[henkster]

No, not yet. I think there was apprehension whether or not the landings would succeed. This was the first amphibious operation on a contested atoll more or less outside of our air umbrella. While it was within range of the bombers from Ellice, it was outside of land-based fighter range.

On the other hand, Hanson Baldwin again writes a prescient article. My respect for his abilities is growing. De Seversky, on the other hand, writes fiction.

[colorado tanker]

It appears the battle hung in the balance during the first 24 hours when our beachheads were precarious indeed. The Marines will pay a high price but learn much from Tarawa.

So will the public. Things have been going our way but with a relatively low cost the last year. This will be a wake up call that there is a lot of hard fighting left to do.