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005 - D-Day at Betio 20 November 1943 - Part 1 · Across the Reef- The Marine Assault of Tarawa

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Chapter four, Part one of Across the Reef The Marine
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  Speaker 1: Assault of Tarawa by Joseph H. Alexander. This LibriVox recording
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: is in the public domain. D Day at Batio twenty
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: November nineteen forty three, the crowded transports of Task Force
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: fifty three arrived off Tarawa Atoll shortly after midnight on
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: D Day. Debarkation began at zero three twenty. The captain
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: of the Zealand APA three played the Marines hymn over
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  Speaker 1: the public address system, and the sailors cheered as the
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: second Battalion second Marines crawled over the side and down
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: the cargo nets. At this point things started to go wrong.
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: Admiral Hill discovered that the transports were in the wrong anchorage,
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  Speaker 1: masking some of the fire support ships, and directed them
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  Speaker 1: to shift immediately to the correct site. The landing craft
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: bobbed along in the wake of the ships. Some marines
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: had been halfway down the cargo nets when the ships
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: abruptly weighed anchor, matching the exact elm vs with their
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: assigned assault teams. In the darkness became haphazard. Choppy seas
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: made cross decked transfers between the small craft dangerous. Few
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: tactical plans survived the opening rounds of execution, particularly in
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: amphibious operations. The plan for D Day at Batio established
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: h hour for the assault waves at zero eight thirty.
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  Speaker 1: Strike aircraft from the fast carriers would initiate the action
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  Speaker 1: with a half hour bombing raid at zero five forty five.
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  Speaker 1: Then the fire support ships would bombard the island from
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  Speaker 1: close range for the ensuing one hundred thirty minutes. The
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: planes would return for a final strafing run at h
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  Speaker 1: minus five, then shift to inland targets as the marine
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: stormed ashore. None of us went according to plan. The
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: Japanese initiated the battle. Alerted by the pre dawn activities offshore,
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: the garrison opened fire on the task force with their
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: big naval guns at zero five o seven. The main
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: batteries of the battleship's Colorado, Bive and Maryland commenced counter
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: battery fire almost immediately. Several sixteen inch shells found their mark.
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: A huge fireball signaled destruction of an ammunition bunker for
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: one of the Japanese gun positions. Other fire support ships
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: joined in. At zero five forty two, Hill ordered ceasefire,
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: expecting the air attack to commence. Momentarily, there was a
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: long silence. The carrier air group had changed its plans,
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: postponing the strike by thirty minutes. Inexplicably, that unilateral modification
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: was never transmitted to Admiral Hill. The amphibious Task Force
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: Commander Hill's problems were further compounded by the sudden loss
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: of communications on his flagship Maryland. With the first crashing
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: salvo of the ship's main battery. The Japanese coastal defense
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: guns were damaged, but still dangerous. The American mix up
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: provided the defenders a grace period of twenty five minutes
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: to recover and adjust. Frustrated at every Hill ordered his
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: ships to resume firing at zero six zero five. Suddenly,
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: at zero six ten the aircraft appeared, bombing and strafing
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: the island for the next few minutes. Amid all this,
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: the sun rose red and ominous through the thick smoke.
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: The battleships, cruisers, and destroyers of Task Force fifty three
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  Speaker 1: began a saturation bombardment of Batio for the next several hours.
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: The awesome shock and sounds of the shelling were experienced
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: avidly by the Marines staff. Sergent Norman Hatch, a combat photographer,
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: thought to himself, we just really didn't see how we
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: could do anything but go in there and bury the people.
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: This wasn't going to be a fight. Time correspondent Robert
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: Sharad thought, surely no mortal men could live through such
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: destroying power. Any Japs on the island would all be
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: dead by now. Sharat's thoughts were rudely interrupted by a
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: geyser of water fifty yards astern of the ship. The
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: Japanese had resumed fire and their targets were the vulnerable trains.
