The attack on Tarawa focused on Betio, the principal island in the atoll, at its southwest corner. "The island was the most heavily defended atoll that ever would be invaded by Allied forces in ...

That's how Marines who stormed the small, remote Pacific island chain of Tarawa on Nov. 20, 1943 described the atoll. As the sun set that day on beaches ravaged by intense American aerial assaults ...

Eighty years ago, the United States military attacked the island of Betio, part of the Tarawa atoll in what is today the archipelago nation of Kiribati, to wrest it from Japanese control.

As the American offensive prepared to claim the coral atoll of Tarawa in November of 1943, they were confident that their ...

Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories. The 18,000 Marines and sailors who landed on the island of Betio in the Tarawa atoll in the Pacific Ocean early on November 20, 1943 ...

the little bird-shaped island that was the main fortification of Tarawa atoll. There was nothing else to do except see movies, read dog-eared magazines, play cards and sleep, which Marines can do ...

Where: Tarawa Atoll is part of what then was known as the Gilbert Islands and today is called the Republic of Kiribati. It’s a collection of 32 pancake-flat coral atolls. The battle was fought ...

From there, we went to an island farther north for training and then shoved off for Tarawa. Outside of sinking one submarine on the way there, had an uneventful trip. Were expecting some air ...

The brothers fought with the Marines in a fierce assault against the Japanese Army on Betio, part of the Tarawa atoll in the Pacific. Justin Lehew, a retired Marine, is now chief operating ...

I’ve long been an aficionado of World War II history, and a sucker for decennial anniversaries. So I didn’t want to let the 80th anniversary of the underappreciated Battle of Tarawa pass ...

Betio Island, white and wasted at the end of a palmy green bay, was more than ever a base of war. But elsewhere in the Tarawa Atoll the sturdy brown Gilbertese had picked up again an old ...