Kammala wannan jumla: Bayan harin da aka kai a Pearl Harbor, a lokacin Yaƙin Duniya na II, Butaritari da Tarawa, da wasu daga cikin rukunin Gilbert na Arewa, sun kasance
Japan ta mamaye shi daga 1941 zuwa 1943. Betio ya zama filin jirgin sama da kuma tushen samar da kayayyaki. Fitar da sojojin Japan a ƙarshen 1943 ya haɗa da ɗayan yaƙe-yaƙe mafi zub da jini a tarihin Sojojin Ruwa na Amurka. Sojojin ruwa sun sauka a watan Nuwambar 1943 kuma yakin Tarawa ya biyo baya. Tsibirin Ocean, inda aka kafa hedkwatar mulkin mallaka, ya yi ruwan bama-bamai, aka kwashe shi kuma Japan ta mamaye shi a cikin 1942 kuma an sake shi ne kawai a cikin 1945, bayan kisan gillar da sojojin Japan suka yi wa duk 'yan Gilbertese a tsibirin. Funafuti ta dauki bakuncin hedkwatar wucin gadi na mulkin mallaka daga 1942 zuwa 1946, lokacin da Tarawa ta dawo don karɓar bakuncin hedkwatar, ta maye gurbin Tsibirin Ocean.