Peleliu: From Strategic Blunder to Vital Asset Amidst Growing China Threat
- EA Baker
- 1 hour ago
- 6 min read
As the South Pacific Drive led by US General Douglas MacArthur eyed the Philippines, one island chain stood out as a potential threat to his right flank…the Palau Islands. An operational plan, Operation Stalemate I, was drafted as part of the larger Campaign Plan Granite II, which involved three operations.
Operation Stalemate was the planned invasion of the Palaus and the Carolines (Peleliu, Anguar, and Yap, Ulithi), Operation Forager was the invasion of the Mariana Islands (Guam, Tinian, Saipan), and Operation Causeway targeted Formosa (now called Taiwan). Causeway was cancelled in favor of the Iwo Jima - Okinawa approach to Japan, given that they were more strategically located and did not present the operational and logistical challenges that an invasion of Formosa would present.
An updated plan called Operation Stalemate II (by the way, a terrible name and foreboding given how the battle goes) is adopted, cutting out Yap in favor of Ulithi with Peleliu and Anguar still on the target list. Peleliu specifically had a vital airfield that US commanders did not want the Japanese to use against any fleet moving against the Philippines.
However, much has been debated about how strategic Peleliu and its airfield were for the South Pacific Drive. Admiral Chester Nimitz, who always had a good nose for island hopping the right islands, considered bypassing it. Though he never gave a detailed reason for why he chose not to, the only answer we do have is that the wheels of invasion were already too far along to stop (seems like a lazy excuse, which is uncharacteristic of Nimitz, but I digress).
As such, the task of taking Peleliu would fall to the 1st Marine Division, with the 81st Infantry Division available to provide support if needed from Angaur. On 4 September, the 1st Marine Division set sail from Pavuvu, making the 2,100-mile journey to the island. On 12 September, Underwater Demolition Teams cleared some obstacles as the US Fleet pounded the 6 square mile island for three days, allowing breaks only for carrier-based aircraft to make their attack runs. The fleet consisted of:
5 Battleships
4 Heavy Cruisers
3 Light Cruisers
1 Amphibious Force Command Ship
3 aircraft carriers
5 light aircraft carriers
11 escort carriers
A total of 519 rounds of 16 in (410 mm) shells, 1,845 rounds of 14 in (360 mm) shells, and 1,793 500 lb (230 kg) bombs pounded Peleliu during this period. Command thought the bombardment had been a success. Confidence was high even before the bombardment, as 1st Marine Commanding General William Repertus said it would be a “quickie.” The Japanese had other plans.
In a documentary on the battle called Peleliu 1944: Horror In The Pacific, Pfc. Bill Leyden, a Peleliu veteran who fought as a rifleman in K Company, 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines, said, “ There was no campaign like Peleliu. Much has been written about in the higher echelons, among generals, and so forth, comparing it to Iwo Jima or Tarawa, and they all admitted there was nothing quite like Peleliu. It was the biggest surprise, I think, the Marine Corps received in World War II.”
Reality would set in for the marines on 15 September 1944 as the first assault waves hit the beaches. As Sgt. R.Valton Burgin, another veteran of K Company, would say in an interview featured before Episode 5 of the HBO miniseries The Pacific, “It started when we started in and it didn’t cease. It was a nightmare.”
A Battle of Utmost Savagery
There are far better histories of this battle out there now than I can do to give it justice (the three podcast episodes of The Unauthorized History of the Pacific War, starting with episode 320, go into great detail, and I highly recommend them). However, I will provide a summary of the fight and share numbers to help frame just how difficult this battle was for the US Marine Corps and the US Army, which had to eventually relieve them.
The battle was estimated to last only 3 days. Instead, it lasted for 73 days. On D-Day alone, the Marines suffered 1,111 casualties, of whom 209 were killed in action (KIA). After nine days of fighting, Colonel Chesty Puller’s 1st Marines had suffered 70% casualties, amounting to 1,749. On 23 September, the first element of the 81st Infantry Regiment, the 321st Regimental Combat Team, landed to help relieve the Marines who were fighting stiff resistance upon the coral ridges of the Umurbrogol. On 15 October, the 7th Marines had suffered 46% casualties and were relieved by the 5th Marines. But by 30 October, the entire 1st Marine Division was relieved and pulled off Pelleiu, replaced by the rest of the 81st.
