Battle of Eniwetok

The Battle of Eniwetok was a battle of the Pacific campaign of World War II, fought 17-23 February 1944 on Enewetak Atoll in the Marshall Islands. The invasion of Eniwetok followed the American success in the Battle of Kwajalein to the southeast. Capture of Eniwetok would provide an airfield and harbor to support attacks on the Mariana Islands to the northwest. The operation was officially known as "Operation Catchpole" and was a three-phase operation involving the invasion of the three main islands in the Enewetak Atoll. Vice Admiral Raymond A. Spruance preceded the invasion with Operation Hailstone, a carrier strike against the Japanese base at Truk in the Caroline Islands. This raid destroyed 39 warships and more than 200 planes. Eniwetok is a large coral atoll of 40 islands with a land area total less than . It has a mean elevation above sea level of and surrounds a deep central lagoon, in circumference. The atoll became part of the Japanese South Seas Mandate since the end of World War I, but Japan had no military presence until November 1942, when an airfield was constructed on Engebi Island, for use only for refueling planes between Truk and islands to the east; no aviation personnel were stationed there and the island had only token defenses. When the Gilbert Islands fell to the United States, the Imperial Japanese Army assigned defense of the atoll to the 1st Amphibious Brigade, recently formed from reservists of 3rd Independent Garrison in Manchukuo. The 1st Amphibious Brigade under the command of Major General Yoshimi Nishida. arrived on 4 January 1944. The brigade had 3,940 men; however, with the loss of its supply ship Aikoku Maru during Operation Hailstone, only 2,586 men arrived on Eniwetok. These men were supplemented by aviation personnel, civilian employees, and labourers. Most were stationed on Parry Island (now Medren), where General Nishida established his headquarters. Engebi Island is at the north tip of Enewetak Atoll. The island is triangular in shape, with a palm grove on its eastern side and an airfield across its north half.