"Tarawa game" Topic

This is a 6 foot by 4-foot four-piece "island" or Tarawa (Betio) I built.

The "island" is pink foam. I printed a map of the island on a sheet of graph paper and then marked off the squares with a chalk line on the pink foam to get an accurate representation of the island and cut it out. I painted it with white glue and then spread sand over it. The base is plywood mounted on a 2x2 wood frame. The bunkers are scratch built using DAS clay and sand glued on it. The palm trees are 1/4" thick solder wire painted. The palm fronds reflect the damage and "trimming" from the naval barrage. They are palm fronds are from a railroad model kit hot glued to the top of the solder wire. The base of the palm trees is a heavy metal washer with DAS clay over it with sand glued on top of it.

I wrote to some people on Kiribati (Tarawa) to get them to send me some sand from the beach to use but I could not get any takers.

The figures are Airfix 1/72 scale I painted. I didn't need many Japanese figures as they rarely came out.

The LVT amtracks are thin sheets of balsa I pasted a printed LVT view from above. Cheap but effective with good waterline view.

The rules were fairly simple. There was an AM, PM and night turn. The Marine figures represent a platoon. Each attack they made was countered with a Japanese counterattack. So combat and movement are somewhat abstracted. As the battle progresses over the 3 days the counterattacks became fewer and were based on historical occurrences from the book.

The Marine player attacked as much as he wanted but gained "friction" which slowed him down and made him weaker against counter-attacks. He had to fight to get to his objective but if pressed too hard he might not defend well against counterattacks. He could also run low on ammo on the first day.

Each Platoon had 9 points (one for each fireteam) plus a CP of an LT and Platoon Sergeant. At the Company level was the Weapons Platoon of LMG's, Combat Engineers, and flamethrowers. No bazookas at Tarawa but they did have M1 Garands and each Platoon had Grenade Launchers.

Casualties were represented as KIA, WIA or WW (walking wounded). The Marine player could keep the walking wounded with the platoon but could only be used to defend, not attack. He could send the walking wounded to an aid station and in the next AM turn, they could recover and come back as reinforcements. WIA's needed to be evacuated. This could be done right away by using another point (team) to evacuate them further decreasing his platoon strength or wait for a recovery team. Each turn a WIA needs to wait to be evacuated is a chance they'll die. Corpsman can help keep them alive.

I find it hard to believe how few games have corpsman/medics. Corpsman have a chance of converting a WIA to a WW but have to take a causality check.

The first two days the Marines were short of ammo and no flamethrowers on the first day as they got too wet. Supply depots were set up on the beach to draw from.

The Amtracks could make multiple trips but when damaged might sink on any turn. The Higgins Boats offloaded the infantry at the reef that needed to wade into the beach or seek cover at the pier. An officer needed to rally them to get them to the beach. Historically, this is where Major Jim Crow walked under the pier with a 12 gauge shotgun sticking it in the face of guys to "motivate" them to get to the beach.

Each turn started off with the naval and air bombardment This suppressed the defenders making attacks easier for the rest of the turn. Suppressed defenders automatically recovered at the end of a turn.

Attacks were normally suppressive fire from the rifle teams and a 2-3 man team assault with flamethrowers, demo charges, grenades or whatever they had. If successful the attack on the bunker was done. If the attack was repulsed there may have been causalities and the Platoon needed to try again. They could attack as many times as they wanted but thy'd get a lttle weaker in each attack. In dire situations a rifle team would assault with rifles and grenades. That happens a lot on the first day. WP grenades work great!

Random actions were sniper attacks, knee mortar barrages, and small scale counter attacks. Officers and NCO's (E-5 and E6), especially the "Gunny" were force multipliers and could make heroic assaults on their own.

Wolfhag

What a labor of love, thanks for sharing. I definitely would love to have played this one.

Very cool thanks for sharing this.

Nice project Wolfhag, and it looks great too!

That is something I would have loved to participate in.

That is awesome! Covering it in sand from the island would have been a great touch, too bad that fell through.

