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Across the Reef - The Marine Assault of Tarawa (Paperback)
Loot Price: R220
Discovery Miles 2 200
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Across the Reef - The Marine Assault of Tarawa (Paperback)
Series: Marines in World War II Commemorative
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Loot Price R220
Discovery Miles 2 200
Expected to ship within 10 - 15 working days
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In August 1943, to meet in secret with Major General Julian C.
Smith and his principal staff officers of the 2d Marine Division,
Vice Admiral Raymond A. Spruance, commanding the Central Pacific
Force, flew to New Zealand from Pearl Harbor. Spruance told the
Marines to prepare for an amphibious assault against Japanese
positions in the Gilbert Islands in November. The Marines knew
about the Gilberts. The 2d Raider Battalion under Lieutenant
Colonel Evans F. Carlson had attacked Makin Atoll a year earlier.
Subsequent intelligence reports warned that the Japanese had
fortified Betio Island in Tarawa Atoll, where elite forces guarded
a new bomber strip. Spruance said Betio would be the prime target
for the 2d Marine Division. General Smith's operations officer,
Lieutenant Colonel David M. Shoup, studied the primitive chart of
Betio and saw that the tiny island was surrounded by a barrier
reef. Shoup asked Spruance if any of the Navy's experimental,
shallow-draft, plastic boats could be provided. "Not available,"
replied the admiral, "expect only the usual wooden landing craft."
Shoup frowned. General Smith could sense that Shoup's gifted mind
was already formulating a plan. The results of that plan were
momentous. The Tarawa operation became a tactical watershed: the
first, large-scale test of American amphibious doctrine against a
strongly fortified beachhead.
General
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