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: The troop ships hastily got underway for the second time
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: that morning. For Admiral Hill and General Julian Smith on
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: board Maryland, the best source of information throughout the long
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: day would prove to be the vot Sikorski Type OS
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: two U Kingfisher observation aircraft launched by the battleships. At
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: zero six forty eight, Hill inquired of the pilot of
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: one floatplane as reef covered with water. The answer was
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  Speaker 1: a cryptic negative. At that same time, the LVTs of
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: Wave I, with seven hundred infantrymen embarked, left the assembly
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: area and headed for the line of departure. The cruise
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: and embarked troops and the LVTs had already had a
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: long mourning, complete with hair raising, cross deck transfers in
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: the choppy sea and the unwelcome thrill of aiden shells
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  Speaker 1: landing in their proximity. Now they were commencing an extremely
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  Speaker 1: long run to the beach, a distance of nearly ten miles.
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  Speaker 1: The craft started on time but quickly fell behind schedule.
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  Speaker 1: The LVT ones of the first wave failed to maintain
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: the planned four point five not speed of advance due
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: to a strong westerly current, decreased buoyancy from the weight
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: of the improvised armour plating and their overaged power plants.
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: There was a psychological factor at work as well. Red
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: mike Etsen had criticized the LVT crews for landing five
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: minutes early during the rehearsal at Afat, saying early arrival inexcusable,
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: late arrival preferable. Admiral Hill and General Smith soon realized
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: that the three struggling columns of LVTs would never make
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: the beach by zero eight thirty hr was postponed twice
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: to zero eight forty five, then to zero nine hundred
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: here again not all hands received this word. The destroyer's
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: ring Goold d D five hundred and Dashiel DD six
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: fifty nine entered the lagoon in the wake of two
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: minesweepers to provide close in fire support. Once in the lagoon,
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: the minesweeper Pursuit Ami Z one eight became the primary
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: control ship, taking position directly on the line of departure.
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: Pursuit turned her searchlight seaward to provide the LVTs with
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: a beacon through the thick dust and smoke. Finally, at
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: zero eight twenty four, the first wave of LVT's crossed
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: the line, still six thousand yards away from the target beaches.
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: A minute later, the second group of carrier aircraft roared
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: over Batio, right on time for the original h hour,
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  Speaker 1: but totally unaware of the new times. This was another blunder.
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: Admiral Kelly Turner had specifically provided all players in Operation
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: Galvanic with this admonition. Times of strafing beaches with reference
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: to H hour are approximate. The distance of the boats
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: from the beach is the governing factor. Admiral Hill had
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: to call them off. The planes remained on station, but
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: with depleted fuel and ammunition levels. Available. The LVT struggled
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: shoreward in three long waves, each separated by a three
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: hundred yard interval. The forty two LVT ones of Wave one,
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: followed by twenty four LVT twos of Wave two, and
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: twenty one LVT twos of Wave three. Behind the track
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: vehicles came waves four and five of LCVPs. Each of
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: the Assault Battalion commanders were in Wave four. Further astern,
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: the Ashland ballast it down and launched fourteen lcms, each
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: carrying a Sherman medium tank. Four other lcms appeared carrying
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: light tanks thirty seven millimeters guns. Shortly before zero eight hundred,
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: Colonel Shop and elements of his tactical command posts debarked
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: into LCVPs from Biddle APA eight and headed for the
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: line of departure. Close by Shop stood an enterprising sergeant
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: energetically shielding his bulky radio from the salt spray of
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: the myriad of communications blackouts and failures on D Day.
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: Shop's radio would remain functional long and serve him better
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: than the radios of any other commander, American or Japanese
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  Speaker 1: on the island. Admiral Hill ordered a ceasefire at zero
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: eight fifty four, even though the waves were still four
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  Speaker 1: thousand yards off shore. General Smith and Red mike Etson
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: objected strenuously, but Hill considered the huge pillars of smoke
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: unsafe for overhead fire support of the assault waves. The
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: great noise abruptly ceased. The LVTs making their final approach
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: soon began to receive long range machine gun fire and
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: artillery air bursts. The latter could have been fatal to
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: the troops crowded into open topped LVTs, but the Japanese
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: had overloaded the projectiles with high explosives. Instead of steel
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: shelf fragments. The Marines were doused with hot sand. It
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: was the last tactical mistake the Japanese would make that day.
