There is a fairly good chance that you have never heard of the tiny Pacific Island of
Peleliu. With its size of approximately 13 square kilometres, it is little more than
a speck on the map. Nevertheless, for two and a half long months in 1944, the island
was home to some of the most intense combat in all of the Second World War, causing massive
loss of life on both the Japanese and the American side. And what is more, it may all
have been very well for nothing. -Intro-
Stepping stones to the Philippines It is difficult to determine any definitive
turning points in the Second World War’s Pacific Theatre. The Battle of Midway springs
to mind, the naval battle that caused the Imperial Japanese Navy to lose their edge.
But one can also make a decent case for the first Allied major offensive, the Guadalcanal
campaign. What was clear however, was that Japan was
increasingly on the defence as 1943 progresses. The definitive blow to the Japanese ambitions
as a great naval power, capable of projecting power across the Pacific with its carriers,
came in June 1944. It was at the Battle of the Philippine Sea, where Japan suffered irreplaceable
losses to its carrier fleet. To follow up on this success of the US, the High Command
decided to invade the Philippines. They figured the Philippines could later be used as a staging
area for the invasion of Japan. To reinforce their southern flank during the invasion of
the Philippines, it was decided that the Palau Islands a bit to the south east had to be
captured first. The Palau-campaign was codenamed Stalemate,
but was adapted into Stalemate II after it was only deemed necessary to invade the southernmost
two islands: Angaur and Peleliu. To be honest, in hindsight, the preparation of the assault
showed terrible signs of… mismanagement on the part of the Americans.
The invasion plans were drawn up in only three weeks, and serious reconnaissance was deemed
unnecessary. General William Rupertus, commander of the 1st Marine Division, even went as far
as to say the operation would be “a quickie: rough but fast”. These two small islands,
they wouldn’t pose too big a difficulty for the Americans. Well, as you can imagine,
the Americans heavily misjudged the situation. According to the American plans, the island
was expected to be “low and flat”. It is not known what caused the Americans to
believe this, but it definitely was not the case. On the contrary, Peleliu still has its
fair share of hills, steep valleys and perhaps most problematic of all: numerous caves.
Now aside from the incomplete intelligence information, there were doubts among the US
high command whether it would be worth it to capture the Palau islands. One of the most
vocal skeptics was Admiral William Halsey. The available intelligence suggested that
the Japanese presence on the islands was very weak, which meant that the Americans would
be in no danger of being flanked while invading the Philippines.
On top of that: due to its incredibly small size and lack of advanced infrastructure,
the Palau Islands would be of very little strategic value as a staging area. When Halsey
voiced his doubts to his superiors and proposed to ignore the islands altogether, his proposal
was actually widely supported. Unfortunately, by the time there was widespread agreement
on halting the operation, the US invasion troops had already embarked on their mission.
17000 US marines of the 1st Marine Division under the command of Major General William
Rupertus sailed towards the Paulu islands from Pavuvu - a 3400 kilometre journey.
The Battle of Peleliu was on. Establishing a bridgehead
On the early morning of September 15th 1944 the first units of the 1st Marine Division
went ashore. They landed in an area filled with craters and parts of shells that lay
there as silent witnesses of the naval and aerial bombardment that the Americans had
launched at the island for the past 3 days. Even though the bombardments were intense
and lasted a long time, the marines would soon discover that the damage they had inflicted
wasn’t nearly as significant as they had hoped.
The Japanese were dug in and as the marines set foot on land, they were instantly pinned
down by machine gun fire, mortar fire and light artillery. The subsequent waves of marines
were pinned down on the beach as well. Fortunately for them, however, the next succession of
landing waves, including the amphibious Sherman tanks, led them to be able to break through
the initial line of Japanese defence. The marines used flamethrowers and grenades to
push towards the bunkers and clear out the Japanese foxholes that were dug in the exposed
coral rock. After the first day of intense fighting, the Americans had established a
bridgehead on the island. By the end of the second day, the airfield that was near their
landing area was captured as well. Not just that, but several Japanese counter-attacks
had been repelled, though the casualties the Americans suffered thus far were rather severe.
Nevertheless, it seemed the Americans wouldn’t need too much more time to capture the island.
But, although the first two days of fighting can hardly be described as unsuccessful from
an American perspective, there was enough to worry about. The Japanese resistance was
clearly much stronger than anticipated, and American casualties already approached 2000.
This was partly because the island’s soil consisted mostly of coral. Now, not only did
this make it nearly impossible to dig in, but it also increased the risk of shrapnel
from artillery shells, and sharp chunks of coral flying around. All in all, the island’s
soil resulted in large parts of it being a death trap.
In most cases, the American soldiers managed to pile up some loose coral around their positions
as defence, at most. Another factor that complicated matters was the scorching heat. During the
day, temperatures could rise to 45 degrees, while the nights were barely any cooler. However,
despite these potential dangers, the aforementioned General Rupertus remained optimistic. In fact,
he even requested that the 81st Infantry Division Wildcats, which was appointed as a reserve
force and had not come ashore yet, would proceed to the island of Angaur. Rupertson’s Marines
would be able to handle this on their own. It was one of the poorer decisions the general
would make during the entire war. The Japanese in their element
Whereas the American command assumed that the Japanese were in severe trouble after
losing the beach and airfield in under two days, this could hardly be further from the
truth. In fact, for the Japanese commander of the island, Colonel Kunio Nakagawa, the
battle had only just begun. The mountainous terrain with its many caves, especially around
Mount Umurbrogol was where he had concentrated his troops for the defence. And as with most
Japanese troops, the island’s garrison was more than willing to fight to the death. While
the Americans were expecting a massive, suicidal banzai charge any second, the Japanese were
in fact digging in deeper, eagerly waiting for the Americans to come and take the fight
to them, slowly luring the Americans deeper onto the island.
