World War II Day by Day

Makin Atoll, Gilbert Islands, West-Central Pacific Ocean • November 25, 1943

Makin Atoll (or Makin Island) is one of 16 coral atolls in the Pacific’s Gil­bert Islands chain and lies on the Equator half­way between Hawaii and Aus­tra­lia. The cap­ture of the atoll with its excel­lent sea­plane base, air base, and com­mu­ni­ca­tions cen­ter by 6,470 heavily armored sea­borne troops of the U.S. 27th Infan­try Divi­sion should have been a breeze. The spirits of the tender­foot 27th Infan­try Divi­sion, a National Guard divi­sion from New York State—this was the “Orion” Divi­sion’s first com­bat assign­ment—were given a much-appre­ci­ated boost by the off­shore pres­ence of U.S. Navy Car­rier Divi­sion 24. Pro­mi­nent among the naval divi­sion were 4 battle­ships, 4 heavy cruisers, 16 de­stroyers, 3 escort car­riers, and 1 fleet car­rier (USS Enter­prise). The flat­tops bristled with dive bombers, tor­pedo bombers, and fighter air­craft in support of the upcoming amphibious invasion.

Facing off against the com­bined might of U.S. mili­tary services on Makin was a mot­ley col­lec­tion of 280 Japa­nese sol­diers and marines, some marooned avi­a­tors, and mostly Korean con­struc­tion workers—alto­gether about 800 defenders backed by 3 Type 95 Ha‑Go light tanks, 4 dual-purpose anti­aircraft/­anti­tank guns, and sev­er­al 70mm how­it­zers. Sur­pris­ingly, Makin’s out­numbered and out­gunned defenders tied down their Goliath enemy for days, from Novem­ber 20 to the 24th. The next day, on this date, Novem­ber 25, 1943, the U.S. Army declared the tiny atoll—all 3.05 sq. miles/­7.89 sq. km—secure. The 768 Amer­i­can fatal­i­ties in the Battle of Makin were not worth the price of 17 Japa­nese sol­diers and 129 con­struc­tion laborers who sur­vived the encounter and the 395 souls who perished. The scale of casual­ties in taking a rela­tively minor objec­tive like Makin Atoll came as a huge shock to Americans back home.

Three battalions of the 165th Infantry Regiment, 27th Infan­try Divi­sion, rein­forced by one field artil­lery battal­ion and one tank bat­tal­ion, plus shore-fire con­trol parties, signal, engi­neer, and medi­cal detach­ments, landed at two loca­tions on Butari­tari, Makin Atoll’s main island (see map below). Massive air and naval bom­bard­ments, begun Novem­ber 13, had little effect on Makin’s defenders. Assault troops and armor on the rocky shores of Red Beaches moved in­land, their prog­ress slowed by occa­sional sniper fire, water-filled craters left by pre­invas­ion air and naval barrages, and com­mand squabbles. Owing to Makin lagoon’s coral barrier reef, the flat-bottomed, wooden-hulled landing craft at Yellow Beach were forced to drop their troops in shoulder- and waist-deep water for the final 250‑yard/­230‑meter slog to the narrow shore­line. The wading troops were under heavy machine-gun fire and the poorly water­proofed equip­ment they carried on their backs—radios, flame­throwers, bazookas, rocket launchers, and the like—was soaked and rendered useless in battle.

Three days of determined combat by both sides wore down Japa­nese resis­tance on Makin. The advance inland from Yellow Beach was espe­ci­ally slow and dif­fi­cult due to snipers in trees (more of a nui­sance), individ­uals lobbing gre­nades, and men in machine-gun nests and bunkers revetted with sand­bags and logs. Enemy fire was strong, well-directed, and often con­cealed by high grass or large trees. The com­mander of the 165th Infan­try Regi­ment was shot between the eyes the first day of combat, November 20, 1943.

The last battle on Makin Atoll was a humdinger of sense­less slaugh­ter, at least from an Amer­i­can stand­point. On Novem­ber 22, 1943, GIs killed 100 enemy sol­diers and cap­tured 99. That night and into the next morning, scores more Japa­nese embraced their hap­less com­patriots’ fate, liquored up, herded native Makins before them, and, saki bottles and glasses raised high, ran a gaunt­let of Amer­i­can machine guns, Browning rifles, and M1 rifle and pistol fire. Some Japa­nese wielded their fire­arms as clubs, threw gre­nades, and jumped into Amer­i­can fox­holes to kill one for the Emperor. Appalled, the soldiers called the carnage “Saki Night.”