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: The previously aborted airstrike returned at zero eight fifty five
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  Speaker 1: for five minutes of noisy but ineffective strafing along the beaches.
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: The pilots again he their wristwatches instead of the progress
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: of the lead LVTs. Two other events occurred at this time.
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  Speaker 1: A pair of naval landing boats darted towards the end
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  Speaker 1: of the long pier at the reef's edge outcharged First
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  Speaker 1: Lieutenant Hawkins with his scout sniper platoon and a squad
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  Speaker 1: of combat engineers. These shock troops made quick work of
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  Speaker 1: Japanese machine gun and placements along the pier with explosives
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  Speaker 1: and flame throwers. Meanwhile, the LVTs of Wave I struck
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  Speaker 1: the reef and crawled effortlessly over it, commencing their final
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: run to the beach. These parts of Shoop's landing plan
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  Speaker 1: worked to perfection, but the preliminary bombardment, as awesome and
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: unprecedented as it had been, had failed significantly to soften
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: the defenses. Very little ship's fire had been directed against
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: the landing beaches themselves. Where Admiral Shibasaki vowed to defeat
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: the assault units at the water's edge, the well protected
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: defenders simply shook off the sand and manned their guns. Worse,
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: the near total curtailment of naval gun fire for the
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: final twenty five minutes of the assault run was a
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  Speaker 1: fateful lapse in effect. The Americans gave their opponents time
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  Speaker 1: to shift forces from the southern and western beaches to
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: reinforce northern positions. The defenders were groggy from the pounding
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: and stunned at the sight of LVT's crossing the barrier reef,
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: but Shibasaki's killing zone was still largely intact. The assault
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: waves were greeted by a steadily increasing volume of combined
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: arms fire for Wave IE. The final two hundred yards
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  Speaker 1: to the beach were the roughest, especially for those LVTs
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: approaching Red Beaches one and two. The vehicles were hammered
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  Speaker 1: by well aimed fire from heavy and light machine guns
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  Speaker 1: and forty millimeters anti boat guns. The Marines fired back,
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: expending ten thousand rounds from the fifty caliber machine guns
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: mounted forward on each LVT one, but the exposed gunners
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  Speaker 1: were easy targets and dozens were cut down. Major Drews,
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: the LVT battalion commander, who had worked so hard was
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: shoot to make this assault possible, took over one machine
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: gun from a fallen crewman and was immediately killed by
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: a bullet through the brain. Captain Fenland A. Durand one
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: of Drew's company commanders, saw a Japanese officer standing defiantly
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: on the seawall, waving a pistol, just daring us to
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: come ashore. On they came. Initial touchdown times were staggered
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: zero nine ten on Red Beach one, zero nine seventeen
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  Speaker 1: on Red Beach three zero nine twenty two on Red
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  Speaker 1: Beach two. The first LVT Ashore was vehicle number four
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: Dash nine, nicknamed My Dolores, driven by Pfc Edward J. Moore.
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  Speaker 1: My Dolores was the right guide vehicle in Wave one
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  Speaker 1: on Red Beach one, hitting the beach squarely on the
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  Speaker 1: bird's beak. Moore tried his best to drive his LVT
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  Speaker 1: over the five foot seawall, but the vehicle stalled in
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  Speaker 1: a near vertical position, while nearby machine guns riddled the cab.