In the days that followed, the Americans experienced some of the most frustrating combat that they
would see during the entire war. Every Japanese bunker that they assaulted was covered by
several other well-hidden positions on higher ground, making it easy for the Japanese to
pick off the Americans. For every Japanese gun that they silenced, two more seemed to
start firing from a previously undiscovered hole or cave. Behind every hill the Americans
captured, a slightly higher hill was waiting, from which they were immediately fired upon.
The terrain favoured the Japanese, who seemed to be in their element.
While the fighting in the daytime was excruciating and exhausting for the American soldiers,
the night-time was even worse. As time went on, the Japanese used the night to leave their
positions and infiltrate the American lines to wreak havoc among the resting soldiers
with knives or even swords. Not only did this further increase the American
casualties, but the fear it instilled in the American soldiers caused them to stay awake
at night, decreasing their fighting effectiveness and giving the whole mission a paranoid atmosphere,
to put it mildly. The lack of reserve troops that General Rupertus had sent off started
to take its toll, as the Marines’ front-line units were wearing thin.
However, the commanders, most notably Rupertus and Colonel Lewis Puller, commanding officer
of the 1st Regiment, remained convinced that victory was near, being blind to the actuality
of the battle that was transpiring. It wasn’t until Puller started sending members of his
regiment’s supporting staff, such as clerks, military police and dog handlers into battle
that Rupertus’ direct superior, General Roy Geiger decided to immediately relieve
Puller’s 1st Regiment, replacing it by units from the 81st Infantry. At this point, the
1st Regiment had suffered 1672 casualties in eight days time. It was the highest rate
of casualties of any Marine unit in the Pacific theatre.
Getting methodical By now it had become painfully obvious that
just storming the Japanese hideouts and fortifications was not a feasible way to achieve victory.
In the following weeks, an increasing amount of Wildcat aircraft flew over the island,
bombing all that was beneath. The slow and methodical approach that was initiated by
Rupertus on the ground continued. By capturing all of the island’s lowlands, the remaining
Japanese forces in the highlands were now pushed back, isolated and surrounded. By early
October, only the Umurbrogol mountain was still in Japanese hands. This area was referred
to as “the pocket” and measured only 850 by 350 metres. What followed were some of
the bloodiest fighting seen on the island, with immense casualty rates on both sides.
The battles that followed must have been incredibly frustrating for both sides, and this resulted
in unimaginable hate between them. Both sides regularly mutilated the bodies of fallen foes.
The tension, violence and suffering on the front lines became so serious, that among
the Americans a non-lethal gunshot wound was seen as a winning lottery ticket. It allowed
you to leave this hell on earth alive. To improve their chances of success, the Americans
progressed incredibly slowly and methodically. Captured ground was immediately fortified,
preventing successful Japanese counterattacks. Sandbags filled with sand from the beach,
were now hauled up to the front lines, finally providing some cover to the exposed American
troops. A pipeline was even laid up into the hills, to provide increased flamethrower capacity
in areas the flamethrower tanks could not effectively reach.
The Grinlinton Pond was the Japanese troops’ last source of freshwater. It was lit up with
spotlights to discourage the Japanese from exposing themselves to American sniper fire.
Clearly, the Americans had the Japanese in a stranglehold, and were now tightening the
grip. Exactly one month after the start of the battle,
on October 15th, the final Marine units were relieved by the Wildcats. By now, the Japanese-controlled
area was reduced to a size of around 4 football fields, with an estimated 1500 Japanese combatants
left on it. Although behind the scenes the US army staff
overtook the command of the mission, the tactics remained the same. They ground away at Japanese
positions one by one, making sure to leverage the numerical and material advantage as much
as possible. Now, considering the fact that the Japanese were already pushed back to this
degree, it is surprising they held out until far into November, another month.
On the 24th, the Japanese-held territory was reduced to little more than a single ridge,
defended by an estimated 120 soldiers, over half of whom were wounded. Sensing that the
end was near, colonel Nakagawa had started burning sensitive documents the day prior,
and committed ritual suicide that same day. For three more days his troops managed to
hold out. On the 27th of November the Americans had finally neutralised the final Japanese
resistance nests, emerging victorious from the capture of Peleliu, although the amount
of casualties suffered was staggering. In hindsight, the Battle of Peleliu symbolises
and illustrates many things from military perspective, both po sitive and negative.
First and foremost, it demonstrated the incredible courage and endurance of the soldiers of both
sides that fought there. In the harshest of conditions, facing unimaginable hardships,
they remained loyal and dependable, following the orders that they were given.
But… on the other hand, Peleliu is one of the clearest examples of the senselessness
of war. The American high command demonstrated a certain form of arrogance, not deeming it
necessary to conduct proper reconnaissance, while it remains highly questionable if the
capture of Peleliu was even strategically necessary. Everybody payed a high price for
this American hubris. The Americans suffered over 10.000 casualties, of which over 2000
were fatal. Meanwhile, the Japanese death toll approximated nearly 11000. And, of course,
in true Japanese fashion, there were barely any surrenders: only 12 sailors and 7 soldiers
surrendered. The vast majority, over 10.000 soldiers, died.
Also in true Japanese fashion: some soldiers did not accept surrender until far after the
war. In 1947, the Americans asked a Japanese admiral to convince the last Japanese survivors
on the island to surrender. A lieutenant and 26 soldiers complied, although the last soldier
to surrender did not emerge from his hideout until 1954 - 9 years later!
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