"Terrible Tarawa" 1943

Operation "Galvanic" was opened in 1943 to capture the Gilbert Islands in the Pacific from the Japanese. Tarawa proved to be one of the bloodiest episodes in the history of the American Marine Corps. The Marines were pinned down as they hit the beach, the pre-landing barrage from the US Navy and Airforce had hardly touched the well protected Japanese emplacements. Nearly 1000 US Marines and some 5,700 Japanese defenders were killed on an island less than 2.5 miles long.