One part of the doctrine that has received much attention after battles such as Tarawa is that of Logistics, one of the most important factors in successful amphibious assaults or sea to land movement. The obvious haste of the operation was shown in the inadequate supply of the forces at the beachhead. The Marines lacked sufficient supplies to take on the massive fortifications of the Japanese. Major military historians suggest that when the Division left New Zealand, supply sources had provided the Division with only a company of medium tanks, a platoon number of flamethrowers, and 243 bazookas which ended up missing (How Can Men like that be Defeated, 28). Oddly enough, even though there was a shortage of amphibious vehicles the division did have more than 650 vehicles other than those required for ship to shore operations such as jeeps (Utmost Savagery, 56). The problem that existed now was that enemy fire had destroyed the majority of ship to shore capabilities and controlled avenues of fire to where Marines stayed at the beachhead. During this time when the Marines were pinned down in an area of seven hundred by three hundred yards they were vulnerable. When night came the counter attack that the Marines had expected, and which would have wiped them out, never came. Edwin Hoyt also declared that, "A Japanese counter attack on the first night would have knocked the Marines off the island and the invasion would have failed." [sic](Hoyt, 97). Stripping the dead of essential ammunition and supplies needed the Marines were resolved to push on. On D Day /1 First Battalion, Eighth Marines finally landed and reinforced Red Beach one. Simultaneously the Marines at Red Beach two made a push at a gap in the southern coast of the island and cut the Japanese into two groups eventually controlling Green Beach. Now the remaining forces had a secure beachhead in which they could land additional forces and crucial re-supply items. Now that the logistics flow had been reestablished the fully intact and equipped First Battalion, Sixth Marines landed and began a full push inland. On D Day /2 the Japanese only controlled a small eastern portion of the island at Red Beach one, but still a strong point. |
