Japanese airfield. To protect it from capture, Keiji had 14 coastal defense guns, 50 pieces of field artillery, 100 machine gun nests, and 500 pillboxes installed, as well as a large wall built across the northern lagoon. Marshalls Prelude After the Gilberts fell to the Americans in late November 1943, Admiral Mineichi Koga of the Japanese Combined Fleet was unsure of which islands the Americans would strike. Without any carrier aircraft to inform him, he ordered Admiral Masami Kobayashi to disperse his 28,000 troops primarily to the outer islands of Maloelap, Wotje, Jaliuit, and Mili. However, Allied intelligence intercepted Imperial code, informing the Americans of which islands were more heavily defended. The Americans decided to invade the least protected but strategically important islands of Majuro, Kwajalein, and Eniwetok. As early as November, Consolidated B-24 Liberator from the Seventh Air Force stationed in the Ellice Islands had flown bombing missions over Mili and Maloelap. On 3 December 1943, Task Force 50, under Rear Admiral Charles Alan Pownall, including fleet carriers , , , and and light carriers and , launched carrier aircraft against Kwajalein. Four transports and fifty Japanese aircraft were lost, but the attack lacked strategic value. Fearing a counterattack from Wotje, Pownall ordered a second strike against the island. The Japanese did counterattack via a night bombing strike, in which Lexington sustained a torpedo hit but was not sunk. The task force later returned to Pearl Harbor. The Yorktown's aircraft would continue to fly air cover over the atoll on 29 January, 31 January, and from 1 February to 3 February. The invasion of the Marshalls was delayed for about a month due to logistical problems. Japanese commander Rear Admiral Monzo Akiyama was aware that he lacked sufficient fortifications. He had 8,000 men, but only about half of them were soldiers; a large fraction of the rest were Korean laborers. To defend Kwajalein, Akiyama planned to use an aerial counterstrike with his 110 aircraft to weaken the American landing forces. However, on 29 January 1944, American carrier aircraft from carriers Yorktown, Lexington, and Cowpens destroyed 92 Japanese fighters and bombers. Akiyama now lacked the ability to effectively mount a successful counteroffensive. Battle of Majuro On 31 January 1944, Rear Admiral Harry W. Hill dispatched the Reconnaissance Company from the V Amphibious Corps of the Marines and the Army's 2nd Battalion, 106th Infantry, 27th Infantry Division to land on Majuro.