The Infantryman's Best Friend

In the European theater of World War II, the tank was the master of the battlefield. From the initial German blitzkrieg to the Allied advance across western Europe, its armor, firepower, and mobility revolutionized warfare. In the Pacific the tank was not the master of the battlefield but American infantry’s big brother. That did not make them any less vital. The Pacific was a maze of islands, most of them very small though as the war progressed campaigns were fought across larger islands including Luzon and Okinawa, a the Japanese turned those islands into fortresses. Due to the terrain and conditions in the Pacific, the infantry of the U.S. Army and Marine Corps were the main weapon, but they often needed help to blast through Japanese defenses. In Europe the tank’s main opposition was other tanks; in the Pacific the opposition was pillboxes, bunkers, and caves. On battlefields from New Guinea to the Philippines, Tarawa to Iwo Jima, American tanks supported their infantry brethren as they advanced towards Japan. To operate effectively together tanks and infantry had to train together. The effectiveness of this joint training was displayed on the numerous battlefields. Problems arose when units did not spend enough time together or in some cases, were completely unfamiliar with each other. Both infantry and armor had to understand the other’s capabilities and vulnerabilities to work effectively. This study examines the role tanks played in many of the individual battles in the Pacific War. Their value is demonstrated not in just the battles they participated in but in those they were unable to join. When tanks could not lend their support, due to the difficult jungle terrain of Pacific islands, battles took more time and were more costly.