Book Description
In his own book, Wartime, Paul Fussell called With the Old Breed "one of the finest memoirs to emerge from any war." John Keegan referred to it in The Second World War as "one of the most arresting documents in war literature." And Studs Terkel was so fascinated with the story he interviewed its author for his book, "The Good War." What has made E.B. Sledge's memoir of his experience fighting in the South Pacific during World War II so devastatingly powerful is its sheer honest simplicity and compassion. Now including a new introduction by Paul Fussell, With the Old Breed presents a stirring, personal account of the vitality and bravery of the Marines in the battles at Peleliu and Okinawa. Born in Mobile, Alabama in 1923 and raised on riding, hunting, fishing, and a respect for history and legendary heroes such as George Washington and Daniel Boone, Eugene Bondurant Sledge (later called "Sledgehammer" by his Marine Corps buddies) joined the Marines the year after the bombing of Pearl Harbor and from 1943 to 1946 endured the events recorded in this book. In those years, he passed, often painfully, from innocence to experience. Sledge enlisted out of patriotism, idealism, and youthful courage, but once he landed on the beach at Peleliu, it was purely a struggle for survival. Based on the notes he kept on slips of paper tucked secretly away in his New Testament, he simply and directly recalls those long months, mincing no words and sparing no pain. The reality of battle meant unbearable heat, deafening gunfire, unimaginable brutality and cruelty, the stench of death, and, above all, constant fear. Sledge still has nightmares about "the bloody, muddy month of May on Okinawa." But, as he also tellingly reveals, the bonds of friendship formed then will never be severed. Sledge's honesty and compassion for the other marines, even complete strangers, sets him apart as a memoirist of war. Read as sobering history or as high adventure, With the Old Breed is a moving chronicle of action and courage.
Customer Reviews:
Gutted.......2007-10-08
I watched much of The War this weekend on PBS. Ken Burns leans heavily on Eugene Sledge's account of war, and that tells me that Burns at least knows genius writing when he reads it.
Sledge may be the best writer from the 20th century that most people have never heard of. His language is harrowing and detailed and does not spare any details about the chaos and misery and ineffable singular experience that is war. I truly believe that he lived through Peleliu and Okinawa, so he could compile his writings and share them with the world. How else can you explain the same person living through two of the nastiest battles of the 20th century?
Buy this book. Share it with everyone you know.
BEST WW2 BOOK EVER!!! ....so far............2007-10-04
This book was a pleasure to read. Not that I find pleasure in the horrors of war, I do not, but this book is so well written. I gets into the real nitty-gritties of every day life at war fighting a fearsome enemy. This book was the first book to ever give me a real glimpse of the totality of war on the foot soldier. There are many great books on WW2 out there, this definetly has to be one of the best! GET THIS BOOK RIGHT NOW!!! you wont regret it.
This is the best book ever written by an American Combat Veteran.......2007-10-04
This book is about combat. Nothing more. It is horrifying. It is well written. It is too well written. If you read this book, you will understand combat. Not "war", but combat. That's Mr. Sledge's goal. He wants the rest of us to understand the horror of combat. This is the best book on combat by an American combat veteran. The only combat book that is better is "The Forgotten Soldier" by Guy Sajer, a German soldier on the Russian front during WWII. Both of these books will make you cry like a baby. Read them back to back & I promise that you will have nightmares.
My father on cover of later editions aiming weapon.......2007-10-03
I read the old copy of this twice. Imagine my surprise when my son sent me a blown up photo of the cover and I am staring at my father aiming his weapon as I remember him when he was young! He fought at Okinawa and out of his entire battalion only he and five others came back (& wounded at that). When I was little after the War, and Daddy was drinking, he used to describe some of war's horrors to my mother and his friends when he thought I wasn't listening. He would talk about a man named Sledge who was nicknamed, "Sledgehammer." Although my father kept his sense of humor about some of war's crazy happenings, he never recovered fully and drank when it became too much. He lost all of his buddies in battle. When Daddy died in 1981, I thought, "Well, he is with them, now." Sledge's accounts exactly match my father's from the late 1940s.
With The Old Breed.......2007-08-17
Wow!!! Sledge eloquently exposes the misery and ultimate madness of war. We owe much to our brave soldiers. All politicians should read this book to gain a sense of the sacrifice that our soldiers,past and present, have endured.
