Taroa Airfield was a major air base approximately three miles long and one mile wide on
Taroa Island
Taroa is an island in the east of Maloelap Atoll in the Marshall Islands. During World War II, it was the site of a major Japanese airfield (Taroa Airfield). The airfield was destroyed near the close of World War II, and parts of the base and its ...
in the
Maloelap Atoll
The Maloelap Atoll ( Marshallese: , ) (also spelled Maleolap) is a coral atoll of 71 islands in the Pacific Ocean, and forms a legislative district of the Ratak Chain of the Marshall Islands. Its land area is only , but that encloses a lagoon o ...
in the
Marshall Islands
The Marshall Islands, officially the Republic of the Marshall Islands, is an island country west of the International Date Line and north of the equator in the Micronesia region of the Northwestern Pacific Ocean.
The territory consists of 29 c ...
. The runway, which spanned the length of the island, is still in use today and known as Maloelap Airport (Airport Code: MAV).
World War II
During
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, Taroa Airfield was the easternmost Japanese air base. It was a favorite target for Allied bombers from Makin Airfield,
Tarawa
Tarawa is an atoll and the capital of the Republic of Kiribati,Kiribati ''
Abemama
Abemama (Apamama) is an atoll, one of the Gilberts group in Kiribati, and is located southeast of Tarawa and just north of the Equator. Abemama has an area of and a population of 3,299 . The islets surround a deep lagoon. The eastern part of ...
and was heavily bombed in 1944. It became part of the vast
Naval Base Marshall Islands
Naval Base Marshall Islands were United States Navy advance bases built on the Marshall Islands during World War II to support the Pacific War efforts. The bases were built by US Navy after the Marshall Islands campaign that captured the island ...
Pacific Theater
The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...
, G. D. Provenza describes Taroa thus:
The target that day was an enemy personnel area on Taroa; this tiny island had already been bombed flat, but hundreds of surviving Japanese troops were reportedly still dug-in there. Over the island at 8,000 feet, Lindbergh pushed forward into a steep 60-degree dive. The enemy gamely fought back, sending up accurate small-arms fire.
A combination of aerial attacks, bombardment from naval ships, and supply line disruption caused many deaths; only 34% of those originally on the island survived. The Japanese abandoned the island on February 5, 1944.
A US Navy reconnaissance photo of this island in 1944 shows a twin-engine twin tail plane that author Randall Brink thinks belonged to missing aviator
Amelia Earhart
Amelia Mary Earhart ( ; July 24, 1897 – January 5, 1939) was an American aviation pioneer. On July 2, 1937, she disappeared over the Pacific Ocean while attempting to become the first female pilot to circumnavigate the world. During her li ...
.
References
Further reading
* Adams, W.H., Ross, R.E., Krause, E.L., & Spennemann, D. (1997). ''Marshall Islands Archaeology – The Japanese Airbase on Taroa Island, Republic of the Marshall Islands, 1937-45: An Evaluation of the World War II Remains''. San Francisco, California: Micronesian Endowment for Historic Preservation, Republic of the Marshall Islands, U.S. National Park Service.
See also
*
Gilbert and Marshall Islands campaign
The Gilbert and Marshall Islands campaign was a series of engagements fought from August 1942 to February 1944, in the Pacific War, Pacific theatre of World War II between the United States and Empire of Japan, Japan. They were the first battl ...