Compass Points - The fleet at Tarawa
A bloody Thanksgiving
November 20, 2023
.
In a fight against a near peer opponent today, does the Navy have enough ships? Does the Marine Corps have enough expeditionary capabilities? There are many ways to ask the questions. But this week is the 80th anniversary of the Battle for Tarawa.
.
Eighty years ago today, the Battle for Tarawa began. By some estimates, in three days of fighting on Tarawa, the Marine Corps suffered more casualties than in six months at Guadalcanal. David M. Shoup, later the 22nd Commandant of the Marine Corps, waded ashore on November 20, 1943. Four Marines received the Medal of Honor for their actions on Tarawa. Of the four, only Shoup survived the battle.
.
=====================
.
Shoup was one of the 20,000 Marines of the 2nd Marine Division to land at Tarawa Atoll on November 20, 1943. The Marine division — meshed with veterans of Guadalcanal and raw recruits — made their way to the beach transported by amtracs and landing craft.
The small perimeter of the beachhead became cluttered with bodies and debris as parties of Marines attempted to gain a foothold and power their way inland, while exposed to a barrage of Japanese machine gun and mortar fire. Chaos reigned supreme as the some of the vehicles loaded with reinforcements became bogged down on the reef.
For a time, it appeared the attack on Tarawa Atoll would falter, as many men were pinned down in the shallow water near the reef, either unable or unwilling to move to reinforce the beachhead.
Shoup ordered his men to advance forward from the reef to the beachhead as Japanese artillery, machine gun barrages, and rifle fire rained down on them. Suddenly, a Japanese mortar round exploded nearby, flinging shrapnel into his legs.
He refused to be evacuated despite the severity of the debilitating wound.
At one point, the defiant colonel shouted to his men, "Are there any of you cowardly sons of bitches got the guts to follow a colonel of the Marines?" The Marines were inspired by his valor and selflessness and followed him forward.
-- Frank Jastrzembski
.
=====================
.
The Japan Times this week is featuring an article by Natasha Frost about the battle for Tarawa:
.
=================
.
Over three days of intense fighting, thousands of soldiers died on beaches and in the ocean for a prize — a strategic speck of coral sand and its critical air strip, in the middle of the Pacific — that would help decide the outcome of World War II.
Eighty years ago, the U.S. military attacked the island of Betio, part of the Tarawa atoll in what is today the archipelago nation of Kiribati, to wrest it from Japanese control.
At just 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) in length, Betio had little significance. But its location would allow the United States to move northwest: first to the Marshall Islands, then to the Mariana Islands and eventually to Japan itself. These were the "leapfrogging” tactics the Allies used in the Pacific to weaken Japan’s control of the region as well as to establish bases to launch further attacks.
. . . .Writing in The New York Times in 1943, Sgt. James Lucas described the grim early indications that the plan had faltered: "‘We have landed against heavy opposition,’ came the first word from shore. ‘Casualties severe.’”
-- Natasha Frost
.
==================
.
The monumental courage of the Marines and others at Tarawa is difficult to comprehend today. How did the Marines root out and defeat the Japanese forces on Tarawa? It was not through satellites or cyber warfare. It took a fully equipped and capable, combined arms, force of Marines, augmented by sweat, blood, and the indomitable Marine ethos.
.
In a fight against a near peer opponent today, does the Navy have enough ships? How many ships did the US use at Tarawa for the bloody three-day battle? By some estimates the US Tarawa fleet included 17 aircraft carriers, 12 battleships, 8 heavy cruisers, 4 light cruisers, 66 destroyers, and 36 transport ships. For a three-day battle, a US Navy fleet of 143 ships.
.
Does the Navy have enough ships to support the fight today? Not by any measure. Does the Marine Corps have the amphibious lift and expeditionary follow-on capabilities needed? Not by any measure. We harm the Nation and the fight for freedom around the globe when we allow the lack of fully enhanced and upgraded Navy ships, and the lack of fully enhanced and upgraded Marine Corps expeditionary units.
.
The Marine Corps owes a debt of honor to the Marines of Tarawa. Across eight decades, they whisper one word of warning, “prepare.” The fighting on Tarawa is long over, but the need for Navy ships and Marine MAGTF’s for crisis response worldwide is more pressing than ever. It is time to rebuild the fleet and rebuild the Marine Corps. It is time to rebuild with urgency and focus. Compass Points salutes the heroic legacy of the US forces at Tarawa and, in particular, the lifelong service of Commandant David M. Shoup.
