Daily Caller: FLASHBACK: Japan Thought It Would Take One Million Men 100 Years To Take This Fortified Island, But The US Marines Did It In Three Days
Seventy-four years ago, the U.S. Marines waged war against hardened Japanese forces across the Tarawa atoll in the Gilbert Islands and emerged victorious.
Japanese Admiral Keiji Shibasaki, commander of the highly-fortified garrison on Betio Island, was reportedly so confident in his position that he claimed it would take one million men 100 years to take control of the atoll. The U.S. Marines took it in three days, but it was, according to one historian and Business Insider, “the toughest battle in Marine Corps history.”
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WNU Editor: Out of 4,500 Japanese troops .... and after three days of fighting .... only 17 were captured alive.