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n and Histor
Descriptio
4
a
- were employed in the assault on Kwajalein. This included heavy
Islands wer cdment by battleships, use of infantry landing craft to saturate
naval bomba beaches with high explosive fire, use of tracked landing
the landing ansport assault infantry across the coral reefs to dry beaches.
nishment offield artillery on lightly held islands adjacent to the
ven
und
esta ands to provide close-in artillery support for the main assault
obec te -esult at Kwajalein Atoll was the capture of Roi-Namur in the
groups: d Kwajalein [sland in the south, with the loss of 372 killed and
io wounded. The enemystrength was estimated to be 8,675, of which
1.382 965 remained alive to be taken prisoner and, of these, 165 were
immediately
ean laborers. The seizure of Enewetak Atoll was to follow
sar
43
The Enewetak Expeditionary Group was commanded by Rear Admiral
Harry W. Hill. The assault troops were under Brigadier General ThomasE.
Watson. The plan was to complete the occupation in four phases. Phase
One was the seizure of two islets south of Enjebi— Aej (Olive), and Lujor
(Peart)—where field artillery would be emplaced. Phase Two was the
landing on Enjebi by Marines, supported by the emplacedfield artillery.
Phase Three wasto be the seizure of Enewetak Island and Medren. Phase
Four was a mopping-up operation of the remainingislands to rid them of
any remaining Japanese.+4 The map in Figure 1-31 shows the location of
these events.
At 0700 hours on 17 February 1944, minesweeping began and was
followed by the entry of troop transports into the lagoon. Phase One was
completed by 1632 hours with the positioning of Marine and Armyartillery
on Aej and Lujor. Marine scout company landings on Enjebi took placeat
0315 hours on 18 February, and the island was secured by 1600 hours. The
third phase, the capture of Enewetak and Medren Islands, began on the
morning of 19 February with the [06th Infantry landing on Enewetak
Island. The island was not pronouncedsecure until 1630 hours on the 2lst.
In the meantime, Marine artillery had landed on Japtan, and guns
emplaced there and on Enewetak were registered on Medren by 1200
hours on 20 February. Marines landed on Medren at 1900 hours on the
22nd, and Phase Three was completed by 1930 hours of the same day.+5
Figures 1-32 and 1-33 show someof the action during the battle.
In conducting Phase Four, no opposition was met in landing and
occupying the other islands of the atoll. All action had ceased by the
evening of 23 February 1944. Thetoll of the battle is shown in Figure |-34.
Only 64 Japanese were taken prisoner, some of whom were wounded.
Most had died fighting.46 Fifty dri-Enewetak were found on D+1 by
American troops and were sheltered in a huge bomb crater. Other people
found later in the battle were brought there also, including 17 from
Medren. On 24 February 1944, all of the surviving people were moved to