Battle of Makin, November 20–24, 1943

Above: The three landing beaches at Makin Atoll were defended by 800 Japa­nese army and naval infantry­men, marooned sea­plane air and main­ten­ance per­son­nel, and civil­ian con­struc­tion workers who forti­fied Butari­tari, the tiny spit of land shown in this map, with anti­tank barri­cades and ditches, rifle pits, pill­boxes, machine-gun nests and bunkers revetted as needed with sand­bags, logs of coco­nut trees, and con­crete. The lower right cut­out shows Butari­tari vil­lage; King’s Wharf, site of sea­plane and long-distance flying boat oper­a­tions; and the main defen­sive area where the heaviest fighting took place on the final day and night of battle, Novem­ber 22–23, 1943. A head count on Novem­ber 24 showed 17 men of the orig­i­nal naval gar­ri­son had been cap­tured along with 129 con­struc­tion workers, mostly Korean. Yellow Beach, where the 2nd Bat­tal­ion of the 165th Infan­try Regi­ment landed on Novem­ber 20, is on the lagoon (north) side of the islet. The center of the islet, nick­named The Citadel, was the heart of the Japa­nese defenses on Makin Atoll and was book­ended by east and west tank barrier systems. The 1st and the 3rd bat­tal­ions came ashore on the same day as 2nd Bat­tal­ion but at Red Beach 1 and 2 on the western end—the “arm” of the crutch—where they were unopposed. Map source: World War II History, Spring 2015.

Left: Against the background of fuel dumps ignited by U.S. air­craft or war­ships, sol­diers of the U.S. Army’s 2nd Bat­tal­ion, 165th Infan­try Regi­ment (aka 165th Regi­mental Com­bat Team), 27th Infa­ntry Divi­sion struggle to shore in waist-deep water off Yellow Beach on Makin Atoll’s key islet, Butari­tari. Together with 2nd Marine Divi­sion landings on Tarawa Atoll 100 miles/­161 km due south, also in the Gil­bert Islands chain, the Makin amphib­ious inva­sion formed half of Oper­a­tion Gal­va­nic, Novem­ber 20–23, 1943. Makin was declared secure on November 25, 1943, Tarawa two days later.

Right: U.S. soldiers move forward on Makin as their factory-new LVT‑1 (landing vehicle tracked), or amphib­ious landing craft, nick­named the Alli­gator, sits in the fore­ground. Troops of the 193rd Tank Bat­tal­ion were detailed to oper­ate the Alli­gators during the Makin inva­sion. The amphib­ious tractor could deliver 18–24 com­bat-ready sol­diers or 4,500 lb/­2 metric tons of cargo right onto the beach. Typi­cal arma­ment was one .50‑caliber/­12.7 mm and one .30‑caliber/7.62 mm machine gun.

Left: Taking cover in a shell hole, a soldier of the 165th Infan­try Regi­ment pauses as other troops also move for­ward from Red Beach, November 20, 1943.

Right: After its original occupants were killed, a U.S. sol­dier gazes out the firing port­hole of a Japa­nese embra­sure on Butari­tari. Heavy coco­nut logs were used to rein­force the enemy strongpoint.

Left: A 7-man M3 Lee medium tank sporting a hull-mounted 75mm gun and 37mm can­non mounted in a small traversing tur­ret rolls across the sandy ter­rain of Butari­tari islet in this photo­graph. Makin marked the only time a U.S.-crewed Lee medium tank entered battle against Japan. The tank belonged to the 193rd Tank Bat­tal­ion, and though rapidly obso­les­cent the M3 out­classed any Japa­nese armor in the Pacific. Some of the Japa­nese strong­points proved dif­fi­cult for the M3’s 75mm guns to crack as the tankers accom­panied the Army’s 27th Infantry Division in capturing Makin.

Right: The USS Liscome Bay, a Casablanca-class escort car­rier, is shown in this Septem­ber 1943 photo ferrying a load of Douglas SBD Daunt­lesses, Grum­man TBF Aven­gers, and Grum­man F4F Wild­cats. Two months later, in the early morning hours of Novem­ber 24, 1943, the Lis­come Bay, one of 3 escort car­riers sup­porting oper­a­tions on Makin, was struck by a single tor­pedo launched by Japa­nese sub­marine I‑175 when its skipper saw a gap in the destroyer screen. The tor­pedo deto­nated the car­rier’s muni­tions. The Lis­come Bay quickly sank with the loss of 702 officers and sai­lors. Her loss is the dead­liest sinking of a United States Navy aircraft car­rier and accounts for 85 per­cent of the 763 U.S. fatalities incurred in the Battle of Makin.

“Crusade in the Pacific”: 1951 TV Documentary on the Battle of Makin and Tarawa