![]() ![]() At the north end lay Engebi Island, the only one with an airfield, and at the south end lay Eniwetok Island. ![]() Like Kwajalein, Eniwetok was an atoll consisting of a number of small low-lying islands ringing a central lagoon about 50 miles in circumference. Even another week’s delay in mounting the operation to capture Eniwetok would have resulted in greater cost. action, and in response to the fall of Tarawa, part of the 1st Amphibious Brigade of the Imperial Japanese Army had arrived at Eniwetok on 4 January 1944 in order to fortify it. The plan was quickly approved and designated Operation Catchpole, with a D-Day accelerated to 17 February 1944. Vice Admiral Spruance and Rear Admiral Turner’s plan was to use the 8,000-man Marine reserve force that had not been needed for the Kwajalein assault. An airstrike on Eniwetok on 30 January by Rear Admiral Sherman’s carrier task force had destroyed all 15 Betty medium bombers present, but there was risk that these could quickly be replaced. The Japanese surprise air raid on Kwajalein on 12 February only added additional urgency. Surprised by the relative ease of capturing Kwajalein (see also H-Gram 026-1), Vice Admiral Spruance and Rear Admiral Turner quickly began lobbying Admiral Nimitz to capture Eniwetok Atoll, 325 miles west-northwest of Kwajalein (and 1,000 miles east of the Marianas) before the Japanese could send reinforcements. ![]()
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