During the second world war the first American offensive in the central Pacific region began on a small atoll in the Gilbert Islands. On 20 November, US Navy destroyers and battleships staged a heavy assault on a three mile long island where 4,700 Japanese soldiers were stationed. The capture of the Gilberts was a necessary part of any serious thrust at the Japanese Empire.

"The island was the most heavily defended atoll that ever would be invaded by Allied forces in the Pacific," wrote Col. Joseph Alexander, a historian and a US Marine Corps amphibious officer.

Conquering the island cost the lives of nearly 1700 US Marines and Navy sailors. After 76 hours of some of the fiercest, bloodiest military combat of all time, the island was declared secure at 1330 D+3. Japan once claimed it would take one million men 100 years to take this fortified island. The US Marine Corps did it in three days.

The Battle of Tarawa ended 77 years ago today.