Transcriber’s note: Table of Contents added by Transcriber and placed into the public domain. Boldface text is indicated by =equals signs=. Contents Across the Reef: The Marine Assault of Tarawa Setting the Stage Assault Preparations Sidebar: The 2d Marine Division at Tarawa Sidebar: Major General Julian C. Smith, USMC Sidebar: The Japanese Special Naval Landing Forces D-Day at Betio, 20 November 1943 Sidebar: LVT-2 and LVT(A)2 Amphibian Tractors Sidebar: ‘The Singapore Guns’ Sidebar: Sherman Medium Tanks at Tarawa D+1 at Betio, 21 November 1943 Sidebar: Colonel David M. Shoup, USMC The Third Day: D+2 at Betio, 22 November 1943 Completing the Task: 23-28 November 1943 Sidebar: Incident on D+3 The Significance of Tarawa Sidebar: Tarawa Today Sources About the Author About the Series Transcriber’s Notes ACROSS THE REEF: THE MARINE ASSAULT OF TARAWA MARINES IN WORLD WAR II COMMEMORATIVE SERIES BY COLONEL JOSEPH H. ALEXANDER U.S. MARINE CORPS (RET) [Illustration: LtGen Julian C. Smith Collection _“Quiet Lagoon” is a classic end-of-battle photograph of the considerable wreckage along Red Beach Two._] [Illustration: U.S. Navy Combat Art Collection _Artist Kerr Eby, who landed at Tarawa as a participant, entitled this sketch “Bullets and Barbed Wire.”_] Across the Reef: The Marine Assault of Tarawa _by Colonel Joseph H. Alexander, USMC (Ret)_ In August 1943, to meet in secret with Major General Julian C. Smith and his principal staff officers of the 2d Marine Division, Vice Admiral Raymond A. Spruance, commanding the Central Pacific Force, flew to New Zealand from Pearl Harbor. Spruance told the Marines to prepare for an amphibious assault against Japanese positions in the Gilbert Islands in November. The Marines knew about the Gilberts. The 2d Raider Battalion under Lieutenant Colonel Evans F. Carlson had attacked Makin Atoll a year earlier. Subsequent intelligence reports warned that the Japanese had fortified Betio Island in Tarawa Atoll, where elite forces guarded a new bomber strip. Spruance said Betio would be the prime target for the 2d Marine Division. General Smith’s operations officer, Lieutenant Colonel David M. Shoup, studied the primitive chart of Betio and saw that the tiny island was surrounded by a barrier reef. Shoup asked Spruance if any of the Navy’s experimental, shallow-draft, plastic boats could be provided. “Not available,” replied the admiral, “expect only the usual wooden landing craft.” Shoup frowned. General Smith could sense that Shoup’s gifted mind was already formulating a plan.