12 Nov 2022 Garand Picture of the Day - Tarawa

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Battle of Tarawa Casualties
American

U.S Marine Corps: 1,009 killed 2,101 wounded
U.S Navy USS Liscome Bay (CVE-56), was sunk on 23 November 1943 687 were killed 272 survived

At 05:33, only 23 minutes after the explosion, Liscome Bay listed to starboard and sank; 53 officers and 591 enlisted men were killed, including Captain Irving Wiltsie, Rear Admiral Henry M. Mullinnix, and Doris Miller. 12 Grumman TBM Avenger torpedo bombers, 7 Grumman FM-1 Wildcat fighters, and 4 Grumman F4F Wildcat fighters went down with Liscome Bay

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Japanese

4,690 killed
17 soldiers captured
129 laborers captured


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LOCAL BOY MAKES GOOD ON TARAWA

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Buried with full honors a mile from my childhood home on September 27, 2015. Awarded the Medal of Honor. RIP. More HERE.

A friend of mine went ashore on Betio on day three as a radioman and ended up stranded there for the duration of the war.

Bob

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Originally Posted by Bob Womack

A friend of mine went ashore on Betio on day three as a radioman and ended up stranded there for the duration of the war.

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That would have been mind numbing...

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Bonnyman (4th from right) and his assault party storming Japanese stronghold


On the second day of the struggle, Bonnyman, determined to breach the enemy's strong defensive line, led a demolition team of 21 Marines in an assault on the entrance to a huge bombproof shelter that contained approximately 150 Japanese soldiers. The enemy position was about forty yards forward of the Marine lines. Bonnyman advanced his team to the mouth of the position and killed many of the defenders. His team was forced to withdraw to replenish its supply of ammunition and grenades. Bonnyman again pressed his attack and gained the top of the structure, thereby flushing more than one hundred of its occupants into the open where they were cut down by Marine infantry and a supporting tank. When the Japanese returned fire, Bonnyman stood on the forward edge of the position and killed three of the attackers, but was himself killed as he ordered more charges brought forward. The battle continued for another 10–15 minutes, with all of the Japanese defenders flushed out. Of Bonnyman's original assault party of 21 Marines, 13 had survived. Betio Island was declared secured on the same day.



Video of the Bunker assult
Bunker Attack Tarawa - YouTube

With the Marines at Tarawa - YouTube

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Medal of Honor citation reads: "For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty as executive officer of the 2d Battalion Shore Party, 8th Marines, 2d Marine Division, during the assault against enemy Japanese-held Tarawa in the Gilbert Islands, 20-22 November, 1943. Acting on his own initiative when assault troops were pinned down at the far end of Betio Pier by the overwhelming fire of Japanese shore batteries, 1st Lt. Bonnyman repeatedly defied the blasting fury of the enemy bombardment to organize and lead the besieged men over the long, open pier to the beach and then, voluntarily obtaining flamethrowers and demolitions, organized his pioneer shore party into assault demolitionists and directed the blowing of several hostile installations before the close of D-Day. Determined to effect an opening in the enemy's strongly organized defense line the following day, he voluntarily crawled approximately 40 yards forward of our lines and placed demolitions in the entrance of a large Japanese emplacement as the initial move in his planned attack against the heavily-garrisoned, bombproof installation which was stubbornly resisting despite the destruction early in the action of a large number of Japanese who had been inflicting heavy casualties on our forces and holding up our advance. Withdrawing only to replenish his ammunition, he led his men in a renewed assault, fearlessly exposing himself to the merciless slash of hostile fire as he stormed the formidable bastion, directed the placement of demolition charges in both entrances, and seized the top of the bombproof position, flushing more than 100 of the enemy who were instantly cut down and effecting the annihilation of approximately 150 troops inside the emplacement. Assailed by additional Japanese after he had gained his objective, he made a heroic stand on the edge of the structure, defending his strategic position with indomitable determination in the face of the desperate charge and killing three of the enemy before he fell, mortally wounded. By his dauntless fighting spirit, unrelenting aggressiveness, and forceful leadership throughout three days of unremitting, violent battle, 1st Lt. Bonnyman had inspired his men to heroic effort, enabling them to beat off the counterattack and break the back of hostile resistance in that sector for an immediate gain of 400 yards with no further casualties to our forces in this zone. He gallantly gave his life for his country."

