The Japanese occupation of the Gilbert Islands was the period in the history of Kiribati between 1941 and 1945 when Imperial Japanese forces occupied the Gilbert Islands during World War II, in the Pa
10 shillings of the Japanese occupation currency, 1942
Betio aerial view in September 1943
Japanese defense in Betio
A6M Zero Japanese plane wrecked in Tarawa
Gilbert and Ellice Islands
Videos
The Gilbert and Ellice Islands was a British territory in the southern Pacific Ocean from 1892 to 1976, comprising the present-day independent countries of Kiribati and Tuvalu.
Japanese occupation of the Gilbert Islands
…From 1941 to 1943, Imperial Japanese Navy forces occupied the islands, and from 1942 until 1945 Ocean Island which was home to the headquarters of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands colony (GEIC). On 29 November 1941, Operation Gi (for Gilbert Islands) was decided within the Japanese 4th Fleet and departed from Truk, headquarters…
Portrait of a native of the Makin islands, drawn by Alfred Thomas Agate (1841)
Stamp of the Gilbert & Ellice Islands Protectorates, depicting a Pandanus pine (1911)
SS Tokelau: Government Steamer Gilbert & Ellice Islands Protectorates (30 April 1909)
1939 stamp of the Gilbert and Ellice Island Colony