At 23:08, having managed to signal the subs to meet his Raiders at the entrance to Makin Lagoon, Carlson had a team led by Lt. However, just as the operation began, Japanese planes arrived and attacked, sinking the rescue boat and attacking the subs, which were forced to crash-dive and wait on the bottom the rest of the day. Īt 09:00 on 18 August, the subs sent a rescue boat to stretch rope from the ships to the shore that would allow the remaining Raiders' boats to be pulled out to sea. An exhausted and dispirited Carlson dispatched a note to the Japanese commander that offered to surrender, but the Japanese messenger was killed by other Marines, who were unaware of Carlson's plan. Having lost most of their weapons and equipment, the exhausted survivors struggled back to the beach to link up with 20 fully armed men, who had been left on the island to cover their withdrawal.
Despite significant effort, 11 of 18 boats were unable to breach the unexpectedly strong surf. At 23:30, the attempt by most of the Raiders to reach the submarines failed. The next morning several boatloads of Raiders were able to fight the surf and reach the sub, but 72 men, along with just three rubber boats, were still on the island. Despite heavy surf, seven boats with 93 men made it to the subs. The remaining planes bombed and strafed but inflicted no American casualties.Īt 19:30, the Raiders began to withdraw from the island using 18 rubber boats, many of which no longer had working outboard motors. One plane crashed, and the other burst into flames. The flying boats, carrying reinforcements for the Japanese garrison, attempted to land in the lagoon but were met with machine gun, rifle and Boys anti-tank rifle fire from the Raiders. Failing to contact Carlson, they withdrew to the subs at dusk, as planned.Īt 13:30, 12 Japanese planes, including two flying boats, arrived over Makin. Major Kanemitsu, knocked out a machine gun and destroyed the enemy radios but suffered three dead and two wounded. Peatross's unit killed eight Japanese and the garrison commander Sgt. Peatross and his 12 men found themselves behind the Japanese, who were fighting the rest of the Raiders to the east. The Japanese then launched two banzai charges, which were wiped out by the Raiders, thus killing most of the Japanese on the island.
Strong resistance from Japanese snipers and machine guns stalled the advance and inflicted casualties. Undaunted by the lack of support, Peatross led his men inland.Īt 07:00, with Company A leading, the Raiders advanced from the beach across the island to its north shore before attacking southwestward. Thus, Peatross and his men landed where they originally planned. In the confusion of the landing, they did not get word of Carlson's decision to change plans and to land all the Raiders on one beach. Oscar Peatross and a 12-man squad landed on Makin. Carlson decided to land all his men on one beach, rather than two beaches as originally planned. The landing had been very difficult because of rough seas, high surf, and the failure of many of the outboard motors. Evans Carlson, successfully landed on Makin.
At 05:13, Companies A and B of the 2nd Raider Battalion, commanded by Lt. The Marine Raiders were launched in LCRL rubber boats powered by small, 6 hp (4.5 kW) outboard motors shortly after 00:00 (midnight) on 17 August. Two civilian personnel were attached to the Japanese forces as interpreters and civilian administrators. In addition there were also four members of the seaplane tender base and three members of a meteorological unit. At the time of the Makin raid the total force opposing the American landing consisted of 71 armed personnel of the Japanese seaplane base led by Warrant Officer ( Heisouchou) Kyuzaburo Kanemitsu of the Special Naval Landing Force equipped with light weapons. It was part of the Marshall Islands Garrison, and officially titled the 62nd Garrison Force. The Imperial Japanese Navy created the Makin Atoll Garrison in 1942. The raiding force was designated Task Group 7.15 (TG 7.15). Battalion headquarters, A Company and 18 men from B Company-totalling 121 troops-were embarked aboard the submarine Argonaut and the remainder of B Company-totalling 90 men-aboard Nautilus. Because of space limitations aboard ship, each company embarked without one of its rifle sections. The force was drawn from the 2nd Raider Battalion and comprised a small battalion command group and two of the battalion's six rifle companies. The raid was among the earliest American offensive ground combat operations of World War II.
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