50:12 PM EDT
[#27]
Quote HistoryQuoted: As bloody as Tarawa was, there was one luck shot that turned the entire tide and prevented a counter attack the first night. God willed it. Are you talking about the battleship shell hit on the japanese command post that killed the Admiral and his staff and destroyed the communications network? |
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Posted: 10/2/2022 11:05:12 PM EDT
[#28]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Are you talking about the battleship shell hit on the japanese command post that killed the Admiral and his staff and destroyed the communications network? Quote HistoryQuoted: Quoted: As bloody as Tarawa was, there was one luck shot that turned the entire tide and prevented a counter attack the first night. God willed it. Are you talking about the battleship shell hit on the japanese command post that killed the Admiral and his staff and destroyed the communications network? 
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Posted: 10/2/2022 11:13:00 PM EDT
[#29]
I believe Eddie Albert was there piloting a landing vehicle, he ferried Marines in and out and told the story of a group of Marines stranded on the reef under fire. He stopped to pick them up and they refused to be taken back to the fleet but had lost their weapons and asked for him to bring back guns. He returned to find them all wiped out.
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Posted: 10/2/2022 11:28:27 PM EDT
[#30]
I have to wonder how many of those islands could have been bypassed and starved out.
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Posted: 10/2/2022 11:40:33 PM EDT
[#31]
Quote HistoryQuoted: I have to wonder how many of those islands could have been bypassed and starved out. many were. |
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Posted: 10/3/2022 12:02:24 AM EDT
[#32]
It was a mear grinder. Read One Square Mile of Hell if you haven't. Fascinating the horrors it took to just make it a few yards ashore. The low tide caught the landing craft way out there but also exposed the sea wall which was used for protection at the beach head. The pounding from the navy was ineffective due to he rounds exploding on contact. If ap rounds were thrown in it would have pounded through the fortifications better.
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Posted: 10/3/2022 12:10:51 AM EDT
[#33]
i highly recommend the pacific war trilogy by ian w toll.
The Pacific War Trilogy, by Ian W. Toll A review of the three-book trilogy Pacific Crucible, The Conquering Tide, and Twilight of the Gods tarawa , guadicanal, iwo jima and others are all detailed along with details about the various sea battles, commanders on both sides, political issues in japan and america |
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Posted: 10/3/2022 12:28:45 AM EDT
[#34]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Take note.. at 12:15 the footage you see is the ONLY time in the pacific that Marines AND Japanese troops were in the same frame of movie... Norm Hatch was a combat photographer and filmed that. I got to meet him in 2002. Also I met an old Scout/Sniper who went ashore with 2/8. I'd like to think the footage of the sniper a few minutes earlier than the above footage was him...but probably not. I asked if he used the scope much he said nope...it was all hundred yards or so ..so he left it in the Micarta can. He did use it once on like day 2 or 3 as a jap had swam out to a latrine (those huts sticking out in the water) and were shooting at them from behind. He used the scope for that one..that's it. He looked like Grandpa Joe from Hee Haw. But as we talked his voiced went back to a 20 year old and so did his language....lol. He nephew who brought him by said he never heard him tell those stories or talk like that! @jeremy2171 - he still alive? You recall whether he trained as a sniper under Lt. Claude Harris @San Diego or Lejune under Capt. Walsh or elsewhere? |
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Posted: 10/3/2022 12:35:00 AM EDT
[#35]
TARR-a-wah.