Download Description
"A Band of Brothers for the Pacific, this is the gut-wrenching but ultimately triumphant story of the Marines' most ferocious -- yet largely forgotten -- battle of World War II. Between September 15 and October 15, 1944, the First Marine Division suffered more than 6,500 casualties fighting on a hellish little coral island in the Pacific. Peleliu was the scene of one of the most savage no-quarter struggles of modern times, one that has been all but forgotten -- until now. Drawing on extensive interviews with Marine veterans, Bill Sloan follows a small group of young Americans through this incredibly vicious campaign and rescues their heroism on Peleliu from obscurity. Misled by faulty intelligence, the 9,000 Marine infantrymen who landed on Peleliu's beaches under withering enemy fire found themselves facing 11,000 Japanese embedded in an intricate network of caves and underground fortifications unrivaled in the history of warfare. At the heart of the Japanese defensive system was a maze of sheer cliffs and deep ravines known collectively as the Umurbrogol plateau. Endless strings of ridges bristled with concealed artillery, mortars, machine guns, and riflemen, making every inch of contested ground a potential death trap for Marines. Making matters worse, Japanese soldiers had been told by their commanders that they were to hold Peleliu at any cost in a suicidal defense of the island. Sloan's gripping narrative seamlessly weaves together the experiences of the men who were there, producing a vivid and unflinching tableau of the twenty-four-hour-a-day nightmare of Peleliu -- a melee of nonstop infantry attacks, ferocious hand-to-hand fighting, night assaults, and exhausting forced marches in temperatures that topped 115 degrees. With casualties in some infantry units averaging more than sixty percent, Peleliu ranks with the bloodiest battles in the Corps' history. Exemplifying these staggering losses was K Company, Third Battalion, Fifth Marine Regiment (K/3/5), on whose gallant officers and enlisted men the narrative focuses from the initial assault on the beaches to the horrific struggle for the Umurbrogol's crags and crevices. Surprisingly, Peleliu received little public notice back in the States even as it was being fought and was virtually forgotten after the war, despite elements of controversy that are still debated by military strategists today. The invasion was ordered by Army General Douglas MacArthur to protect his flank as he launched his campaign to recapture the Philippines. But many experts believed then -- and still maintain today -- that the bloodshed at Peleliu was needless and that the island could have been safely bypassed. In Brotherhood of Heroes, readers witness the brutal spectacle of Peleliu close-up through the eyes of the Marines who fought there. Their story will stand with Ghost Soldiers and Flags of Our Fathers as a modern classic in military history and a riveting read. "
Customer Reviews:
Brotherhood of Heroes: The Marines at Peleliu, 1944--The Bloodiest Battle of the Pacific War.......2007-09-01
As a former Marine and Pacific theatre enthusiast, I highly recommend this book as an eye-opener to all. The details and background on the people involved as well as the events are presented in a way that tells a story for many to hear. It tugs at the heart and shows what a nasty business war is indeed. Motivated me as a Marine and made me feel for the men and the sacrifices they made. Proud to be among the ranks of the elite, hard charging, devil dogs! Semper Fi!
Marine Heroism World War Two.......2007-03-12
Truly an amazing book detailing this essentially useless battle that in the end accomplished nothing from the overall strategic background of the Pacific campaign during World War 2. For anyone interested in studying this campaign this is a esential book to add to your library. A definite keeper a 5 star rating, in fact I would suggest a 10 star. Anyone buying and reading this WILL not be disappointed.
Magnificent.......2007-02-07
This excellent book follows the 1st Marine Division through this unimaginably brutal battle, giving a superb overall picture while not loosing the men themselves. The author primarily tells the story through the eyes of a handful of individual Marines. These are representatives from each of the three infantry regiments that did the majority of the fighting.
I only have two complaints about the book. First, I felt that the author emphasized Company K, Third Battalion, 5th Marines (K/3/5) so much that the 1st and 7th Marines, the 7th in particular, were somewhat neglected. I would have preferred a longer book that would have treated at least one company each of the 1st and 7th as much as K/3/5 was covered.
The second issue is that the book only focuses on the Marine actions on Peleliu in any detail. To be fair, the title of the book clearly states that the Marines are the topic, but I feel the actions of the Army's 81st Infantry Division merit the same level of detail, especially given that they experienced about 3,800 casualties themselves during this battle.
Other than these two problems, this book is an magnificent account of the battle and will move the reader to tears to think of what our nation's brave Marines went through.
An island awash in blood........2007-01-03
An excellent view of the 30 continuous days of hell. I say 30 continuous days because for many there was almost no let up the entire time from the continual dangers of murderous crossfire, roving nighttime ambushes and concealed heavy artillery and an interlocked,network of snipers and machine gunners, who would make simply looking over a rock a death sentence, and often did. It would be for many their first experience with the cave like fortifications that would await Marines on Iwo and Okinawa. It was a 110 degree bloodbath that even had the added difficulty of no fresh water in the opening stages of the invasion as the potable water to the island was shipped there in improperly cleaned former gasoline drums. It also begins with the Marines miserable and crab infested existence and training on the island of Pavuvu, itself a roadless swamp. This experience helped forge them into cohesion that would see many not make it off their next stop. Casualties from many frontline regiments would see 150%.
