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Title
Makin Taken
Description
While the Marines were experiencing the horror of Tarawa, the Army's 27th Division, a New York National Guard outfit, was facing a considerably smaller Japanese force on Makin Atoll. Previously, the 27th Division had been garrisoning Hawaii and its combat inexperience would become apparent. On the first day, …
Publisher
Date
1943-11-22
Scenario#
J084
Scenario Description
While the Marines were experiencing the horror of Tarawa, the Army's 27th Division, a New York National Guard outfit, was facing a considerably smaller Japanese force on Makin Atoll. Previously, the 27th Division had been garrisoning Hawaii and its combat inexperience would become apparent. On the first day, they overreacted to every sniper threat, slowing the progress of their advance. On the morning of D+2, the 3rd Battalion Landing Team launched an assault on the last major stronghold, a cluster of stone buildings around a crossroad, which were built during the British colonial occupation.
Location
Butaritari, Makin Atoll
Battle Name
Battle Narrative
The Battle of Makin was an engagement of the Pacific campaign of World War II, fought from 20 to 24 November 1943, on Makin Atoll in the Gilbert Islands. Troops began to go ashore at two beaches at 08:30 on 20 November. The initial landings on Red Beach went according to plan with the assault troops moving rapidly inland after an uneventful trip on the ocean side of the island. Their progress off the beach was slowed only by an occasional sniper and the need to negotiate their way around the debris and water-filled craters left by the air and naval bombardment. The craters in particular stymied tank support of the Red Beach forces by the light tanks of the 193rd Tank Battalion when the lead M3 light tank became partially submerged in a shellhole and blocked passage of all the vehicles behind it. As the landing craft approached Yellow Beach from the lagoon, they began to receive small-arms and machine-gun fire from the island's defenders. The assault troops were also surprised to discover that even though they were approaching the beach at high tide as planned, a miscalculation of the lagoon's depth caused their small boats to go aground, forcing them to walk the final 250 yards (230 m) to the beach in waist-deep water. Equipment and weapons were lost or water-soaked, but only three men were killed approaching the beach, mainly because the defenders chose to make their final stand farther inland along the tank barriers.
Narrative Source
Combatants
American
Japanese
Additional Information
Scenario Type = Standard

Geolocation