Lat
8° 45' 0N Long 171° 3' 0E
Taroa
To the south of Taroa is
a small island, Eoon-epje, today connected by a causeway. Taroa
is the second largest island on Maloelap Atoll, some 35 minutes flight
north of Majuro. The island measures
about 1.48km in width and 1.68km in length. Post-war salvage rights
were granted to a "Mr. Stevens".
Anyone with more information or photographs please email
me. Taroa is the administrative center
of Maloelap Atoll.
Taroa Airfield
Spans the length of Taroa Island, developed by the Japanese prior to the war, netralized from the air by American aerial attacks.
American Missions Against Taroa
January 23, 1944 - May 18, 1944
Administrative center
On leaving the runway for the village you will notice a concrete gutter
system which lines all run- and taxiways. It was the main rainwater
cache To the left are several destroyed zeroes placed in their earthen
revetments. Down the track you will pass the air operations center
to your right and then will reach the village with the UNDP hut in
the center. Turning right at the UNDP hut there are three large water
tanks and the command and radio building which is worth investigating.
On the island side of this building you will see concrete foundations
and the twisted pile of metal girders which once made up the hangars.
Pier & Fortifications
There is a heavy pillbox and the main pier. Proceeding
north you will pass large concrete-covered fuel tanks and will reach
the tip, where a coastal gun stands in the water - evidence of coastal erosion
on Taroa.
Main Generator Building
If you proceed to the south from the UNDP hut, you will
get to the main generator building. The cooling water tanks are to
the south, while the large fuel tanks, sheltered in their own concrete building,
are in the back. The two large generators produced 250kW each. Past two large
iron air fuel tanks you will get to the beach.
Beheading Place
In the middle of Eoon-epje is a large bomb crater from
an exploded ammunition dump and a concrete block which has been called
"the beheading place". Oral traditions have it that this
was the location where the Japanese executed US and Marshallese prisoners.
Barracks and eastern shore
Across
the runway you will get to the barracks area. Here are a number
of personnel bunkers, concrete foundations of barracks, a laundry,
an officer's mess and the like. When you get to the shore, you
may turn left or right, and after some walk you will encounter
coastal gun positions, just lurking out from the shrubs.
Howitzers and AA guns
The perimeter of the island, especially the ocean side,
bristled with guns, which were a mixture of British and Japanese
manufacture: 8 6" and 2 12cm coastal defense guns, 4 6" howitzers, 5 127mm dual
purpose guns, 69 antiaircraft guns and an assortment of small guns.
Southern Taroa and Eoon-epje
Going south from the UNDP hut you pass the main generator
station, an area of workshops. A scatter of bomb carts and vehicles.
You will reach the southern generator station and further south the
end of Taroa. Eoon-epje was connected with Taroa by the Japanese
by means of a 700 feet long and 20 feet wide causeway, across which
ran a narrow-gauge railroad track ending at a terminal point in the
water south of the island (still visible as a lone pillar).