The author draws on Eugene Sledge's excellent first hand account of this battle frequently, and uses interviews with Marines of K/3/5 mainly, Marines under the command of both Col. Chesty Puller and his stubborn, reckless, and unyieldingly inflexible commander General Rupertus, both of whom are described, especially Rupertus, of having a reckless disregard for the enormous casualties being suffered in this regiment and other frontline outfits. Rupertus was strongly suggested by fellow Marine commanders to take his Marines off the line with fresh Army Div's awaiting but he wouldnt budge. His superior, Gen. Geiger, waffled and was faced the task of relieving him or countermanding his decision to keep Army units offshore on ships, both which would have caused shock waves in Washington. Gen. Rupertus wanted this "quickie" (as he initially referred to it as a 3 or 4 day battle before it would be won) to be a completely Marine Corps affair. It would take the actions of the new overall commander of "Operation Stalemate" to relieve both Generals of the decision to remove the Marines from the line and make it himself, as Rear Admiral George H. Fort would do after a quick inspection of the 1st Div. CP. Geiger was quoted as saying "I'm glad that's over". Rupertus said very little, and was in ill health anyway, dying 6 months later from a heart attack.
What took 30 days for these Marines to kill 10,000 well concealed and armed Japanese it would take 6 weeks for relieving Army troops to mop up the remaining 1,000 Japanese. On an average it has been determined that it took 1,589 rounds of some type from U.S. guns to kill every Japanese who would die on the island.
Like many retelling's of stories such as this one, Sloan tells a riveting story of bravery, hardship, and death that forges the title of his work We learn about the many in these Marine Corps regiments, from simple enlisted to junior officers, and we see many of them die before the books conlusion, such was the nature of this bloody struggle. Many of these talented officers were deeply respected for their leadership and bravery by these enlisted men, and many would be killed. Spreading this info. of their loss had a noticable effect on the enlisted men, one of combined sadness and shock at such terrible news, men stretched to their breaking point already, and led many to fatalism they would survive it another day. (Some, like Sledge, were incredible rarities of this battle, he being one of a tiny few who escaped the continual combat with barely a combat wound to show for it)
With The Old Breed.......2006-11-04
Out of the many authors who write about WWII, Bill Sloan is one of my favorites. "Brotherhood of Heroes" is yet another book by Mr. Sloan that I just couldn't put down, thanks in part to another book I had read previously: "With the Old Breed at Peleliu and Okinawa" by Eugene Sledge. "With the Old Breed" is probably one of the best WWII memoirs ever written, from either theater, and it was that book that led me to seek out more material on the battle for Peleliu, a God-forsaken piece of rock in the middle of the Pacific ocean that was the site of what many of the Marines considered to be the worst battle of the entire war. Yet this battle has been largely ignored by history, in part because it was of dubious importance to the overall strategy in the Pacific (Gen. MacArthur insisted the attack on Peleliu was necessary to support his invasion of the Philippines, a claim that was proved to be untrue in hindsight). "Brotherhood of Heroes" brings this battle back to the forefront in the pantheon of battles from the Pacific theater of WWII. The sights, smells, sounds, and emotions experienced by the Marines on Peleliu are all brought vividly to life in this book; while people like myself who have never experienced warfare cannot pretend to truly understand what those brave men went through, this book does an excellent job of giving us an idea of what that hell on earth was like. This was the first time that the Marines experienced a "defense in depth" when fighting the Japanese; the Japanese made them fight for every inch of ground through overlapping defensive positions that would exact a ghastly toll on the men involved. If not for the lessons learned on Peleliu, the battles for Iwo Jima and Okinawa would have been much more costly to the Americans; while Peleliu took a terribly bloody toll on the Marines who fought there, it ultimately saved more lives down the road through the lessons learned. While we today look back and marvel at the sacrifices made by the young men of the Greatest Generation for their country, those Marines will tell you that they fought not only for their country, but, more importantly, they fought for their brothers in the Corps who were doing the same thing for them. Those men would rather have died than let their buddies down, men who they considered to be closer than blood relatives yet who were complete strangers just two or three years prior; these are the bonds forged by war, something that this book highlights in spectacular fashion.
Customer Reviews:
EXCELLENT ACCOUNT - WELL RESEARCHED AND WRITTEN.......2005-10-27
This is probably the best account of this particular tragic battle I have come across. The battle alone, Peleliu, is not well known and now that it falls into the category of "ancient history" by the younger set, is even less heard of. This is a shame. The history of the U.S.M.C. is a testament to the ability and endurance of the American fighting man and woman Never has there been a better example than this forgotten battle. I have had the honor of having several conversations with two of the survivors of this epic battle...it is hard to imagine that the human body and spirit could survive such a thing. They did. The author has done his research with this one. He has been able to address the controversies surrounding this episode without distracting from the bravery of the men who took part in it. There is much to be learned here, both of the human condition and of military blunders and why they happen. I highly recommend this one be added to your collection.