I love how you incorporated medics and dealing with wounded into the decision making.

This is too awesome for words.

If you're still in central California, Wolfhag, this game needs to come to an SBGC meeting and/or Pacificon. Maybe annually.

- Ix

Wolfhag,

The board is awesome. Great photo shots, and my favorite is the one showing all the LVTs and LCPs approaching the island.
Game sounded great and your rules and aar seemed to cover all the bases. Sure would love to have played it. Nice Work

Semper Fi

Sam

Wow, thanks guys. This was actually my first attempt at building something like this other than some structures for my son's WH 40K games. I'm nowhere as good as most of you guys.

Regarding the rules, I'm not a game designer so I just read accounts of the battle and determined the best way to portray them. I did have some board games of the battle but I felt they didn't capture the flavor of the battle, tactics and decisions that had to be made.

Yellow Admiral,
I'm still in Contra Costa County and did play this at Pacificon in 2007 or 2008. However, I'll be in the Chattanooga area in the Spring 2021. I've been to Pacificon since about 2003, I'm sure I've met you. I gamed mostly with Rick Schult who has moved to SD and the guys from the South Bay Club in SJ. I've known Mark Ruggerio for decades.

I think the best way to play the game is as a collaborative effort between 3-9 Marine players. With three players each commands a Regiment of 27 platoons and nine players each commands a Battalion of 9 platoons. You really need to use the Marine tactic of having two Platoons on line and one in the rear recovering and rotating them around with a fresh one coming in every day or when you need to pull one out of the line. That's left up to the player to manage his personnel and take care of them. If not, there is a good chance the advance will grind to a halt. The multiple Marine players get to argue over who will get reinforcements, naval and air support, etc. That can get pretty intense and comical. The GM can play the Japs and roll on the chart whenever a Marine unit moves or attacks. The night belongs to the Japanese but the Marine player determines which units and supplies are landed.

Since the Maries are playing as a team, they all conduct their movement and attacks during an AM or PM turn at the same time but need to coordinate with the unit on their flanks. That means they may need to slow down or speed up to hit their objectives. Platoons can attack as often as they like during an AM or PM turn but most likey they'll stop after 2-4 attacks because of friction, causalities, etc. The Marine players can attack with their platoons in any sequence they like. During an AM or PM turn, they could attack with one platoon, switch to others and than come back to the original one. This enables him to slowly open up a gap to create flank attacks with another fesh platoon. Be creative. At the end of the PM turn the players need to link up to make sure they can stop infiltrators which will come during the night. If they get through they can cause havoc on aid stations, rear area HQ's and supply depots.

One problem the Marines have is they can only advance as fast as the slowest platoon. Any gaps in the line are infiltrated by the Japs at night. The slow ones need to be reinforced by 75mm Pack Howitzers providing direct fire into the bunkers. The 37mm anti-tank guns are great at suppressing bunkers by firing HE rounds through the loop holes.

It's interesting to see how players react and handle their WW and WIA's. Too many causalities means you have to pull them out of the line to rest and refit. Small Arms fire from the Japanese, when effective, has a 20% chance of a KIA, 40% chance of WIA and 40% chance of a WW and can be modified by the Corpsman by converting a KIA to a WIA but there is a 10% chance he'll get nailed by a sniper when he does. Artillery and mortars is 10%, 40% and 50%. There is always a chance of a team suffering from battle fatigue and heat strokes becoming a WW. WIA's can die if not evacuated right away.

There was a small supply dump inland between Red 1 and 2. When a Marine Platoon gets to it there is a chance they find a Saki cache intact and one of their squads will take advantage of it and not be able to attack for the rest of the AM or PM turn as they become a DD causality (drunk and disorderly).

To keep the game simple, any Marine units not moving or attacking are assumed to be Hunkered Down and safe from direct fire weapons except near the big bunker by the end of the pier on Red 3 which will make things very difficult for 2/8 forcing them to hide behind the sea wall most of the first and second day. Any unit can be hit at any time by mortars, snipers and infiltrators.

