From January 31, 1944 to February 3, 1944, the Battle of Kwajalein took place on Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands. It was to be a hard lesson learned for the Japanese and a morale boosting victory for the U.S. The U.S. committed the V Amphibious Corps which was comprised of the 4th. Marine Division, the U.S. Army's 7th. Infantry Division, 22nd. Marine Regiment, the U.S. Army's 106th. And 111th. Infantry Regiments, and Underwater Demolition Teams 1 and 2. Arrayed against this formidable force was the Japanese 1st. Amphibious Brigade, 2nd. Mobile Battalion, and the 22nd. Air Flotilla. The attack, called Operation Flintlock, was a multi-stage, two-prong assault along the numerous small islands which made up Kwajalein Atoll. The two main thrusts were against Kwajalein and Roi-Namur. Tasked with taking Roi-Namur was the 4th. Marine Division. First, the division took the tiny islands of Ivan, Jacob, Albert, Allen, and Abraham all within the initial start of the operation. The unit landed on Roi-Namur on February 1, capturing half the island by the end of the day then taking the remainder on February 2. The division lost 206 men, suffered 617 wounded, and 181 men missing in action. The Japanese defenders fought to the last with 3,500 men killed with a mere 87 soldiers being captured. The Japanese found that defending on the beaches without defense in-depth was a recipe for failure. For the U.S., it proved their revised tactics worked and it was the first victory within the Japanese territorial sphere.
The photograph depicts U.S. Marine Private First Class N.E. Carling posing beside the M4A2 medium tank “Killer”. The tank belonged to Company C, 4th. Tank Battalion, 4th. Marine Division and the photograph was taken following the Marine victory on Roi-Namur. This photograph is one of several of “Killer” which are commonly seen in publications because of its war trophy mounted on the engine deck. The trophy is a Japanese Type 94 tankette and these photographs are often used to illustrate the disparity between U.S. tanks and those of the Japanese. To be fair, the Type 94 was never intended to battle other tanks and so the comparison isn't a very good one. Development of the Type 94 started in 1932 as a tracked vehicle which could supplement or replace wheeled armored cars as the latter had limitations, especially when it came to what terrain it could operate in. The prototype was completed in 1934 and after field testing, was put into production beginning in 1935. By 1937, some 823 had been built. The Type 94 was designed for reconnaissance, supply transport (it used a special tracked trailer for hauling), and if need be, infantry support. Armor protection for the two man crew was a maximum of 12mm down to a minimum of 8mm. The armament consisted of a single, turret-mounted Type 91 6.5mm machine-gun which was later upgraded to a Type 92 7.7mm machine-gun. The Type 94 was 5.4 feet high as well as wide and was 10.1 feet long with a total weight of 3.4 tons. Although the Type 94 was superseded by the Type 97 Te-Ke tankette in 1936, the Type 94 remained in service in some Japanese units until the end of the war. Which unit this particular Type 94 belonged to is difficult to say as both the 1st. Amphibious Brigade and the 2nd. Mobile Battalion were equipped with the type and there is no unit identification visible in the picture.
The sides of “Killer” are protected by wood boards and these modifications were made in the field to defend against Japanese magnetic mines, namely the Type 99 mine. The mine contained 1.5 pounds of TNT or RDX explosive. A feature of the Type 99 was that two of them could be stacked together to increase the armor penetration. A single Type 99 could pierce 19mm of armor but together, two of the mines could penetrate 32mm of armor which was very close to defeating the 38mm of side armor the M4A2 had.
Finally, of interest, PFC Carling is resting his hand on the fender of a Type 97 Te-Ke tankette and the crew of “Killer” have stuffed a duffel bag into the driver's compartment of the Type 94. In addition, the box-like structure on the rear of “Killer” is the exhaust adapter for the tank's deep-wading equipment. A exhaust stack would have been fitted to it while another similar stack would have been secured as an air-intake for the engine. This equipment allowed the M4 to come ashore in shallow water (though it could not fully submerge).
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