20 Nov 1943

[namvet]

US Marines go ashore into a savage meat grinder on the Tarawa atoll. 1,700 U.S. personnel were killed, and another 2,100 were wounded.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WsmKYcbbJQ&feature=youtu.be

story (http://www.catholic.org/news/national/story.php?id=57758)

[Elessar]

My Dad was there..

Hand Salute.:salute:

[Black Diamond]

Yeah after the Jap admiral said it couldn't be taken in 100 years by a million men.

[Gunny]

And the "great" CHesty Puller is the one that created that meatgrinder. He lost a battalion with continued frontal assaults.

[namvet]

And the "great" CHesty Puller is the one that created that meatgrinder. He lost a battalion with continued frontal assaults.

well that was Marine fighting style. fuck the causalities and take the objective at all cost. especially with a large fleet waiting off shore

[Gunny]

well that was Marine fighting style. fuck the causalities and take the objective at all cost. especially with a large fleet waiting off shore

Could have been a little smarter, don't you think? :)

[namvet]

Could have been a little smarter, don't you think? :)

yes no doubt. it was the Army that moved slow and kept causalities down to a minimum. except Patton. who should have been a marine. full speed ahead and damned the causalities

[Gunny]

yes no doubt. it was the Army that moved slow and kept causalities down to a minimum. except Patton. who should have been a marine. full speed ahead and damned the causalities

IMO, they should have attacked from 2 sides. Would have split the Japanese forces and not allowed them to focus all their firepower on one front. Hindsight.

[namvet]

IMO, they should have attacked from 2 sides. Would have split the Japanese forces and not allowed them to focus all their firepower on one front. Hindsight.

actually they did. on red and green beach and the south beach but red was a slaughter house so they attacked from the other two. the airfield was the objective here

http://www.armchairgeneral.com/wordpress/wp-content/image/2009/cdgsolutions/marinesontarawa/cdg-32-map.jpg

[namvet]

a vet of this battle returned to chase away some demons. what he found was shocking

Leon Cooper return to Tarawa


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1rdZxfIvAc

[Bilgerat]

The Japanese General had his men wait until the beaches were full before firing.

That strategy greatly added to the slaughter

[Black Diamond]

:salute:

[Gunny]

The Japanese General had his men wait until the beaches were full before firing.

That strategy greatly added to the slaughter

And was stupid. That tactic failed for them more than twice. I'm not giving the enemy a foothold. Boats are easier to shoot at than people.

[Elessar]

yes no doubt. it was the Army that moved slow and kept causalities down to a minimum. except Patton. who should have been a marine. full speed ahead and damned the causalities

Patton was a tactical genius.

[namvet]

And was stupid. That tactic failed for them more than twice. I'm not giving the enemy a foothold. Boats are easier to shoot at than people.

they did shoot the amtracs as they came into the lagoon. they were forced to maneuver around the Jap obstacles which brought them into the cannon cross hairs. no win. blew em outta the water. also the tide was low and they got hung up on the reef coming into the lagoon. forced to offload troops onto smaller landing craft. it was a turkey shoot out there. those that made it to the beach had a 3 foot high coconut log wall to mount. a cluster fuck from the get go

[namvet]

Patton was a tactical genius.

he talked the talk and walked the walk. his own big mouth got him into a lotta trouble, but he was feared more by the Germans than any other allied commander. they even set up a special detail to track his movements.