I'm not sure looking at that battle of Tarawa that the U.S was prepared for the slaughter that small patch of sand held installed for them. Perhaps it was the battles of Peleliu, Iwo Jima and Guadalcanal that in the long run forced Truman to authorise the dropping of both nuclear weapons to spare the U.S the horrendous envisaged casualties assaulting mainland Japan. God bless them all.

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Originally Posted by CINDERS

forced Truman to authorize the dropping of both nuclear weapons

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The idea that they would likely lose a million men on the landing at Japan was a major factor. The home island battle would have been worse than any they'd experienced...

The volume of purple hearts produced for the invasion of Japan was not exhausted until now.



WW2 Stockpile of 1.5 million Purple Hearts is Now Running Out - Originally Made For The Invasion of Japan

Apropos to this discussion: The museum down the road from me, the Military Aviation Museum, has just added to its collection an A6M3 Zero that was on Tarawa when it was taken by U.S. troops. The plane was restored to both museum and flying condition by Legend Flyers.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2KvBsG8Fvo

Bob

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Originally Posted by Bob Womack

an A6M3 Zero that was on Tarawa when it was taken by U.S. troops.

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Nice, nice piece...

From my shelves this bloke knew a bit about how to fly and fight in the Zero Saburo Sakai.

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Originally Posted by CINDERS

Saburo Sakai

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Apparently he was exceptional.

He did not start out as a pilot he was in the Navy as a gunner on the Haruna before applying for the Naval air force he qualified top of the lot and was presented with a watch by Hirohito himself quite the honor.
When he was wounded in the head in a dog fight he was very lucky to survive it temporarily paralysed his left side blurred his vision severely affected his control of the aircraft but the cold entering the hole in the canopy help revive him to a degree to which he leaned his mixture right down and managed to fly his damaged Zero in a four-hour, 47-minute flight over 560 nmi (1,040 km; 640 mi) back to his base on Rabaul.

Something not readily known about Saburo;

Early in 1942, Sakai was transferred to Tarakan Island in Borneo and fought in the Dutch East Indies. The Japanese high command instructed fighter patrols to down all enemy aircraft encountered, whether they were armed or not. On a patrol with his Zero over Java, just after shooting down an enemy aircraft, Sakai encountered a civilian Dutch Douglas DC-3 flying at low altitude over dense jungle. Sakai initially assumed it was transporting important people and signaled to its pilot to follow him; the pilot did not obey. Sakai descended and approached the DC-3. He then saw a blonde woman and a young child through a window, along with other passengers. The woman reminded him of Mrs. Martin, an American who occasionally had taught him as a child in middle school and had been kind to him. He ignored his orders and flew ahead of the pilot, signaling him to go ahead. The pilot and passengers saluted him. Sakai did not mention the encounter in the aerial combat report.

Yes he was a very good pilot

I have his book in Italian. Very good read.

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Originally Posted by browningautorifle

That would have been mind numbing...

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My dad spent 18 months on Guam with the AAF and he said it was the absolute worst time of his life. Though he did have a couple of funny stories.

One was that he'd gone to the base theatre to watch the free movie, some monster movie. He was broke and everyone else was out drinking or on duty. After the movie (which he said was rather creepy) he returned to his hootch and went to bed. As he lies there in the dark he hears the screen door hinges screech. He looked to the door, and saw nothing in the dim light. He rolls over and after a moment he hears "thump, thump, thump," as if someone is slowly walking. He rolls back to the door, and sees nothing. Now there were still Japanese soldiers on the island hiding in the jungle, so he looks real careful. And sees nothing. He rolls back over only to hear "thump, thump, thump" again. He jumped out of his bunk, grabbed his 1911A1 (I still have it) and a flashlight and scanned the hootch. Nothing. He looks at the floor just in front of his feet and there is the biggest toad he's ever seen. He said "After I got a grip I went back to bed. And let the toad live."

January 6th 1949 the last of the Japanese soldiers surrendered on Iwo Jima.