A brief history of the Makin raid, August 17-18, 1942 as told by Major General Peatross:
On the evening of 16 August 1942 two U.S. submarines – the Argonaut and the Nautilus surfaced off the coast of Makin Atoll in the Gilbert Islands. 220 Marines of the 2nd Marine Raider battalion were embarked with the mission of conducting a raid on the Japanese garrison. The purpose of the raid was to distract the Japanese attention from the recent landings on Guadalcanal and Tulagi in the Solomon Islands. The belief was that the Japanese would try to reinforce their entire defensive perimeter instead of focusing on Guadalcanal.
The plan for the raid was for Company A to land via rubber rafts on one end of the island, and for Company B would land on the other end of the island. They would then fight their way to a church (a landmark) in the middle of the island. When the Marines debarked around midnight, rough surf and winds brought a great deal of confusion. To begin the raid, a rubber boat from the Argonaut was to come pick up Col Carlson from the Nautilus but it didn’t show up. So, Lt. Oscar Peatross (XO, Company A) was tasked with taking Carlson over to the Argonaut. When he returned to the Nautilus, the rest of Company A was gone. Because of the high surf and chaos, Carlson passed the word that both companies would land in Company B’s zone. Not being aware of these changes, Lt. Peatross proceeded according to the original plan, only to find the beach empty. Peatross and his 12 Marines proceeded to where the rest of his company was supposed to be. There had been no firing, and Peatross assumed that Company A had secured their objective with no resistance. They continued moving cautiously along the beach road to the church where the two companies were to meet. About the time that they reached the church, “All hell broke loose” about a half mile from them toward Company B.
At this point, Peatross and his Marines encountered several confused Japanese soldiers heading toward the gunfire, either on foot, in trucks, or on bicycles. Each group was engaged and either killed or driven off by Peatross and his Marines. Peatross led his Marines toward the firing and engaged several machine gun positions, losing two of his Marines, and having several wounded. He eventually sent two Marines along the beach to link up with Carlson and inform him of their status. As evening fell, Peatross ordered his Marines to destroy the abandoned Japanese HQ and then, according to plan, led his Marines back to their rubber boat, and eventually back to the waiting submarines. Almost 50 years after the raid, Peatross commented on the most important lesson that he learned was to have everyone in top physical shape because of the exertion that was needed to paddle through the surf and back to the sub after fighting all day.
When they got back to the submarine, they found that no other Marines were present. Throughout the course of the night, only about half of the battalion made it back to the subs, one or two boats at a time. Those returning reported to Peatross that although casualties from combat weren’t bad, but that struggling through the high surf had capsized virtually every boat, dumping
gear, wounded, and exhausted Marines overboard. They said that each boat that had tried had capsized at least six times, and that wounded Marines were drowning in the surf. The situation was so desperate then that Carlson was making plans to surrender. This was difficult because the only interpreter had been killed. A corporal who spoke a few phrases of Japanese was dispatched with a not from Carlson to find the Japanese commander to discuss surrender.
Just before dawn on the 18th, Peatross put together a team of five volunteers to go ashore and attempt to contact Carlson and the rest of the battalion. If these Marines did not make it back, all of the Marines on the subs, as well as every available sailor, were to go ashore and join the fight.
Shortly before dark, Carlson contacted the sub by signal lantern. He directed the subs to go to the other side of the island and extract the Raiders through the lagoon. It turns out that the corporal sent to deliver the surrender eventually found a Japanese soldier, gave him the note and waited for his return. He never came back. The corporal eventually returned to Carlson, and a patrol was sent out, but no living Japanese were found.
Overall, about 160 Japanese on the island on the island were killed, two aircraft (one a flying boat) and two small ships had been destroyed, as well as all stores and equipment that the Marines could locate were destroyed. After the submarines returned to Pearl Harbor, it was determined that there were 18 Raiders killed, and 12 listed as missing in action. It turns out that nine Marines had been inadvertently left on the island. They were listed as “Missing” and eventually surrendered to the Japanese who came to reinforce the island. They were executed on 16 October 1942.
Of the 220 Marines who conducted the raid on Makin, one (Sgt Clyde Thomason) was awarded the Medal of Honor (posthumously) and fifteen (including Lt. Peatross) were awarded the Navy Cross for actions during the raid.
Primary Sources:
USMC Amphibious Warfare School Amphibious Raids curriculum: 1989 (an article written by Major General Oscar F. Peatross originally published in the Marine Corps Gazette – date unknown)
Peatross, Oscar F.
bless ‘em all: the raider marines of world war II. Irvine, CA, ReView Publications, 1995.
Personal interviews I conducted with Major General Peatross in Beaufort, SC 1990-1991.