Battle for Abemama
| date | November 21, 1943 to November 24, 1943 |
|---|---|
| place | Abemama , Gilbert Islands |
| output | American victory |
| Parties to the conflict | |
|---|---|
| Troop strength | |
| 68 Marines, 10 Pioneers |
25 soldiers |
| losses | |
|
2 dead |
14 dead from |
The battle for Abemama was part of the Battle of the Gilbert Islands in late November 1943 during the Pacific War . It ended with the capture of the atoll by the American Marines .
prehistory
The conquest of the Gilbert Islands was the first step in the Admiral Nimitz preferred tactic of so-called " Iceland hopping " ( island hopping ) over the small atolls of Micronesia . The islands and archipelagos of the British colony of the Gilbert Islands form a chain of atolls, the highest peaks of which are mostly only a few meters above sea level . At the time of the battle they were exactly between the important Japanese bases on the Marshall Islands and the Carolines , and the American bases in the south. Their conquest was therefore indispensable for the plan to gradually advance on Japan. Abemama itself is about 120 km southwest of Tarawa , one of the main landing targets during the operation. The Japanese took Abemama between August 31 and September 4, 1942, but only stationed a small crew of 25 men there.
The Americans chose the atoll as a target for a landing, as the large lagoon was predestined as a supply base for their Pacific fleet advancing on Japan.
The battle
Operation Galvanic , the code name of the entire company for the capture of the Gilbert Islands, started on November 20, 1943. The 5th Amphibious Reconnaissance Company, which consisted of a total of 78 men, including 68 Marines, was planned to explore Abemama. These were on board the submarine USS Nautilus , which in the late afternoon observed the atoll submerged using the periscope . The Marines were to land under cover of darkness on the six main islands of the atoll and explore them until the main invasion units would arrive in the next few days. The best way to get through the reef was to wait for the tide to come in and so the disembarkation time was set at 12:30 a.m. on November 21st.
At the appointed time, the marines set out for the islands using rubber dinghies . With great difficulty - malfunctioning outboard motors and the sharp coral reefs - they reached their destination around 3:30 a.m. In the meantime, the USS Nautilus had begun to fire the atoll.
When the unit realized that the Japanese stationed on Abemama were outnumbered, they decided not to wait for the planned invasion units, but to take Abemama immediately. Locals told them that most of the Japanese occupiers were in a radio station on the island of OTTO ( code name of the Marines) and knew about the landing of the Americans.
It then took until the evening of November 25th to capture and secure the six islands of the atoll. The Japanese put up a fierce resistance and only the use of on-board weapons from the destroyer USS Gansevoort , which arrived off the western passage of the atoll on the evening of November 24, brought the final turnaround.
14 Japanese were killed in the fire of the USS Nautilus , the USS Gansevoort and the follow-up fighting with the Marines, the rest committed suicide . The Americans mourned two dead and one wounded.
On November 26, the actual invasion force arrived on the transports USS Harris and USS President Monroe . With the help of 95 Seabees they built an airfield ( O'Hare Field ) with a 2130 m long runway by December 17 . The atoll was supplied via a newly created canal that was wide enough for two LSTs to navigate.
credentials
- ↑ The Pacific War Online Encyclopedia - Abemama under: Archived copy ( Memento of September 3, 2014 in the Internet Archive )