The Assault on Peleliu
The Assault on Peleliu

Author: Frank O. Hough

Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform

Published: 2016-08-05

Total Pages: 228

ISBN-13: 9781536919066

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The Assault on Peleliu, first published in 1950, is a detailed recounting of the U.S. Marines' fierce battle for Peleliu, part of the Palau Islands in the south Pacific. Facing approx. 11,000 hardened, entrenched Japanese troops, the 1st Marine Division began landing operations on September 15, 1944. What followed were more than two months of bloody fighting resulting in heavy casualties before the island was declared secure in late November. Included are more than 90 photographs and maps.

The Devil's Anvil
The Devil's Anvil

Author: James H. Hallas

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA

Published: 1994-02-28

Total Pages: 314

ISBN-13: 0313388555

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On September 15, 1944, General William Rupertus and the 16,000 Marines of the U.S. 1st Marine Division moved confidently toward Peleliu, an obscure speck of coral island 500 miles east of the Philippines. Though he knew a tough fight awaited him, Rupertus anticipated a quick two-day crush to victory, strengthening Gen. Douglas MacArthur's flank in his drive on the Philippines. Instead, as The Devil's Anvil reveals, American forces struggled desperately for more than two months against 10,000 deeply entrenched Japanese soldiers who had spent six months preparing for the battle. By the time the weary Americans could claim a victory, the fight had become one of the war's most costly successes. Even more tragic, Peleliu was later deemed a more or less unnecessary seizure. For those who survived, Peleliu remains a bitter, emotionally exhausting chapter of their lives. In The Devil's Anvil, Hallas reports on the personal combat experience of scores of officers and enlisted men who were at Peleliu. These men describe the heartbreaking loss of friends, the pain of wounds, and the heat, dirt, and exhaustion of a fight that never seemed to end.

Among Heroes
Among Heroes

Author: Jack R Ainsworth

Publisher: CreateSpace

Published: 2015-04-10

Total Pages: 84

ISBN-13: 9781511657273

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Today is September 15, 1944. The time is 0300, this is D-day for the 1st Marine Division's attack on the Japanese occupied island of "Peleliu," one of many small but well-fortified islands of the Palau group in the western Carolines. H-hour has been officially announced as 0830, which is but five and-one-half hours before us. The troops were awake most of the night and many stayed on deck to watch the first glimpses of the naval bombardment as we draw closer to the island. Reveille at 0300 was only a reminder to the men that there remained only a few hours before we would be moving to a hostile beach. The time is now 0315 and from where I am standing on the flag bridge, I can see the reddish-orange flashes of our big naval guns and hear the echoing report from miles across the slightly choppy sea. It is not yet light and the island of Peleliu cannot be seen except when it is occasionally silhouetted by a big explosion inland from the beach. It is 0330 now and the troops are at breakfast, eating their scrambled eggs, bacon, coffee, and fresh fruit in the mess hall down below decks. It is still darken ship on all weather decks. 0430 and the men have finished breakfast and returned to their respective compartments to finally arrange and check their battle equipment and add a finishing touch to their weapons with brush, oil, and ramrod. These weapons are going to mean life or death in a tight spot.

Last Man Standing
Last Man Standing

Author: Dick Camp

Publisher: Zenith Press

Published: 2010-11-10

Total Pages: 319

ISBN-13: 1616732415

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One of the bloodiest battles in Marine Corps history, Operation Stalemate, as Peleliu was called, was overshadowed by the Normandy landings. It was also, in time, judged by most historians to have been unnecessary; though it had been conceived to protect MacArthur’s flank in the Philippines, the U.S. fleet’s carrier raids had eliminated Japanese airpower, rendering Peleliu irrelevant. Nevertheless, the horrifying number of casualties sustained there (71% in one battalion) foreshadowed for the rest of the war: rather than fight to the death on the beach, the Japanese would now defend in depth and bleed the Americans white. Drawing extensively on personal interviews, the Marine Corps History Division’s vast oral history and photographic collection, and many never-before-published sources, this book gives us a new and harrowing vision of what really happened at Peleliu--and what it meant. Working closely with two of the 1st Regiment’s battalion commanders--Ray Davis and Russ Honsowetz--Marine Corps veteran and military historian Dick Camp recreates the battle as it was experienced by the men and their officers. Soldiers who survived the terrible slaughter recall the brutality of combat against an implacable foe; they describe the legendary “Chesty” Puller, leading his decimated regiment against enemy fortifications; they tell of Davis, wounded but refusing evacuation while his men were under fire; and of a division commander who rejects Army reinforcements. Most of all, their richly detailed, deeply moving story is one of desperate combat in the face of almost certain failure, of valor among comrades joined against impossible odds.

