CO, 2d Marines: Col William M. Marshall
CO,½: Maj Wood B. Kyle
CO, 2/2: LtCol Herbert R. Amey, Jr.
CO, 3/2: Maj John F. Schoettel
CO, 6th Marines: Col Maurice G. Holmes
CO,⅙: Maj William K. Jones
CO, 2/6: LtCol Raymond L. Murray
CO, 3/6: LtCol Kenneth F. McLeod
CO, 8th Marines: Col Elmer E. Hall
CO,⅛: Maj Lawrence C. Hays, Jr.
CO, 2/8: Maj Henry P. “Jim” Crowe
CO,⅜: Maj Robert H. Ruud
CO, 10th Marines: BGen Thomas E. Bourke
CO, 18th Marines: Col Cyril W. Martyr
Other officers who would emerge in key roles at Tarawa included Brigadier General Leo D. Hermle, Assistant Division Commander; Lieutenant Colonel Presley M. Rixey, commanding 1/10, a pack-howitzer battalion supporting the 2d Marines; Lieutenant Colonel Alexander B. Swenceski, commanding the composite 2d Tank Battalion; Major Henry C. Drewes, commanding 2d Amphibian Tractor Battalion; Major Michael P. Ryan, commanding Company L, 3/2; and First Lieutenant William D. Hawkins, commanding the Scout Sniper Platoon in the 2d Marines. Altogether, 18,088 Marines and sailors of the division participated in the assault on Tarawa Atoll. About 55 percent were combat veterans. Unlike Guadalcanal, the Marines at Tarawa carried modern infantry weapons, including Garand M-1 semi-automatic rifles, Browning automatic rifles, and portable flamethrowers. Assault Marines landed with a combat load consisting of knapsack, poncho, entrenching tool, bayonet, field rations, and gas masks (quickly discarded). Many of those carrying heavy weapons, ammunition, or radios drowned during the hectic debarkation from landing craft under fire at the reef’s edge.
Troops of the 2d Marine Division debark down cargo nets from a troop transport during amphibious training.
Department of Defense Photo (USMC) 63751
[Sidebar (page 5):]
Major General Julian C. Smith, USMC
Department of Defense Photo (USMC) 70729
MajGen Julian C. Smith, USMC, right, commanding general, 2d Marine Division, escorts MajGen Holland M. Smith, USMC, commander, V Amphibious Corps, on Betio.
The epic battle of Tarawa was the pinnacle of Julian Smith’s life and career. Smith was 58 and had been a Marine Corps officer for 34 years at the time of Operation Galvanic. He was born in Elkton, Maryland, and graduated from the University of Delaware. Overseas service included expeditionary tours in Panama, Mexico, Haiti, Santo Domingo, Cuba, and Nicaragua. He graduated from the Naval War College in 1917 and, as did many other frustrated Marine officers, spent the duration of World War I in Quantico. As were shipmates Colonel Merritt A. Edson and Major Henry P. Crowe, Smith was a distinguished marksman and former rifle team coach. Command experience in the Fleet Marine Force (FMF) was limited. He commanded the 5th Marines in 1938, and he was commanding officer of the FMF Training School at New River until being ordered to the 2d Marine Division in May 1943.
Smith’s contemporaries had a high respect for him. Although unassuming and self-effacing, “there was nothing wrong with his fighting heart.” Lieutenant Colonel Ray Murray, one of his battalion commanders, described him as “a fine old gentleman of high moral fiber; you’d fight for him.” Smith’s troops perceived that their commanding general had a genuine love for them.
Julian Smith knew what to expect from the neap tides at Betio. “I’m an old railbird shooter up on the marshes of the Chesapeake Bay,” he said, “You push over the marshes at high tide, and when you have a neap tide, you can’t get over the marshes.” His landing boats were similarly restricted as they went in toward Tarawa.
Smith was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal for Tarawa to go with the Navy Cross he received for heroic acts in Nicaragua a decade earlier. The balance of his career was unremarkable. He retired as a lieutenant general in 1946, and he died in 1975, age 90. To the end of his life he valued his experience at Betio. As he communicated to the officers and men of the division after the battle: “It will always be a source of supreme satisfaction and pride to be able to say, ‘I was with the 2d Marine Division at Tarawa.’ ”
[Sidebar (page 7):]
The Japanese Special Naval Landing Forces
Tarawa was the first large-scale encounter between U.S. Marines and the Japanese Special Naval Landing Forces. The division intelligence staff had forewarned that “naval units of this type are usually more highly trained and have a greater tenacity and fighting spirit than the average Japanese Army unit,” but the Marines were surprised at the ferocity of the defenders on Betio.
Japanese on Betio conduct field firing exercises before the battle. The film from which this picture was developed came from a Japanese camera captured during the assault.
Photo courtesy of 2d Marine Division Association
The Japanese “Imperial Marines” earned the grudging respect of their American counterparts for their esprit, discipline, marksmanship, proficiency with heavy weapons, small-unit leadership, manifest bravery, and a stoic willingness to die to the last man. Major William K. Jones, whose 1st Battalion, 6th Marines, engaged more of the enemy in hand-to-hand combat on Betio than any other unit, said “these [defenders] were pretty tough, and they were big, six-foot, the biggest Japs that I ever saw.” Major Lawrence C. Hays reported that “their equipment was excellent and there was plenty of surplus found, including large amounts of ammo.”
The Japanese used Special Naval Landing Forces frequently in the early years of the war. In December 1941, a force of 5,000 landed on Guam, and another unit of 450 assaulted Wake Island. A small detachment of 113 men was the first Japanese reinforcing unit to land on Guadalcanal, 10 days after the American landing. A 350-man SNLF detachment provided fierce resistance to the 1st Marine Division landings on Tulagi and Gavutu-Tanambogo early in the Guadalcanal campaign. A typical SNLF unit in a defensive role was commanded by a navy captain and consisted of three rifle companies augmented by antiaircraft, coast defense, antiboat, and field artillery units of several batteries each, plus service and labor troops.
Photo courtesy of 2d Marine Division Association
The Japanese garrison on Betio conducts pre-battle training.
The Japanese garrison on Betio on D-Day consisted of the 3d Special Base Force (formerly the 6th Yokosuka Special Naval Landing Force), the 7th Sasebo Special Naval Landing Force (which included 200 NCOs and officers of the Tateyama Naval Gunnery School), the 111th Pioneers, and the 4th Construction Unit, an estimated grand total of 4,856 men.
All crew-served weapons on Betio, from 7.7mm light machine guns to eight-inch naval rifles, were integrated into the fortified