If you ask the US 1st Marine Division in the entire Pacific War, which island is not worth fighting at all?
The first thing that comes to their mind must be "Peleliu Island".
Campaign background
After the Battle of the Marianas, the top American leadership disagreed on the next move.
MacArthur suggested occupying the Philippines, which Nimitz believed should be bypassed.
The two of them had opposite plans, and they were unwilling to give in, and finally quarreled with Roosevelt.
It was the time of the election, and Roosevelt was preparing for his third re-election.
Given MacArthur's influence in American politics, Nimitz was thrown out several positions.
Roosevelt agreed to MacArthur's battle plan.
After deciding to attack the Philippines, Peleliu Island, located at the southern tip of the Palau Islands, became the focus of American attention.
The Japanese army built an airfield on the island and stationed 10,000 troops.
For the US military, the ghost garrison on the island is not a threat, but the airport is very threatening.
Because whether the US military is traveling from New Guinea or Guam to the Philippines, Japanese fighters can take off from Peleliu Island to intercept the US military on the way.
In order to ensure the safety of the flanks, the US military was determined to pull out this nail before attacking the Philippines.
According to the original plan, American troops would land on the islands of Peleliu and Unger on September 15, 1944, and take two days to solve the Japanese forces on these two islands.
Then, take control of the entire Palau Islands in a month.
Obviously, compared with the previous island battles, the US military's plan is quite optimistic.
The reason why the Americans are so confident is because intelligence shows that the Japanese troops stationed on Peleliu Island are just a group of poorly equipped remnants of the defeated generals.
In June ~ July 1944, the US army beat the Japanese army in the Battle of the Mariana Islands.
Under the great victory, the Americans floated, making them look down on the Japanese army.
In early September, according to the plan, the US military sent bombers to bomb the Palau Islands.
After the bombing, Halsey, based on aerial reconnaissance reports, believed that the Japanese aviation in the Philippines was very weak and that there was no need for American troops to land in Palau. A direct attack on the Philippines would be successful.
Halsey therefore suggested skipping the Palau Islands and concentrating on the Philippines.
In hindsight, this advice is very sensible.
However, Nimitz vetoed Halsey's proposal out of safety and made the decision to keep the original plan unchanged.
As a result, Halsey and Nimitz had another fierce dispute.
Neither of the two could convince the other, and it went to Marshall, the Joint Staff Council.
Marshall, judging the situation, supported Halsey and decided not to attack Palau and directly attack the Philippines.
But the decision of the Joint Staff was 48 hours late, and by this time the American fleet had begun shelling Peleliu.
As the so-called arrow is on the string, it has to be sent. At this time, it is too late to cancel the order.
Therefore, Nimitz decided to land according to the original plan, and the Battle of Peleliu broke out.
However, the US military never dreamed that Peleliu would become their nightmare.
Peleliu
Dilemma
When the Americans decided to attack the Palau Islands, the Japanese were already ready.
In early 1944, the Japanese judged that the United States would not attack the Japanese mainland directly, and that there would be a vicious battle in the Philippines.
As a result, while the Tokyo base camp sent troops to reinforce the Philippines, it also transferred the 14th Division from northeast China to the Pacific theater to strengthen the defense of the Palau Islands.
In April, the 14th Division arrived in Palau.
One of the wings and one group, totaling 5,388 men, were stationed on Peleliu Island under the command of Nakagawa Shuo Odaisa. Replace part of the Naval Garrison that was previously stationed on the island.
After the handover, including the navy and labor, the total number of Japanese troops in Peleliu was 10,708.
The Devil's 14th Division is a permanent division, which can be described as a veritable elite force, and its combat effectiveness is far stronger than the third-rate troops that were previously beaten by the US military in the Mariana Islands.
Moreover, Nakagawa is also a commander with strong learning ability.
Before that, he had no experience guarding the island. However, after studying the documents of the General Staff Headquarters summarizing the previous island operations, he realized that the US firepower was very strong, and it would definitely not be able to fight it head-on.
Therefore, after arriving at Peleliu Island, Nakagawa took advantage of the rugged terrain of the island to open the lime caves on the mountain with passages, put artillery and machine guns in each cave, and built a complex defense system composed of strengthening bunkers, caves and tunnels.
In Nakagawa's opinion, team battles can't be fought, and I won't hide in the shadows?
Kunio Nakagawa
The changes in the Japanese army on the island, the American army did not know.
The devil obviously prejudged the prejudgment of the US military.
Since the deployment of his own forces has already been known by the opponent, it is better to capture the situation and lure the US military to attack the island.
