Battle of the Pacific Theater of World War II
The
Battle of Makin
was an engagement of the
Pacific campaign
of
World War II
, fought from 20 to 24 November 1943 on
Makin Atoll
in the
Gilbert Islands
.
Background
[
edit
]
Japanese invasion and fortification
[
edit
]
On 10 December 1941, three days after the
attack on Pearl Harbor
, 300 Japanese troops plus laborers of the
Gilberts Invasion Special Landing Force
had arrived off Makin Atoll and occupied it without resistance. Lying east of the
Marshall Islands
, Makin was intended as an excellent
seaplane
base to protect the eastern flank of the Japanese perimeter from an
Allied
attack by extending Japanese air patrols closer to islands held by the Allies:
Howland Island
,
Baker Island
,
Tuvalu
, and
Phoenix
and
Ellice Islands
.
Heavy aircraft losses and the disabling of four
heavy cruisers
during the
bombing of Rabaul
meant that the original Japanese plan of a strike at the American invasion fleet by forces based at
Truk
in the nearby
Caroline Islands
was scrapped. The garrisons at Tarawa and Makin were left to their fate.
Marine raid on Makin
[
edit
]
On 17 August 1942, 211
Marines
of the 2nd
Marine Raider
Battalion under command of Colonel
Evans Carlson
and Captain
James Roosevelt
[1]
were landed on Makin from two submarines,
USS
Nautilus
and
USS
Argonaut
. The Japanese garrison only posted 83 to 160 men under the command of a warrant officer. The Raiders killed many Japanese but ultimately, under heavy fire withdrew after losing 21 killed and 9 captured. The Japanese moved their prisoners to
Kwajalein Atoll
, where they were later beheaded. One objective of the raid was to confuse the Japanese about U.S. intentions in the Pacific, but it had the effect of alerting the Japanese to the strategic importance of the Gilbert Islands and led to their further reinforcement and fortification.
After Carlson's raid, the Japanese reinforced the Gilberts. Makin was garrisoned with a single company of the
5th Special Base Force
(700?800 men) in August 1942, and work on both the seaplane base and coastal defenses of the atoll was resumed in earnest. By July 1943 the seaplane base on Makin was completed and ready to accommodate
Kawanishi H8K
"Emily"
flying boat
bombers,
Nakajima A6M2-N
"Rufe" floatplane fighters and
Aichi E13A
"Jake" reconnaissance seaplanes. Its defenses were also completed, although they were not as extensive as on
Tarawa
Atoll?the main
Japanese Navy
air base in the Gilberts. The
Chitose
and
653rd Air Corps
were detached and deployed here. While the Japanese were building up their defenses in the Gilberts, American forces were making plans to retake the islands.
U.S. plans to attack
[
edit
]
The end of the
Aleutian Islands campaign
and progress in the
Solomon Islands
, combined with increasing supplies of men and material, gave the
United States Navy
the resources to make an invasion of the central Pacific in late 1943. Admiral
Chester Nimitz
had argued for this invasion earlier in 1943, but the resources were not available to carry it out at the same time as
Operation Cartwheel
, the envelopment of
Rabaul
in the
Bismarck Islands
. The plan was to approach the
Japanese home islands
by "
island hopping
": establishing naval and air bases in one group of islands to support the attack on the next. The
Gilbert Islands
were the first step in this chain.
In June 1943, the
Joint Chiefs of Staff
directed Admiral
Chester W. Nimitz
,
Commander in Chief
of the
Pacific Fleet
(CINCPAC), to submit a plan to occupy the
Marshall Islands
. Initially both Nimitz and Admiral
Ernest J. King
, the Chief of Naval Operations, wanted to attack right into the heart of the Japanese outer defense perimeter, but any plan for assaulting the Marshalls directly from
Pearl Harbor
would have required more troops and transports than the Pacific Fleet had at the time. Considering these drawbacks and the limited combat experience of the U.S. forces, King and Nimitz decided to take the Marshalls in a step-by-step operation via the
Ellice
and Gilbert Islands. The Gilberts lay within 200 miles (320 km) of the southern Marshalls and were well within range of
United States Army Air Forces
(USAAF)
Consolidated B-24 Liberator
aircraft based in the Ellice Islands, which could provide bombing support and long-range reconnaissance for operations in the Gilberts. With those advantages in mind, on 20 July 1943 the joint Chiefs of Staff decided to capture the Tarawa and
Abemama
atolls in the Gilberts, plus nearby
Nauru Island
. The operation was codenamed "
Operation Galvanic
."
