G2mil
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The 1944 plan to retake the Philippines was to invade the island of Peleliu first to deny the Japanese use of its excellent airfield, which could then be used by American aircraft to support a US Army landing in the southern Philippines. A huge US Navy carrier task force cruised through the region to destroy Japanese air power prior to the planned landings and found little opposition. As a result, the Army and Navy agreed to skip the invasion of the southern Philippines and land at Leyte in the central Philippines with Navy carriers providing air support. There was no need to invade Peleliu, but the US Marine Corps had already assembled an invasion force and insisted the landing proceed. This madness resulted in over 10,000 unnecessary American casualties.
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“OPERATION STALEMATE II”; LtCol Daniel C. Hodges USMC; Fort Leavenworth KS, 2004; https://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a429028.pdf — agrees that Peleliu was senseless.
Related tale: “The American Empire’s Disastrous Defeat in 1942”; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cG1yLs__mec
Related tale: “The Japanese Victory on Iwo Jima”; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8b9wUAtDrvQ
The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of this site. This site does not give financial, investment or medical advice.
Without fail…wherever the Yanx have gone, wherever the Yanx go…bull manure is sure to follow.
My dad, Ballard Beasley, a Marine Master Sargent, was in four island campaigns, Siapan, Okinawi, Peleliu and Iwo Jima. He said Peleliu was the worst for him. He caught malaria, had to kill two Jap soldiers in hand to hand combat, all the guys in his squad got killed. He gave himself up for dead and some Marine reached out of a cave and grabbed him and threw him in the back of a cave just as a mortar round landed where he had been. From Peleliu on he said he gave himself up for dead. They were preparing for… Read more »