Rikusentai PTO (id:#57823)

Heat of Battle (Blood Reef Tarawa ID: BR 6)   [next]   [previous]

(Revision: MMP: HASL 5 - Blood Reef: Tarawa BRT4)

Betio Island, Tarawa Atoll, Gilbert Islands 1943-11-23 (9 others)

Overview:

One objective the Marines should have captured by D+2 was the junction between Red Beach One and Red Beach Two. But Commander Sugai, second in command on Betio and commander of the Sasebo 7th Rikusentai, had made the area - dubbed the "Pocket" by the Marines - into a fortress. Sugai moved his men defending Black Beach to positions covering the Red Beaches during the lulls in the naval bombardment. His troops were the most disciplined, and deadly, men on the island. In the fight for the beachhead the rikusentai -- Japanese Marines -- had disrupted the landings of four battalions. Now on D+3, the Pocket was still not cleared. What remained of 1/8 and 3/2 Marines were against Sugai and his samurai, to atone for the last three days and to finally even the score from Wake Island.

Defender: Japanese (Sasebo, 7th Special Naval Landing Force and 3rd Special Base Force)  

Errata (source)