Betio is an island at the extreme southwest of South Tarawa in Kiribati. The main port of Tarawa Atoll is located there.
The island is most well known as the scene of the Battle of Tarawa during World War II. Relics of the Japanese invasion, and the subsequent American assault on the islet in 1943, remain there. The Japanese airstrip no longer exists, but its effect can be seen in the stunted growth of palms along its length. Many bunkers remain,...
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Betio is an island at the extreme southwest of South Tarawa in Kiribati. The main port of Tarawa Atoll is located there.
The island is most well known as the scene of the Battle of Tarawa during World War II. Relics of the Japanese invasion, and the subsequent American assault on the islet in 1943, remain there. The Japanese airstrip no longer exists, but its effect can be seen in the stunted growth of palms along its length. Many bunkers remain, as well as the wrecks of military equipment.
It was also the scene of a massacre by beheading of New Zealand and Fijian civilians by Japanese forces prior to the US landings. The massacre may have been in retaliation for assistance given to the escape of seamen from the captured merchant ship Nimanoa (also sometimes written as Niminoa). These seamen had been captured by the Japanese at the start of the Pacific War when their ship was scuttled in Betio harbour to prevent its use by the invading Japanese forces. The partly submerged hulk of the...
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