A watan Nuwambar 1942, Jafananci sun gina filin jirgin sama a tsibirin Engebi. Kamar yadda suka yi amfani da shi kawai don yin amfani da jiragen sama tsakanin Truk da tsibirin zuwa gabas, babu ma'aikatan jirgin sama da aka kafa a can kuma tsibirin yana da kariya kawai. Lokacin da Gilberts suka fadi ga Amurka, Sojojin Jafananci na Jafananci sun ba da kariya ga atoll zuwa Brigade na Amphibious na 1, wanda aka kafa daga Garrison na 3 mai zaman kanta, wanda aka riga ya kasance a Manchukuo. Rundunar Amphibious ta 1 ta isa ranar 4 ga Janairu, 1944. An bar kimanin mutane 2,586 daga cikin maza 3,940 don kare Eniwetok Atoll, tare da ma'aikatan jirgin sama, ma'aikatan farar hula, da ma'aikata. Duk da haka, ba su iya gama ƙarfafawa ba kafin harin Amurka ya zo a watan Fabrairu. A lokacin da ya biyo baya
Yaƙin Eniwetok, Amurkawa sun kama Enewetak a cikin aikin amphibious na kwana biyar. Yaƙe-yaƙe ya faru ne a kan Engebi Islet, shafin mafi mahimmancin shigarwar Japan, kodayake wasu yaƙe-yaƙe sun faru a kan babban tsibirin Enewetak da kanta da kuma a tsibirin Parry, inda akwai tushen jirgin saman ruwa na Japan.