Remaining M4A2 on Betio
After the island was secured and most combatant units had left Betio, huge quantities of material were left behind, including eight medium tanks from C Company, I Corps Medium Tank Battalion. Six more tanks were later carried back to Hawaii for repair, and two were left permanently on the island. One, a total wreck, was reportedly used for construction fill.
One tank, COBRA, was lost in the water on D+1 when the Tank Commander, 1st Lt Richard Sloat, was ordered to reduce enemy strongpoints located at the junction between Red Beach Two and Red Beach One.
Due to casualties lying on the beach, the tank had to approach "the Pocket" by driving in the water, parallel to the beach.
After engaging the enemy, the tank returned east, toward the main pier.
On her way back COBRA fell into an underwater shellhole that drowned her engine and shorted out the electrical system, and she was abandoned by her crew.*
One tank, COBRA, was lost in the water on D+1 when the Tank Commander, 1st Lt Richard Sloat, was ordered to reduce enemy strongpoints located at the junction between Red Beach Two and Red Beach One.
Due to casualties lying on the beach, the tank had to approach "the Pocket" by driving in the water, parallel to the beach.
After engaging the enemy, the tank returned east, toward the main pier.
On her way back COBRA fell into an underwater shellhole that drowned her engine and shorted out the electrical system, and she was abandoned by her crew.*
Both photos show the turret top of COBRA in November 1943. These are the only known photos of COBRA during WWII. NARA II.
|
|
Tilted sideways into a crater and lying sideways to the beach, it was impossible for the Marines to retrieve her since C Company’s specialized tank recovery vehicle had been left behind because of a shortage of shipping space. Not even Navy Construction Battalion heavy bulldozers could budge the abandoned tank, and it remained on the reef.
In the 1980s, with the price of scrap steel increasing, hundreds of wrecks spread around the Pacific islands took on a huge value in the eyes of scrap metal dealers.
Photo of COBRA taken in 1974 by Bill Bartsch. Courtesy of Bill Bartsch.
Chinese firms made several attempts to recover COBRA for her steel.Fortunately, she was difficult to reach from the shore: she didn't give up easily. In the 1990s, scrap metal prices dropped and it again became too expensive to remove the wreck.
Some wrecks, easily accessible, were scrapped such as guns and Japanese tanks. Others, in sea water for too long simply corroded away and disappeared forever. This is the case for most LVTs.
Today, despite the corrosion and scrap metal dealers, COBRA is still where she was abandoned 70 years ago.
Photos taken in 2015 by KT Harrison from New Zealand. Courtesy of Kim Harrison
High Definiton video of the tank shot in 2015 by Vic Stefanu.
This video is courtesy of Vic Stefanu (https://www.youtube.com/user/vstefanu). Other recent videos taken on the island show remaining Japanese guns, fortifications and US wrecks. It also shows what the island looks like today.