For shorter games you could just play Red Beach 1 or Red Beach 3. I've made charts for the Japanese counterattacks for whenever the Marines want to move or attack that is somewhat historical and would work for a solitare game too. The Japanese do get to Banzai on the second night.

As the Marine player, you can't hold back. Historically, the Navy needed to land the Marines and take the island within a few days or the Japanese could sortie a naval task force from Rabaul and they were not ready for a fleet battle as they had WWI battleships. There were Jap subs in the area and one did sink the carrier USS Liscome Bay with about 900 causalities.

Ideally, I'd like to use a three figure stand for platoons in 10mm or 15mm. It would make it easier to mark KIA, WIA and WW.

Bismarck,
I'm glad you like it. I'll put the latrines in next. I have a detachable pier too where LT Hawkins and the Scout Sniper Platoon start off the attack. The US intel was able to accurately determine the enemy strength by counting the latrines.

Wolfhag

Very nice setup. Tarawa (Betio) was a knife fight where the Marines learned many lessons the hard way.

Well done Wolfhag, we'll worth the effort you have put in!

A lot of thought and work went into this project. Very nice, thanks for posting.

Thanks again guys.

Reading books on the battle convinced me to find a way to include chances for unusual results, bad luck, and SNAFU's as there were a few interesting ones during the battle.

There was one tank-tank engagement. A Japanese tank with a 37mm gun (Chi-Ha?) and Marine Sherman. They fired almost simutaneously. The Jap tank was destroyed and the 37mm round went down the Sherman barrel and knocked out the breech block. At night someone went out to a Sherman that had bogged down on the way to the beach and recovered a new one. The 75mm gun was back in action in the morning.

Tarawa was the first attack on a defended beach and the Navy thought their 14" gun bombardment would sink the island. However, they fired low trajectory from close range and most of the shells ricoched off and exploded over the water on the other side of the island so it was faily ineffective.

The Japanese 8" guns did get some shots off the first morning but were quickly silenced. They did have some close misses on troop transports that had to take evasive action. A single 8" hit on a troop transport could have changed the entire battle.

A squadron of Army B-24's were supposed to take off and drop 2000lb bombs the morning of the invasion. However, the first one that took off crashed and they decided to scrap the mission but forgot to tell the Navy. The US found out after the battle only 2000lb bomb direct hit would knock out some of the bunkers as the coconut logs gave unusually good blast protection because of their spongy makeup.

There were some Jap tanks buried as bunkers. A Marine was able to get close enough to drop a grenade down the hatch and sat on it until the grenade exploded.

The big command bunker near the pier on Red 3 took multiple direct hits from battleships but failed to knock it out. A Marine 81mm mortar barrage round just happened drop through a machine gun opening on the top of the bunker exploding the ammo inside and suppressed it enough the Marines could attack with flamethrowers and demo charges. A Sherman tank got around to the rear of the bunker just as the steel doors opened and dozens of Japanese tried to flee. They were cut down by 75mm canister rounds.

On the first day a lookout on a Navy DD saw a group of Japanese moving across the island and quickly called in 5" gunfire with air bursts. It killed the entire group. They did not find out until after the battle that this was the entire Jap cadre and their CO who were most likely going to lead a counterattack. It was felt that their elimination was the reason there was no Jap counterattack the first night that could have easily overcome the Marines who were mostly hunkered down by the seawall.

The Amtracks were supposed to drop the Marines off inland but they could not get over the seawall.

There were several friendly fire incidents from aircraft strafing.

A Navy DD did get in a shootout with a Jap 75mm shore gun and took a hit just below the waterline. A sailor stuck his butt in the hole to stop the leak until a damage control team could ge there. I think he got a Navy Cross.

On the first day only one radio got ashore that worked, the others were waterlogged. Then they lost contact with the USS Maryland command ship so no one knew what was happening with the landing for most of the first day.

The Amtracks had no overhead cover and the Japanese 75mm guns were firing airbursts that exploded over the exposed Marines that could have been deadly. However, the 75mm shell casings were too light and the Marines described it like getting hit by hot sand. At the sea wall the Japs threw grenades into the LVT's of which many were thrown back. One Marine threw back 6 before one blew up in his hand.

