While the men trained, planning for the landing operation continued. ‘"n view of the importance of a smoothly functioning tank-infantry team in the forthcoming operation, the omission was serious." “No systematic training of army tanks in conjunction with small infantry units was attempted,” an Army historian wrote. Only one problem was found in the 27th Division’s training program. The troops practiced attacks in jungle terrain, night operations, attacking fortified jungle positions, and the elimination of Japanese snipers. Tank, artillery and infantry units took part in platoon, company, battalion and regimental field exercises. Tropical hygiene and other skills for living in the jungle were studied. The prospect of actual combat encouraged intensive training. Between May and August 1943, each battalion landing team in the division was assembled at Schofield Barracks on Oahu and instructed in the use of ropes, cargo net climbing, boat team drill, disembarking from mock-up assault craft and other techniques of amphibious warfare.Īfter Schofield Barracks, each battalion received a week’s instruction at the Waianae Amphibious Training Center, where a pier simulated a naval transport, and a specially constructed barge anchored offshore was used to give the troops experience in debarking from a listing vessel. In April 1943, the 27th Division had begun preparing for amphibious operations. He was one of the most highly respected officers in the U.S. Ralph Smith, a veteran of World War I who had assumed command in November 1942. The 27th Division had 16,000 men in three regiments–the 105th, 106th and 165th Infantry regiments, plus the 105th Field Artillery Battalion and the 193rd Tank Battalion, along with supporting units. Army’s commanding general in the Central Pacific, to take part in the Gilbert Islands invasion. It was transferred to Hawaii and remained there for 1 1/2 years before being chosen by Lt. The 27th Division had been a New York National Guard unit before being called into federal service in October 1940. Army’s 27th Infantry Division based in Hawaii. The V Amphibious Corps had only two divisions, the 2nd Marine Division based in New Zealand and the U.S. 4, 1943, the Fifth Fleet’s amphibious troops were designated the V Amphibious Corps and placed under Maj. Heavy smoke is from oil fires in the vicinity of King's Warf. Photo looks to the east, with Flink Point in lower center and beach "red" at lower right. Lying east of the Marshall Islands, Makin would make an excellent seaplane base, extending Japanese air patrols closer to Howland Island, Baker Island and Ellice Islands–all held by the Allies–and protecting the eastern flank of the Japanese perimeter from an Allied attack.įM-1 Wildcat fighters from the aircraft carrier Corregidor fly over Butaritari Island, Makin Atoll, the during pre-invasion bombardment, 20 November 1943. 10, 1941, three days after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, 300 Japanese troops plus laborers of the so-called Gilberts Invasion Special Landing Force had arrived off Makin and occupied it without resistance. Their mission: to capture the atoll from the Japanese for use as a base during future attacks on the nearby Japanese-held Marshall Islands. Navy battleships, cruisers and destroyers moved into position for pre-invasion bombardment while transports carrying soldiers of the 165th Regimental Combat Team (RCT) sailed quietly into their assigned areas off Makin’s main island, Butaritari, at the southern edge of the atoll. 20, 1943, off Makin Atoll in the Gilbert Islands, a task force of U.S.
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