.
- - - -
.
We are the Mighty (wearethemighty.com) 05/02/2023
How this brave Marine saved the day at Tarawa Atoll
By Frank Jastrzembski
https://www.wearethemighty.com/history/tarawa-atoll/
.
- - - - -
.
The Japan Times (japantimes.co.jp) 11/19/2023
The bloody, 76-hour battle on a tiny atoll that helped end World War II
By Natasha Frost - THE NEW YORK TIMES
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2023/11/19/japan/politics/world-war-ii-tarawa-80th-anniversary/
Facts are facts! Fact one: The Marine Corps divested the capabilities it will need in a future conventional operation—cannon artillery; a direct-fire, mobile, protected gun system, equipment it will need to breach, clear, and proof lanes through minefields and obstacles, and bridging to cross gaps and bodies of water. Fact two: The Navy has allowed its amphibious fleet to deteriorate to the point it sometimes has no more than 12 or 13 amphibious ships available. Moreover, it has been unable to fund the 40-plus amphibious ships needed to keep sufficient Amphibious Ready Groups available to embark Marine Expeditionary Units forward deployed full-time in the Mediterranean and the Indo-Pacific Command’s region along with another ARG/MEU available six-months a year from Okinawa.
This is what the Navy and Marine Corps do not have. Fact three: What the Corps does have is emerging doctrine to enable amphibious operations (attacks, demonstrations, withdrawals, and raids) in an era where shore defenses preclude a repeat of anything like the attack on Tarawa or the other major amphibious operations of World War II. Drawn from early efforts to conduct operations from over the horizon, this emerging doctrine enables Marines to maneuver directly to operational objectives avoiding prepared defenses. The Operational Maneuver From the Sea (OMFTS) concept and its supporting Ship-to-Objective Maneuver concept were well thought out ideas that underpinned the requirements for tilt-rotor aircraft, air-cushioned landing craft, and an amphibious fighting vehicle able to move at speeds as high as 30 mph. The first two systems are in the Corps' current inventory and there are means to compensate for the lack of the latter.
Bottom line, the Corps has no intention of again conducting amphibious attacks directly against prepared defenses as circumstances required it to do in the past. However, it will not be able to conduct OMFTS until it abandons the notion of defending against enemy ships from shore-based positions with missiles as its primary mission. It “divested” the needed capabilities for OMFTS to “invest” in capabilities that other services already possess and few of the capabilities it invested in will be available for another 10-years. And the Wolf predicts some will never be available!
Let’s hope the Corps’ new leaders begin what will be a very long journey to create a modern amphibious combined arms air-ground-logistics task force able to maneuver and fire in an age of precision munitions. A force prepared. equipped, and ready to respond globally on short notice.
To the Wolf: Well Done! "Want a new idea, read an old book."
Your comments sent me back to the 1996 Marine Corps Publication OPERATIONAL MANEUVER FROM THE SEA for a re-read. I have to wonder if the current Marine Corps Leadership ever read it. This little publication is prophetic.
"In all other respects—goals, organizations, armament, and tactics—the warfare of the next 20 years will be distinguished by its great variety. For that reason, it is imperative that the Marine Corps resist the temptation to prepare for only one type of conflict. To focus on one threat greatly increases the danger that we will be surprised, and perhaps defeated, by another." p. 3
"The heart of Operational Maneuver from the Sea is the maneuver of naval forces at the operational level, a bold bid for victory that aims at exploiting a significant enemy weakness in order to deal a decisive blow." p. 10
"The sea offers, strategic, operational, and tactical mobility to those who control it." p. 16
Seems this publication sets the framework for both the Great Power Competition and a Peer-to-Peer Conflict.
Concerning the Great Power Competition I read this yesterday:
https://www.reuters.com/world/china-says-would-be-serious-mistake-if-argentina-cuts-ties-2023-11-21/
BTW the distance between Miami and Caracas is 1368 miles. CCP missile ranges: CSS-1B - 4000k; JL-3 - 10,000k; CSS10 - 11,200k, CSS20 - 12,000k; CSS-4 - 13,000k.