Lost Evidence: "Peleliu" 5 of 5

It was officially known as "Operation Stalemate II" but the survivors still call it "The Forgotten Battle". It was one of the last big Pacific battles of World War II and one of the bloodiest. Even the names associated with the inhospitable strip of land in the Palau islands sound hostile and discordant: Bloody Nose Ridge, the Pocket, Five Sisters, Five Brothers and the China Wall. And to many Marines, it still represents, to steal a phrase from Charles Dickens, the worst of times.
The street named for the Palau island where thousands of young Marines lost their lives in the fall of 1944 runs peacefully through a Camp Lejeune housing area. Peleliu -- it rolls off the American tongue with difficulty -- is one of those places official military historians would prefer to pretend just doesn't exist. But it does and it has the ghosts to prove it.
The invasion of Peleliu began on Sept. 13, 1944, with concentrated naval bombardment of the island designed to help clear a path for the attack. D-Day, Sept. 15, started with a pre-dawn shelling, a couple of bombing runs and the launch of Amtrak's full of infantrymen. But these were no ordinary infantrymen.
Although there were a number of battle-hardened veterans aboard those Amtrak's, many of the Marines deployed at Peleliu were young, inexperienced draftees, teenagers straight out of basic training. It was upon these young, unpracticed shoulders that the burden of taking Peleliu would fall. Take it they would, but the price they paid would be heavy, every inch of that island bought and paid for in blood, both American and Japanese.
The decision to take Peleliu still confounds many historians. The strip known as the Palaus was considered operationally insignificant at that late point in the contest to control the Pacific theater. But a battle of wills between the Navy's Chester Nimitz and the Army's Douglas McArthur led to an American operational plan to proceed with the battle on Peleliu.

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• WorldWarII
• Peleliu
• naval
• combat
• empire
• japan
• axis
• allies
• pacific
• Navy
• Mcarthur
• phillipines
• island
• death

[m1grand70]

wow, that japanese soldier commiting suicide at 5:10 really shows how some troops were dedicated to giving their life for Japan. He could of simply thrown the grenade back but chose his own fate.

[boxwoodgreen]

@Antimatter33 You are an idiot. Not for nothing. It ended a Japanese Empiracal Tryanny that had conquered and devastated other Asian nations and attacked the United States without warning. I've read the Old Breed several times. And, war is truly an ugly thing. But, not going to war in time only serves to increase the eventual death toll. Hitler could have been stopped in 1936 with the loss of a few hundred troops. But we stupidly "negotiated" with pure evil. Multiplied the losses by 10K times

[d8654474]

@mnpd007 kind of glad no Marine fought against German on the Atlantic side, if a few of them did they probably take all the credit there too. no shame in their game.

[badawyelghad]

معركه واحده مات فيها ١٠٥٠٠ ياباني - ١٥٠٠ امريكي عشان جزيره ملهاش اهميه اصلا

[mnpd007]

@headlicetonight

A lot of people who advertise like that are frauds. I'm too young for WW2, but not for another war which came later. And, most of the war stories I've heard came from clerk-typists at Long Binh. A "Pearl Harbor survivor" may just be service member who was stationed somewhere in Hawaii when the attack came. I'm betting he wasn't on the U.S. Arizona.

[mnpd007]

@meerkat1954

No the mothers didn't. But as you grow wiser you'll learn that what mothers want has nothing to do with anything. If mothers ran the politics there would be no wars.

[mnpd007]

@penumbra155

The Marines did NOT carry the "lion's share" of operations in the Pacific. There were ten Army infantrymen fighting for every Marine. What the Marines took in large share was the credit for the outcome. When things went badly, the Marines blamed the Army; when things went well, the Marines said "what Army?"

[mnpd007]

@d8654474

My father fought in many of those "brand name" Pacific battles. He was a soldier, and never saw a Marine in action. He was tired of reading and hearing about Marines doing his fighting before the War even ended. He always thought the difference was that the Marines had huge numbers of cameramen which the Army lacked, and a large public affairs operation which courted the press. The Army was too involved in fighting to woo the media.

[mnpd007]

@metalfire86able

Actually my homeland has been invaded by the enemy numerous times. 1776, 1812, 1861 and now Washington DC has invaded.

[d8654474]

@mnpd007 i Swear if you are a soldiers fighting in the Pacific, you can be guaranteed your sacrifice will goes unnoticed. It just amazing the fuckin arrogance, self promotion the Marine are. Their PROPAGANDA MACHINE IS EQUAL TO NONE.

[d8654474]

@DDIISSEE with exception of IWO Jima majorities of battle Marine fought have Army unit fight along side them include Tarawa. as usual they will not get mention. If you are a soldiers fighting with or along side Marine you can be guaranteed your sacrifice not be remember, sad but true. Nobody can beat Marine when it come to PR, no one.