Lost Evidence: "Peleliu" 1 of 5

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KoLo2071
July 16, 2008

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: Education

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

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fredhubner (1 day ago) Show Hide

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Even the best generals can turn their blunders into massive self-destruction ...

hedan2 (1 month ago) Show Hide

-6

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Highspeedchickenfeed (1 month ago) Show Hide

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fuck you

elddirmot9 (1 month ago) Show Hide

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They are making a miniseries based off that book entitled "The Pacific"

noblepuker (2 months ago) Show Hide

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Sledge is a main character in Ken Burns pacific documentary.They took his quotes from that book i bet.He had a way with words.I'm gonna read it.He was haunted by the war untill his death,2001 i believe.

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worldbattle39 (2 months ago) Show Hide

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i have it

Hamptoncltn (3 months ago) Show Hide

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My grandfather died in 2001..But I still remember the stories he told me, god I miss hearing them so much..

hockey6467 (3 months ago) Show Hide

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I konw I read the book too, it's amazing. If you like that style read Parachute Infantry by David Kenyon Webster. It's the same kind and my favorite book

klayman2 (4 months ago) Show Hide

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thats not the point he said two days it actually last 124 days i read it in a book.

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Lost Evidence: "Peleliu" 1 of 5

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