Iron Cross

The Japanese army continued to fire, as if they were going to pull the trigger and use up all the bullets. The U.S. army could only fire back with Garand rifles and limited machine gun fire. Fortunately, in order to maximize concealment and defense, Shibasaki built the bunker in Betio very low. Not only was the firing hole low, but the firing range was also narrow. If there were relatively tall obstacles in the middle, the Japanese bullets would not be able to hit the U.S. army.

The 3rd Marine Division was not a novice in the battle. It had fought bloody battles with the Japanese army in many island battles in Bougainville, Munda, and Lae. Therefore, the morale could still be maintained. After landing, the surviving soldiers did not collapse, but cleverly stuck to the beach, looking for stones, wood and other things that could be used for shelter on the spot, and dug simple fortifications to avoid artillery fire. Then they used the method of slowly advancing to attack from the side near the firepower point, and blew up the bunker with melon grenades or explosive packs - but the efficiency was really low.

At this time, the US military organization was in chaos. Except for the troops that landed on the beach and crawled on the beach, most of the scattered soldiers from other units were blocked under a low sandbank, unable to advance or retreat. It was the midsummer season, and the scorching sun baked the beach scorchingly. Their faces pressed against the sand seemed to be scalded, and they were in pain, but no one dared to raise their heads to relax - any companions who dared to do so were killed by machine gun bullets fired wildly from a few inches above their heads.

The B Company where the loud-voiced Captain Kurt was located was in a good situation. They overcame the coral obstacles and the blockade of Japanese light weapons, and cleverly used recoilless guns to destroy two Japanese fortifications from the side. Not only did they advance more than 100 meters as a whole, but they also won a large area of ​​evasive depressions and craters - all of which were masterpieces of 406mm naval guns. But then they were fiercely shot from the side and had to shrink inside for a while and not move. Everyone squatted tightly in the pit, not daring to make a sound. If a grenade or shell hits at this time, the whole group of people will be written off. Fortunately, they were not "cared for" in this way.

The other friendly troops landing on the Red 1 beach were in a very bad situation. At first, this place was the focus of the destroyer's firepower coverage. Many Japanese fortifications were destroyed. The landing was very smooth and the advancement speed was also fast. But just after a company of infantry advanced into the depths, the Japanese suddenly turned out several hidden firepower points from the depression behind them, and also started shooting on the side of the landing troops. All amphibious vehicles were destroyed by the iron fist in the first time. Before the infantry could figure out what was going on, they were knocked down one by one by the bullets whizzing from behind and on the flanks. In the end, all the more than 200 people who landed on this beach were killed in battle, without a single one left.

The iron fist is now the most handy offensive weapon of the Japanese army. Compared with the grenade, it is much more powerful. Whether it is a dense crowd or an armored vehicle, there is nothing that a single iron fist cannot deal with. This kind of super portable, easy-to-fire, and concealed individual weapon was very popular with the Japanese army, especially the Iron Fist equipped with anti-infantry shotguns, which was more effective than mortars and could blow up a large area. Many veterans had long-term experience in using grenade launchers, so they were very accurate and often hit targets or crowds directly from 60 meters away, making the US military miserable. The effect was much stronger than when the German army used it.

Although the US military had more recoilless guns and bazookas, which were more powerful and accurate than the Iron Fist No. 1, the problem was that they were too heavy. When they were in close combat, the Japanese Iron Fist flew over before they could hit a few times.

From 13:00 to 16:00, within just a few hours, more than half of the three Marine battalions that landed were killed or wounded. Looking down from the North Carolina, which was the closest and had the best observation position, the beach and the reef SH were full of the bodies of US Marines, which looked shocking. Unfortunately, the powerful main gun could not be used, so the only way was to use the 127mm dual-purpose artillery to vent the firepower. Even so, it still could not suppress the firepower of the Japanese army in the bunker.

"We must send more tanks and troops!" Dave, who was watching the battle in the rear, was so anxious that his eyes turned red, and he shouted at the top of his lungs, "We must also send flamethrowers. The Japanese army is a group of groundhogs. I will burn them all to a crisp!"

Using flamethrowers to deal with fortifications is an experience summed up from the previous island battles: not only is it powerful, but it is also not affected by the low enemy bunkers, narrow shooting holes, and multiple turns. As long as the firepower can be sprayed in from the opening, the defenders will definitely die, and almost no one can escape.

"Calm down." Holland frowned. "With such fierce artillery fire, how can flamethrowers with heavy loads go up?"

"How about trying flamethrower tanks?" A staff officer suggested, "We brought several."

Holland's eyes lit up and nodded, "Okay, I agree to give it a try."

"You can't just use tanks, you must have infantry." Daveon said anxiously, "Let the 7th Regiment reinforce the 3rd Regiment? The enemy doesn't seem to be as few as expected. With such fierce firepower, it is estimated that there are at least 2 battalions." Holland also agreed with this. He thought that the original estimate that the Japanese army had only 1,000 or 2,000 at most was too optimistic.