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: More reached for his rifle, only to find it shot
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: in half. One of the MBARK troops was nineteen year
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: old Private first Class Gilbert Ferguson, who recalled what happened
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: next on board the LVT. The sergeant stood up and
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: yelled everybody out. At that very instant, machine gun bullets
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: appeared to rip his head off. Ferguson, Moore and others
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: escaped from the vehicle and dispatched two machine gun positions
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: only yards away. All became casualties in short order. Very
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: few of the LVTs could negotiate the sea wall. Stalled
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: on the beach, the vehicles were vulnerable to pre registered
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: mortar and howitzer fire, as well as hand grenades tossed
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: into the open troop compartments by Japanese troops on the
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: other side of the barrier. The crew chief of one vehicle,
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: Corporal John Spulane, had been a baseball prospect with the
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: Saint Louis Cardinals organization before the war. Splaine caught two
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: Japanese grenades bear handed in mid air, tossing them back
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: over the wall. A third grenade exploded in his hand,
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: grievously wounding him. The second and third waves of LVT twos,
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: protected only by three eighths inch boilerplate hurriedly installed in Samoa,
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: suffered even more intense fire. Several were destroyed spectacularly by
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: large caliber anti boat guns. Private first Class Newman M. Baird,
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: a machine gunner aboard one in battled vehicle, recounted his ordeal.
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: We were one hundred yards in now and the enemy
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: fire was awful, damn intense and getting worse. They were
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: knocking LVTs out left and right. A tractor get hit
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: stop and burst into flames, with men jumping out like torches.
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: Baird's own vehicle was then hit by a shell, killing
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: the crew and many of the troops. I grabbed my
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: car being in an ammunition box, and stepped over a
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: couple of fellas lying there and put my hand on
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: the side so as to roll over into the water.
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: I didn't want to put my head up. The bullets
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: were pouring at us like a sheet of rain. On balance,
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: the LVTs performed their assault mission fully within Julian Smith's expectations.
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: Only eight of the eighty seven vehicles in the first
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: three waves were lost in the assault, although fifteen more
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: were so riddled with holes that they sank upon reaching
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: deep water while seeking to shuttle more troops ashore. Within
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: a span of ten minutes, the LVTs landed more than
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: one thoy five hundred marines on Batio's north shore, a
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: great start to the operation. The critical problem lay in
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: sustaining the momentum of the assault. Major Holland's dire predictions
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: about the neap tide had proven accurate. No landing craft
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: would cross the reef throughout d day. Shot hoped enough
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: LVTs would survive to permit wholesale transfer line operations with
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: the boats along the edge of the reef. It rarely worked.
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: The LVT suffered increasing casualties. Many vehicles afloat for five
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: hours already simply ran out of gas. Others had to
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: be used immediately for emergency evacuation of wounded marines. Communications,
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: never good, deteriorated as more and more radio sets suffered
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: water damage or enemy fire. The surviving LVTs continued to serve,
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: but after about ten hundred on D Day, most troops
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: had no other option but to wade ashore from the reef,
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: covering distances from five hundred to one thousand yards under
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: well aimed fire. Marines of major shuttles LT three to
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: two were particularly hard hit on Red Beach. One Company
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: K suffered heavy casualties from the re entrant strong point
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: on the left. Company I made progress over the sea
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: wall along the bird's beak, but paid a high price,
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: including the loss of the company commander, Captain William E. Tatum,
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: killed before he could even debark from his LVT. Both
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: units lost half their men in the first two yis.
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: Major Michael P. Mike Ryan's Company L, forced to wait
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: ashore when their boats grounded on the reef, sustained thirty
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: five percent casualties. Ryan recalled the murderous enfilating fire and
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: confusion suddenly one lone trooper was spotted through the fire
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: and smoke, scrambling over a parapet on the beach to
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: the right, marking a new landing point. As Ryan finally
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: reached the beach, he looked back over his shoulder. All
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: I could see was heads with rifles held over them.
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: As his waiting men tried to make as small a
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: target as possible, Ryan began assembling the stragglers of various
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: waves in a relatively sheltered area along Green Beach. Major
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: Shuttle remained in his boat with the remnants of his
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: fourth wave, convinced that his landing team had been shattered
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: beyond relief. No one had contact with Ryan. The fragment
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: of reports Shuttle received from the survivors of the two
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: other assault companies were disheartening. Seventeen of his thirty seven
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: officers were casualties. In the center. Landing Team two to
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: two was also hard hit, coming ashore over Red Beach two,
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: the Japanese strong point, and the re entrant between the
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: two beaches played havoc among troops trying to scramble over
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: the sides of their beached or stalled LVTs. Five of
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: Company E six officers were killed. Company F suffered fifty
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: percent casualties. Getting ashore and swarming over the seawall to
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: seize a precarious foothold. Company G could barely cling to
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: a crowded stretch of beach along the seawall in the middle.
