GUNG HO
USMC RAIDERS, MAKIN ISLAND 1942
Up until August of 1942, The Japanese Empire had seemed
unstoppable as it took Guam, the Philippines, the Dutch East Indies and other
significant territories in the south pacific. Something needed to be done to
halt the tide of invasion. While US Marine Corps invaded Guadalcanal, a
secondary much smaller operation would be launched a thousand miles away
against Japanese forces on the Makin Atoll. This operation was undertaken by the
2nd Raider Battalion, of the newly formed Marine Raiders, and was
led by the extremely unorthodox Evans F. Carlson.
On August 17th, 1942 the 2nd Marine
Raiders were secretly delivered to Makin by submarine and landed ashore at
night using rubber rafts. Their mission was to wreak enough havoc that the
Japanese would hesitate before sending reinforcements from the Marshal Islands
to aid IJA forces on Guadalcanal. Without
outside support, these soldiers carried the weapons and equipment they needed
to complete the mission. Despite being scattered by the surf on the way onto
the island, leadership issues during the operation and problems escaping the
island’s strong tide when leaving, the Raider’s hit and run mission was touted
by Allied media as a success and proved that the unbeatable Japanese could indeed
be beaten.
