Combat· World War II
Bairiki Island Seizure
Bairiki was a small island in Tarawa Atoll, just southwest of Betio where the main battle raged.
As the fight on Betio wore on, the Japanese there had only one escape route, across the shallows toward Bairiki. To block it and to set up guns that could fire on Betio, a battalion of the 6th Marines landed on Bairiki. The only resistance came from a single pillbox holding a cluster of machine guns. Aircraft swept in and set off a fuel drum inside it, and the position burned out before the Marines were fully ashore. With the island taken, artillery came in and began supporting the troops still fighting on Betio. Days later, the same Marines met and destroyed a group of Japanese trying to flee across to the island, sealing off the enemy's last way out.
Podcast episodes on World War II
Record no. 860