Writing about the pools in the reef yesterday reminded me to write about the Battle of Kwajalein in World War II. There are five interpretive signs around the island, a couple of commemorative markers, and some other sites that are just numbered. This includes a small Japanese Cemetery.

At the beginning of the war Kwajalein Atoll was an important Japanese submarine base, and it directly threatened the lines of communication between the U.S. and Australia. The decision was made in May 1943 to take the Marshall Islands, with the actual American attack on Kwaj starting on 1 February 1944. Note that this is four months before D-Day in Europe, and almost a year and a half before the end of the war. At this point the outcome of the war was still very much in doubt.

After preparatory shelling and bombing from two artilliary batteries, eight heavy U.S. Navy vessels, six B-24 bombers, and aircraft from six carriers, Army troops landed on the west end of the island. Over the next three days they worked their way down the island, with one thrust along the lagoon side and one along the ocean. Unlike the open vistas that we see today, a fair amount of Kwaj was covered with thick underbrush. This made it difficult to keep the advancing forces coordinated, and favored the defenders. Likewise, the thin cover of sand over the coral rock didn't give the advancing troops much chance to dig in for protection, while the Japanese had prepared several excellent strongholds with interconnecting systems of trenches and bunkers. The descriptions and pictures on the interpretive signs bring to mind the fierce, close-in fighting that I remember from the old newsreels. Lacking equivalent fire-power, the Japanese could slow, but not stop, the U.S. advance. The entire operation resulted in almost 200 killed, almost 900 injured, and 2 missing in action. Most of the Japanese fought to the end, resulting in several thousand fatalities. Korean laborers constituted the bulk of the prisoners taken.

Simultaneously, the other islands in the atoll were attacked. In particular, the Marines assaulted Roi-Namur, which was the submarine base headquarters. In the course of that attack a seemingly ordinary building was assaulted that, in fact, sat above a huge underground storage facility for torpedo warheads. A detonation in the building set off the warheads, creating what was claimed to be the third largest explosion in the Pacific theater in World War II (after the two atomic bombs). Apparently fighting briefly stopped on the island as both sides tried to cope with the shock of the blast.

Even today unexploded ordinance (i.e., bombs, bullets, artilliary shells) is still found around Kwaj. Periodically it is put on a barge and taken to a nearby uninhabited island to be destroyed. Most vestiges of the battle are gone on Kwaj, but there are still reasonably plentiful reminders at Roi-Namur. This incluides remnants of a railroad. The islands are peaceful now, although the atoll's crucial role in various missile and missile-defense tests preserves a strong military interest in this place.

George Huffman