Battle of Tarawa --- U.S. Marines storming a heavily reinforced Japanese pillbox on Tarawa during the bitter-three-day battle that resulted in the death or capture of 5,700 Japanese soldiers and placed the Gilbert Islands in Allied hands. Capture of the Gilberts was an important step in Allied offensive operations to strip Japan of all territory she acquired by force. The Gilberts fell on November 20, 1943. August 20, 1945.