 The 51st Defense Battalion relieved the 7th in February 1944 on Funafuti and Nanumea until they were transferred to Eniwetok Atoll in the Marshall Islands in July 1944.The first offensive operation was launched from the airfield at Funafuti on 20 April 1943 when twenty-two B-24 "Liberator" bombers from 371 and 372 Bombardment Squadrons struck Nauru.The next day the Japanese made a predawn raid on the strip at Funafuti which destroyed one B-24 and caused damage to five other planes.