Marines take Betio at the Battle of Tarawa
A bloody 76-hour fight over a two-mile island rewrites how the US assaults beaches
Quick facts
- Location
- Betio, Tarawa Atoll, Gilbert Islands
- Dates
- November 20-23, 1943
- US commander
- Major General Julian C. Smith, 2nd Marine Division
- US casualties
- About 1,000 killed, 2,000 wounded
- Result
- US capture; near-total loss of Japanese garrison
What happened
On November 20, 1943, the US 2nd Marine Division under Major General Julian Smith landed on Betio, the main island of Tarawa Atoll in the Gilbert Islands, defended by about 3,000 Japanese troops of the Special Base Defense Force and Special Naval Landing Force dug into an extensive network of bunkers on an island only two miles long and 800 yards wide. Unpredicted low tides stranded landing craft on the reef far offshore, forcing Marines to wade hundreds of yards under fire, and pre-invasion naval bombardment failed to knock out many of the defenses. Fighting was close and continuous; by the morning of November 23, all but 17 of the Japanese defenders were dead, and Betio was declared secure about 76 hours after the landing began.
Why it matters
Nearly 1,000 US troops were killed and about 2,000 wounded in three days for a single small island, a casualty rate that shocked the American public and forced the Navy and Marine Corps to overhaul amphibious doctrine: better tide reconnaissance, amphibious tractors that could cross reefs, and longer, more accurate pre-landing bombardment, lessons applied directly at Kwajalein two months later.
How we know
Casualty figures and the sequence of the reef-stranding disaster are documented in Naval History and Heritage Command's official photographic history of the Gilbert Islands campaign.
Sources
- The National WWII Museum. Photo Finish: The Battle of Tarawa · Reputable sourcenationalww2museum.org · The domain "nationalww2museum.org" is on our Reputable source registry. · Link is live and its text matches the event's key terms (Jul 2026)
- Naval History and Heritage Command. Battle of Tarawa Atoll: Betio, November 20-23, 1943 · Reputable sourcehistory.navy.mil · The domain "history.navy.mil" is on our Reputable source registry. · Link is live and its text matches the event's key terms (Jul 2026)
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