Assorted Footage of Fighting on the Beach, Airfield, and Mountain
Battle Summary
Combating brutal terrain and temperatures soaring into the triple digits, the Marines of the 1st Division landed on Peleliu and advanced towards the airfield. By nightfall of D-Day (September 15th, 1944), the 1st, 5th, and 7th Marine Regiments were all dug in. On the second day, “D Plus 1”, the Marines faced a water shortage as they began to advance farther inland to assault the airfield and eventually Bloody Nose Ridge (the mountainous region surrounding Umurbrogol Mountain north of the airfield that the Japanese used to bombard with Marines of the 5th Regiment with artillery and mortars). This fighting was described by veterans of the battle as the worst of their experience during the Pacific Theater of the war.[1]
After taking the airfield in the south of the island, The 5th Marines continued their defense of the southern part of Peleliu as the 1st Marine Regiment (under command of the legendary Colonel Chesty Puller) moved closer to Bloody Nose Ridge into the high ground leading up to Umurbrogol Mountain. Puller’s 1st Marine Regiment suffered 70% casualties and had to be assisted by the US Army’s 321st Infantry Regiment of the 81st Infantry Division. The 5th Marine Regiment would relieve the 1st Marines and the US Army’s 321st forces on September 25th of 1944 and would press the enemy until October 15th of the same year.[2] This period of time would see the 5th Marine Regiment continue their assault on the coral ridges around Umurbrogol Mountain and storm the close-by island of Ngesebus, which was included in the overall Operation Stalemate II. The 1st Marine Division would spend much of October and November of 1944 painstakingly rooting out the Japanese from the elaborate series of caves and tunnels that they had built throughout the mountainous ridges of Mt. Umurbrogol.
The fighting on Peleliu severely impacted all of the Marine Regiments of the 1st Marine Division. K Company of the 5th Marines would lose both its commanding officer and executive officer before the fighting on the island was complete.[3] The cost of victory was high and it had a lasting impact on the entire Marine Division (it would take the Division approximately three months to recover before the next battle with the Japanese at Iwo Jima).
Battle Map (Courtesy of Mapcarta)
[1]E.B. Sledge, With the old breed, at Peleliu and Okinawa (New York: Oxford University Press, 1990), 82-83.
[2]Ibid, 102-103
[3]Ibid, 140-144
[2]Ibid, 102-103
[3]Ibid, 140-144