Get the book: https://www.amazon.com/World-War-Pacific-Campaigns-Guadalcanal-ebook/dp/B0949C9YSS"We hit the reef 500 yards out. The ramp dropped and we started wading. That's when the machine guns opened up."Operation Galvanic began on November 20, 1943, when U.S. Marines assaulted Betio Island in Tarawa Atoll. The planners promised a quick victory after heavy naval bombardment. The Marines who landed there found 4,500 Japanese troops dug into concrete bunkers—and a tide that never came in.This video covers why Tarawa mattered, what went wrong at the reef, and how 76 hours of fighting for 2 square miles changed amphibious warfare forever.