Maj. Gen. Holland M. Smith, USMC
Maj. Gen. Ralph C. Smith, USA
On 4 September, the
U.S. 5th Fleet
's amphibious troops were designated the
V Amphibious Corps
and placed under Marine Corps Major General
Holland Smith
. The V Amphibious Corps had two divisions, the
2nd Marine Division
based in
New Zealand
, and the
U.S. Army
's
27th Infantry Division
based in
Hawaii
. The 27th Infantry Division had been a
New York National Guard
unit before being called into federal service in October 1940. It was transferred to Hawaii and remained there for 1½ years before being chosen by Lieutenant General
Robert C. Richardson Jr.
, U.S. Army Commanding General in the
Central Pacific
, for the
Gilbert Islands invasion
. Captain James Jones (father of
James L. Jones
,
Commandant of the Marine Corps
1999?2003), Commanding Officer of
Amphibious Reconnaissance Company, VAC
performed a periscope reconnaissance of the Gilberts aboard the submarine
USS
Nautilus
, establishing accurate accounts of the beachheads for the upcoming invasion.
[2]
The 27th Infantry Division was tasked to supply the landing force, with one regimental combat team (the 165th Infantry Regiment, the famed
"Fighting 69th"
of the New York National Guard), reinforced by a battalion landing team (the 3rd Battalion,
105th Infantry Regiment
), supported by the
105th Field Artillery Battalion
and the
193rd Tank Battalion
, under Major General
Ralph C. Smith
, a veteran of
World War I
who had assumed command in November 1942. He was one of the most highly respected officers in the U. S. Army of the time. In April 1943, the 27th Infantry Division had begun preparing for amphibious operations.
Planning for the 27th Infantry Division's role in "Galvanic" (the Army portion was codenamed "
Kourbash
") began in early August 1943, with Nauru Island in the western Gilberts as the original objective. Unlike the other objectives, Nauru was an actual island, much larger in size and more heavily garrisoned.
However, in September 1943 the 27th's objective changed. The difficulty of providing adequate naval and air support of simultaneous operations at Tarawa and the much more distant Nauru, plus lack of sufficient transport to carry the entire division required to take the larger, more heavily defended Nauru, caused Admiral Nimitz to shift the 27th's objective from Nauru to Makin Atoll, in the northeast Gilberts. The 27th Infantry Division staff learned the change of target on 28 September, scrapped the original Nauru plan, and began planning to capture Makin.
[3]
Prelude
[
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]
The invasion fleet, Task Force 52 (TF 52) commanded by Rear Admiral
Richmond K. Turner
, left
Pearl Harbor
on 10 November 1943. The landing force, Task Group 52.6, consisted of units of the 27th Infantry Division transported by
attack transports
Neville
,
Leonard Wood
,
Calvert
, and
Pierce
;
attack cargo ship
Alcyone
;
landing ship dock
Belle Grove
; and
LSTs
?31, ?78, and ?179 of Task Group 52.1.
On the eve of invasion, the Japanese garrison on Makin Atoll's main island,
Butaritari
, numbered 806 men: 284 naval ground troops of the
6th Special Naval Landing Force
, 108 aviation personnel of the 802nd and 952nd Aviation Units, 138 troops of the 111th Pioneers, and 276 men of the
Fourth Fleet Construction Department
and
Makin Tank Detachment of 3rd Special Base Force
(3
Type 95 Ha-Go
light tanks), all commanded by Lieutenant (junior grade)
Seizo Ishikawa
.
[4]
[5]
The number of trained combat troops on Makin was not more than 300 soldiers.
Butaritari's land defenses were centered around the
lagoon
shore, near the seaplane base in the central part of the island. There were two tank barrier systems: the west tank barrier extended from the lagoon two-thirds of the way across Butaritari, was 12 to 13 feet (4.0 m) wide and 15 feet (4.6 m) deep, and was protected by one anti-tank gun in a concrete
pillbox
, six machine gun positions, and 50 rifle pits. The east tank barrier, 14 feet (4.3 m) wide and 6 feet (1.8 m) in depth, stretched from the lagoon across two-thirds of the island and bent westward with log antitank barricades at each end. It was protected by a double apron of
barbed wire
and an intricate system of gun emplacements and rifle pits.