Customer Reviews:
For Specialists Only!.......2004-03-27
Harry Gailey is somewhat well-known among historians of the Second World War in the Pacific. He's probably best-known as the historian who's most critical of senior Marine officers during the war in the Pacific, most notably during the Battle of Saipan. His book on that battle, "Howlin' Mad Vs. the Army", is the ultimate indictment of Holland Smith and his removal of of General Ralph Smith during the battle on that island. The current book considers the battle for Peleliu, one of the most senseless and pointless battles of the Pacific or any other war. Launched to protect a supply line that didn't exist from planes that had already been destroyed, the invasion was supposed to go off without a hitch and take only a few days. As is usual with that sort of prediction (you'd think people would learn) the battle took six weeks rather than the predicted four days.
The battle was directed mostly by the commanding general of the first Marine division at the battle, William Rupertus. General Rupertus comes in for most of the criticism that Gailey directs at the conception of this invasion. Rupertus was assisted by Oliver P. Smith (later commander of the division during the Korean War) and the division's regiments were led by, among others, the legendary Lewis "Chesty" Puller.
The invasion was planned rather simply, with the three Marine regiments landing abreast on the southwest coast of the island, one battalion of the rightmost regiment held in reserve. There were two regiments of an army division in transit that could have been used as a reserve, but Rupertus, like many Marine generals, was very disdainful of the army, and decided that they would be no help. As a result, the division was shot to pieces during the battle, suffering 1300 killed and another 6700 wounded. The army finished up the fighting in the hills on the western coast of the island, where the battle raged on into 1945 on a small scale.
The book is not as long as some other books, and it's definitely not the usual oral history sort of thing that's popular these days. Instead, it's more of an analysis of the combat that happened on the island, the maneuvers that occurred, and the results. As much as possible, there's discussion of what was going on in the Japanese command post also, though there the motives are somewhat murky because all the high-level participants on the island were killed in the fighting, or committed suicide.
This is a short, dispassionate look at the battle, the personalities, and the issues involved in the island battle. I enjoyed it, but those who like the human interest stuff may find it somewhat lacking. It is, however, a good analysis of the battle and the campaign.
Average customer rating:
- Memorable Account
- A really good book about WWII
- Worth looking for!
- OUTSTANDING
- Excellent!!!
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Marine at War
Russell Davis
Manufacturer: Bantam
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
 Japan
| Asia
| History
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Military
| History
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 0553271172
Release Date: 1988-05-01 |
Customer Reviews:
Memorable Account.......2007-03-20
I first read a copy of this book in elementary school and it left enough of an impression that, fifteen years later, I recently tracked down a copy and read it again. It's the recollections of a Marine about his Pacific Campaign experiences some decade and a half after the fact. In part, it is an attempt to answer his sons' questions about war. From the foreward:
"My sons have asked me many questions about war. I have always tried to answer their questions, but sometimes the answers weren't true, and sometimes they weren't complete. It takes time to think out a good and true answer. It is very hard for a father not to make himself seem braver and wiser to his sons than he really was. And war is so many different things all jumbled together. It is hard to sort all these things out and give a sensible answer to one particular question."
Where I think this book succeeds, somewhat uniquely, is in capturing that jumble of things. The relatively short and easy to read account manages to make some profound observations on human responses to war. While the author fought in the Peleliu and Okinawa campagins, the book is not really a chronicle of how the author's experiences fit in to them. Instead, it is an account of how he experienced the war. He goes to some effort to observe the ways various people dealt with the stress and fear of combat and is extremely candid about his own responses to them. It's also notable that about a third of the book deals with the down time between campaigns, revealing different aspects of what a war experience can be.
The author is a good story teller and the book is very engaging. In various anecdotes he manages to capture the jumble of war: the fear and confusion that can lead to a friend being shot in the dark by marines, the way humor helps a naval artillery spotter function amidst a deadly serious battle, the scrounging and dealing that some engage in to get a few comforts, and the realization, while searching enemy corpses, that a faceless and largely unseen enemy is human.
Neither a glorification nor codemnation of war, the book provides some insight into what war is for those fighting it that is often lacking in other histories. I would recommend this memorable account to anyone interested in World War II history but, from my own experience with it, perhaps especially to interested children.
A really good book about WWII.......2007-03-09
This is one of my favorite books. I think it is true and and an accurate account of what the marines went through in the Pacific in WWII. Another good book is, "With the Old Breed", by E.B. Sledge.
Worth looking for!.......2000-02-14
I discovered this book many years ago in an old used book store and enjoyed it thoroughly. I've read it several times since, particularly the chapter on "The Pacific Paradise" which evokes tropical island daydreams and the "Rumor and the Mad Ghoul" chapter which is one of the funniest stories I've ever read.
OUTSTANDING.......1999-06-22
I Read this book as a young teen and have never forgotton it. Twenty-five years later I am still looking for a copy!
