74 years ago, US Marines waded into 'the toughest battle in Marine Corps history' -- here are 25 photos of the brutal fight for Tarawa

(AP Photo) By fall 1943, Japanese forces had been ejected from Alaska's Aleutian Islands in the North Pacific, and the Solomon Islands in the South Pacific were on the verge of capture. US forces now had to push into the Central Pacific, from which they could target Japanese strong points and communications lines. US officials had spent much of that year preparing for Operation Galvanic — the capture of the Gilbert Islands, a group of coral atolls that are now part of Kiribati. Held by the Bri...