At 16:34, the two supporting battalions of the US military were divided into the fourth and fifth waves to continue landing. Since most of the amphibious vehicles were lost in the previous battle, the shortage of them now forced most people to switch to landing craft.

The distance of the landing craft from the shore depends entirely on the tide. Gilbert's tide is an irregular small tide that rises and falls several times a day, which is called "unpredictable tide". The water level rises 1.3 meters during high tide and stops for 3 hours; it drops 0.3 meters in the next 3 hours and stops for another two and a half hours. At 18:15, the water level drops another 0.6 meters; 2 hours later, it rises 1.1 meters again... This is a "high unpredictable tide". If you are lucky enough to encounter it, the landing craft can climb over the reef. There is also a "low unpredictable lake", where the water level rises less than one meter during high tide. The time of stopping and rising again is uncertain, and the landing craft cannot climb onto the reef. The possibility of each of the two tides is 50%.

The US military chose to land in July, which was originally a high tide. Unfortunately, the first wave fell at around 4 o'clock. The water on the reef was much shallower than at noon. The landing craft could barely pass, but it was still a long distance from the beach, so the soldiers were forced to wade through. Under the feet are sharp coral reefs, and in front of them are shells fired from time to time by the Japanese army. The unlucky American soldiers were massacred in large numbers in this process, and their blood dyed the sea red. The North Carolina, which was right in front of them, could only watch this tragedy happen again and again, and was at a loss for what to do because it was afraid of hurting its own people.

In the fifth attack wave, in addition to the regular Sherman tanks, there were also 5 flamethrower tanks landing together, but the landing craft they carried were hit in advance. Some of them barely drove onto the reef, opened the front hatch and released the tanks to rush to the beach, and some of them were directly stranded on the reef. The engineers tried their best but couldn't get the tanks out. They could only hope that the destroyers could come and tow them away, but now the destroyers were busy suppressing the firepower on the island and had no time to spare.

In the end, only 7 ordinary Shermans and 3 flamethrower tanks successfully rushed ashore. The beach was full of lying American soldiers and wounded soldiers. The tanks had to pay attention to the anti-tank firepower of the enemy in front, and at the same time, they had to be careful not to run over their own people, and the advancement was very slow. As a result, one tank was stuck in a crater on the reef and could not move, one tank was blown up by a mine, and one tank was destroyed by a Japanese artillery shell. However, the flamethrower tanks were lucky and all of them successfully moved forward.

With the tanks as a emboldenment, the Marines who were crawling on the ground to avoid machine gun fire immediately became more confident and followed the tanks slowly, pointing the tanks to the enemy fire points in front, while trying to use rifles and machine guns to cover the Japanese infantry who rushed out and tried to destroy the tanks with iron fists.

A flamethrower tank rumbled towards the bunker, indifferent to the machine gun bullets that hit the front armor. When it approached nearly 80 meters, with a "whoosh", a dozens of meters long fire dragon sprayed out and swept directly towards the bunker, followed by a heart-wrenching scream. A moment later, the bunker that had been spraying fire just now suddenly became quiet, and the air was filled with a disgusting smell of meat.

After destroying a bunker, a flamethrower tank collided with an anti-tank shell fired from the side. After a loud "boom", the detonated fuel tank made an earth-shaking explosion, and the bodies of the tank soldiers and nearby infantry were all wiped out.

At 17:50, relying on the fearless attack and attraction of the tanks, the Marines who were blocked under the sand bank were finally liberated. The Japanese bunkers that suppressed them were either destroyed or the personnel inside were eliminated by the flamethrower tanks, and they could no longer pose a threat. But for this distance of less than 200 meters, the US military paid the price of 6 tanks and all 3 flamethrower tanks being destroyed, and more than 140 casualties.

The assault on the nearly 1,000-meter-long Pans Pier was the key to the Betio landing and one of the few highlights of the US military's attack that day.

This pier controls the two beachheads of Red 2 and Red 3, which can not only unload equipment for the landing troops, but also serve as a cover for the attacking troops. The US military attached great importance to it and sent a special assault platoon to capture it. On the one hand, carrier-based aircraft were used to straf and suppress the beachhead, and on the other hand, four destroyers were used for fire interception, forming a tight barrage. Relying on this fire cover, the assault platoon took a few amphibious landing vehicles to arrive near the pier, passed through the piles of broken gasoline barrels, approached step by step, and burned the bridgehead with flamethrowers.

The assault platoon fought from the bridgehead to the end of the bridge, occupied the entire pier and attacked the island, and then called about one company of US troops to come and defend. When they completely controlled the pier, it was late, and the tide level had dropped, and no more supplies could be transported that day.

Holland and Daven were overjoyed at this, and regarded it as a great achievement in one day, and decided to transport more personnel and equipment up the next morning when the tide was high.

The price paid by the US military on this day was not small. The total number of casualties of the Marines and Navy exceeded 2,000, with more than 1,400 killed. Nearly 200 tanks, landing vehicles, and landing craft were destroyed - this number was originally the price the Fifth Amphibious Corps was prepared to pay for the entire Tarawa Campaign.

They achieved their goal ahead of schedule on the first day!