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Utmost Savagery: The Three Days of Tarawa

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Utilizing his prodigious research skills, Retired Colonel Joseph Alexander has written what has to be the best all around account of Tarawa. Incorporating new material gleaned from sources as diverse as Col. Shoup's personal papers, translation of the Japanese war history (Senshi Sosho) and recently declassified ULTRA radio intercepts, he presents a superbly crafted telling of the horror and victory at Tarawa.

On the morning of 11/20/43 men of the 2nd Marine Division stormed ashore to face the Imperial Japanese Marines who defended Betio Island in the Tarawa atoll. These rikusentai were considered the best light infantry the Japanese had. In addition to the almost impregnable defensive positions prepared by the Japanese, the island was surrounded by a reef, which, due to tide and fortune, prevented the Higgins boats from crossing to the beaches. The decision to utilize LVTs (tracked amphibious vehicles, or more correctly, landing vehicle tracked) for the first time as troop carriers forever changed the history of amphibious assaults against strongly held enemy positions. Lumbering over the forbidding reef, LVTs carried their cargo of men and supplies where the Higgins boats could not go. This gamble represented a landmark in ship-to-shore movements and to this day amphibious assault vehicles are an essential element of any surface assault.

Mistakes were made and men died because of them. The initial three-hour naval bombardment and bombing and strafing runs by carrier aircraft were far too little. Gaps between the naval and air force shelling allowed the enemy to move reinforcements to the beaches from the southern and eastern areas of the island. Following the bombardments many defensive positions and large guns remained fully functional and they blasted into the oncoming LVTs and the Higgins boats at the reef's edge. Men of later waves were forced to wade ashore as LVTs became destroyed or were unavailable. Hundreds of men died in that surf, wading ashore. One thousand Marines died on each of three days of battle before the island fell.

It's the attention to detail that separates Alexander's work from other, well written histories of Tarawa. From the planning stages, to his telling of the build up of Japanese troops, to the inclusion of brief personal histories of the key personnel, to the epilogue summarizing the lessons learned and the errors made, this is an exceptional book well worth reading. To the serious student, it is the book on Tarawa that must be read.

Just before the fall of Wake, the Marines defending that island radioed the message, "Issue in doubt." Just after the first waves of Marines hit the beaches at Tarawa and waded into the most hellish opposition imaginable, the landing party sent out the message "Issue in doubt." No Marine could mistake the import of that doleful sentence. On the brink of being thrown back into the sea, they held on, and then they advanced.

Rear Admiral Keiji Shibasaki, the defender of Tarawa, had told his troops that it would take a million men a thousand years to capture the island. It took the Marines three days, but victory came at a terrible cost. The carnage was so horrific that when news of the cost of victory got back to the United States, enlistments in the Marine Corps plummeted.

As Col. Alexander takes the reader through those three hellish days, you cannot help but be awed by the suffering the Marines endured, and by the courage they displayed. It makes one wonder how the men could perform at all, much less perform as well as they did.

A gripping story of epic heroism in the face of near insurmountable odds--and it's true.

While the war in continental Europe takes the lion's share in military bibliography the one that raged in the Pacific was certainly as ruthless and gripping.

That happens a rather unknown fact especially to Europeans, and this book does a tremendous job bringing to the surface the horrors that took place in one of the bloodiest and most strategic battles in the Pacific theater, that of the island of Tarawa.

Heavily fortified by the Japanese and invaded by a massive marine force the island was bound to become a huge burial ground as over 6000 soldiers from both sides died within a mere 3 days.

Of these, an incredible 99.7% of the Japanese force were casualties (only about 20 survived and were taken prisoners) while the losses on the American side were stunningly big as well. That of course does not include the numerous injured soldiers that left parts of their bodies on Tarawa.

Aside the heavy Japanese fortification, the island presented another formidable problem to the invading force, that of the coral reef that surrounded it. Armored amphibious vehicles were used to surpass that obstacle but the results were less than great as these became target practice for the Japanese machine-gunners ashore. It only got more grim every time a hatch-door opened and marines rushed out to open water having to go an excruciatingly long 200-400 yards till they reached land while under fire from the defenders.

In the end, and as several accounts describe, the waters around the island were filled with 100s of floating face-down corpses from the fallen.

The Americans tried to initially bomb the "rikusentai" (Japanese marine commandos) out of their positions prior to the assault but to little avail, and the battle of Tarawa that ensued became a hand to hand combat as well as a bullet festival from surreally close ranges. As the Japanese defenders were not going to give in until death, the massacre was but a certainty.

The author (a retired marine himself), is at sometimes too scholarly, aiming to the specialised military reader as well as the non-military, but overall he does an overwhelmingly good job in bringing forth the bleak details and the planning of the attack.

His description includes all the frantic "beyond the battle" situations (the problems the commanders faced aboard the ships or directly in battle, and these were many). His best comes when he deals with the battle itself where he literally puts you there in a narrow space with death looming everywhere.

Most of the core of the book is yet another reminder of what war really is and "Utmost savagery" is definitely a must-read for studiers of WWII history.

If you belong to that group, and you've mostly focused your reading in the war in Europe this is a book that will easily shift your attention from that front and remind you in its fullest scale why it was actually a world war.

Gripping, harrowing account of one of the most merciless battles in contemporary history.