The Japs expected the Marines to land on the sea side of Betio and had their troops deployed to defend there and that's where most of the beach was mined. However, the Marines surprised them decided to land on the lagoon side. The Jap troops were pinned down by the pre-assault barrage and could not deploy to the lagoon side until the bombardment lifted. This allowed the first few waves of Amtracks to get ashore with very light causalities.

I wrote this from memory so fell free to make corrections. Here is a good account of the battle. The link downloads a PDF: link

Wolfhag

I've always thought that the problem with playing the Pacific island campaign is that there is not enough for the Japanese player to do once the initial defence is set. From a gaming point of view all the fun and action is playing the Marines and I suspect that's one reason the PTO is less popular with gamers than other theatres.

I like the direction you have gone here. I suspect the solution lies with both players acting cooperatively to control the Marines against some sort of programmed Japanese defence. In other words a set of solo type rules. Given the fixed nature of Japanese defences, concealed positions and the limited number of possible Japanese responses I imagine this may not be too difficult to achieve.

Great work and some great ideas.

I just obtained the long OOP Scenic Effects Tarawa setup. It's very bathtubed, but I think I can add a center section to make it larger. This post is very inspiring. I plan to use many of your ideas.

Nick,
I'm not completely familiar with the rules people have advised. However, Tarawa and other amphib assaults under fire are pretty unique and I think hard to duplicate the battle historically.

First, there is limited movement and no maneuver warfare, almost all individual frontal assaults by small units, normally not larger than a Platoon. Many Marines in the battle said they never saw a live Jap during the entire battle. This means you don't need a lot of Jap figures.

Assaults on pill boxes and bunkers was normally in small 1-4 man teams, not a squad rush. If you read some accounts it was not uncommon for an entire platoon to be pinned down and then one guys make a desperate assault to get close enough to flank the defenders and drop demo charges or grenades to dislodge them. Sgt Bill Bordelon a Combat Engineer, used demo charges to knock out several bunkers and MG positions before being killed.

The battle allows some interesting Fog of War and What If situations if you read the link on the battle. link

What if the 8" artillery hit an amphib ship in the morning? It could have thrown off the timing of the invasion of knocked a ship carrying troops out of the battle.

What if the B-24 raid with 2,000 pound bombs was not cancelled? Some bunkers would have been knocked out and a 2000lb bomb crater makes a great place to hide.

What if the naval bombardment was more effective? The Navy used AP rounds (not HE) fired at a low angle. Most of them bounced of the island causing no damage. The main Jap bunker did take some direct hits but no internal damage.

What if the Marines waited two days for a higher tide allowing the Higgins Boats to get over the reef? The radios and flamethrowers would not have be soaked and inoperable. However, there would have been no strip of beach by the seawall and WIAs would have drowned if they could not get over the seawall.

What if the Japs were expecting the assault from the lagoon and not the sea side of the island? They could not relocate to the lagoon side until the barrage lifted and the first wave of amtracks were on the way. Then they had to run about 500 yards across the open with Hellcat fighters strafing them. The first three waves of amtracks got in fairly unscathed. I met a Marine that survived the first wave hitting Red 2.

What if LT Hawkins Scout Sniper Platoon raid on the pier had failed? There would have been more Japs flanking the landings on Red 2 & 3. LT Hawkins was also responsible for knocking out the bunkers at the base of the pier with Bangalore torpedoes saving many Marines landing on Red 2.

What if Jim Crowe was taken out of action and no one "motivated" Marines hiding under the pier to hit the beach?
Find an officer figure with a pump 12 gauge shotgun for him, ideally with a big moustache.

What if more tanks had made it to the beach? Many got bogged down of fell into shell holes. Some could not land until a hole was blown in the sea wall. The tanks on Red 3 had to go in without infantry support.

Friendly Fire: Aerial bombs and strafing and naval gunfire.