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: Two infantry platoons and two machine gun platoons were driven
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: away from the objective beach and forced to land on
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: Red Beach one, most joining Ryan's orphans. When Lieutenant Colonel
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: Amy's boat rammed to a sudden hault against the reef,
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: he held two passing LVTs for a transfer. Amy's LVT
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: then became hung up on a barbed wire obstacle several
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: hundred yards off Red Beach two. The battalion commander drew
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: his pistol and exhorted his men to follow him into
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: the water. Closer to the beach, Amy turned to encourage
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: his staff, come on, those bastards can't beat us. A
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: burst of machine gun fire hit him in the throat,
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: killing him instantly. His executive officer, Major Howard Rice, was
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: in another LVT, which was forced to land far to
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: the west behind Major Ryan. The senior officer present with
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: two two was Lieutenant Colonel Walter Jordan, one of several
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: observers from the fourth Marine Division and one of only
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: a handful of survivors from Amy's LVT. Jordan did what
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: any Marine would do under the circumstances. He assumed command
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: and tried to rebuild the disjointed pieces of the landing
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: team into a cohesive fighting force. The task was enormous.
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: The only assault unit to get ashore without significant casualties
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: was Major Jim Crow's LT on Red Beach, three to
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: the left of the pier. Many historians have attributed this
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: good fortune to the continued direct fire support two eight
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: received throughout its run to the beach from the destroyers
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: Ringgold and Dashiel in the lagoon. The two ships indeed
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: provided outstanding fire support to the landing force, but their
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: logbooks indicate both ships honored Admiral Hills zero eight fifty
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: five ceasefire. Thereafter, neither ship fired in support of LT.
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: Two eight until at least zero nine to twenty five. Doubtlessly,
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: the preliminary fire from such short rains served to keep
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: the Japanese defenders on the eastern end of the island
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: buttoned up long after the ceasefire. As a result, Crow's
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: team suffered only twenty five casualties in the first three
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: LVT waves. Company E made a significant penetration crossing the
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: barricade in the near Taxiway, but five of its six
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: officers were shot down in the first ten minutes ashore,
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: Crow's D two eight was up against some of the
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: most sophisticated defensive positions on the island. Three fortifications to
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: their left eastern flank would effectively keep these marines boxed
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: in for the next forty eight hours. Major Jim Crowe,
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: former enlisted man marine gunner, distinguished rifleman, star football player,
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: was a tower of strength throughout the battle. His trademark
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: red mustache bristling a combat shotgun cradled in his arm,
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: he exuded confidence in professionalism, qualities sorely needed on Batio
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: that long day. Crow ordered the coxwin of his LCVP
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: put this goddamn boat in. The boat hit the reef
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: at high speed, setting the marine sprawling quickly recovering, Crow
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: ordered his men over the sides, then led them through
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: several hundred yards of shallow water, reaching the shore intact,
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: only four minutes behind his last wave of LVTs accompanying
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: Crow during this hazardous effort was Staff Sergeant Hatch, the
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: combat photographer. Hatch remembers being inspired by Crow, clenching a
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: cigar in his teeth and standing upright growling at his men. Look,
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: the sons of bitches can't hit me. Why do you
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: think they can hit you? Get moving go. Red Beach
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: three was in capable hands. The situation on Bay Show
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: by zero nine forty five on D Day was thus
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: crow well established on the left, with modest penetration to
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: the airfield, a distinct gap between l T two eight
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: and the survivors of LT two two in small clusters
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: along Red Beach two under the tentative command of Jordan,
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: a dangerous gap due to the Japanese fortifications at the
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: re entrant between beaches two and one, with a few
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: members of three to two on the left flank, and
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: the growing collection of odds and ends under Ryan passed
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: the bird's beak on Green Beach. Major Shettle still afloat,
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: hovering behind the reef. Colonel Shoot likewise in an LCVP,
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: but beginning his move towards the beach. Residual members of
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: the boded waves of the assault team still waiting ashore
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: under increasing enemy fire, the tanks being forced to unload
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: from their lcms at the reef's edge, trying to organize
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: recon teams to lead them ashore. Communications were ragged. The
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: bulky TBX radios of shop Crow and Shuttle were still operational.
