Battle for Peleliu
Map of the battle
| date | September 15, 1944 to November 25, 1944 |
|---|---|
| place | Peleliu , Palau Islands , Pacific |
| output | American victory |
| Parties to the conflict | |
|---|---|
| Commander | |
| Troop strength | |
|
1st Marine Division 81st Infantry Division Total: 28,484 |
14th division total: ~ 11,000 |
| losses | |
|
2,336 dead, 8,450 wounded |
10,695 dead, 202 prisoners |
The Battle of Peleliu took place during the Pacific War as part of the Battle of the Palau Islands (code name: Operation Stalemate II ) from September 15 to November 25, 1944. The fight for the local airfield on Peleliu , one of the Palau Islands , was very costly for the Americans because they underestimated the Japanese defenders.
prehistory
After the conquest of the Mariana Islands in the style of far successfully practiced Iceland Hopping (island hopping) , Admiral turned Chester Nimitz two new objectives and his strategists, Philippines -Insel Mindanao and the Palau Islands in the Western Caroline Islands . The latter are 800 km east of the Philippines and 1,600 km west of Truk . On one of these islands, on Peleliu , the Japanese maintained a large military airfield , which came into their focus after the successful American operation Hailstone against Truk and the conquest of the Marianas by the Allies.
Admiral William F. Halsey , the commander in chief of the South Pacific region , thought the occupation of this group of islands on the way to the Philippines a unnecessary risk, but his superior, Admiral Nimitz, disagreed: he believed that the Japanese units on the islands were a serious one Danger when his fleet attacked Mindanao and Leyte .
The Japanese defenders
As a League of Nations mandate, Palau and thus Peleliu had been under Japanese administration since the First World War . At the time of the US invasion, the islands in the Palau Defense Area (Palau District Group) were under the command of Lieutenant General Sadae Inoue , commander of the Japanese 14th Division . This unit was a proven elite organization that had been relocated from the Chinese theater of war in April 1944. Inoue divided the forces at his disposal into several groups, which formed garrisons on the islands of Angaur, Babelthuap and Peleliu. The headquarters of the 14th Division was on Koror. From August (after the fall of Saipan) Field Marshal Hisaichi Terauchi in Manila was in command of the entire defense district.
A garrison of around 11,000 combat and construction troops was stationed on Peleliu, including members of the army and navy. The core of the defense formed the approximately 5400 soldiers of the reinforced 2nd Infantry Regiment of the 14th Division under Colonel Kunio Nakagawa and the 346th Infantry Battalion of the 53rd Independent Mixed Brigade . The infantry was supported by 150 mm and 81 mm mortars and several 75 mm and 105 mm guns . There were also several Type 95 battle tanks belonging to the 14th Division's tank unit. In contrast to other Japanese officers, Inoue did not even think about inciting his soldiers into reckless direct attacks. Rather, he used the island's terrain to build an effective defense from the depths .
The airfield was on the southern tip of the island, which was covered with lush vegetation. To the north of it stretches an approximately 50 m high ridge called Umurbrogol or Bloody Nose Ridge, which slopes steeply towards the coast and was interspersed with hundreds of caves.
The island had been occupied by Japan at the beginning of the First World War. Japan later received the island as a League of Nations mandate and used it economically. Among other things, was there for the phosphate - mining a tunnel system was built. In one of the more than 500 cavities which to fire howitzers (four 150-mm and twenty 81-mm mortars and numerous 20-mm automatic cannon ) and opened between the bursts could be closed had thousand square. Inoue made sure that enough ammunition and provisions were stored in these caverns . This particular tactic, which was based, among other things, on directives of July 11, 1944 from the headquarters of the Palau District Group, ultimately led to the Japanese armed forces on Peleliu using the terrain for the first time in a manner that was later also used Iwo Jima and Okinawa should cause heavy losses for US troops. At the same time, the tactic of fighting from prepared positions on the beach and from the hinterland destroyed all plans of the US commanders - as of Major General William H. Rupertus - who planned an operation of only a few days.
