Japanese occupation of the Gilbert Islands
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Japanese-occupied Gilbert Islands ギルバート諸島 Gilbert-shotō | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1941–1945 | |||||||||
| Status | Military occupation by the Empire of Japan | ||||||||
| Common languages | Japanese Gilbertese | ||||||||
| Government | Military occupation | ||||||||
| Historical era | World War II | ||||||||
• Occupation of Makin | 9 December 1941 | ||||||||
• American troops land on Tarawa begins | 20 November 1943 | ||||||||
• Occupation of Ocean Island ends | 21 August 1945 | ||||||||
| |||||||||
| Today part of |  Gilbert and Ellice Islands | ||||||||
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The Japanese occupation of the Gilbert Islands was the period in the history of Kiribati between 1941 and 1945 when Imperial Japanese forces occupied Gilbert Islands during World War II.
From 1941 to 1943, and even till 1945, Imperial Japanese Army forces occupied the Gilbert Islands and Ocean Island where were the headquarters of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands colony (GIEC).
Northern Gilbert Islands
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Only two days after their attack on Pearl Harbor, on 10 December 1941 (local date), Japanese military forces (51st Guard Force) occupy Makin and Little Makin, Abaiang and Marakei in the northern Gilbert Islands.
Few hours before Makin occupation, on 10 December 1941, the same Japanese landing military (51st Guard Force) visited Tarawa, where they round up the Europeans and informed them that they cannot leave the atoll without the permission of the naval commander. The Japanese destroyed all means of transportation and ransack the Burns Philp trading station, then departed for Makin atoll.
On 31 August 1942, Japanese troops occupied also Abemama. Some remote southern islands were also briefly visited or occupied (Tamana was the southernmost) especially for destroying the Coastwatchers material on Beru. On 15 September 1942, Japanese forces occupied Tarawa and began fortifying the atoll, mainly Betio islet. In response, on 2 October 1942, US forces occupied the Ellice Islands and began constructing airfields on Funafuti, Nukufetau and Nanumea as a base of operations against the Japanese occupation in the Gilbert and Marshall Islands.
On 27 March 1943, a Japanese aircraft attacked the new American airfield at Funafuti for the first time.
On 6 November 1943, the United States Seventh Air Force established its forward headquarters base on Funafuti, to prepare the battle of Tarawa.[1]
Rear Admiral Keiji Shibazaki was killed on 20 November 1943, as the last commander of the Japanese 3rd Special Base Force — in garrison on the island of Betio — and of the Gilbert Islands, Nauru and Ocean Island. Admiral Carl Henry Jones (1893 - 1958) became thereafter the U.S. commander of the Gilbert Islands subarea (from 18 Dec 1943 to 1 Oct 1944), at the end of this battle.[2]
Ocean Island (オーシャン島)
On July 1941, Australia and New Zealand evacuated dependents of British Phosphate Commission employees from Ocean Island.
On 8 December 1941, a Japanese flying boat Kawanishi H6K drops six bombs on the Government Headquarters on Ocean Island. On February 1942, the Free French destroyer Le Triomphant evacuated the remaining Europeans and Chinese from Ocean Island. Japanese forces occupied the island from 26 August 1942. All but about 143-160 Banabans are deported to Nauru, Tarawa or Kosrae, until the end of World War II in 1945.[3] On 20 August 1945, the Japanese troops murdered the 150 Banabans remaining on Ocean Island. One man only, Kabunare Koura, survived the massacre. On 21 August, the Australian troops retake Ocean Island from the Japanese. Before the end of the year, the 280 Banabans who survived the war on Nauru, Tarawa, Kosrae and Truk are resettled on Rabi Island in Fiji.
Japanese Commanders
- 9 Dec 1941 - 1942, Capt. Shigetoshi Miyazaki (宮崎重敏, IJNAF) (1897-1942), commanded the Gilberts’ Operation in the initial phase
- 1942 - 17 Aug 1942, Warrant Officer Kyuzaburo Kanemitsu (d. 1942), commander in Makin Atoll
- Sep 1942 - 22 Feb 1943, Cdr. Keisuke Matsuo (松尾景輔) (b. 1890? - d. 1943), commander of the Yosokuka 6th SNLF (No. 6 Base Force, based in Kwajalein), was in command locally of the force in Tarawa;
- 22 Feb 1943 - Jul 1943, Rear Admiral Saichirō Tomonari (友成佐市郎) (b. 1887 - d. 1962), commander in Tarawa, for the Gilbert Islands, Nauru and Ocean Island;
- Sep 1943 - 20 Nov 1943, Rear Admiral Keiji Shibazaki (b. 1894 - d. 1943)
- Japanese occupation ends on the Gilbert Islands on 23 November 1943.
- Japanese occupation ends on Ocean Island on 21 August 1945.
Because of the distance between Kwajalein and Tarawa (580 nm), on 15 February 1943, the Gilbert Islands, Ocean Island and Nauru were removed from the 6th Base Force in Kwajalein and replaced under a new 3rd Special Base Force with headquarters in Betio, with Admiral Tomonari replacing Matsuo. Because of the loss of his command, Matsuo made seppuku on 2 May 1943.
See also
- Pacific Islands home front during World War II.
- Gilbert and Marshall Islands campaign
- Japanese occupation of Nauru
- Raid on Makin Island
- Battle of Tarawa
- Battle of Makin
Bibliography
- Hoyt, Edwin P. (1979). Storm Over the Gilberts: War in the Central Pacific 1943. New York, NY: Van Nostrand Reinhold.
{{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help)
- Moran, Jim (2019). The Gilbert and Ellice Islands — Pacific War. Yorkshire, England: Pen & Sword Military. p. 176. ISBN 978-1-52675-119-5.
- Garrett, Jemima (1996). Island exiles. Sydney: ABC books. p. 200. ISBN 0-7333-0485-0.
{{cite book}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help) - Gill, G. Hermon (1957). Australia in the War of 1939–1945. Series 2 – Navy. Vol. Volume I – Royal Australian Navy, 1939–1942 (1st edition, 1957 ed.). Canberra: Australian War Memorial. Gill57.
{{cite book}}:|volume=has extra text (help); Invalid|ref=harv(help) - Williams, Maslyn; Macdonald, Barrie (1985). The Phosphateers: A History of the British Phosphate Commissioners and the Christmas Island Phosphate Commission. p. 586. ISBN 0-522-84302-6.
{{cite book}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help) - Tanaka, Yuki (2010). Japanese Atrocities on Nauru during the Pacific War: The murder of Australians, the massacre of lepers and the ethnocide of Nauruans. Japan focus.
{{cite book}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help) - Viviani, Nancy (1970). Nauru, Phosphate and Political Progress. Australian National University Press. ISBN 0-7081-0765-6.
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