A navy photograph of the Makin Atoll Raid
The Makin Atoll Raid was a raid that was carried out by the United States 2nd Marine Raider Battalion, also known as Carlson's Raiders. It took place on August 17, 1942. This raid's main purpose was to distract the Japanese from the main Invasion of Guadalcanal. The raid was also aimed to capture Japanese soldiers and gathering intel. After the raid a total of 30 men were lost.[1] Unfortunately for the Raiders the raid did not meet up with most objectives. No prisoners were taken and no significant information was taken.
The Battle
To transport Raiders, the United States Navy used two submarines named the USS Nautilus and the USS Argonaut. The force from the 2nd Marine Raider Battalion was two companies, A Company and B Company. When they were close enough to the atoll the Raiders set off in small rubber boats. Right before the raid took place there was a change in plans made by Lt. Col. Evans F. Carlson. This caused 1 of the boats who had not recieved word of the change to land southwest of the main group.[2]It did not take long before the marines element of surprise was lost. This was caused when one of the men accidentally fired his weapon. The Marines that landed southwest of the main force were under the command of Lt.Oscar Peatross. Lt. Peatross led his 11 men through the island only losing 3 men. He and his men later withdrew to the submarines. Carlson's force managed to fight across the island as well. At 11:30 two Japanese planes flew over the island and dropped there bombs. None of them hit the marines. Stiffer enemy resistance soon followed. Japanese soldiers rode on bicycles, brought snipers, and also brought more automatic weapons. The Raiders eventually ran into a lagoon with a patrol boat and a transport ship. Lt. Col. Evans ordered fire support from the two submarines's 6 inch guns. Surprisingly the guns destroyed both of the boats.[3]The raiders began to withdraw from the atoll at 19:30. Even though the motors for the rubber boats had been damaged 93 marines made it to the submarines. Still 72 men were left on the island. There were not enough rubber boats left to transport them. Evantually the submarines sent a rescue boat, but then Japanese planes attacked. They sunk the rescue boat and tried to sink the subs which were forced to submerge. After this the Remaining raiders managed to use the 3 rubber boats and 2 native canoes to build a raft which they used to be rescued.[4]