Up until August of 1942, The Japanese Empire had seemed unstoppable as it took Guam, the Philippines, the Dutch East Indies and other significant territories in the south pacific. Something needed to be done to halt the tide of invasion. While US Marine Corps invaded Guadalcanal, a secondary much smaller operation would be launched a thousand miles away against Japanese forces on the Makin Atoll. This operation was undertaken by the 2^nd Raider Battalion, of the newly formed Marine Raiders, and was led by the extremely unorthodox Evans F. Carlson.

On August 17^th, 1942 the 2^nd Marine Raiders were secretly delivered to Makin by submarine and landed ashore at night using rubber rafts. Their mission was to wreak enough havoc that the Japanese would hesitate before sending reinforcements from the Marshal Islands to aid IJA forces on Guadalcanal.  Without outside support, these soldiers carried the weapons and equipment they needed to complete the mission. Despite being scattered by the surf on the way onto the island, leadership issues during the operation and problems escaping the island’s strong tide when leaving, the Raider’s hit and run mission was touted by Allied media as a success and proved that the unbeatable Japanese could indeed be beaten.

Hello ladies and gents! Tobu here to run you through my recipe for painting US Marines. The scheme I’ve been using is from later in the war, featuring the camo helmet cover. All paints used are Vallejo unless otherwise indicated. Hope you enjoy!