Tarawa 1943: The turning of the tide

by Derrick Wright, Howard Gerrard (Illustrator)

Overview

Osprey's study of the conflict between Japan and the United States during World War II (1939-1945). The island of Betio in the Tarawa Atoll was defended by the elite troops of the Special Naval Landing Force, whose commander, Admiral Shibasaki, boasted that "the Americans could not take Tarawa with a million men in a hundred years". In a pioneering amphibious invasion, the Marines of the 2nd Division set out to prove him wrong, overcoming serious planning errors to fight a 76-hour battle of unprecedented savagery. The cost would be more than 3000 Marine casualties at the hands of a garrison of some 3700. The lessons learned would dispel forever any illusions that Americans had about the fighting quality of the Japanese.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781841761022
Publisher:	Bloomsbury USA
Publication date:	10/25/2000
Series:	Campaign , #77
Pages:	96
Product dimensions:	7.20(w) x 9.75(h) x 0.25(d)

About the Author

Derrick Wright's interest in WWII was sparked by his childhood in the Teeside area of the UK which was subjected to many bombing raids. After national Service with the Army, he became an engineer specialising in Ultrasonics. Retired, he lives with his wife on the edge of the North Yorkshire Moors.

Howard Gerrard studied at the Wallasey School of Art and has been a freelance designer and illustrator for over 20 years. He has won both the Society of British Aerospace Companies Award and the Wilkinson Sword Trophy and has illustrated a number of books for Osprey including Campaign 69: Nagashino 1575 and Campaign 72: Jutland 1916. Howard lives and works in Kent.

Table of Contents

Origins of the campaign

Chronology

Opposing commanders

Opposing armies

Orders of battle

Opposing plans

The campaign

Aftermath

The battlefield today

Appendices

Further reading

Index