Map of Betio from WWII

Betio is an island at the extreme southwest of South Tarawa. The main port of Tarawa Atoll is located here, and the island is most well known as being the scene of the Battle of Tarawa.^{[citation needed]} Download high resolution version (800x602, 77 KB) Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Download high resolution version (800x602, 77 KB) Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... South Tarawa (in Gilbertese and English: Teinainano Urban Council or abr. ... Map of the Tarawa atoll Tarawa is an atoll in the central Pacific Ocean, previously the capital of the former British colony of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands. ... Combatants United States (U.S.) Empire of Japan Commanders Holland Smith Keiji Shibasaki † Strength 35,000 troops 3,000 troops, 1,000 Japanese and 1,200 Korean laborers Casualties 1,001 killed 4,713 killed 17 Japanese and 129 Koreans captured The remains of a US M4A2 tank left stranded...

This 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. 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 Nimanoa would later be used as a machine gun post by the Japanese against the US forces that re-took Tarawa.^{[citation needed]} Combatants China (from 1937) United States (1941) U.K. (1941) Australia (from 1941) Free France (1941) Netherlands (1941) New Zealand (1941) Canada (1941) Soviet Union (1945) Japan (from 1937)  Germany (1941) Thailand (from 1942) Manchukuo Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Franklin D. Roosevelt Winston Churchill John Curtin Fumimaro Konoe Hideki Tojo...

The seamen escaped in a small, open boat that they sailed to Fiji. News of the massacre was covered up by British authorities at the time to the extent that New Zealand and Fijian governments were prevented from informing the families of the men killed of their deaths. However, persistent rumours eventually reached the families and it has been proposed that the shooting of Japanese prisoners held in a New Zealand POW camp was done in retaliation for this massacre. The New Zealand camp guard who fired on the Japanese prisoners during the prison riot was the brother of one of the civilians massacred on Betio. (source: NZ National Archives).^{[citation needed]} Geneva Convention definition A prisoner of war (POW) is a soldier, sailor, airman, or marine who is imprisoned by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict. ...

Since the 1970s the islet has become increasingly more crowded, being the main centre of economic activity in Kiribati. The construction of the causeway to Bairiki in the early 80s exacerbated this and it is currently regarded as the most densely populated place in the world.^{[citation needed]} The Hindenburgdamm rail causeway across the Wadden Sea to the island of Sylt in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany In modern usage, a causeway is a road or railway elevated by a bank, usually across a broad body of water or wetland. ... Bairiki can be: An island in Tarawa Atoll, see Kiribati (on this island), see Bairiki (village) This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ...

Guns left over from WWII

To this day, there remain relics of the Japanese invasion, and the subsequent American assault on the islet in 1943. The Japanese airstrip is no longer there, 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. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1766x1184, 223 KB) Summary Photo taken by Roisterer who releases it under GFDL . Image is of World War II Japanese defences on Tarawa, Kiribati Licensing File links The following pages link to this file: Tarawa ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1766x1184, 223 KB) Summary Photo taken by Roisterer who releases it under GFDL . Image is of World War II Japanese defences on Tarawa, Kiribati Licensing File links The following pages link to this file: Tarawa ... Genera Many; see list of Arecaceae genera Arecaceae (sometimes known by the names Palmae or Palmaceae, although the latter name is taxonomically invalid. ...