Tarawa: Assault on the Atoll 1943 is a turn based strategy game set on the WW2 Pacific theater. From Joni Nuutinen: by a wargamer for the wargamers since 2011. The most recent update: 2026 January


It would take one million men one hundred years to conquer Tarawa
-- Japanese commander Keiji Shibazaki

In Operation Galvanic the U.S. Marines tried to conquer it in much less time, with much less men.

You are in command of the U.S. Marine forces tasked with carrying out an amphibious assault on Betio, which was the largest island in the Tarawa Atoll in spite of being only 0.59 square miles.

Tarawa, located in the Gilbert Islands, was needed as a forward air base for future operations in the Pacific, giving the U.S. Marine Corps an opportunity to put to the test its doctrine on how to execute an amphibious assault against a fortified atoll.

Several challenges immediately emerged: the U.S. naval bombardment created so much smoke that all visibility was lost, and the coral reefs shredded both the landing plans and boats (resulting in the founding of the U.S. Navy Underwater Demolition Teams, the precursor of the famous U.S. Navy SEALS).

In spite of the nightmare start, the U.S. Marines gallantly waded on the beaches in several locations, only to discover that they were in the middle of fortified Japanese positions, which had survived the week of aerial attacks surprisingly well.

The only option left for the U.S. Marines, squeezed between the reef maze and fortifications, was to keep the costly assault going against the men of the Imperial Japanese Navy, who knew they had nowhere to fall back to on this tiny island.


FEATURES:

+ Historical accuracy: Campaign mirrors the historical order of battle by both American and Japanese troops.

+ Thanks to in-built variation and the game's smart AI technology (a lot of small variations build-in), each game provides a different war gaming experience.


"Last week some 2,000 or 3,000 United States Marines, most of them now perished or wounded, gave the nation a name to stand beside those of Concord Bridge, the Bonhomme Richard, the Alamo, Little Bighorn, and Belleau Wood. The name was Tarawa."
— Robert Sherrod, Report On Tarawa: Marines' Show, Time magazine war correspondent, 6 December 1943