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Taking the slim protection that a blasted tree affords, this Marine picks-off the Japanese in a pill box. A Japanese in a pill box must be shot through the small opening he uses to sight through, but that didn't bother this Marine on Tarawa. (NARA)

Early on the morning of Nov. 21, the 1st Battalion, 8th Marines, who had spent almost 20 hours in boats waiting to land, fought their way in to reinforce the beachhead on Red 1. Battalion casualties were severe: while wading ashore, the men took heavy machine gun fire from strong points on the beach, as well as intense sniper fire from Japanese hiding in the hulks of sunken craft along the reef.

The second day of fighting on Betio was a yard-by-yard struggle. By noon, Marines fighting from Red Beach 2 gained the southern coast of the island, cutting the Japanese defenders into two groups. Third Battalion, 2nd Marines on the western end of the island, supported by close naval gunfire and Sherman medium tanks (in their first combat deployment in the Pacific), succeeded in clearing all of Green Beach. This provided a secure beach for landing reinforcements and equipment.

With both beachheads expanded and the movement of reinforcements and supplies brought under control, Colonel David M. Shoup, senior commander on the island, radioed Julian Smith in late afternoon that the Marines were winning. The unopposed landing of the 1st Battalion, 6th Marines at dusk on Green Beach gave Shoup his first fully intact, fully equipped infantry unit to deploy inland.

Research for this fact sheet was provided by Alexander Molnar, U.S. Marine Corps/U.S. Army (Ret.).

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