Excellent!!!.......1999-05-20
I read this book in the third grade and enjoyed it so much that I remembered it and began to search for it later in life. Excellent entertainment and educational for young and old alike!!
Book Description
A poignant account and analysis of the bloody battle in the Pacific.
To the Far Side of Hell is the story of the World War II battle for the Pacific island of Peleliu in the autumn of 1944. Although this battle is far less well known--even among U.S. Marine Corps veterans--than Tarawa, Iwo Jima, or Okinawa, the savagery of the fighting, the courage and determination displayed, and the casualty rate suffered by the units of the 1st Marine Division can claim equal significance.
Peleliu was a troubled operation from the start. Since the fast-moving situation in the Central Pacific seemed to have removed any pressing need to occupy the Palau Islands, it is arguable that the battle was not necessary. For the planners of the island-hopping campaign, the operation was a distraction from a more important goal--the Marianas.
The 1st Marine Division, weary from earlier campaigns, was not given needed resources prior to the invasion, and there were damaging tensions within the senior ranks. When the Marines landed, they came up against Japan’s new defensive technique--a garrison determined to die where they stood, fortified in deep, complex bunker systems. In searing heat, and exposed to the dug-in Japanese guns amidst the ridges and gulches of an unsuspected labyrinth of concrete-hard coral, the Marines found the predicted short conflict turned into a protracted, bloody 71-day battle.
Derrick Wright is an independent scholar and author of Tarawa--A Hell of a Way to Die and Iwo Jima 1945: The Marines Raise the Flag on Mount Suribachi.
Customer Reviews:
Peleliu Was a Bitch.......2005-08-31
Peleliu was a bitch. Bad intelligence, new Japanese tactics, horrible terrain, tired troops, vegetation that hid the rough terrain all combined to change the estimated three day campaign to put down a few hundred Japanese troops lasted for 71 days of truly vicious fighting by the 10,500 Japanese troops dug into the caves and hidden. It has even been argued that the invasion of Peleliu wasn't necessary as leaving it behind to wither on the vine would have done just as much good.
None the less, Peleliu was taken. One of the bloodiest battles in the the Pacific, now largely forgotten. About the only good think you can say regarding Peleliu is that it tought some valuable lessons to the Marines. These were to be well used in subsequent campaigns where the Japanese again fought with similar tactics.
Mr. Wright is becoming a well known author after publishing books on Tarawa and Iwo Jima.
The front cover is from Peleliu and has become famous as 'The Two Thousand Yard Stare."
Book Description
Equaling Tarawa and Okinawa in scale and ferocity, until recently the battle for Peleliu has been regarded as the Pacific war's "forgotten battle," one that with hindsight should never have been fought at all. Originally planned to secure General MacArthur's eastern flank during his invasion of the Philippine Islands, the assault became superfluous after a massive carrier-based attack on the Palau Islands by Task Force 58 some weeks earlier destroyed all aircraft and shipping in the area and virtually isolated the Japanese garrison. The planners may have been influenced by the extravagant claims of the commander of the Marine Corps' 1st Division, General Rupertus, that it would "only take three days--maybe two," but as the Japanese defenders abandoned their previous strategy of attempting to repel the invader on the beaches and fought a battle of attrition from carefully prepared positions in the Umurbrogol Hills, the operation became a close-quarters slog of unprecedented savagery in which a whole Marine Division expended itself and had to be replaced by Army units.
Customer Reviews:
Good, but suffers from poor editing........2006-05-16
I agree completely with the other reviewer. Overall, a good addition to the Campaign series, but hopefully the next edition will emerge without the numerous small errors (units, locations, dates) that can make it an occasionally frustrating read.
Good overview, poor editing.......2004-09-30
This is a better Osprey book than most, but it doesn't reach its potential. In spite of the name, the book describes the U.S. Marine and U.S. Army infantry actions on all of the Palau Islands, though the emphasis is on Peleliu. In the typical Osprey format it begins with an overview of the campaign in the context of the Philipine campaign, describes the opposing commanders, and then delves into the details of the campaign itself. The last sections include the aftermath of the battle and a brief description of the islands today.
For the most part the book is pretty solid. World War II is not my specialty, and I'm just starting to read about the war in the Pacific. From what I have read elsewhere the book is reasonably accurate. The writing style is clean. Unlike when reading some of Osprey's other campaign books, I had little trouble following the action. Although the authors don't stick to a strict chronological order, they don't hop around more than is necessary. As always, the maps are gorgeous and excellent. I liked the Orders of Battle, though I wish they included the number of men at each organization level, but that's a minor quibble.
