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Marines wounded during the landing on Tarawa are towed out on rubber boats by their buddies to larger vessels that will take them to base hospitals for better medical care.  (NARA)

Early on the morning of Nov. 22, the Japanese defenders of Betio sent a final, desperate message. In part, the message said that their weapons had been destroyed, and they were attempting a final charge. The charge did not come until nightfall. By that time the Japanese-held portion of Betio had diminished radically.

The Marines swept eastward. Sherman tanks, closely supported by infantry, demolition  experts and flamethrowers, pounded enemy pillboxes and bomb shelters. At the end of the day, Japanese still held strong points inland from Red Beach 1, at the eastern end of the airfield and at the eastern end of the island. Three times during the night, Japanese counterattacks surged from the eastern end of the island against two companies of the 1st Battalion, 6th Marines; three times they were fought off with artillery, grenades,  machine guns, rifles and bayonets. The destroyers Schroeder and Sigsbee also battered Betios defenders. The next morning, 325 Japanese bodies were counted, but about 500 were believed still alive.

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

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