At 6:15 a.m. on September 15, 11 aircraft carriers, 3 battleships, 25 cruisers, and 30 destroyers covered the 1st Marine Division rushing to Peleliu Island.
The U.S. forces divided the landing site into five areas, the northernmost of which was the "White One" Beach and the "White Two" Beach, which were attacked by the 1st Marine Regiment;
In the middle are the "Orange One" Beach and the "Orange Two" Beach, attacked by the 5th Marine Regiment;
On the southernmost side is the "Orange Three" beach under the responsibility of the 7th Marine Regiment.
Before that, US warplanes and naval guns had bombed the island for three days.
According to the reconnaissance plane's report: "There is no trace of Japanese activity on the island, not even a single bird call." ”
In this situation, the officers and men of the 1st Marine Division who landed were all relaxed. Everyone said and laughed, thinking that the Japanese troops on the island were all bombed, and it would take less than 2 days to occupy the whole island.
However, the US bombing did not actually kill a few devils.
According to the order of Nakagawa Susuo, the Japanese army hid in more than 500 dark bunkers dug in advance during the US bombing.
Even during the landing of the 1st Marine Division on the island, the well-trained Japanese troops were very heavy, and no one opened fire without authorization.
The 1st Marine Division landed on Peleliu
At 8:32 a.m., the Japanese troops, who had been silent for two hours, suddenly opened full fire.
Grenade canisters, mortars, grenades, overwhelming the "White One" beach.
The unsuspecting soldiers of the 3rd Battalion of the 1st Marine Regiment had nowhere to hide, and hundreds of people were instantly knocked down on the beach.
The 1st Battalion of the 1st Marine Regiment, which subsequently landed on the "White One" beach, also lacked ideological preparation and suffered heavy losses.
The Japanese marksmanship is very accurate, even at a distance of 100 meters, it can hit accurately.
The first American soldiers who landed on the island were shot and fell to the ground without even knowing where the enemy was hiding.
The surprise Japanese attack left more than 1,000 U.S. Marines killed, missing or wounded.
Another 60 landing craft, 26 amphibious armored vehicles, 3 tanks were destroyed during the landing.
However, the Japanese army was small after all.
Just when Nakagawa Shuo focused his strike on the "Bai Yi" beach, the 2nd Battalion of the 1st Marine Regiment landed on the "White Second Beach" with difficulty and advanced 330 meters.
However, the smooth advance of the US military was actually intentional by the Japanese army.
Nakagawa Shuo believed that his side did not have much ammunition and was unable to engage the enemy in sustained firepower, so he simply ordered to open a passage to lure the enemy deep, intending to inflict heavy damage on the American army at one time.
The U.S. military surrounded the Japanese troops
Peleliu "meat grinder"
Taking advantage of the ceasefire of the Japanese army, the US 5th Marine Regiment and the 7th Marine Regiment successively landed on the beachhead.
In order to create conditions for the marines to advance, American naval guns on the sea surface kept bombarding the island.
But unexpectedly, the old devil, Nakagawa State, even figured out the law of artillery support of the US military.
Although the U.S. military has ammunition ships following, it takes time to replenish ammunition, and after a period of intensive shelling, the U.S. naval guns are bound to be muted, and this is the best time for the Japanese to launch a counterattack and drive the U.S. troops off the sea.
At 16:50 p.m., taking advantage of the gap between the ceasefire of American naval guns, 1,000 Japanese troops came out of the tunnel.
At the same time, artillery and 16 Type 95 light tanks concealed in the fortifications also quietly entered the sortie positions.
With Nakagawa's order, the Japanese artillery fired at the same time.
With the deafening sound of artillery, Japanese tanks and infantry rushed to the American positions like tigers descending the mountain.
The U.S. military never imagined that the devil would deploy tanks on the tiny island of Peleliu.
In a panic, the artillery did not have time to shoot, the infantry fled, and the scene was extremely chaotic.
Fortunately, just when the US army was about to face a catastrophe, 8 M4A2 tanks suddenly came out.
The Japanese Type 95 light tank, weighing only 6.7 tons, was okay with panicked infantry.
When you encounter the M4A2 with a total weight of 30 tons, you will only be beaten.
Seeing their own tanks rushing up, the chaotic American troops stopped fleeing and launched return fire on the spot.
After a while, all 16 thin-skinned Japanese tanks were shattered.
Destroyed Japanese Type 95 tanks
Subsequently, the American infantry used the M4A2 as fire support and advanced forward.
Nakamura saw that more and more American troops were participating in the counterattack, and the firepower was getting stronger and stronger, and immediately ordered a retreat.
It must be said that the 14th division is indeed elite.
