but there was no communication with the japanese command bunker the japanese admiral in charge of shivah saki decided to move his headquarters from this area to the south part of the island and when they were doing that they went outside of their bunker and a five inch shell exploded right near them and killed them all and in doing that in losing their tactical commander on the first day of the battle the japanese did not mount as counterattack in the night which potentially could have driven the marines right off of the island. i've had my moment of. let's go take a look at those eight inch. the legacy of the battle is still scattered across the sands of base. to this day the island is covered with the rusting remains of several of the big guns including the eight inch emplacements. tanks. heavily fortified pillboxes and the command post. the second day of the invasion was a precarious one for the american news although they had secured two small beaches the marines still had to fight inch by inch toward the airfield that bisected the island. after waiting nearly twenty hours in their boats