Facing the impending invasion, Inoue drilled his people on a tactic designed to avoid the heavy losses suffered on the other islands. If his people could not prevent the Americans from landing and forming a bridgehead , they should retreat to prepared defensive positions and fire their mortars at predetermined targets. Sadae Inoue wanted the landing US troops involved in an attrition battle. A tactic that was subsequently repeated with the aim of forcing the USA to the negotiating table. He also instructed his people to refrain from traditional suicide ( seppuku ) if the enemy were to overrun their lines. Instead, they should hide and then attack the enemy from behind.
In addition, in order to avoid unnecessary victims, the civilian population was evacuated to the neighboring island of Koror .
Preparations by the Americans
In July 1944, the submarine Burrfish was about two weeks off Peleliu and took pictures of the island through the periscope. A team of five combat swimmers approached the beach unnoticed from the submarine and explored the reefs and underwater obstacles in front of it. At the end of August 1944, American bombers flew attacks on the Palau Islands from retaken New Guinea . Carrier aircraft from the 3rd Fleet commanded by Admiral Halsey then attacked the islands, followed by a three-day bombardment of battleships , cruisers and destroyers from Rear Admiral Jesse B. Oldendorf's naval force. Several targets on the surface of Peleliu were destroyed. However, the underground facilities hardly suffered any damage, also because they had not been discovered by the American reconnaissance.
Nimitz planned the beginning of the Peleliu invasion on September 15, during which Mindanao should be attacked at the same time. The 1st Marine Division under Major General William H. Rupertus formed the spearhead against Peleliu, the III. Amphibious Corps of Maj. Gen. Roy S. Geiger and Vice Admiral Theodore S. Wilkinsons III. Amphibious Force was subordinated. On September 13, Admiral Halsey reported that his pilots had encountered little air resistance in the attacks on the island. From this he hoped that Nimitz would cancel Operation Stalemate II and the attack on Mindanao , since the local Japanese air power seemed already broken due to the loss of the Mariana Islands. However, only the planned invasion of Mindanao was postponed indefinitely, but not the attack on the Palau Islands.
The battle
On September 15, 1944, the 1st Marine Division began the landing as planned. On the way to the beach, the marines in their Amtracs were confident of victory because of the damage that the 3rd US Fleet had caused on Peleliu. However, when the Amtracs reached a coral reef several hundred meters offshore, the Japanese gun batteries opened fire. In the center of the invasion front, Colonel Harold D. Harris' 5th Regiment landed relatively unscathed, but in the north the 1st Regiment suffered greater losses because Japanese troops were able to shoot from a protruding cliff. At the south end of the beach, Colonel Herman H. Hanneken had to lead his soldiers of the 7th Regiment through a narrow passage, which was flanked by mines and obstacles, so that the Japanese artillerymen could fire at the American landing craft with great accuracy .
When the 5th and 7th regiments reached the beach, the Japanese troops withdrew inland and prepared for a counterattack. The 5th Regiment used the ceasefire to occupy the southern edge of the airfield. Further south, the 7th Regiment was in confusion because their Amtracs had to land uncoordinated at locations that had not been agreed. In the north of the landing site, the 1st regiment was involved in a battle. When landing, the Japanese had sunk almost all command Amtracs, so that the commander Colonel Lewis B. "Chesty" Puller had no way to call for reinforcements by radio. On the north flank, Puller's soldiers faced enemy units, which were holding the entire beach under fire in their well-placed and steel-reinforced shelters .
In a fight lasting several hours, in which the Japanese were able to destroy almost an entire American company , Puller's regiment eliminated the Japanese positions on the left. Thereupon 13 light tanks of the Japanese armed forces accompanied by infantry launched a counterattack on the marines. The Americans mobilized twelve Sherman tanks and were able to take out the enemy with air support. Since the Japanese tanks were poorly armored, the Japanese troops eventually had to withdraw.
The Japanese forces fired grenade launchers at the 1st Regiment all night and the next morning , but later that day the Marines responded with a ground attack. In the meantime, the Japanese units withdrew from the airfield towards the east coast, splitting their troops in two. For the Americans, however , the runway was useless, as the Japanese artillery from nearby Umurbrogol could shell every landing and taking off aircraft.