A series of strongpoints was established along Butaritari's ocean side, with 8-inch (200 mm) coastal defense guns, three 37 mm anti-tank gun positions, 10 machine gun emplacements and 85 rifle pits. The Japanese expected the invasion to come on the ocean side of Butaritari, following the example of Carlson's raid in 1942, and established their defenses two miles (3.2 km) from where the raid had taken place. Without aircraft, ships, or hope of reinforcement or relief, the outnumbered and outgunned defenders could only hope to delay the coming American attack for as long as possible.
Battle
[
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]
Invasion
[
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]
Air operations against Makin began on 13 November 1943, with B-24 bombers of the
Seventh Air Force
from the Ellice Islands.
Grumman FM-1 Wildcat
fighters escorted
Douglas SBD Dauntless
dive bombers
and
Grumman TBF Avengers
from escort carriers
USS
Liscome Bay
,
USS
Coral Sea
and
USS
Corregidor
; followed by 8-inch (200 mm) support guns from fire support ship
USS
Minneapolis
and other war vessels. During the
bombardment
, a turret explosion on battleship
USS
Mississippi
killed 43 sailors
.
Troops began to go ashore at two beaches at 08:30 on 20 November. The initial landings on Red Beach went according to plan with the assault troops moving rapidly inland after an uneventful trip on the ocean side of the island. Their progress off the beach was slowed only by an occasional sniper and the need to negotiate their way around the debris and water-filled craters left by the air and naval bombardment. The craters in particular stymied tank support of the Red Beach forces by the light tanks of the 193rd Tank Battalion when the lead
M3 Stuart
light tank became partially submerged in a shellhole and blocked passage of all the vehicles behind it.
As the landing craft approached Yellow Beach from the lagoon, they began to receive small-arms and machine-gun fire from the island's defenders. The assault troops were also surprised to discover that even though they were approaching the beach at high tide as planned, a miscalculation of the lagoon's depth caused their small boats to go aground, forcing them to walk the final 250 yards (230 m) to the beach in waist-deep water. Equipment and weapons were lost or water-soaked, and three men were killed approaching the beach, mainly because the defenders chose to make their final stand farther inland along the tank barriers.
The U.S. invasion plan was conceived in the hope of luring the Japanese into committing most of its forces to oppose the first landings on Red Beach and thereby allow the troops landing on Yellow Beach to attack from the rear. The Japanese, however, did not respond to the attack on Red Beach and withdrew from Yellow Beach with only harassing fire, leaving the troops of the 27th Division no choice but to knock out the fortified strongpoints one by one. Reduction operations were hampered by the frequent inability to use heavy support weapons, including tanks, because of the danger of cross-fire. The commander of the 165th Infantry Regiment, Colonel Gardiner Conroy, was
killed in action
by a Japanese sniper on the afternoon of the first day and was succeeded by Colonel Gerard W. Kelley.
[6]
Capture of Makin
[
edit
]
Two days of determined fighting reduced Japanese resistance. After clearing the entire atoll, Smith reported on the morning of 23 November, "Makin taken, recommend command pass to commander garrison force."
[7]
The most difficult problem capturing Makin was coordinating the actions of two separate landing forces, made more difficult because the defenders did not respond as anticipated. The unsuitability of the narrow beaches for supply landing operations?which went undiscovered by pre-invasion reconnaissance?was also a severe handicap.
Sinking of USS
Liscome Bay
[
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]
In the early hours of 24 November the escort carrier and flagship
USS
Liscome Bay
was sunk by the Japanese submarine
I-175
, which had arrived near Makin just a few hours before. A single torpedo, launched as part of a torpedo spread by
I-175
, detonated the
Liscome Bay'
s aircraft bomb stockpile, causing an explosion which engulfed the entire ship, causing it to sink quickly. The attack on the
Liscome Bay
accounted for the majority of American casualties in the Battle of Makin. Of the 916 crewmen of
Liscome Bay
702 perished (54 officers and 648 enlisted men), including the flagship's admiral and task force group commander, Rear Admiral
Henry M. Mullinnix
, Captain
Irving Wiltsie
, and Pearl Harbor Navy Cross recipient Cook Second Class
Doris Miller
.
[8]
[9]
The loss of the
Liscome Bay
on the eve of
Thanksgiving
that year was caused by a few factors. Two destroyers of the destroyer screen,
USS
Hull
and
USS
Franks
, left the destroyer screen, leaving a gap in the screen. Also, the task force which included the
Liscome Bay
was not zigzagging. The Japanese submarine
I-175
approached the task force undetected and fired a spread of torpedoes through the gap in the anti-submarine screen, one of which struck and sank the
Liscome Bay
.
