On February 17, 1944, the United States began its campaign to drive the
Japanese off the atoll.
Admiral Nimitz, in a report tc the Commander-in-~
Chief, U.S. Fleet, indicated that
...the usual procedures in isiend campaigns were followec.
Six-and-a-half days later, the atoll was secured. More than 3,400 Japanese
and 348 Americans died during the battle. Enewetak’s 142 inhabitants were
prohibited by the Americans from returning to the atoll's main island -their home. Almost all the coconut trees had been leveled; other vegetation
had been burned off. According to Chief Johannes, Enewetak and Enjebi
{the atoll's second largest island) had been seriously damaged.
ships datted the lagoon.
Rusting
Concrete bunkers were left to crumble on the
beaches,
Enewetax is tiny by Western standards.
Forty-two islands circle its twenty-
five mile diameter lagoon. But taken together, their dry land area totals
only two~and-one-quarter square miles -- most of it coral sand, most of
it uninhabitable.
There are no mountains or valleys on Enewetak.
On tha
average, iSlands in the atoll reach only ten feet above sez level.
The ecology has been jarred by its contact with Western science and warfare,
but not overturned.
Many of tne coconut palms have grown back.
World
War Il bunkers and the remnants of the proving ground facilities are covered
with morning glories. The lagoon and the atoll's water-filled A-Bomb craters
tLam with plant and animal lite. Thousands of species of mollusk have been
catalogued, including 6 giant clam that can weigh over 400 pounds and
measure over three feet in length. Over two hundred species and varieties
of corals are found there, and hundreds of crustacean species, including
crabs, shrimps and lobsters. At least seven hundred species of fish
frequent the lagoon.
Since 1954, over 800 scientists at the Mid-Pacific Marine Laboratory on
Enewetak have catalogued and examined the atoll's rich plant and animal
life. Enewetak hés been called the most Studied atoll in the world.
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The islands were subjected to heavy gun and bomb attack,
which was continuous from the time of the arrival of the
Task Force until troops landed on the island. Fora
period of two hours immediately before the landing of
troops, each island was subjected to concentrated
destructive fire. Landings were made on all tnese
islands from the lagoon beaches, in each case with
two battalions abreast.