While the 5th and 7th Regiment were engaged in battles with Japanese forces in the vicinity of the runway, the 1st Regiment attacked the Umurbrogol positions. These hills were jagged, weathered corals with thick vegetation and difficult to climb without a struggle. On September 17th, the American marines under Puller reached the base of the ridge and began their slow ascent. With bazookas , ship artillery and fighter planes they destroyed the positions of the Japanese troops in the caves on their way to the summit and suffered heavy losses. After three days on Peleliu Island, around 50% of the soldiers in the US 1st Marine Regiment were either dead or wounded. Australian photographer Damien Parer accompanying the Marines was killed that day.
On September 18, the Japanese launched a counterattack on Umurbrogol, with which they recaptured a ridge that the 1st regiment had only occupied the day before. After trying to climb the hill for another two days, American unity was too decimated. After more than 1,700 men fell out on the ridge, now called Bloody Nose Ridge by the Marines , the remnants of the American 1st Regiment needed reinforcements or relief . Although the 7th Regiment came to their aid, conquering the hill turned into a stalemate . The Japanese 2nd Infantry Regiment had already lost two thirds of its combat strength by this time.
The 321st Regiment of the 81st US Infantry Division of the Army arrived on 23 September to relieve the 1st Marine Regiment that had been taken along. This broke the Japanese resistance on the neighboring island of Angaur within 3 days . On September 23, the Japanese armed forces sent the 2nd Battalion of the 15th Infantry Regiment in two waves from the neighboring islands as reinforcement, but most of them were discovered by the American Navy and destroyed at sea. Two days later, the 5th Marine Regiment snuck around the western side of the Umurbrogol and took possession of the northern half of Pelelius without major problems. Then this unit climbed the north flank of the hill while the American 321st Infantry Regiment from the west and the 7th Marine Regiment attacked the Japanese units from the south. Little by little the three American regiments made their way through the Japanese positions and constricted the remnants of the Japanese units on the tip of the Umurbrogol. Several weeks passed in which both sides conquered and lost peaks and the American soldiers blew up caves or burned them with flame throwers in which Japanese soldiers had set up their positions.
At the end of October, Colonel Nakagawa, including the slightly wounded, had only about 500 combat-capable soldiers. The 5th and 7th American Marine Infantry Regiments were only half able to fight, which is why General Paul J. Mueller's 81st Infantry Division finally replaced the 1st Marine Division under William H. Rupertus . Unlike most Marine Corps commanders , Mueller planned attacks methodically, always looking for ways to minimize casualties. General Mueller used artillery, grenade launchers and napalm to shoot the remaining Japanese positions ready for the infantry to attack. And he set armored bulldozers , which routes for the tanks leveled while pioneers laid a long fuel pipe was sprayed with the fire in enemy fortifications cave where Japanese soldiers burned without escape.
On November 18, the strength of the Japanese units had already shrunk to a total of 150 men. On November 24th only 50 men were able to fight and 70 were wounded. There were also no more heavy weapons, and the rifle ammunition, hand grenades, and food supplies were almost exhausted. After making a final radio message and burning the regimental flag and secret documents, Colonel Nakagawa, his staff and the seriously wounded killed themselves. At 6:00 pm, Major Nemoto and 56 men began a final banzai attack . After that, the organized resistance was broken, whereby the fighting was declared over on November 25, 1944. However, dispersed Japanese were picked up months after the end of the fight, and an isolated unit of about 80 men in the west of the island, divided into several groups, waged a guerrilla war against the American troops for two and a half years . The last surviving 34 men did not surrender until April 21, 1947 after being called by a former lieutenant general of the Imperial Japanese Army .
consequences
Significantly, the Americans in the USA hardly registered the slaughter on Bloody Nose Ridge , because they were already too fixated on the liberation of the Philippines. General Douglas MacArthur not only legitimized the conquest of the Philippines as a strategic measure, but rather asserted a moral obligation to the residents who suffered under the Japanese occupation. (→ Battle of Leyte )
The total casualties ( fallen , wounded and missing ) suffered by the Marine Corps on Peleliu amounted to 6,526, of which 1,252 soldiers died or are missing in action or from their wounds and must be presumed dead. Broken down according to the individual regiments of the 1st Marine Division, their total losses were as follows: Colonel "Chesty" Puller's 1st regiment had 1749, the 5th regiment 1378 and the 7th regiment 1497 total losses . The division was so weakened that it did not return to combat until the April 1, 1945 invasion of Okinawa .