Yes, this guy knows his stuff & he can write, but a prospective purchaser needs to know that this book is really a tactical analysis of the battle for Tarawa, & what a battle it was! It is a text book for military historians & whilst dealing with an enormously violent military episode, it comes over curiously passionless. Tactics & battlefield problems are disected & judged with knowledge & objectivity, although I thought the tiny explanatory maps were just dreadful. Main problem for me though, was that I enjoy reading about battles from the blood 'n guts, "grunt," or platoon, point of veiw. In this book, although some pen pictures of the principle participants & some rousing accounts of personal bravery were related, these were very much a side issue. If you are a serious student in this genre, this is probably for you. If, like me, you just like a rousing battleground story, this isn't!

Col. Joseph Alexander does a great job in analyzing the battle in tremendous detail. The strategic developments leading to the battle are presented in sufficient detail to get a feeling for why the battle occurred.

Both the American and Japanese sides are presented (the Japanese record, of course, being mostly lost) which combine to make the story even more interesting. While some personal stories are told, the focus is on the tactical events of the battle.

There are sufficient maps to refer to during the course of the story telling. The obligatory photos are also present.

**Buy this book: if you are interested in the human drama of the bloody island campaigns; would like to study the tactical details of the battle.

***Don't buy this book: if you are interested in more of the strategic picture; don't want too much detail of the battle; are bored by the drama of the island campaigns.

Col. Alexander has produced a comprehensive and thorough account, and a brilliant analysis, of one of the toughest battles of the Pacific War. In this inaugural amphibious assault against a strongly fortified beach, the Marines wrote one of the most heroic and traumatic chapters in the history of their corps. They paid a tragic price for the valuable lessons learned there, which were effectively applied in subsequent assaults. As one who went ashore on D+5, and spent the next two weeks cleaning up the battlefield and burying the dead, I stand in awe and wonder at the valor, courage, and sheer grit of the officers and men of the 2nd Marine Division, who had to go up and over the fortified wall fronting the landing beaches. A plaque at the main cemetery on Betio read: "So there let them rest, on their sunswept atoll, The wind for their watcher the waves for their shroud, Where palm and pandanus shall whisper forever A requiem fitting for heroes so proud." Alexander captures the essence of their awful struggle, heroic deeds, and costly victory.

I met Col. Alexander at 50th Anniversary of Tarawa landings at Camp Lejeune. He was working on the book at that time. After reading the finished book, I realize the hell my father and his fellow Marines endured in those three days more than I ever have before. The book is clearly written with many firsthand accounts from the Marines who fought this engagement. Many of the lessons learned with their blood, sweat and tears became a part of Amphibious Doctrine. Alexander's book is a testament to the sacrifices made by the Marine Corps.

This is one of those books that rates five stars for comprehensiveness of military history and battle analysis; it's probably a three for light readers. Overall, the account is very interesting and clearly written, with much detail about the scenario as well as the Marine and Navy personnel involved. The author brings the reader to the reef and the lagoon where the landing Marines are being shot one after another in a seemingly fruitless attempt to take this tiny little island. The account is well illustrated with easy to read maps. This is important because the island being invaded, Betio, is only one island in the Tarawa lagoon. If the reader is looking for a professional, well-researched account of this invasion, this is probably the one.

While the book gives a thorough description of the battle, it is more a military analysis than a war story. The author discusses many military aspects of the campaign, including background on the decision to attack the Gilberts and the planning of Operation Galvanic, the problems preparing for the attack, the nightmarish experience of the Marines in the landing, the post-battle recognition of the Betio assault as a watershed between Gallipoli and Normandy in the history of amphibious warfare, and much more. Many of the complexities of this type of assault were encountered for the first time at Betio, emerging as critical failures at great cost of life, such as proper equipment for crossing the shallow reef of an atoll while under fire, the consequences of inadequate communications and the failure of the pre-landing artillery barrage to suppress the defense, all of which are discussed in detail. Many of these problems were solved as the battle progressed, and the author describes how new assault tactics were developed by units in the field. The portion of the book which chronicles the assault itself was painstakingly researched and documented, and though it includes accounts of individual actions and heroism, there is very little first-person narrative other than comments used as corroboraton for some conclusion by the author. Nontheless, the "utmost savagery" and horror of close combat to the death by thousands of highly trained, heavily armed men on this small, flat island is clearly communicated. I appreciated the inclusion of the Japanese side of the story; the explanation of their overall situation at this point in the war, their defensive strategy and preparations for the assault, unrealized plans for a counterattack against the American fleet, and accounts from the few Japanese survivors are very illuminating and add important context to the story. Although I can't say I "enjoyed" the book in the usual sense - does one "enjoy" a textbook? - I have gained a larger understanding and appreciation of the battle that will be most useful as I go on to read other, more personal accounts.

I made a mistake when I ordered this book, but it was the best mistake that I ever made. The author did a superior job in researching the material for this book. I would rate this book a ten ,but five is the highest they allow. I have read a good many books on world war II, but this is the best I have ever read. The author puts you right there with the Marines that were coming ashore. It seems to make me suffer right along with them. As an Army Viet-Nam vet I am prone to make fun of the Marines, but after reading this book all my respect goes to them. God Bless them one and all. Roadrunner 6 out