I had a couple of issues with the narrative. I wish they had spent more time explaining what was going on with the U.S. Navy elements during the campaign. The authors mention the initial, pre-invasion bombardment. They describe how Admiral Oldendorf declared that his ships had hit all available targets and ordered some to leave for the Philipines. They don't list the ships that were left, what they did during the rest of the campaign (were they conducting bombardment or just acting as a picket line?), or where they were located. This is important because several barges of Japanese reinforcements made for Peleliu during the battle, with 600 soldiers actually landing on the island. The book doesn't make clear how these soldiers managed to sneak through the navy cordon. There are some other details I'd have liked to have known, too, such as whether carrier airstrikes in support of the U.S. troops were a daily occurance, and when exactly the Marine fighters arrived on the island.
Although the authors did a good job of explaining the Japanese command structure, and the initial Japanese counterattacks, there is little on Japanese deployments, and virtually nothing beyond those counterattacks describing Japanese troop movements. They state that Col. Nakagawa was one of the two best tacticians the Japanese had, but there is no sense of why they believe this. The book doesn't describe any Japanese movements except in terms of their perimeter shrinking and the number of men left. Did Nakagawa place all of his men at the beginning of the battle and pretty much leave them there, or was he constantly shifting troops around? When the Marines first assaulted the Umurbrogol Mountains in the south, were there Japanese troops sitting around waiting in the north, or did Nakagawa move troops from quiet sectors to critical sectors? This isn't explained. I wanted an idea of the number of Japanese casualties per day, but Japanese casualties aren't mentioned except at a few key points in the battle. A couple of paragraphs describing Japanese infiltration techniques and the "limited counter-attacks" would have been most useful, but the book doesn't go into this level of detail for the Japanese (it does go into some of this kind of detail on the Marine side, especially in reference to a couple of the full color plates showing typical combat scenes). I really wanted a better idea of how the Japanese defenses were laid out, even if it was just a small diagram of a typical defensive layout but that wasn't supplied. Perhaps much of the information on the Japanese side of the campaign isn't available. If that's the case, it should have been mentioned.
In spite of these shortcomings I'd still give the book 4 stars for content, considering the size limitations. I only give it 3 stars because of the editing. This is, unfortunately, a common problem with Osprey books. The book was published in October, 2002, yet the text mentions something that happened in January, 2002. Nine months from finished manuscript to printed book is too fast to do a half decent editing job. Editing mistakes, such as sentence fragments, and phrases repeated at the end and the beginning of the same sentence, are found throughout the book, in the text and in picture captions. Editing problems throw some minor details into doubt. In one section of the text we are told that the island of Koror had a seaplane base. In another section we are told it was a submarine base. The map shows it as a seaplane base. Which is correct? Is the text and map right, or was the map based on the erroneous piece of text? A cursory reading of the book should have caught these errors (I certainly caught them easily enough). Osprey is sloppy, which is unfortunately the norm.
The book is a worthwhile overview of the campaign, in spite of its shortcomings. I only wish that it had a little extra detail and that more time had been spent editing it.
Bloody Forgotten Battle.......2003-07-16
A nice very easy access to this very bloody and forgotten battle. There is a very good section on how the battle figured in the overall strategic plans. In final analysis (and no one wants to admit it), like modern day Iraq, Peleliu was a battle that need never have been fought. Monday morning quarterbacking is easy, but there are some real glaring inconsistencies that someone should have taken the blame for at the time. If aerial recce's were done of Peleliu they would have instantly reccognised the central ridge of about 200 metres in height poking out of the jungle (I have flown over it twice at several elevations and can assure you that it is VERY visible).Apparently aerial recce's never saw this feature according to the text. Whay was this info. not conveyed to operational commanders? Bleeding the Marines in this battle gained the Americans nothing. Better to have taken Anguar established their base there and left the rest of the Palaus alone. It would have worked because that is in fact what more or less happened: the landings at Peleliu and Anguar still left the main island and numerous lesser islands occupied but neutralised. Why not merely neutralise and not land on Peleliu as well. That is the central question that will remain unanswered. This Osprey Edition does a good job of the overview of the battle and the hell that both sides faced in this "forgotten battle."Text is good but suffers from inaccurate rendering of Japanese names into Roman Script (eg. Taksgo is not a Japanese name). As do so many books on the Pacific war. The easy Japanese phonetic alphabet make such mistakes inexcusable.
Another Fine Addition to the Campaign Series.......2003-01-03
Peleliu 1944, Osprey Campaign volume number 110, covers one of the more obscure but controversial battles of the Pacific War. Jim Moran and Gordon L. Rottman, two authors well versed in US Marine Corps history, have done a fine job synthesizing the available secondary sources on the battle into a succinct campaign narrative. A detailed, blow-by-blow campaign narrative, combined with excellent maps and photographs, makes Peleliu 1944 a fine addition to the Osprey Campaign series. The authors succeed in laying out the two most enduring questions about the battle: was the invasion of Peleliu necessary and why was it so costly?