The 1st Marine Division had suffered over 1,600 killed and more than 5,400 wounded. The high numbers, no doubt, were attributed to the Japanese battle plan. They contested the landing, the movement inland, the crossing of the airfield, and then holed up in a network of fortified caves in the Umurbrogol, achieving their goal of killing as many Americans as possible before their defensive battle finally came to an end. Their use of Banzai charges was completely abandoned for these new defensive tactics of defense in-depth, retreating to the interior of their islands, extolling a bloody cost to hopefully make the Americans lose their stomach for the war.
In total, the battle resulted in:
US Forces
Total: 9,615
KIA: 1,600
Wounded: Over 8,000
MIA: 73
15-20 Sherman tanks
60 amphibious vehicles lost (on the first day alone)
The 1st Marine Division suffered 6,526 casualties, with 1,252 killed; in the process, they took 10 ridgelines, destroyed three blockhouses, 22 pillboxes, 13 antitank guns, and negated 144 defended caves.
The Army's 81st Division suffered 3,089 casualties, with 404 killed, bringing the battle to its bitter end.
Japanese Forces
KIA: Approximately 10,900
Captured: Around 300 (most of whom were laborers).
13–17 Type 95 Ha-Go
Dozens of fixed artillery and anti-tank weapons.
Some Japanese soldiers were also trapped and entombed in the island's caves.
After the war, it was calculated that the US had expended 1,500 rounds of ammunition to kill each Japanese defender. This included:
13.32 million rounds of .30-calibre.
1.52 million rounds of .45-calibre.
693,657 rounds of .50-calibre bullets.
118,262 hand grenades.
150,000 mortar rounds throughout the battle.
Was it worth it?
The battle sadly became overshadowed by other battles and remained for a long time as “the forgotten battle.” Literature, mainly Eugene Sledge’s With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa, brought the battle to the public, along with the HBO miniseries The Pacific, which used the book as one of its source materials. Still, the vast majority of Americans are unfamiliar with the battle, yet fortunately, those interested in World War II usually have heard of it.
Given how the Japanese airfield posed no threat to any advance on the Philippines and how Ulithi became far more strategic (served as the staging area for the invasion of Okinawa), many have questioned the strategic value of Peleliu. In hindsight, of all the islands that should’ve been island-hopped, Peleliu should’ve been put on that list. The battle wrecked the 1st Marine Division, which had a unique makeup of one-third combat veterans from Guadalcanal and Cape Glouster, another one-third were veterans of Cape Glouster, and the final one-third were replacements. After this battle, the 1st Marine Division wouldn't have such a makeup again, as the few survivors would have to head into the gauntlet of Okinawa with a lot of new boots with no experience fighting such a savage and determined enemy.
In sum, the battle was not worth it, at least not at that time. While the debate is still out on whether it will prove strategic in the long run, the battle has now come full circle to the 21st Century. The airfield has been rebuilt on the island, and the first fixed-wing US military aircraft, a US Marine Corps KC-130J Hercules, landed on the refurbished airstrip.
Faced with the growing threat from China, US military planners are seeking to reestablish airfields and bases across a Second Island Chain, given how vulnerable the First Island Chain (Philippines, Okinawa) is. China’s enhanced capability in long-range bombers, cruise missiles, and theater ballistic missiles has made Peleliu strategic once again.
The US has done the following:
Base / Airfield | Location | Status (as of June/July 2024) | Purpose & Notes |
Sledge Runway (Peleliu) | Peleliu Island, Palau | Rehabilitated; first KC‑130J landing on June 22, 2024 | Forward arming/refueling point; enhances regional logistics & rapid dispersion |
North Field (Tinian) | Tinian, Northern Mariana Islands | Clearing and rebuilding underway; $409M contract awarded in 2024 | Former launch base for atomic bombers; future dispersal and strategic staging site |
Yap International Airport | Yap, Federated States of Micronesia | Major runway extension program proposed (~$400M) | Former Japanese airfield; future U.S. transport/logistics hub in the Micronesia region |
The US also signed a bilateral defense agreement with Papua New Guinea and reopened the US embassy in the Solomon Islands. Reclaiming the infrastructure that was desperately fought over and won today highlights the growing fear of another Asia-Pacific War. One must hope that the voices of those who fought the last one will act as a warning for a repeat of the bloodbath experienced in places like Peleliu.
Sources:
Images:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:FG-1_Corsair_lands_at_Peleliu_airfield_in_September_1944.jpg