Word: tarawa
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Dates: during 1940-1949
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...Tarawa's wounded-like all the wounded from World War II-were coming home. Many would come home with missing arms, legs, eyes, faces. Blood plasma, sulfa drugs and plastic surgery would send many of them back alive but unrecognizable...
...even the road to Rome was still long and muddy, with Berlin in sight only from bomb bays. The road to Tokyo is long and watery, and every island on the way might be a Tarawa. The short, rough water-miles between Dover and Calais looked long...
...killed, 2,680 wounded. Most casualties (95%) were marines who fell on Tarawa's Betio island. The Gilberts' 5,700 Jap garrison was virtually wiped...
Lesson In Tactics. The lessons of Tarawa were hard. From admirals down to leatherneck privates there had been great expectations for the massive pre-landing barrage. Warships poured in 2,900 tons of shells, planes dropped 700 tons of bombs. For every square yard of scant square-mile Betio there were 20 lb. of explosive.* Marines, watching the awesome show from their transports, chortled: "There won't be a Jap alive when we get ashore...
Lesson in Landing. Tarawa had shown up other deficiencies: costly had been the failure of Higgins boats and other landing craft to get over Betio's reef (TIME, Dec. 6). The Navy blamed this on a sudden strong wind that lowered the water. For the next atoll, they might be prepared with improved boats or amphibious machines adapted from the "Alligator" tractor that can crawl over a sharp coral shelf...