Drinking water: The containers had been filled with diesel fuel and not properly cleaned out. The Japs poisoned sources on the island. This led to many heat causalities.

What if Ryan's Orphans had not gotten off Red 1? They took out positions on Green beach allowing Marines to land in rubber boats the second day. Together, they rolled up the sea side defenses pretty quickly and brought in some tanks too.

What if the Marines were not able to get a 37mm AT gun over the seawall to take out the tank leading the counterattack that morning? How effective would it had been.

What if the destroyer USS Ringgold and Dashiel did not see the Jap command unit and knock them out? Most likely a planned counterattack the first night of which there were none.

What if the lagoon side beach had more mines and barbed wire?

In May 1943, the USS Pollack sub sunk the Jap Bangkok Maru that had 1200 troops and supplies bound for Tarawa defense. What if it made it and delivered the supplies and troops?

What scale are you going to use? There is about 40x Rifle and Weapons Platoons in a Regiment. There were three Regiments. Then you have the Combat Engineers and Shore Parties for each Battalion and the AT Guns and 75mm Pack Howitzers. I think there were 12 Sherman tanks.

My rules: I used an AM, PM and night turn. Each player had a Regiment. When they attacked a Jap structure the Japs mounted a random counterattack as the Jap forces are very abstracted for playability. Every attack used scant supplies that were tracked. Each Marine Regiment attacked as much as they wanted in a turn but "friction" from causalities and low on ammo forces them to stop. They also had to keep their flanks in contact.

Supplies are dropped off on the pier and then redistributed to the Regiments at the end of each turn and on the first day there isn't much to go around. I made chits for the type of supply such as gas, grenades, flame thrower, demo charges, radios, etc. A die roll determines how many chits are drawn randomly and put on the pier. At the end of each turn the players can "fight" over which they get. There is a minimum amount but players can take squads off the line to deliver additional supplies.

Causalities: 1/3 are KIA, 1/3 are WIA to be evacuated and 1/3 WW (Walking Wounded) which can stay and defend but not attack. WW can go to a Company Causality Collection point for one turn and then come back fully recovered the next turn.

Movement is easy and abstracted.

Jap player: There are chances for random Jap attacks and artillery barrages each turn in addition to the local counterattacks. They can try infiltrations at night.

I did this from memory so feel free to add or correct.

Wolfhag

OMG – I forgot the most important and bravest unit in the battle – Navy Corpsman!

Each Platoon has one Corpsman. Each time a squad takes a wound, there is a chance the Corpsman can downgrade it one level (KIA = WIA, WIA = WW, WW = OK). However, each time the Corpsman attempts this he exposes himself to enemy fire and there is a chance he can become a causality too.

Wolfhag

Wolfhag,

Do you have the rules in written form? I would be happy to pay you for them.

I would be happy to pay you for them.

LOL!

Save your $$ and buy my Treadheads AFV (PDF) version coming out on Wargamevault this Spring. I'm meeting with the publisher tomorrow.

The rules are a WIP but still a playable. If you (or anyone else) are willing to give them a go and help develop them I'll get them out and maybe we can collaborate together. Right now it's just me and they've been on the back burner for about 6 years. I could use some help.

Clarification: The Tarawa game is not OODA Time Competitive like Treadheads. In each AM, PM and Night turn each Marine Battalion or Regiment Commander player performs his attacks, movement, etc. on his own setting his own tempo but coordinating with other players IF they have a radio. If you press your guys too hard they won't be able to stop a counterattack.

There is no IGYG, initiative, unit activations, orders phase, move/shoot phase, command points, etc. as in other games. These are Marines, they attack but don't waste them.

They can play solo against the Japanese side which is mostly reactive. Each commander can perform as many attacks per turn as they want but friction in the form of causalities, counterattacks, strong defenses taking more than one turn to eliminate and reduced supplies (especially flamethrowers, demo charges, and grenades) will force him to halt and get resupplied for the next turn but that may not stop Jap counterattacks.