[10]
Aftermath
[
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]
The complete occupation of Makin took four days and cost considerably more in naval casualties than in ground forces. Despite possessing great superiority in men and weapons, the 27th Division had difficulty subduing the island's small defense force. One Japanese Ha-Go tank was destroyed in combat, and two tanks placed in revetments were abandoned without being used in combat.
Against an estimated 395 Japanese killed in action during the operation,
[11]
American ground casualties numbered 66 killed and 152 wounded. U.S. Navy losses were significantly higher: 702 deaths on the
Liscome Bay
, 43 killed in a turret fire on the
battleship
USS
Mississippi
, and 10 killed in action with naval shore parties or as aviators, for a total of 755 naval deaths. The overall total of 821 American dead almost equalled the number of men in the entire Japanese garrison.
[12]
Notes
[
edit
]
- ^
USMC History Division webpage for James Roosevelt
, accessed 8 December 2009
- ^
Bruce F. Meyers,
Swift, Silent, and Deadly: Marine Amphibious Reconnaissance in the Pacific, 1942?1945,
(Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 2004).
- ^
The Capture of Makin (20?24 Nov 1943)
Archived
21 May 2011 at the
Wayback Machine
, Center of Military History, U.S. Army, p. 6.
- ^
The Capture of Makin
Archived
2011-05-21 at the
Wayback Machine
, pp. 107?108. Unit identifications here were sourced from actual documents recovered during the battle.
- ^
The United States Army in World War II: Seizure of the Gilberts and Marshalls
, p. 71. This source lists the number of troops of the 111th (which the previous source omitted) but shorts the aviation units. The total listed is the result of itemized personnel from both sources.
- ^
The Capture of Makin
Archived
2011-05-21 at the
Wayback Machine
p. 78.
- ^
The Capture of Makin
Archived
2011-05-21 at the
Wayback Machine
, p. 124.
- ^
https://www.history.navy.mil/research/library/online-reading-room/title-list-alphabetically/w/war-damage-reports/uss-liscome-bay-cve56-war-damage-report-no-45.html
. Retrieved 4 May 2024.
- ^
https://www.history.navy.mil/about-us/leadership/director/directors-corner/h-grams/h-gram-025/h-025-1.html
. Retrieved 4 May 2024.
- ^
"USS
Liscome Bay
: Hit By a Torpedo Near Makin Atoll During World War II"
- ^
Japanese survivors continued to the U.S. garrison for more than a month after the battle, and except for 104 prisoners, all but 3 of whom were Korean, the entire Japanese force was annihilated.
The Capture of Makin
Archived
2009-04-28 at the
Wayback Machine
, pp. 124, 130.
- ^
The Capture of Makin
Archived
2011-05-21 at the
Wayback Machine
, p. 131.
References
[
edit
]
External links
[
edit
]
- Cagney, James (2005).
"Invasion of Tarawa and Makin"
.
Pacific War
. HistoryAnimated.com. Archived from
the original
on 20 July 2008
. Retrieved
23 January
2007
.
- United States Army Center of Military History
(1946).
"The Capture of Makin (20?24 November 1943)"
.
American Forces in Action
. Office of the Chief of Military History, Department of the Army. Archived from
the original
on 14 December 2007
. Retrieved
23 January
2007
.
- Newell, Lt. Col. Clayton R. (2003).
Central Pacific 1941?1943
. The U.S. Army Campaigns of World War II.
United States Army Center of Military History
. CMH Pub 72-4. Archived from
the original
on 2 February 2012
. Retrieved
23 January
2007
.
- Crowl, Philip A.;
Edmund G. Love
(1955).
"Seizure of the Gilberts and Marshalls"
.
United States Army in World War II ? The War in the Pacific
. Office of the Chief of Military History, Department of the Army.
Archived
from the original on 22 January 2007
. Retrieved
23 January
2007
.
- George C., Dyer, Vice Admiral, USN (RET) (1956).
"The Amphibians Came to Conquer"
.
The Story of Admiral Richmond Kelly Turner, Chapter 17, The Pushover ? Makin
. Director of Naval History, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C.
LCCN
71-603853
.
Archived
from the original on 21 May 2011
. Retrieved
5 May
2011
.
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