Web Extra! Until recently, ACG readers had to wait two issues to find out the solution to our popular You Command Combat Decision Games. Now we are posting the historical outcome and analysis at ArmchairGeneral.com shortly after the respective due date for submissions of Reader Solutions. Here is the outcome for You Command CDG #32, “Marines at Tarawa, 1943,” May 2009 issue.

Marines at Tarawa, 1943
The May 2009 issue of Armchair General® presented the Combat Decision Game “Marines at Tarawa, 1943.” This CDG placed readers in the role of Major Michael P. Ryan, commander of L Company, 2d Marine Regiment. Ryan’s mission was to attack and overrun the islet of Betio, site of the main Japanese defenses of the Tarawa atoll in the Gilbert Islands. The capture of Tarawa could lead to control of the Gilbert Islands – the first vital “stepping stone” for Admiral Chester W. Nimitz’s drive across the Central Pacific region, and the first stop on the long road to Tokyo.

On November 20, 1943, L Company, which was part of the first wave from an overall force of 35,000 Marines committed to the operation, hit the beach on Betio. The assault quickly turned into a bloody shambles. An exceptionally low tide grounded the landing craft hundreds of yards from the beach, exposing the Marines to devastating enemy fire as they waded ashore. Although the LVTs (Landing Vehicles, Tracked) weren’t affected by the shallow water, a number of them were destroyed by heavy Japanese fire. By November 21 – D+1 – the first waves of Marines were pinned down. Many, like Ryan’s unit, were stuck in isolated pockets near the shoreline. Meanwhile follow-on waves circled offshore waiting for a place to land. The Japanese defenses were formidable, resistance was unexpectedly fierce, and success depended on the courage and perseverance of the individual Marine units facing heavy odds on the invasion beaches.

HISTORICAL OUTCOME

On D+1 only about 60 percent of the men of L Company remained under Major Ryan’s command; the rest either were casualties or had become separated from the company during the initial assault. However, Marines from at least four other units had joined the command, forming a “composite” company. Counting the crewmen from beached LVTs, and a few signalers, corpsmen and engineers, Ryan controlled about 90 Marines, plus two M-4 Sherman tanks.

Ryan and his composite force were stuck on a tiny sand spit at the western tip of Red Beach 1 in an area called the Bird’s Beak. Cut off from contact with the other Marine units strung along the invasion beaches, he decided that his command’s best course of action was to attack south to try to clear the Japanese defenses along Green Beach (CDG Course of Action Two). Although this move would not help his men link up with the other Marines on Red Beach, if successful it would allow U.S. reinforcements to land on Green Beach. These follow-on troops were vital to the Marines’ effort to build up enough combat power to overwhelm the Japanese defenders.

At 11:20 a.m. on November 21 Ryan launched his Marines southward, with the two tanks leading the way. Just before the attack kicked off, a U.S. Navy shore fire control party – the link to naval gunfire support – joined Ryan’s command. The fire control party called in naval gunfire targeting the Japanese bunkers on Green Beach, and then Ryan’s tank-infantry teams, accompanied by engineers with satchel charges, assaulted the enemy positions and destroyed them one by one. The Japanese occupants either were killed outright or were sealed inside their bunkers – now their tombs – by the explosive charges.

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