Even if the counterattack failed, the retreat was orderly, and the whole process suffered few casualties.
At the beginning of the Battle of Peleliu, the devils seemed to be passive defense, but in fact they were waiting for the rabbit.
Whenever the Americans attacked, the Japanese would shrink their inner lines, repeatedly forming new encirclements, and fighting more and less in a small area.
If it were not for the small number of ghost soldiers and backward equipment, the US military would inevitably have to pay greater losses.
In the following days, the Japanese army did not make a big move, but the cold gunmen of the devils were everywhere.
The 1st Marine Division suffered 4,000 casualties during the advance, of which the 1st Marine Regiment was nearly disabled.
But at such a great price, the 1st Marine Division was still unable to gain a foothold on the island.
1st Marine Division in battle
On September 23, considering the heavy casualties of the 1st Marine Division, the 321st Regiment of the 81st Army Division entered the battle.
On this day, the US army fought for 8 days and nights, and finally occupied the island's airport.
Not to mention, the efficiency of the US military aviation is high.
As soon as the airfield was occupied, carrier-based aircraft successfully landed and bombed the Japanese troops on the island.
However, the Americans only occupied the runway, and the heights around the airport were still controlled by the Japanese.
As a result, whenever the aircraft took off and landed, the Japanese fire points hidden near the airfield opened fire.
The American pilots were also helpless, and immediately after taking off, they had to turn around and bomb the Japanese fire points around the airfield, and after a series of bombardment and strafing, they had to brave a hail of bullets to land and reload.
Such a scene made many veterans of the 1st Marine Division who had experienced hundreds of battles also fall into confusion.
Before the start of the fight, it was said that the capture of the Palau airfield could support the Philippine campaign.
But now the battle is like this, a large number of warships and materials are pinned down in this small island of Peri-Io, let alone support the Philippines, it is lucky not to pull back.
Tiger heads and tails
From the capture of the airport until mid-October, the U.S. military organized several more offensives, but little progress was made.
As a result, the US military and the Japanese army also fell into a tug-of-war.
The Japanese army has few troops and lacks backup, so it cannot fight the American army. But the U.S. military could not help the Japanese army. The original plan to occupy the Palau Islands was changed to take only Peleliu Island and Unger Island.
By October 12, the Battle of Peleliu had indeed become a battle that had pulled the American back.
MacArthur felt that continuing to fight would only disrupt the next battle of Leyte Island.
Therefore, he withdrew the main force and decided not to care about the next battle on Peleliu.
On the same day, the US army, without destroying the Japanese army, unilaterally announced the end of the Battle of Peleliu.
Subsequently, on the question of whether to continue the fight, there was another debate within the US military.
The US military announced the "occupation" of Peleliu
Some people believe that Peleliu should not have been fought in the first place, and that the troops should be withdrawn as soon as possible.
But most people believe that since they have been fought, they must resolutely fight to the end, otherwise they are sorry for the fighters who have already died.
In the end, the minority obeyed the majority, and the US military decided to continue fighting.
In early November, the main forces of the US 81st Division and artillery units were all thrown into Peleliu.
So far, the number of US Marines and Army troops engaged in combat has reached 28,000.
Relying on the superiority of troops and huge material advantages, the US military relied on flamethrowers, bombs, and artillery shells to advance hole by hole and fight the Japanese army.
On November 24, the Japanese ran out of ammunition. Nakamura knew that the general trend was over, and after burning the military flag, he committed suicide by seppuku .
Nakamura committed suicide along with 60 seriously injured people who were unable to move.
On November 27, the U.S. forces believed that the Japanese on the island had lost organized resistance and officially announced the complete occupation of Peleliu.
However, the remaining 30 devils on the island continued to resist until April 1947, when they surrendered to the U.S. forces.
The Battle of Peleliu Island, the US army originally planned to take it in 2 days, but it turned out to be tossed for more than 70 days.
The 1st Naval Division was reduced by 60% in battle, and the 81st Infantry Division by 32%.
This battle taught the Americans the combat effectiveness of Japan's elite divisions, and also made the Americans understand for the first time how fragile human life is in the face of carefully arranged comprehensive fortifications.
However, it is regrettable that due to the extremely weak defense of the Japanese army in the Philippines, the Peleliu Island, which the US army spent huge manpower and material resources, had little strategic value later.
In Peleliu today, traces of war can still be seen everywhere.
The tombstones and battle relics of those soldiers left behind still warn us of the cruelty of war.
As Sletch, a former Marine who witnessed the battle, said in his book: "The life-and-death battle at Peleliu corroded the appearance of civilization and made each of us savage and hideous." ”