While advancing, each commander needs to ensure their flanks are linked up as any gap will most likely result in a Jap counterattack hitting it. For the night turn they go over to the defensive and replenish and the Jap player is more active depending on what happened historically.

Resource sharing/management is important in the game. There are many ways to balance the game but still keep it historical.

There are several "Risk-Reward" decisions for the commanders. You don't want to have all three platoons in a Company on the line at the same time. Have one in reserve so if it gets in trouble you can pull it off the line and put in a fresh one.

At the end of each turn, a check is made for all WIAs who were not evacuated to see if they become KIA. You may want to use a Rifle Squad to evacuate a WIA squad but that weakens the unit. These are the same decisions commanders were forced to make in battle.

So as you can see, this is not the typical attrition, kill them all and let god sort them out game where you fight to the last man. There is a lot of resource management.

You can pull guys from the Shore Party bringing supplies in as Rifle Squad replacements but that will decrease your supply level arrivals.

The Scout Sniper Squads can be on recon, sniper or counter-sniper orders.

When an amtrack is sunk the survivors on Red 2 and Red 3 can attempt to wade onto the beach and get into the fight (or die trying) or survive by seeking cover under the pier and get into the fight later, maybe. On Red 1 they have to wade in.

Leaders are somewhat abstracted and are mainly used as force multipliers for leading attacks, supply, evacuations, etc. They can also perform single actions if need be.

Each Rifle Platoon is three steps (Squads). Combat Engineers and Heavy Weapons are are squads. Jap troops are abstracted into the defensive positions.

The Jap defenses can be a bunker, pill box, trenches, tree snipers, spider hole attack, ambush, etc. The Marine player does not know until he moves adjacent to it. Recon decrease chances of an ambush.

Let me know what your ideas and what you want to do.

Wolfhag

Thanks! Now you've written it down. Treadheads! Now I remember you.

Nick,
Weren't you at Rick Schults house for a game wearing a Nickelback T-shirt about 7 years ago?

Wolfhag

Wolfhag, I did attend a few games at Rick's house in Point Richmond. I also used to game at the South Bay Gamers minicons.

OK, so we've met. I remember you.

Rick moved to San Diego.

Wolfhag

That is a great posting and it clearly has excited a lot of interest, when things are generally quiet. The account of the battle is an eye opener. I guess even I knew about the reef and Marines wading ashore under heavy fire.But this showed how things could have turned out much worse. I tend to assume, because no US amphibious assault ever failed, that the question was more how protracted would be each conflict and the cost in US KIA and wounded, but the end result was inevitable. Not so I realise now

deadhead,
LVTs were used mostly for supply runs on Guadalcanal and were unarmored and unarmed. Before the invasion, ad hoc field modifications were machine guns were mounted (no gun shield) and some boilerplate on the sides for armor. To make it even more complicated, the Marines had to go down cargo nets to Higgins Boats and then get transferred to LVTs that were already in the water. There were no dedicated specialized amphib ships yet in the war.

Tarawa was the first amphib invasion the Japanese really contested at the beach. The ones before Nov 1943 were unopposed or lightly opposed. They were able to walk off the ship onto the beach or land by boat. Tarawa was the first opposed landing. After 1000 almost all of he LVTs were out of commission and the Marines had to wade in. However, within 10 minutes the LVTs landed 1500 Marines. That's about 10 LVTs disembarking a minute. or one every 6 seconds. Pretty impressive even to the Japs who described it as "turtles swimming ashore" they could not stop.

One of the decisions that had to be made was how to use the LVTs once the landing started. They would go back to the reef to pick up Marines dropped off by Higgins Boats or take wounded back to the hospital ship. For each LVT going back with WIA meant 15 Marines had to wade in about 600 yards to the beach.

The actor Eddie Albert (Heimberger) was awarded the Bronze Star "V" by disobeying orders and piloting a Higgins boat making multiple trips to evacuating over 70 WIA Marines off the reef.

Communications and problems during initial landing:
The USS Maryland, a battleship commissioned in 1921, had been hastily outfitted with communications as the HQ to coordinate air, land and sea assets. When it opened fire for the initial bombardment in the morning the vibrations knocked out most of the comm equipment for much of the first day.

