Gavutu, Tanambogo & the FIRST Tank Assault in Marine Corps History | History Traveler Episode 404



Episode 4 of the Guadalcanal Series |

In the last episode, we were on the island of Tulagi talking about the first place where Americans stepped foot on Axis occupied territory during WWII and the fight that the Marine Raiders took to the Japanese there on Aug 7, 1942. As rare as it is to visit Tulagi, it’s even rarer to visit the neighboring islands of Gavutu and Tanambogo, which was assaulted by the Paramarines & 2nd Marine Battalion on the same day. We’re taking some time before heading back to Guadalcanal to walk the ground and talk a little bit about what happened in this often overlooked action.

Subscribe to Dave Holland’s channel here: https://www.youtube.com/@guadalcanal-walkingabattle5349

Gear in this episode: https://originusa.com/products/brrr-hunt-hoodie?variant=48545968521494

This episode was produced in partnership with The Gettysburg Museum of History. See how you can support history education & artifact preservation by visiting their website & store at https://www.gettysburgmuseumofhistory.com

Support the effort to expand history education on PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/historyunderground

Other episodes that you might enjoy:

– Tulagi: The Baptism of Fire for the Marine Raiders | History Traveler Episode 403: https://youtu.be/faRxgyrgako
– Guadalcanal: The 1st Marine Division’s Attack at Red Beach | History Traveler Episode 401: https://youtu.be/cOECzSXlMHg
– Inside MacArthur’s Australian HQ | History Traveler Episode 400: https://youtu.be/TFPGTscKEW0
– Nazi Judgement at Nuremberg | History Traveler Episode 399: https://youtu.be/ZyMlujg5gP0
– Flossenbürg & the Execution Site of Dietrich Bonhoeffer | History Traveler Episode 397: https://youtu.be/-If60ogO9HM

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35 thoughts on “Gavutu, Tanambogo & the FIRST Tank Assault in Marine Corps History | History Traveler Episode 404”

  1. Thanks JD and Dave! Such a beautiful peaceful place today..
    your comment about the thick jungle and the ability not seeing the enemy is analogous to what we dealt with in Vietnam.
    God bless the Marines. Semper Fi! 🇺🇸💪

    Reply
  2. Thank you JD for going to such extremes to present a story. Conversely, such a small island to have a tank assault on it. Is there any other back ground explaining why it was so heavily defended and its significance?

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  3. I recently watched episode 2 of this series. A few days later, I was able to view some documents concerning my grandfather who served on a hospital ship during the August 7-9th battle. He was awarded a citation that was given to the First Marine Division. I became so ecstatic while reading the documents because I had just watched your video and realized my grandfather saw it all.

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  4. I'm really enjoying this content on these smaller, less talked about battles during the pacific war. The quality of the videos is A+ as always. Any chance you're visiting Pavuvu island? The rest base for Maries? That would be cool to see.
    One thing I'm really amazed about with the pacific war is this- How well the islands were cleaned up after the battles and the war. Americans had so much equipment on these islands. Some of the islands had huge American bases. Youtube has so much great content on WW2 from old documentaries, TV series, old military films, etc. What I've never found is any coverage on how they closed these bases after the war ended and packed up everything and left. There was so much military equipment on say Iwo Jima after the battle. Now, theres hardly anything left beside Japanese pill boxes and caves. I know the US went back to these islands after the war and removed the dead soldiers from the temporary cemeteries. They moved the dead soldiers back to the US. I've never seen any film on that either. IDK, it's just odd that there's not anything showing these things. If someone knows a link to a video or film covering these subjects, please post a link.

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  5. @TheHistoryUnderground, your videos are the absolute Gold Standard! Anytime I see a new video you’ve posted, the day comes to a stop, I sit down and learn something that I didn’t know when I woke up that morning. Keep up the good work, JD!

    Reply
  6. History Underground! Your work is breathtaking, man! It actually gave me the feeling of just wondering what it might be like to approach the otherwise gorgeous sets of island on boat to undertake an assault in a battle within a vast brutal war! Kudos! 🙏 🌊 🏝 🪖 ⚔️🗡🔫 🪸 🤿 Are paramarines similar to Marine Raiders? I need to go to part one! Plus your maps and aerial photographs and present day filming are topnotch! Can't compliment enough, man!

    Reply
  7. Jd your the man gorgeous footage as usual it always blows my mind thinking of these young men fighting in paradise… I fought in Iraq and everything was brown and ugly i can't imagine fighting here i just hope they all both sides are chilling drinking a beer laughing in the afterlife they deserve peace

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