Quote:
Originally Posted by T. A. Gardner
The problem with the early counterattack by the Japanese is full of problems, as is any counter attack they make. The first is that only about a third of their troops are really infantry. The rest are manning heavy weapons in fixed positions. The next problem is that the Japanese lack virtually any mobile heavy weapons. They have no submachineguns. They have few machineguns that can move with the advance. Outside the puny 50mm grenade lauchers they have no mobile fire support and no way to communicate to get fire support. This limits virtually any offensive action to essentially just bolt action rifles, bayonets and hand thrown grenades of dubious quality.
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I see. The Japanese defenders of Tarawa just didn't have the tools nor the organization needed to properly react to the landings. From what I see, it seems that the Japanese defense was anchored on delaying the attacking force until naval reinforcements arrived. Unfortunately for the defenders, there was no help to send them. That's essentially the story of almost every Japanese held island in the Pacific.