Tanks in the Gilbert Islands 1943: Armor in the battles for Tarawa and Makin

Fully illustrated, this examines how the Gilberts invasion proved the importance and difficulty of using armor in the Pacific, and laid the groundwork for America's island campaign.

The capture of the heavily fortified Gilbert Islands was intended to secure air bases for the Marshall Islands campaign. The garrison commander General Keiji Shibazaki claimed that “a thousand men in a hundred years couldn't take Tarawa”.

Simultaneously, the Marine Corps landed on Tarawa and the Army on Makin, in...