Islands of Blood IV: Tarawa

The US Marines' first island landing of the war was also one of their bloodiest battles

Tarawa is tiny. The island is so small that satellites have a difficult time spotting it. It’s only 31 km/2 and its highest peak is only 10 meters above sea level. Yet for three days in late November 1943, this little unknown atoll in the Pacific Ocean became one of the bloodiest battlegrounds in US Marine history.

Tarawa was the first time the US Marin…