Not tar-AAAH-wah. Fucking ignorant limeys. They get it wrong in every language. |
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Posted: 10/3/2022 1:17:34 AM EDT
[#36]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Take note.. at 12:15 the footage you see is the ONLY time in the pacific that Marines AND Japanese troops were in the same frame of movie... Norm Hatch was a combat photographer and filmed that. I got to meet him in 2002. Also I met an old Scout/Sniper who went ashore with 2/8. I'd like to think the footage of the sniper a few minutes earlier than the above footage was him...but probably not. I asked if he used the scope much he said nope...it was all hundred yards or so ..so he left it in the Micarta can. He did use it once on like day 2 or 3 as a jap had swam out to a latrine (those huts sticking out in the water) and were shooting at them from behind. He used the scope for that one..that's it. He looked like Grandpa Joe from Hee Haw. But as we talked his voiced went back to a 20 year old and so did his language....lol. He nephew who brought him by said he never heard him tell those stories or talk like that! @Jeremy2171 I'm not sure about that. This might be another, unless it's friendly fire. Here's a captured frame from the Okinawa footage I posted above, found at 27:00. The red arrow is pointing at a dark vertical streak which appears to be running from left to right. The machine gunner at bottom right peppers that immediate area for a few seconds before that figure appears to stand up and take off running to the right. There might be 2 guys, one to the right of the more visible one. The second guy appears to come out of the big dark building.  |
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Posted: 10/3/2022 2:42:19 AM EDT
[#37]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Good info in there, thank you. "With the Marines at Tarawa" won the 1944 Oscar for Best Documentary Short Subject. Worth a watch if you haven't seen it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JolhiCbU_u8Had an uncle who fought on Tarawa. Forever a marine. Some time after he passed I was in his study and noticed a book on the battle. The fierce fighting and carnage was described in such a matter of fact way that I found it shocking. Somewhat similar to this video, just understated toughness. Not written to be adapted into a movie, just documenting the efforts, wins and losses on the battlefield. Cant find that anymore. I think this landing signified a change in oceanography, from observation to attempts at prediction. I think they got the tides pretty wrong for this IIRC. |
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Posted: 10/3/2022 3:15:01 AM EDT
[#38]
Quote HistoryQuoted: TARR-a-wah. Not tar-AAAH-wah. Fucking ignorant limeys. They get it wrong in every language. Years back when my grandparents were still alive in the early 2000s we had a huge family gathering with 4 generations and my 13 cousins with some of our spouses and everything. One of my female cousins who was like 23 didnt have the best picks of boyfriends at the time. So her boyfriend was in a conversation about gaming talking about BF1942 Mods with another teenage cousin of mine and the map Tarawa came up. Now my younger male cousin who he was talking about this with knew how to pronounce it. His dad, who is my uncle is a vet, and a cool dude. This dumb fuck boyfriend just couldnt say correctly so he started making a joke about it. He kept saying the name all stupid and loud. Then every time my younger cuz tried to tell him the right way he does it worse. Well my Granddaddy who was in his 80s and had fought in Europe during WW2, spoke up suddenly and yelled at him from the other table. He said something like, "listen here boy That was one of the most important battles of the Pacific and a hell of a lot of Good men died taking it. Learn to pronounce the name and I won't have jokes about those things in this house." Granddaddy had a very low tolerance for that kind of stuff. Needles to say that guy didn't last long in our family. Edit spelling |
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Posted: 10/3/2022 5:20:02 AM EDT
[#39]
Correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe Tarawa was the first time dead American soldiers were shown on the (relatively) new medium of film. Roosevelt wanted to show what the price was for war. To generate an impact at home and to drive bonds for the effort.
