Tarawa Talk

Hi All
Here in New Zealand we dont have wild large Cactus as in the Photo.

Imposible to say about the name of the tank. It does have a recognition feature which is the single stretch of wire around the center of the turret. I think that CHICAGO had such a wire. Almost certainly one of those originally disabled at that beach. Which is definitely RED BEACH ONE. If you look at the far right of the photo you can see dead Marines hanging in a barbed wire fence. To the right, behind them, is the nose of an LVT-1 which in other photos turns out to be IRON MIKE. Definitely RED BEACH ONE guys.

Assuming this is Red Beach 2.  I cant quite make out the name of the tank.  Also note Sadu Maru in the background.

Idk. The location in your photo looks very far away from the runway to be part of the 127mm installation on Black Beach. But maybe the camera is really playing tricks with the depth perception or I'm missing something.

Does anyone know if the following JICPOA documents are available online somewhere? Or do I need to make a trip to College Park, MD?

"Study of Japanese Defenses of Betio Island (Tarawa Atoll). Part II. Communications and Powerplants." 1 January 1944.
"Study of Japanese Defenses of Betio Island (Tarawa Atoll). Part III: Base Installations." January 1944.

"Japanese Defenses Makin Atoll." January 1944. JICPOA Bulletin 4 -44.
"Study of Japanese Installations on Butaritari Island - Makin Atoll. Part II: Radar, Communications and Power Plants." 14 January 1944. JICPOA Bulletin 4 -44.
"Study of Japanese Installations on Butaritari Island - Makin Atoll. Part III: Base Installations and Miscellaneous Information." 14 January 1944. JICPOA Bulletin 4 -44.