At the time of the invasion the Japanese had not yet finished construction of their beach defences. Their goal was to create a ring of barbed wire and concrete tetrahedrons around Betio to force a landing into areas where heavy fire could be concentrated.
This picture shows a portion of the barbed wire obstacles and the concrete
tetrahedrons in the background.
Various types of mines were used to ring the beaches. Fortunately the mines on the Red beaches, where the landings actually took place, had not yet been emplaced. Although at least one LVT was destroyed on while attempting to land on Green beach.
This large mine lies exposed from the low tide.
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Created 22 August 1999 - Updated 1 July 2001
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