Hi everyone! Would appreciate any help in searching for 2nd Marine Division Tarawa after action reports. Currently I found some report fragments on Tarawa on the Web (moslty "what to be improved") and a translated Intelligence materials on Japaneese documents (plans and instructions). But I am looking for reports on how the battle was proceeding, especially on 2/2 Marines or anything on beach Red 2. Please, let me know if you have something or know a forum where someone should know.
hello and welcome Across the Reef: The Marine Assault of Tarawa (Assault Preparations) HyperWar: Tarawa--2d Marine Division After Action Report Research Guides: Archives Branch: Campaign Collections: Tarawa (Gilbert Islands) you might find more info on our sister site WWII Forums regards Clive
The War Diaries of the 2nd Marine Division are ALL on Fold3.com. You do need a subscription to access them. I have a subscription.........here are the first couple of pages so you can see a bit of what they look like (plus LOTS more detail). If you’d like help I can download relevant pages and send to you. I might suggest that we do this off line (from the website, because there will be LOTS of pages and I probably best to just copy what you are specifically looking for. If you’d like to do that, Private Message me your e-mail address and I’ll share mine and we can discuss what you needed But, if you can afford a Fold3.com subscription its not TO bad........right now there is a sale for new members, about $60 US for a one year subscription (normally its $80 for a year).........BUT, if your an Ancestry.com member, (Fold3 is owned by Ancestry) you can get special pricing thru Ancestry Anyway, let me know how I can help......I’m willing to copy and send you relevant information your looking for Cheers
Temujin That's really cool!!! I think I'd better not bother you and subscribe myself). Much appreciated!
No problem. There is LOTS of information on Tarawa on Fold 3, including individual ships (so if you know which ship the 2/2nd Marines were on, you can see THAT ships war diary and details of loading and landing One more page for you........good luck on your research
2/2 Marines were on board the Attack Transport USS Zeilin Transport Division 4 (Capt. J. B. McGovern): 5 attack transports: Zeilin, Heywood, William P. Biddle, Harry Lee, Arthur Middleton Page from ships War Diaries for 20 Nov 43 and 21 Nov 43 of course the entire war diary is on line and you can track it’s progress to Tarawa etc
Yes, plenty of great stuff! In fact I am a little bit lost in all the documents))). To be honest, I was looking for something like batallion level reports on the course of the battle, spicifically 2/2 that was at first led by Amey, and when he was KIA, Jordan form 4th division. I don't know if such reports really existed on Galvanic, as far as I know something like that (whith schemes and "I made the decision to" with batallion to company scope) existed for Peleliu landing, but not sure if such reports were conducted for Tarawa. If you ever got in touch with stuff like that on Tarawa, please, let me know). Many thanks anyway!
Mr Stetson.........I’m not sure if “Battalion” level war diaries or reports are on Fold3.......but let me look I know for my own great Uncle, who was KIA on Anguar Island (Peleiliu Landings) I was able to get a unit level document from the US National Archives (I had to higher a researcher to find the documents and then send them to me)......and they gave “very brief” description on what went on each day......”very brief”.....The Unit my great uncle was in was the 906 Field Artillery Battalion, 81st Division Here’s a couple of pages from that document so you know what they look like. Of course this is an ARMY unit, maybe the Marine Corps documents have more detail??
Follow up.......I am finding detailed reports from the History of the 2nd Marine Division in various island landings....it includes a detailed “history” of each of the Marine units in the 2nd Marine Division.......so “maybe”.......what I HAVEN’T found ‘yet’ is a detailed report like I’ve found for other Islands this type of information for Tarawa But let me look......Fold3 does NOT have the greatest “search engine” and I find I just have to keep plugging away to try and find what I’m looking for.......I’ll post up here, of course, if I find something
I have plundered the various USMC files on Fold3 for background info on unit organisation and particular items of equipment. The operations of 1944 and 1945 are covered in great detail, but those of 1943 not so much. I had a tootle round on Fold3 war diaries just (it is indeed not the easiest site to get around) and I don't think there's a 2nd Marine Divisional report from Tarawa/Betio on Fold3. Oddly the biggest reports for the 2nd are from its demonstration at Okinawa, where it feinted a landing but did not actually land troops, and its part in the occupation of Japan. There are Battalion level reports from most of the later Mar Div operations, a lot of which are also available for free on the US Army Combined Arms Research Library website, Browse - Ike Skelton Combined Arms Research Library (CARL) Digital Library (oclc.org) Gary
Thanks a lot again. Couple of questions that I think will not be an off-top here. 1) I understood that batallion level reports seems to be not detailed for Tarawa. But I found notes of Scout-Sniper platoon report in a book 'Utmost Savagery' and it's not noted here HyperWar: Tarawa--2d Marine Division After Action Report Maybe someone ever got across it? 2) I was searching who was the comanding officer of George Company 2/2 2nd Mardiv on Tarawa. I found action reps here HyperWar: Tarawa--2d Marine Division After Action Report But it's Lieutenant James C. Reed, Jr., Executive Officer who prepared report for G company. I thought G Coy CO must had been fallen in action, but never found any captain rank form this unit among KIA and WIA lists. Spent a couple of hours on Fold3.com - no result. If you know where to find such info - let me know, please.
