US Military officers inspecting damage after the capture of Roi and Namur Islands, Kwajelein Atoll in 1944. From left to right: Vice Admiral Raymond A. Spruance, USN; Rear Admiral Richard L. Conolly, USN; Assistant Secretary of the Navy James Forrestal; Major General Harry Schmidt, USMC; Major General Holland M. Smith, USMC; Vice Admiral Ben Moreell, USN (CEC); Lieutenant Colonel Evans Carlson, USMC, and Rear Admiral Charles A. Pownall, USN. Pownall led raids on the Pacific Islands of Mili, Tarawa, Makin and Nauru island in 1943.
By: Phil Kohn. Dedicated to the memory of his father, GM3 Walter Kohn, U.S. Navy Armed Guard, USNR, and all men and women who have answered the country’s call in time of need. Phil can be contacted at ww2remembered@yahoo.com.
On the Eastern Front, German troops retake Zhytomyr, in western Ukraine, on November 19, 1943, as Soviet forces withdraw. In the Gilbert Islands, carrier aircraft from U.S. Navy Task Force 50, commanded by Adm. Charles Pownall, conduct raids over Mili, Tarawa, Makin and Nauru islands, as a prelude to landings there. In all, four carrier groups — comprising 11 aircraft carriers, 5 battleships and 6 cruisers, as well as destroyers and submarines — are involved in the action.
“Operation Galvanic” — attacks on the Tarawa and Makin Atolls, in the Gilbert Islands, on October 20 — marks the beginning of U.S. Navy Adm. Chester Nimitz’s drive through the Central Pacific. In the landings, U.S. Marines take heavy fire from Japanese shore guns. In Europe, the British evacuate the Greek island of Samos, in the Aegean Sea.
At Tarawa Atoll, the 2nd Marine Division lands on Betio Island on November 21. There are heavy casualties on the beaches initially, but by noon some progress is being made in successfully landing more troops. Elsewhere on the atoll, other American units land on Bairiki Island. At Makin Atoll, elements of the U.S. Army’s 27th Infantry Division land and begin to advance on Butaritari Island.
U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Republic of China President Chiang Kai-shek meet in Cairo, Egypt, on November 22 to discuss ways to defeat Japan. In Germany, the RAF gives Berlin its worst pounding so far, with more than 2,300 tons of bombs dropped on the city in less than 30 minutes. In Lebanon, the French High Commissioner orders the release from prison of the nation’s president, prime minister and cabinet members, all of whom had been jailed earlier in the month. The action ends the French Mandate and marks Lebanon’s independence.
Tarawa and Makin Atolls are cleared of Japanese defenders and secured by American forces on November 23. Back in the U.S., the American public is shocked by the heavy losses of life as stories about the landings and casualty details begin to appear in newspapers. In 76 hours of intense fighting, 1,093 Marines have been killed and 2,193 wounded. Berlin is hit again by the RAF, making it the most-bombed city in Germany, with 12,000 tons of ordnance dropped on it in 1943 alone.
Japanese submarine I-175 torpedoes and sinks the American escort carrier USS Liscome Bay off Makin Atoll on November 24, claiming the lives of 54 officers and 648 enlisted men of the ship’s complement of 916. Among the dead is Cook Third Class Doris “Dorie” Miller, the first African-American awarded the Navy Cross (for gallantry during the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941). The U.S. Navy Department announces that very few Japanese are left alive in the Gilbert Islands. On Tarawa, only 100 Japanese have been taken prisoner out of a garrison of 4,836. Of the 100, only 17 are soldiers. On Papua-New Guinea, Sattelberg falls to the 9th Australian Division. Berlin is reported as a “sea of flames” this morning from bombings, with casualty estimates put at between 8,000 and 10,000 killed.
Rangoon, Burma, is bombed by American heavy bombers on November 25. U.S. aircraft operating from bases in China raid targets on Japanese-held Formosa. A destroyer action off Cape St. George, New Ireland — to the northwest of Bougainville — results in the Japanese being routed, losing three destroyers out of five. The action also brings an end to the “Tokyo Express,” as Japanese night-time resupply missions had come to be known.