The 81st Infantry Division of the US Army had to record 208 soldiers killed out of 1,393 total casualties on Peleliu. 196 men lost their lives in the fighting on the neighboring island of Angaur , with 676 total casualties. Due to the high losses, Admiral Halsey had to forego the planned capture of the island of Yap . From today's perspective, Admiral Halsey seems to be right, who then claimed that the battles for Peleliu and Angaur were unnecessary. Only the combat experience gained by the 81st US Infantry Division can be seen as a positive aspect.
On the Japanese side, about 95% of the defenders were killed in the battle for Peleliu.
Awards
- During this battle, the highest award of the American armed forces for outstanding courage in the event of war, the Medal of Honor , was bestowed on eight soldiers. They received five of them posthumously (*). During the entire war, the Medal of Honor was awarded 19 times to persons in the 1st Marine Division:
- * Corporal Lewis K. Bausell , 1st Battalion / 5th Battalion Marine Regiment (1/5);
- Private First Class Arthur J. Jackson , 3/7;
- * Private First Class Richard E. Kraus , 8th Amphibian Tractor Battalion;
- * Private First Class John D. New , 2/7;
- * Private First Class Wesley Phelps , 3/7;
- Captain Everett P. Pope , 1/1;
- * Private First Class Charles H. Roan , 2/7;
- First Lieutenant Carlton R. Rouh , 1/5.
- The amphibious warship USS Peleliu (LHA-5) was named after this battle.
- President Roosevelt honored the 1st Marine Division with the Presidential Unit Citation .
- Colonel Nakagawa was posthumously promoted to major general.
Adaptations
- 1944: Two Thousand Yard Stare ; Painting by the war painter Thomas C. Lea, which he made in 1944 after the Battle of Peleliu. The picture shows the frontal portrait of a soldier after the battle, whose fixed gaze seems to penetrate the viewer. After the picture was published in Life Magazine , the painting's title became synonymous with the facial expression and unfocused gaze of a traumatized and exhausted soldier , now considered a symptom of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
- 2008: Call of Duty 5 ; The battle for Peleliu is taken up in this video game in which the player witnesses the landing on the beach and some of the skirmishes that followed.
- 2010: The Pacific ; in the ten-part miniseries three episodes are about the island battle.
literature
- Stephen C. Murray: The Battle over Peleliu: Islander, Japanese, and American Memories of War. University of Alabama Press, Tuscaloosa 2016, ISBN 978-0-8173-1884-0 .
- Andrew Wiest and Gregory Louis: War in the Pacific 1941–1945: From Pearl Harbor to Hiroshima . Tosa Verlag, Vienna 2002, ISBN 3-85492-483-6 .
- Jim Moran and Gordon L. Rottman : Peleliu 1944: The forgotten Corner of Hell . Osprey Publishing, Oxford 2002, ISBN 1-84176-512-0 .
- Robert Ross Smith: The Approach to the Philippines . United States Army in World War II, The War in the Pacific. Center of Military History , United States Army, Washington DC 1996. (Chapters XXI , XXIII , XXIV )
- EB Sledge : With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa . Oxford University Press, USA, 1990, ISBN 0-19-506714-2 .
Individual evidence
- ^ Major Frank O. Hough: The Assault on Peleliu . 1950, p. 203 ( online [accessed October 27, 2006]).
- ↑ Jeremy Gypton: Bloody Peleliu: Unavoidable Yet Unnecessary . 2004, Preparing to Fight (5th paragraph) - ( Online [accessed October 27, 2006]).
- ^ A b Major Frank O. Hough: The Assault on Peleliu . 1950, p. 183 ( online [accessed October 27, 2006]).
- ↑ Glenn R. Schiraldi: The Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Sourcebook . McGraw Hill, New York 2009, ISBN 007161494X , p. 215.
Web links
- Battle of Peleliu (English)
- National Park Service over the battlefield Peleliu (English)
- Battle of Peleliu according to ibiblio (English)
- Peleliu (English)
- Peleliu (English)
- Animated maps over the course of battle (English)
- Battle for Peleliu (Japanese)
Coordinates: 7 ° 1 ′ 0 ″ N , 134 ° 15 ′ 0 ″ E