World Battlefronts: Jab at the Flanks

Less than three weeks after the raid on Marcus Island, the U.S. Navy took another jab at Japan’s eastern defenses. This one was a swipe at the flanks—the southerly Gilbert Islands.

With its usual reticence, the Navy released no details. Targets were Tarawa, important Jap air base, and tiny Nauru. Said the Navy: “Operations were carried out according to plan during the night preceding and a good portion of the day.” (The Marcus raid lasted only nine hours.) Said Tokyo: 200 planes made the attack, 20 were shot down.