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Posted: 10/3/2022 6:02:22 AM EDT
[#40]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe Tarawa was the first time dead American soldiers were shown on the (relatively) new medium of film. Roosevelt wanted to show what the price was for war. To generate an impact at home and to drive bonds for the effort. I'm pretty sure that Dead US Army troops on the beach at Buna (also Pacific Theater) were the first to be released,  but the Tarawa photos & especially the newreels followed & showed large groups of dead Marines floating in with the tide at Tarawa.  Bigger_Hammer
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Posted: 10/3/2022 6:23:51 AM EDT
[#41]
Quote HistoryQuoted: The family kind of fell apart after his death, one of the sisters ( there was 8 sisters) intercepted the mail that had the 10K dollar government check and split. Unfortunately I don’t have any pictures of him…the family was dirt poor at the time, greed showed it’s ugly head. I never knew most of that family. That's not as uncommon as you think. When I ran the search for a cousin of mine KIA Iwo Jima I was talking to his brother who told me that the USGI insurance check is STILL a Charlie Chan mystery. |
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Posted: 10/3/2022 11:02:00 AM EDT
[#42]
Quote HistoryQuoted: i highly recommend the pacific war trilogy by ian w toll. The Pacific War Trilogy, by Ian W. Toll A review of the three-book trilogy Pacific Crucible, The Conquering Tide, and Twilight of the Gods tarawa , guadicanal, iwo jima and others are all detailed along with details about the various sea battles, commanders on both sides, political issues in japan and america Great trilogy, I highly recommend. Thick books, but they read quick and are pretty dang comprehensive. That reminds me, now that I am finished with the 2nd I need to order the 3rd |
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Posted: 10/3/2022 12:09:55 PM EDT
[#43]
Quote HistoryQuoted: I'm pretty sure that Dead US Army troops on the beach at Buna (also Pacific Theater) were the first to be released, https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/wwii-buna-beach-george-strock-01.jpg?quality=85&w=1012 but the Tarawa photos & especially the newreels followed & showed large groups of dead Marines floating in with the tide at Tarawa. https://www.nationalww2museum.org/sites/default/files/styles/wide_medium/public/2018-08/1.%20lead%20tarawa.png Bigger_Hammer they needed to make the American public mad and to improve the bond drive intake. |
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Posted: 10/3/2022 12:16:45 PM EDT
[#44]
Would more napalm have helped? Burn the snot out of the island for a week and then land? Asking for a buddhist.
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Posted: 10/3/2022 12:39:33 PM EDT
[#45]
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Posted: 10/3/2022 12:45:16 PM EDT
[#46]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Would more napalm have helped? Burn the snot out of the island for a week and then land? Asking for a buddhist. With the technology of the day, probably nothing short of using WMDs or surrounding and starving them out would have reduced the death count. |
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Posted: 10/3/2022 1:19:15 PM EDT
[#47]
A now deceased friend of mine was a enlisted in USMC during the early days of WWII and was wounded at Tarawa. While recovering from his wounds, the Marine Corps learned he had falsified his true date of birth and that he was too young to be in the Corps, so he got discharged. Three months later, he was old enough, he re-enlisted and finished the island hopping the Marine Corps did.
What irritated him was that after his second enlistment, they made him repeat boot camp...After Tarawa, he was never again wounded during the island hopping. He died many, many years later in Portland, Oregon. |
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Posted: 10/3/2022 1:49:27 PM EDT
[#48]
Quote HistoryQuoted: A now deceased friend of mine was a enlisted in USMC during the early days of WWII and was wounded at Tarawa. While recovering from his wounds, the Marine Corps learned he had falsified his true date of birth and that he was too young to be in the Corps, so he got discharged. Three months later, he was old enough, he re-enlisted and finished the island hopping the Marine Corps did. What irritated him was that after his second enlistment, they made him repeat boot camp...After Tarawa, he was never again wounded during the island hopping. He died many, many years later in Portland, Oregon. Dang, did he graduate boot camp with a Purple Heart? |
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Posted: 10/3/2022 1:57:11 PM EDT
[#49]
Quote HistoryQuoted: A now deceased friend of mine was a enlisted in USMC during the early days of WWII and was wounded at Tarawa. While recovering from his wounds, the Marine Corps learned he had falsified his true date of birth and that he was too young to be in the Corps, so he got discharged. Three months later, he was old enough, he re-enlisted and finished the island hopping the Marine Corps did. What irritated him was that after his second enlistment, they made him repeat boot camp...After Tarawa, he was never again wounded during the island hopping. He died many, many years later in Portland, Oregon. Sending him through boot camp twice was a waste of $$$ and time. He could have been sent back to the 2nd Div. as a replacement. |
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Posted: 10/3/2022 2:07:58 PM EDT
[#50]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Adm Shibasaki stated One Million Marines would not be able to take Tarawa in 100 years. The Marines accomplished it in 3 days. And paid a heavy price. I will have to watch the film when I get time. Thanks for posting that OP ETA Had to of been red beach not orange. |
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