#OTD in 1943, the Battle of Tarawa began. This scene from the Academy Award winning documentary "With the Marines at Tarawa" of @Marines firing on Japanese soldiers in the open is believed to be the only combat footage that captures American and Japanese individuals in the same frame | U.S. Naval Institute

On this day in 1943, U.S. troops stormed the Japanese-held Tarawa Atoll in the Gilbert Islands. The bloody, 76-hour Battle of Tarawa is remembered as the first major American offensive in the central Pacific. For the full story, watch this clip from The Pacific War in Color: Island Hopping. | Smithsonian Channel Aviation Nation

Seventy-six years ago today, the Marines landed at Tarawa. During this three-day battle, the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps lost more than 1,600 men. Today, we honor them. | U.S. Marine Corps