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: Otherwise there was either dead silence or complete havoc on
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: the command nets. No one on the flagship knew of
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: Ryan's relative success on the western end, or of Amy's
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: death and Jordan's assumption of command. Several echelons heard this
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: ominous early report from an unknown source. Have landed unusually
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: heavy opposition casualties seventy percent. Can't hold. Shoe ordered Kyle's
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: LT one two, the Regimental Reserve, to land on Red
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: Beach two and work west. This would take time. Kyle's
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: men were away orders at the line of departure, but
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: all were embarked in boats. Shop and others managed to
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: assemble enough LVTs to transport Kyle's companies A and B,
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: but the third Infantry Company and the Weapons Company would
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: have to wade ashore. The ensuing assault was chaotic. Many
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: of the LVT's were destroyed en route by anti boat guns,
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: which increasingly had the range down pat At least five
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: vehicles were driven away by the intense fire and landed
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: west at Ryan's position, adding another one hundred and thirteen
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: troops to Green Beach. What was left of Companies A
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: and B stormed ashore and penetrated several hundred feet, expanding
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: the perimeter. Other troops sought refuge along the pier or
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: tried to commandeer a passing LVT. Kyle got ashore in
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: this fashion, but many of his troops did not complete
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: the landing until the following morning. The experience of Lieutenant
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: George D. Lillibridge of Company A, first Battalion, Second Marines
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: was typical. His LVT driver and gunners were shot down
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: by machine gun fire. The surviving crewmen got the stranded
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: vehicle started again, but only in reverse. The stricken vehicle
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: then backed wildly through the entire impact zone before breaking
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: down again. Lillibridge and his men did not get ashore
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: until sunset. The Transport Zeeland, which had launched its marines
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: with such fanfare only a few hours earlier, received its
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: first clear signal that things were going wrong on the beach,
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: when a derelict LVT chugged close astern with no one
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: at the controls the ship dispatched a boat to retrieve
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: the vehicle. The sailors discovered three dead men aboard the LVT,
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: two Marines and a Navy doctor. The bodies were brought
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: on board, then buried with full honors at sea, the
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: first of hundreds who would be consigned to the deep
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: as a result of the maelstrom on Batio. Communications on
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: board Maryland were gradually restored to working order in the
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: hours following the battleship early morning duel. With Batio's coast
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: defense batteries on board the flagship, General Julian Smith tried
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: to make sense out of the intermittent and frequently conflicting
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: messages coming in over the command net. At ten eighteen,
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: he ordered Colonel Hall to chop Major Robert H. Rudd's Lt.
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: Three eight to shoot c T two. Smith further directed
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: Hall to begin voting his Regimental Command Group and LT.
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: One eight, Major Lawrence C. Hayes Junior the Division Reserve.
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: At ten thirty six, Smith reported to five Amphibious Corps
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: successful landing on beaches Red two and three, toll hold
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: on Red one, and committing one LT from Division Reserve.
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: Still encountering strong resistance throughout. Colonel Shupe, at this time
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: was in the middle of a long odyssey trying to
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: get ashore. He paused briefly for this memorable exchange of
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: radio messages with major Shuttle. Zero nine fifty nine shuttle
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: to shoot, receiving heavy fire all along the beach, unable
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: to land, all issue in doubt. Ten O seven shuttle
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: to shoop, boats held up on the reef of right flank,
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: Red one troops receiving heavy fire in water. Ten twelve
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: shoop to shettle, land beach, red to and work west.
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: Ten eighteen suttle to shoop. We have nothing left to land.
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: End of Chapter four, Part one, read by Aaron Bennett,