The Assault on Peleliu
The Assault on Peleliu

Author: Frank Hough

Publisher:

Published: 2023-12-06

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13:

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The Assault on Peleliu, first published in 1950, is a detailed recounting of the U.S. Marines' fierce battle for the Peleliu, part of the Palau Islands in the south Pacific. Facing approx. 11,00 hardened, entrenched Japanese troops, the 1st Marine Division began landing operations on September 15, 1944. What followed were more than two months of bloody fighting resulting in heavy casualties before the island was declared secure in late November. Included are more than 90 photographs and maps.

Marines In World War II - The Assault On Peleliu [Illustrated Edition]
Marines In World War II - The Assault On Peleliu [Illustrated Edition]

Author: Major F. O. Hough USMC

Publisher: Pickle Partners Publishing

Published: 2014-08-15

Total Pages: 612

ISBN-13: 1782892850

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As the Marines ran into the shore of the coral reefed island of Peleliu in their landing craft the Japanese artillery that wreathed the landing beach of Peleliu gave them little confidence in the words of their commander General Rupertus that the operation would be hard but short with minimal casualties; what lay ahead would be what was known as “the bitterest battle of the war for the Marines”. Contains 70 photos and 23 maps and charts. “Many factors combined to make the assault on Peleliu one of the least understood operations of World War II. Yet it was one of the most vicious and stubbornly contested, and nowhere was the fighting efficiency of the U.S. Marine more convincingly demonstrated. At Peleliu the enemy proved that he had profited from his bitter experiences of earlier operations. He applied intelligently the lessons we had taught him in the Solomons, Gilberts, Marshalls, and Marianas. At Peleliu the enemy made no suicidal banzai charges to hasten the decision; he carefully concealed his plans and dispositions. He nursed from his inferior strength the last ounce of resistance and delay, to extract the maximum cost from his conquerers. In these respects Peleliu differed significantly from previous campaigns and set the pattern for things to come: Iwo Jima and Okinawa. Because the operation protracted itself over a period of nearly two and a half months, it is easy to lose sight of the fact that the strategic objective was accomplished within the first week: neutralization of the entire Palaus group, and with this, securing of the Philippines approaches.”-C. B. CATES, GENERAL, U.S. MARINE CORPS, COMMANDANT OF THE MARINE CORPS.

Killing Ground on Okinawa
Killing Ground on Okinawa

Author: James H. Hallas

Publisher: Praeger

Published: 1996-03-11

Total Pages: 282

ISBN-13:

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On May 12, 1945, the 6th Marine Division was nearing Naha, capital of Okinawa. To the division's front lay a low, loaf-shaped hill. It looked no different from other hills seized with relative ease over the past few days. But this hill, soon to be dubbed, Sugar Loaf, was very different indeed. Part of a complex of three hills, Sugar Loaf formed the western anchor of General Mitsuru Ushijima's Shuri Line, which stretched from coast to coast across the island. Sugar Loaf was critical to the defense of that line, preventing U.S. forces from turning the Japanese flank. Over the next week, the Marines made repeated attacks on the hill losing thousands of men to death, wounds, and combat fatigue. Not until May 18 was Sugar Loaf finally seized. Two days later, the Japanese mounted a battalion-sized counterattack in an effort to regain their lost position, but the Marines held. Ironically, these losses may not have been necessary. General Lemuel Shepherd, Jr., had argued for an amphibious assault to the rear of the Japanese defense line, but his proposal was rejected by U.S. Tenth Army Commander General Simon Bolivar Buckner. That refusal led to a controversy that has continued to this day.