by U.S. intelligence to be more highly trained, better disciplined, more tenacious and to have better small unit leadership than comparable units of the Imperial Japanese Army. The 3rd Special Base Defense Force assigned to Tarawa had a strength of 1,112 men. They were reinforced by the 7th Sasebo Special Naval Landing Force, with a strength of 1,497 men. It was commanded by Commander Takeo Sugai. This unit was bolstered by 14 Type 95 light tanks under the command of Ensign Ohtani. A series of fourteen coastal defense guns, including four large Vickers 8-inch guns purchased during the Russo-Japanese War from the British, were secured in concrete bunkers around the island to guard the open water approaches. It was thought these big guns would make it very difficult for a landing force to enter the lagoon and attack the island from the north side. The island had a total of 500 pillboxes or "stockades" built from logs and sand, many of which were reinforced with cement. Forty artillery pieces were scattered around the island in various reinforced firing pits. An airfield was cut into the bush straight down the center of the island. Trenches connected all points of the island, allowing troops to move under cover when necessary to wherever they were needed. As the command believed their coastal guns would protect the approaches into the lagoon, an attack on the island was anticipated to come from the open waters of the western or southern beaches. Rear Admiral Keiji Shibazaki, an experienced combat officer from the campaigns in China, relieved Tomonari on 20 July 1943, in anticipation of the coming fight. Shibazaki continued the defensive preparations right up to the day of the invasion. He encouraged his troops, saying "it would take one million men one hundred years" to conquer Tarawa. Opposing forces American Naval forces United States Fifth Fleet Admiral Raymond A. Spruance in heavy cruiser Fifth Amphibious Force ("V 'Phib") Rear Admiral Richmond Kelly Turner in battleship Northern Attack Force (Task Force 52 – Makin) Vice Admiral Turner embarking 27th Infantry Division (Army) (Major General Ralph C. Smith) Southern Attack Force (Task Force 53 – Tarawa) Vice Admiral Harry W. Hill in battleship embarking 2nd Marine Division (Major General Julian C. Smith) Ground forces V Amphibious Corps Major General Holland M. "Howlin' Mad" Smith, USMC Tarawa: 2nd Marine Division Major General Julian C. Smith 2nd Marine Regiment (Col.