In standard Osprey Campaign series format, Peleliu 1944 begins with short sections on the origins of the campaign, a chronology, and sections on opposing plans, commanders and forces. The campaign narrative itself is 48 pages long, followed by a brief aftermath section, comments on the battlefield today and a bibliography. There are a total of three "Birds-Eye View" 3-D maps (D-Day on Peleliu, Securing the North of Peleliu and the Reduction of the Umurbrogol Pocket), six 2-D maps (Strategic situation, the Palau Islands, Peleliu Island, D-Day to D+8, Capture of Angaur Island and the Umurbrogol Mountains), and three battle scenes (Beach Orange on D-Day, the Japanese tank counterattack and Reducing the Umurbrogol Pocket). The authors also provide very detailed orders of battle for the 1st Marine Division, the US Army 81st Infantry Division and the Japanese forces on Peleliu.
The controversy about Peleliu began even before the invasion. Admiral Halsey wanted to neutralize the island by bombardment and then bypass it, as so many other islands had been bypassed. However, Admiral Nimitz disregarded this suggestion and ordered the invasion to proceed in order to remove a potential threat to General Macarthur's imminent invasion of the Philippines. The authors clearly point out that most of the Japanese aircraft and naval vessels in the Palau Island group had been destroyed by US air raids well before the invasion. Thus, the threat to Macarthur was minimal. Securing Peleliu provided the US Navy with a convenient but not critical base (although it did help to rescue the survivors of the sunken USS Indianapolis in 1945). Thus the question really devolves to whether or not the invasion was worth the cost, since it was clearly not critical to winning the war in the Pacific.
On the conduct of the battle itself, Moran and Rottman clearly place the blame for the heavy US casualties on two causes: inadequate intelligence preparation of the battlefield (IPB) and incompetent senior leadership. In modern parlance, IPB focuses on gaining information about the terrain, weather and enemy that will enable the friendly commander to make the best possible decisions. However, the US Marines landing on Peleliu were continuously presented with unpleasant surprises about the terrain, weather and enemy. Instead of the "mostly low and flat terrain" briefed prior to D-Day, the invaders were confronted with undetected anti-tank ditches, coral outcrops and the very nasty Umurbrogol Mountains. How did aerial reconnaissance miss mountains this size? The Marines had only expected a short three-day fight for Peleliu and had not really considered the weather. However, temperatures around 100? F fatigued the Marines and the monsoon rains disrupted the build-up. Finally, the Japanese altered their tactics on Peleliu. The Japanese were beginning to learn from previous battles that wild Banzai charges consumed their troops quickly and led to short battles. On Peleliu the Japanese demonstrated a new preference for protracted, attritional struggles based around interlocking and cunningly hidden defenses. Indeed, it is hard not to read this book and gain great respect for the incredible defense put up by the Japanese troops on Peleliu. All three factors - terrain, weather and new enemy tactics - ruined the American timetable and exacted a heavy toll on the invaders.
Moran and Rottman blame Major General Rupertus, the commander of the 1st Marine Division, for much of the heavy casualties on Peleliu. Rupertus initially claimed that Peleliu would be secured in 3-4 days of hard fighting. It quickly became apparent on D-Day that the Marines were running into unexpectedly tough resistance, but Rupertus did not elect to alter his timetable. Instead, Rupertus continually urged his regimental commanders to make costly frontal assaults until his division was virtually decimated. Rupertus refused to ask for the 81st Division to relieve his Marines and he foolishly released his tank battalion just when his troops most needed armor support. Rupertus kept urging his exhausted marines into futile assaults until there was nothing left to give. At that point, the First Marines were relieved and replaced by the 81st Division, which eventually secured the island after two more months. In the end, it took the Americans over two months to secure Peleliu and cost over 1,500 dead. One big question left unanswered is why Nimitz didn't intervene to stop this senseless bloodletting and why Rupertus wasn't relieved until after the operation. Obviously, there were more than a few reputations to protect from fallout from the Peleliu slugfest. For military professionals, Peleliu 1944 provides an instructive lesson on the perils of over-confident predictions based on inadequate knowledge of the terrain, weather and a resourceful enemy.
Book Description
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.
Customer Reviews:
A good book, but a bit of a hard slog toward the end.......2003-11-22
Historians are the captives of history. Sometimes history creates a story far more interesting than fiction. Other times they must stick to a story that begins well but ends badly. So is it with this book. Roughly the first half concerns the planning and the first twenty-four hours of the battle. The vast majority of the rest of the book concerns the first week of the battle. The last six weeks or month of the battle is handled in a very few pages.
The reason is obvious. The initial assault with the Marines hitting the beach from their LVTs in the face of unexpectedly tough resistance is pure drama. The last weeks of digging out dug in Japanese simply lacks the drama of fire and movement associated with the initial assault. The eventual victory, such as it is, lacks the climax and emotional release a fiction writer would have included. The result is that the book is something like the battle itself. It starts with a roar, develops into a hard slog, and ends with a whimper.
