Betio

Betio is the name of both an island and a township within the Tarawa Atoll, part of the Republic of Kiribati. Betio is the largest township of Kiribati's capital city, South Tarawa, and it is also the country's primary port. Betio is located on at the far southwest corner of the atoll. The island is known for its historical significance during the Battle of Tarawa in World War 2.

Pacific War

The island was the scene of the Battle of Tarawa during World War II.Betio (Tarawa)
. ''Pacific Wrecks''. Relics of the Japanese invasion, and the subsequent American assault on the islet in 1943, remain there. After the battle the airstrip was renamed Hawkins Field. The airstrip no longer exists, but its effect can be seen in the stunted growth of palms along its length. Many bunkers remain, as well as the remains of military equipment.

Prior to the Battle of Tarawa, the island was the scene of a mass beheading of New Zealand military and civilian coastwatchers by Japanese forces prior to the US landings. The massacre was a form of retaliation following an American air raid. Before the massacre, seamen and civil servants who were housed on the island escaped in a small open launch boat, towing a lifeboat. They sailed to Nonouti, in the Southern Gilberts, where they were met by the ''Degei'', commanded by Captain G. J. (Jack) Webster in which they returned from Nonouti to Fiji.

News of the massacre was covered up by British authorities at the time to the extent that New Zealand and Fijian governments were prevented from informing the families of the men killed of their deaths. However, persistent rumours eventually reached the families, and it is believed that the shooting of Japanese prisoners held in a New Zealand POW camp was done in retaliation for this massacre. The New Zealand camp guard who fired on the Japanese prisoners during the prison riot was the brother of one of the coastwatchers executed on Betio.

The partly submerged hulk of a ship, either the Japanese freighter ''Saidu Maru'', or the British steamer ''Nimanoa'', would later be used as a machine gun post by the Japanese against the US forces that re-took Tarawa.". ''Tarawa on the Web: The Assault of the Second Marine Division on Betio Island, Tarawa Atoll, 20–23 November 1943''.

Unexploded artillery shells, mortar rounds, anti-aircraft shells and live machine gun bullets left over from the Second World War are littered throughout the island and surrounding reef, as well as the remains of several hundred U.S. and Japanese soldiers. The remains of 30 U.S. soldiers and Marines were discovered in March 2019. following investigative work by History Flight, an American nonprofit which focuses on the repatriation of the remains of US military personnel who have been labeled missing in action.

Post-War History

Following the war, the island became a center of economic activity in Kiribati. Betio Post Office opened on 5 April 1957 and closed in 1964.{{Cite web , last = Premier Postal History , title = Post Office List , publisher = Premier Postal Auctions , url = https://www.premierpostal.com/cgi-bin/wsProd.sh/Viewpocdwrapper.p?SortBy=ge&country= , accessdate = 5 July 2013 In 1967, the Marine Training Centre was created by Hamburg Süd. John Hilary Smith, governor of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands created the Betio Town Council in 1972.

A causeway to Bairiki was constructed in the early 1980s, leading to an increase in human contact with the island. Due to changing currents resulting from the construction of the causeway, Bikeman Island, northeast of Betio, has been submerged since the early 1990s.

References

South Tarawa