Col. Shoup, who insisted on being in the first waves, had to return to the USS Maryland after 1300 and report in person to Gen Smith the situation because there was no radio contact from the beach to the fleet: "Casualties many, percentage of dead unknown, combat efficiency; we are winning."

Morning of the landing:
0959 – Major Schoettel (3/2 commander on Red Beach 1) to Colonel Shoup (Division Operations Officer): Receiving heavy fire all along beach. Unable to land all. Issue in doubt.
1007 – Schoettel to Shoup: Boats held up on reef of right flank Red One. Troops receiving heavy fire in water.
1015 – Colonel Shoup to Major Schoettel: Land Beach Red Two and work west.
1018 – Schoettel back to Shoup: We have nothing left to land.

Issue in doubt – it's a phrase that every Infantry Commander knows and yet none ever wants to repeat. It means that in all likelihood victory is impossible, defeat is imminent. It means the mission is on the brink of failure and there's nothing to do but cut losses, pull back, and abandon the effort. When Schoettel's radio transmission was heard by the command staff just off the coast on board the USS Maryland, it sent an instant chill into the hearts of those on the command ship.

Red 2 was the most heavily defended and most of the beach had no sea wall to hide behind. The only ones who made it in took cover under the the pier or made it to the Birds Beak.

But all was not lost on Red 1. Company Commander Major Mike Ryan, after landing under heavy fire, his own company was nearly wiped out. He rallied the survivors and gathered other Marines from other units and sailors from various platoons who were scattered and leaderless on the beach on the "Birds Beak" and get three Sherman tanks ashore.

One tank fell into a deep bomb crater. Another one engaged a Jap Type 75 light tank and knocked it out but a 37mm round went down the barrel and knocked out the gun. There is a new video that just came out about the Marine tanks on Tawara, I'll post the link later.

Ryan was cutoff and out of comm from the rest of the groups because most of Red 2 was under Jap control and command thought he was dead too. His unit became known as "Ryan's Orphans." The next day they got an FO with a radio, cleared Green Beach for a Marine landing using rubber boats because of the fear of underwater mines. They were responsible for flanking the sea side bunkers and rolling up the defenses in one day. Later M3 Lee tanks landed to help out.

Defenses: The Jap bunkers and defensive positions were another surprise. Bunkers made of coconut tree logs and sand needed a 2000 pond bomb to penetrate. It could take up to 25 HE rounds from a 75mm gun at close range to knock one out. If a bunker or pill box was not demolished Japs would infiltrate back in.

Defenders were under the pier delivering flanking fire to Marines attempting to get onto Red 2 and Red 3. Fortunately, Lt. Hawkins and his Scout Sniper Platoon that landed at the end of the pier were able to clear most of them out in the morning and then take out the bunkers at the base of the pier. That allowed Marines wading in to take cover under the pier.

On the first day, no flame throwers worked (except Hawkins) and demo equipment was too wet to work. The Grunts improvised with Bangalore Torpedoes (very effective at blowing bunkers) WP and Thermite grenades, taping a grenade to a mortar round, putting BARs into loophole and firing, etc. A few Jap tanks were buried up to their turrets as pill boxes.

The main counterattacks were drunken Banzai attacks on the nights of D-2 and D-3 which were unsuccessful and the tank led attack the first morning. Fortunately, there were no counterattacks on the first night because of poor communications and command HQ and personnel was killed.

I read about the battle in high school. A few years later in 1973 I was reporting into the 8th Marine Regiment at Camp Geiger. I ended up in Echo 2/8 which is in the iconic picture of Tarawa of the Marines sheltering against sea wall by the pier with an LVT stalled on the sea wall. The Marine Corps Museum in Quantico has a life size diorama in the foyer entrance.

Needless to say, the battle has a lot of potential be be very challenging, interesting and "colorful" if done right. I'll post info on taking out the big Jap command bunker later.

Wolfhag

I guess I should at least post a map:

Wolfhag