Archives Branch: Campaign Collections
Tarawa (Gilbert Islands)
Official Documents from Tarawa
Collection consists of 7 boxes (3.5 linear feet) of official records. Documents include operation plans, operation orders, field orders, intelligence reports, action reports, administrative orders, captured Japanese documents, official correspondence, field messages, studies, and memoranda concerning operations on Tarawa, Mille, Makin, and other islands in the Gilberts chain.
The bulk of the documents were produced by the V Marine Amphibious Corps (V MAC), as well as action reports from multiple US Navy vessels (including the USS Heywood, the USS Sheridan, and the USS Harry Lee, among others) during Operation Galvanic.
If you have any questions about these collections, please contact the Archives at (703) 784-4685 or history.division@usmcu.edu.
- Tarawa box listThis box list for the Gilbert Islands Collection (COLL/3653) comprises official record copies of operation plans, after action reports, and other documents concerning the Tarawa campaign.
Index to Tarawa Personal Papers Collections
This index highlights collections found in the Archives Branch concerning Marine Corps involvement the attack on the Tarawa Atoll (20 - 23 November 1943) during Operation Galvanic, the US invasion of the Gilbert Islands. The criteria for selecting collections for inclusion in this index is limited to those personal papers that contain pertinent materials.
Collections in this index are comprised of official Marine Corps records, documents, and publications; letters and correspondence; manuscripts; photographs; maps; memoirs and reminiscences; clippings and articles; oral histories and interviews; and realia and ephemera.
- Tarawa Personal Papers IndexThis document serves as a pathfinder to personal papers collections in the Archives Branch that concern Marine Corps activities on Tarawa and Betio.
Tarawa Photographs
- Tarawa Photographs on the Archives Branch Flickr pageSelections of digitized Tarawa photographs from the collections of the Archives Branch.
- Official photographs from the Tarawa CampaignOfficial photographs from the Marine Corps History Division.
Monographs and publications from the Marine Corps History Division
Available as full-text, searchable PDFs from the Government Publishing Office.
- "Across the Reef: The Marine Assault on Tarawa"The cost of the capture of Tarawa was two-fold: the loss of Marines in the assault itself, followed by the shock and despair of the nation upon hearing the reports of the grisly battle. In time, the practical lessons learned in the complex art of amphibious assault on Tarawa became apparent.
- "The Battle for Tarawa"by Captain James R. Stockman, USMC
When the 2d Marine Division landed on Betio Island, Tarawa Atoll on 20 November 1943, twenty years of Marine Corps study and work, already tested at Guadalcanal and at Bougainville, was put to the test. In capturing Tarawa, the 2d Marine Division accomplished a difficult mission in an expeditious manner. Seventy-six hours after the assault troops landed in the face of heavy resistance, the battle was over and an important base secured with the annihilation of its defending garrison. Of even greater importance, however, was the fact that this successful operation underlined the soundness of our doctrines of amphibious assault. The lessons learned and confirmed at Tarawa paid great dividends in every subsequent operations from the Marshalls to the shores of Iwo Jima and Okinawa.
- Newsreel: "Attack on the Marshall Islands: Battle of Tarawa"This film depicts the campaign in the Marshall Islands in 1943-1944, with the strategic importance of the islands described.