Makin Raid
17-18 AUGUST 1942
MAKIN RAID
As a diversion to the 10-day-old invasion of Guadalcanal, 222 men of the 2nd Marine Raider Battalion embarked on two submarines, USS NAUTILUS (SS-168) and USS ARGONAUT (SM-1), for a raid behind enemy lines. Commanding the unit was the calm, pipe-smoking LCOL Evans F. Carlson. Lightly garrisoned Butaritari Island, part of Makin Atoll in the Gilbert Islands, was selected by virtue of its position 1200 miles north of the Solomons. After a week’s voyage in the cramped submarines, LCOL Carlson landed his battalion with rubber rafts in the pre-dawn darkness of August 17th.
The intended surprise was negated, however, when a BAR accidently discharged during the landing. Their presence revealed, Carlson ordered his raiders to storm the island. The 83-man Japanese garrison was ready and waiting but found the Marines to be worthy opponents. In the lagoon lay a transport with 60 additional Japanese troops on board. NAUTILUS’ sailors, though not in a position to see the transport, sank it with persistent fire from their 6″ deck guns. Still later in the day two “Mavis” flying boats landed with enemy reinforcements, but ground fire from the Marines destroyed both. Soon Japanese resistance was reduced only to a few snipers high in the coconut trees, allowing Carlson to pull his men to more open ground. A Japanese airstrike now arrived to bomb the area the Marines had just vacated, unintentionally killing a band of enemy who were tailing the Raiders. By nightfall the island had been secured, and the Marines began their evacuation. With all but nine Raiders recovered or accounted for, the subs departed.
News of the successful raid was welcomed by an American public thirsty for any good war news. Curiously, the raid ultimately did more harm than good. The Japanese, shown the vulnerability of the Gilbert’s, refortified the islands. This proved costly in November 1943 at another Gilbert atoll, Tarawa.
Actually, the nine missing Marines were very much alive. They were captured by returning Japanese who treated them as honored warriors. They were taken to Kwajalein where VADM Koso Abe, Marshall Islands commander, became frustrated by delays in moving the prisoners further. He ordered them executed. CAPT Yoshio Obara, garrison commander at Kwajalein, objected, voicing a series of protests. He was overruled, and reluctantly carried out the executions, deliberately choosing the Yasukuni Shrine Day, the annual memorial for departed heroes. The Marines were beheaded with full Japanese honors in a ceremonial execution secretly witnessed by natives. Indeed, for this action VADM Abe was convicted and hanged in Guam at the 1945-46 war crimes tribunal.
Watch for more “Today in Naval History” 23 AUG 22
CAPT James Bloom, Ret.
Department of the Navy, Naval History Division. Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, Vol 5 “N-Q”. Washington, DC: GPO, 1979, p. 27.
Heinl, Robert Debs, Jr. Soldiers of the Sea: The United States Marine Corps, 1775-1962. Baltimore, MD: Nautical & Aviation Pub., 1991, pp. 357-58.
Ladd, James. Commandos and Rangers of World War II. Newton Abbot, England: David & Charles Pub., 1978. pp. 128-30.
Morison, Samuel Eliot. History of United States Naval Operations in World War II, Vol 4 Coral Sea, Midway and Submarine Actions. Boston, MA: Little, Brown and Co., 1949, pp. 235-41.
Moskin, J. Robert. The U.S. Marine Corps Story, 3rd ed. Boston, MA: Little, Brown and Co., 1992, pp. 254-56.
Wukovits, John. American Commando: Evans Carlson, His WWII Marine Raiders, and America’s First Special Forces Mission. New York, NY: New American Library, 2009.
ADDITIONAL NOTES: History is still undecided as to the verdict on the Makin raid. Morison exclaims it a bold and daring act, while Heinl rails about its comedy of errors. This confusion is no doubt a reflection of the fact that this was one of our modern military’s first flirtations with commando-style raids. In addition to “Carlson’s Raiders” above, “Edson’s Raiders,” the 1st Marine Raider Battalion, was active contemporarily in Guadalcanal.
Twenty-one Marines were killed in action or drowned on this raid. One, SGT Clyde Thomason, was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor. Carlson and 17 others received the Navy Cross. The WWII Casablanca-class escort carrier MAKIN ISLAND (CVE-93) and our modern amphibious assault ship (LHD-8) both remember this raid. LHD-8 was the first ship to be christened at Pascagoula after Hurricane Katrina and is the last authorized in the Wasp-class.
ARGONAUT, NARWHAL (SS-167), and NAUTILUS comprised a special class of submarines built in the 1920s anticipating a war with Japan. They had elongated hulls for the extra fuel needed for long-range cruising. They were large enough to each mount two 6″ deck guns. As such, they were not infrequently used to transport commando-type raids. ARGONAUT was the largest non-nuclear submarine in our inventory and was modified for long-range minelaying, hence the hull number SM-1.
