Tarawa - HOONOO?

That will compete with numerous other titles to my blog posts as being one of the most incomprehensible - sorry!  I will try to explain.  I have recently stumbled across the Smithsonian Channel on my TV which seems to be totally concentrated on American battles in WWII.  Thus, given the almost total crap everywhere else it has become a favourite of mine.  This afternoon I chanced upon a documentary covering the battle for the island of Tarawa which the American Marines invaded in 1943 as the beginning of their thrust northwards to Japan.

Ferocious and bloody hardly suffices to describe this action in which the Japanese had prepared well and the Americans were, for the most part, beginners.  Even so, at huge cost and with unbelievable courage the Marines eventually succeeded.  Undoubtedly, lessons were learned which will have assisted in the numerous repetitions required in this Island-hopping strategy.  Unfortunately, at this beginning it was clear that the tactical thinking and planning of the Marine Corps staff was pathetic, if not downright useless.  According to Wiki:

Writing after the war, General Holland Smith, who in his biography was highly critical of the Navy, commented:

Was Tarawa worth it? My answer is unqualified: No. From the very beginning the decision of the Joint Chiefs to seize Tarawa was a mistake and from their initial mistake grew the terrible drama of errors, errors of omission rather than commission, resulting in these needless casualties.

Thus it is with most armies and as always 'lessons are learned' but at what a huge cost!  I salute the memory of those Marines lost at Tarawa.

 

 

Comments

[JK]

Unfortunately for our Marines the flag staff put by the wayside what the Aussies had impressed on them at Guadalcanal.

(Sidebar - David, do I detect "same memory different day"? I know I've linked 'The Smith' here a time or two in the past.)

[Whitewall]

Battle for Tarawa engaged in, along with allies, by the Second Marine Division, Camp LeJeune North Carolina.

[David & Son of Duff]

JK, sometimes reading your comments is like trying to decipher The Times' crossword! What does this mean:

"(Sidebar - David, do I detect "same memory different day"? I know I've linked 'The Smith' here a time or two in the past.)"

[Hank]

David

If I remember correctly, Gen smith wanted command of the Tarawa Operation.

Given his rather volatile self-centered (even by the standard of General/Flag officers) personality, I would take his comments with a large grain of salt. A head-on battle like Tarawa would have fit his command style.

But if there was a way, Tarawa was an operation that should have been avoided.

[JK]

David is this enough clue

"I have recently stumbled across the Smithsonian Channel"?

The first link I supplied was from 2007, the next 2009, then again twice in 2013, with the last one occurring in 2016.

Admitting of course just the last of 2013 linked to 'The Smith's' Channel - the earlier ones directing to Smithsonian Magazine (Online) but the last to the "stumbled upon."

[Andra]

I think you'll find Australians of a certain age know about Tarawa.

[David Duff]

Andra, I think 'zillions' of people round the world know of Tarawa. I was just confessing to my own ignorance.