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This month's Iconic Image is...
Tarawa Island
Intro
Part I
In the year 1943, World War II was in its fourth year. The United States had achieved its first offensive victory against the Japanese at the battle of Guadalcanal. This was the beginning of a type of warfare that would be referred to as, "island hopping".
Island hopping is the term for a strategy of "triphibious warfare", which means: employing, involving, or constituted by land, air, and naval forces in coordinated attack. The strategy involved targeting and attacking key islands and atolls to capture and equip with airfields, bringing American bombers within enemy range. It also involved bypassing strongly defended islands, cutting off their supply lanes, and isolating them from the war. One of the targets of the island hopping strategy were the Gilbert and Marshall Islands. And the biggest target was the Japanese fortress on Tarawa Atoll.
Tarawa is located within the Gilbert Islands. It has a large lagoon that is 193 square miles. The largest part of Tarawa is the islet, Betio. Betio is approximately 381 acres. The Japanese Army had occupied the island on September 19, 1942. Once on Betio, they fortified it with more than 100 pillboxes (dug-in concrete bunkers), seawalls, an extensive trench system, an airfield lined with costal guns, antiaircraft guns, and hundreds of heavy and light machine guns.
By 1943, there were 4,800 Japanese soldiers (and also forced laborers from Korea) stationed on Betio. In addition to these defenses were the island's natural barriers. Tarawa is ringed with shallow reefs that the Japanese lined with mines and barbed wire. With all these defenses in place, the Japanese commander (Rear Admiral Keiji Shibazaki) famously boasted to his soldiers that "it would take a million men one hundred years to conquer the island".
The US fleet arrived at Tarawa Atoll on November 19, 1943. It included battleships, aircraft carriers, destroyers, and a huge amount of supply ships. The attacking force consisted of 18,000 marines from the 2nd Marine Division under the command of Major General Julian Smith. After the island was bombarded by planes and navy guns, the marines were to approach in brand new amphibious vehicles called, "amtraks". The amtraks could carry up to 20 troops and could crawl over shallow reefs. On the night of the 19th, both sides prepared themselves for the inevitable battle that would decide the course of the War in the Pacific. They both knew that thousands were going to die.
Part II
On the morning of November 20, the bombardment began. The landing craft were loaded with marines and began heading toward Betio. However, during the assault multiple things went wrong. A pre-invasion air-raid was delayed by foul weather. Heavy seas also delayed the marines from boarding the landing craft from the transport ships. And by the time all the marines had disembarked, the island's tide level was exceptionally low.
When the landing craft approached Betio, many of them ran aground on the islet's coral reefs. The marines onboard were then forced to abandon the vehicles and struggle ashore on foot, which made them easy targets for the defenders. Soon, the lagoon and beach of Betio were both littered with the dead, the dying, and the wounded. The marines were forced to crawl inch by inch up the coastline (many lost their weapons in the confusion). By the end of the first day, 5,000 American marines had successfully made it ashore, while more than 1,500 had either been killed or wounded. And the carnage was only beginning.
Among those to make it ashore, was Lieutenant Colonel David Monroe Shoup. Shoup had seen little combat during the Guadalcanal campaign and the New Georgia campaign (where he had been wounded). Despite having a lack of major combat experience (he was only picked to lead because the previous officer had suffered a nervous breakdown the night before), Shoup's leadership proved to be invaluable to the marines on Betio.
As soon as he had made it ashore (and despite being shot in the neck), Shoup took command and began pulling the marines into a tight perimeter. He then began organizing attacks on Japanese bunkers and machine-gun nests. Directly due to his tactics and leadership, the marines were able to successfully break through the Japanese defenses and push inland. At 4 PM, Shoup sent this transmission to the USS Maryland, "Combat efficiency: We are winning." That night he was relieved by Colonel Merrit Edson and retired for medical attention.
Part III
Also among the marines landing at Tarawa, were a handful of journalists and reporters. One of them was Frank Filan of the Associated Press. A New Yorker and veteran of the military, Filan had landed on the second day of combat and began taking pictures of the battle. During the battle, Filan also fought along side the marines and saved one from drowning in the surf. However, in the confusion of the landing both of his cameras were destroyed. When the battle was over, Filan was among those to document the gruesome task of burying the dead and repairing the airfield (which had been severely damaged during the battle).
On November 24, he noticed a destroyed Japanese bunker covered with debris and dead bodies. Sensing an opportunity, he borrowed another reporter's camera and snapped a photograph. The image shows the bunker as being completely obliterated by a massive explosion and it's entire garrison completely wiped out. Pieces of twisted metal, palm trees, and dead bodies litter the base of the hill (there are likely many more buried in the sandy rubble). To the far left, are two American marines surveying the scene (it's possible that they are checking for survivors). After taking the photograph, Filan decided to go help the marines continue working on the airfield.
Epilogue
Despite suffering high casualties, the Americans ultimately prevailed at Tarawa. After three days of fierce combat, Betio island was declared secure. The Americans had suffered 1,009 killed and 2,101 wounded. Out of the Japanese garrison of 4,800 soldiers and construction laborers, only 129 laborers and 17 soldiers survived to be captured. The rest all perished in the three day battle (including Rear Admiral Shibazaki).
Four marines received the Congressional Medal of Honor for valor at Tarawa Atoll (three of them were given posthumously). The only surviving recipient was Ltc. David Shoup. Shoup later saw combat at the battles of Saipan and Tinian. After World War II, he continued to serve in the USMC until his retirement in 1963 (at the rank of a four star general). He died on January 13, 1983, and was buried in Arlington National Cemetery.
The photograph by Frank Filan was dubbed, "Tarawa Island". In 1944, the photograph received the Pulitzer Prize for Photography. The board of jurors stated that Filan's photograph, "...taken under extremely difficult conditions, depicts the awful carnage of Tarawa in gruesome detail. It is not a picture for weak stomachs, but in its stark realism, it tells a true story of war at its ugliest". In a truly rare occasion, it was one of two winners that year (the other was an image called, "Homecoming"). Frank Xavier Filan continued to work as photographer after World War II. He unexpectedly died on July 23, 1952 (of unknown causes). Today, the image of Tarawa's bloody aftermath is considered one of the most iconic images from the War in the Pacific. It tells the story of a brutal battle that would be come to symbolize the island hopping operations of World War II.
http://www.bytesdaily.com.au/2012/05/pulitzer-prize-for-photography-1944.html
https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/photo-finish-battle-tarawa
https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/battle-of-tarawa
https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1983/01/15/gen-david-shoup-dies/e8a18f64-68c1-4335-9b96-920bfeaab306/
