WeRead Powered by ReaderPub
Across the Reef: The Marine Assault of Tarawa cover

Across the Reef: The Marine Assault of Tarawa

Chapter 1: Across the Reef: The Marine Assault of Tarawa
Open in WeRead

About This Book

A detailed operational history recounts the planning, rehearsal, and execution of a major amphibious assault on a heavily fortified Pacific atoll, tracing strategic intent, intelligence on enemy defenses, and interservice debates over landing craft and logistics. It describes commanders’ decisions and unit preparations, the improvisation and deployment of amphibious tractors to negotiate coral reefs, the intense combat ashore with heavy casualties, and the immediate tactical adaptations. The narrative concludes with the lessons learned and the influence of the operation on subsequent amphibious doctrine and practice.

Contents

Across the Reef:
The Marine Assault
of Tarawa

Marines in
World War II
Commemorative Series

By Colonel Joseph H. Alexander
U.S. Marine Corps (Ret)

LtGen Julian C. Smith Collection

“Quiet Lagoon” is a classic end-of-battle photograph of the considerable wreckage along Red Beach Two.


U.S. Navy Combat Art Collection

Artist Kerr Eby, who landed at Tarawa as a participant, entitled this sketch “Bullets and Barbed Wire.”