[rocshaman]

Found this site with a lot of info on the battle of peleliu. Arguably one of the hardest, bloodiest battles of WWII.

http://home.sprynet.com/~kier/peleliu.htm

The battle was one of the more overlooked battles in the pacific and basically went unused at such a tremendous cost.

[25-5]

Thanks. I read all this I can find.

[zaitsev44]

I agree, when people think of battles of the pacific they think of Iwo Jima, Guadalcanal, Okinowa. Battles like Pelielu, Cape Glouchester, Makin Atoll, ect are all forgotten about.
Long live USMC

[zaitsev44]

Also With the Old Breed by Eugene Sledge and The Pacific by Hugh Ambrose

[zaitsev44]

With the Old Breed by Eugene Sledge (in my opinion, one of the best books ever written), The Pacific by High Ambrose, Islands of the Damned by RV Burgen are three great books I've read that capture the intensity of Pelielu. I know there's more great ones, but I haven't read them yet.

[rocshaman]

I'm reading The Old Breed right now and I'm about half way through it. Excellent book. Also have Leckie's book Helmet For My Pillow. Ordered them both after having watched the mini-series, The Pacific, which I would also highly recommend to anyone if they haven't seen it. Very well done mini-series by the producers of Band Of Brothers. The sacrifices all those young marines made through-out the pacific theater is stunning.

[rocshaman]

Here's another interesting site that contains the declassified day to day battle reports of the Peleliu battle along with plus a lot of other stuff. The battle reports are photos of the original transcripts.

http://www.peleliu1944.com/home.html

Video of the landing from the History channel:

Vid 1

YouTube

YouTube

Vid 2

YouTube

YouTube

[rocshaman]

Think this is the last in the series:

YouTube

YouTube

[Chainfire]

The sad thing about Peleliu was that it should have been left to "wither on the vine" like many other Japanese bastions were. By the time it was invaded, it was no longer a strategicly or tactical necessary to invade. The momentum of the war dictated that it would be invaded anyway.

The books mentioned above are excellent. I would also reccomend "Goodby Darkness",
by Manchester. For the Pacific reader, one of my favorite books from WWII is Thunder Below By medal of honor winner, Eugene Flukey. It is a submarine history that reads like a Clancy novel.

[zaitsev44]

I forgot about Leckie's Helmet for My Pillow, I read it, I loved it also. It was poetic and very well put together(he was a writer before and after the war), I've read his book about the Korean War, it was good too.