The maps could be both more numerous and better, too.
Overall, a good, gritty, war story.
A Marine's Review of a Marine Corps Story.......2000-08-15
Yes, a very interesting, well researched, and fairly written account of terrible battle for Peleliu.
Pacific Warfare at its best.......2000-01-17
The time? Fall 1944. The place? The island of Peleliu, an obscure speck of coral 500 miles east of the Philippines. General William Rupertus's US 1st Marine Division found themselves pitted against the vaunted, often overly hailed, but numerically superior deeply entrenched Japanese soldiers who had spent six months preparing for the battle. Most envisioned a quick two-day battle, however, as James H. Hallas's The Devils Anvil: The Assault on Peleliu reveals, before the "Americans could claim a victory, the fight had become one of the war's most costly successes." Even more tragic, as Hallas admits, was that Peleliu, in the end, was ultimately deemed "an unnecessary seizure." Pulled off of Cape Gloucester in April 1944, the 1st Marine Division had expected to return to Australia. Much to their dismay, they ended up on Pavuvu, the largest of the Russell Islands some 60 miles northwest of their old battlefields on Guadalcanal. While Pavuvu was clearly an inhabitable place, the island the division was slated to take was nothing more than a tiny atoll where the continual rain turning the whole island into what a Marine later described as a "deep stinking mush." The name of this island was Peleliu. The logic behind seizing Peleliu was that General MacArthur felt that the island posed serious threat to the Allied approach on the Philippines. They also predicted that it could be seized in less than two days. They were mistaken on both counts. Hallas's book clearly shows that the 1,500 Americans who lost their lives in the 68 day struggle for the 6,400 acre island, did so for naught. The island was, in the end, of "dubious value." The Allies were moving quickly in the South Pacific and by the time the island of Peleliu was seized, to "became a backwater almost before it was invaded." For those who survived the battle, Peleliu "remains a bitter, emotionally exhausting chapter of their lives. The Devil's Anvil brings the reader to the forefront of the human struggle that is indicative of not only war, but of a battle that was forgotten even before it was printed in the annals of history. From the eyes of famous men like Colonel Lewis Puller down to the lowest private, Hallas has offered military buffs and serious academicians alike an opportunity to experience what it was like to be a US Marine in the South Pacific. This book is an essential part to any World War II library.
Good research. A couple places could be improved!.......1998-11-20
I've tried to find the author's mailing or e-mail address, but haven't found it yet.I was in the 1st MarDiv and was on Peleliu so I can think of a few things that would add a lot to the book. However it was a GREAT job for someone who wasn't there!!For non-Marines I would have put an organizational chart at the beginning of the book, just to show the makeup of a Marine Div. The abbreviations were very confusing with no chart.All of the maps could have been full page with more details, and I'msure it would be much better to show a group of maps with the progress of the front lines for every few days.Otherwise it is too unclear!It would be fabulous if Mr. Hallas would use his expert research talents to locate the addresses and E-mails of all the surviving Peleliu marines, and contact them to inquire if they would approve of their name being printed in a neat Book.Most of them who say YES would surely purchase the book.Somewhat more tedious would be to make such a book about every Marine in the 1st Mar. Div. who is still "available."(Or it could be done one Regiment at a time.) What a great service this would be.Thank you.
1st Marine Division and 81st Inf. Division (U.S. Army)........1997-04-21
(A numerical rating as above is required by the new
Amazon format. It is offensive to this reviewer and
explicitly disavowed.)
This battle that was supposed to last two days,
instead lasted two months, killing 1500 Americans
and some 10,000 Japanese, all of it probably
unnecessary. Admiral Nimitz, against Halsey's
advice and with poor intelligence about Japanese
defenses, refused to scrub the attack even though
it was apparent that the Palaus could be safely
bypassed and left to starve.
Hallas bases his excellent history of the struggle
for that miserable piece of real estate on interviews
of survivors as well as the usual written sources,
and includes the expected photos, maps, bibliography,
and index. Highly recommended, as are Hallas'
other books, on Okinawa and St. Mihiel.
Customer Reviews:
Excellent history of my fathers outfit.......2001-01-25
My father was sent overseas in the 541st Replacement Battalion in early 1944, and first went to Guadalcanal. This book told a lot of different things that I had never read before. The other reviewer obviously didn't notice that the title said 3rd Armored Amphibian Battalion not 3rd Armored Div. that fought in europe.
"Before the First Wave - - 3rd Armored Amphibious Battalion".......2000-07-30
I am WW II veteran of 3rd Armored Division and am curious to read this book because I was unaware that the Division had an amphibious battalion. The bulk of the Division landed, I believe on around June 12th, 6 days after D-Day. I will withold final judgement until I can read the book.
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