The Battle of Peleliu: Taking Bloody Nose Ridge (Part 3)

The date is now the 25th of September 1944. D + 10 on Peloo where the first marine division and the 321st regiment from the army's 81st wildcat division are grappling with an entrenched enemy that is determined to fight to the death. The previous nine days have seen some of the worst fighting of the Pacific War with both sides suffering heavy losses while also dealing with extreme terrain and conditions. The First Marine Regiment has been pulled off the island after taking nearly 60% casualties, forcing Marine Divisional Commander Major General William Rupertus to accept reinforcements from the US Army 321st Regiment. However, Rupetus does not trust the men of the 321st as he believes Army general infantry are inferior to his own marines. The fifth marine regiment moves through the area captured by the Wildcats the following day and methodically push north to cut off Colonel Nakagawi's men defending Bloody Nose Ridge. By the 27th of September, D +12, the northern half of Peloon is in American hands, and the fifth Marines prepare to assault Negibbus Island on D +13. Meanwhile, the Seventh Marines and the 321st Regiment continue making methodical attacks on the hills nicknamed the Five Sisters, slowly squeezing the Japanese perimeter. Even though the Americans on Pelu have mostly abandoned frontal assaults in favor of slower advances backed by heavy artillery and aerial bombardment, they are still suffering heavy casualties. The seventh marine regiment is attricing at almost the same rate as the first marines before them. Colonel Bucky Harris's fifth Marines are now tasked with capturing Negibus Island, which is 2,500 yd long from end to end and connected to Peloo by a narrow causeway. The Japanese on Pelu have been reinforced by troops coming from Negivas, making its capture a tactical priority. It is initially thought that the island's airfield is capable of handling fighter aircraft, increasing its importance. This island is also the site of one of the more famous combat actions associated with the battle of Pelu. Colonel Harris and his executive officer, Lieutenant Colonel Lewis Walt, decide to launch a full amphibious assault using LVTs rather than funnel men down the causeway, which will almost certainly be the focus of the enemy's defenses. Private Eugene Sled and the other mortisemen of K Company third battalion are informed by the mortar section leader Lieutenant Duke Ellington that the objective is to capture the island on the first day. Corporal RV Bergen scoffs. Just sounds like more of the same old crap to me. Nothing ever comes easy in this damned place. Third battalion will lead the assault with first battalion of the seventh marines waiting as a reserve force. At dawn on D plus 13, the men of third battalion boards 30 Amtrak which will ferry them across the shallow water to the small but imposing island across the straight. The heavy guns of the battleship USS Mississippi along with the cruisers Columbus and Denver open fire and are soon joined by Marine Corsair flying out of Peloo's newly repaired airfield. At 9:00 a.m. the line of Amtraks move out with a squadron of LVT amphibious tanks leading the way. It takes 6 minutes for the Amtraks to reach the opposite shore while the Corsair's continue to rocket and bomb Negibas Island. Unlike the massacre on D-Day, the naval and aerial barrage continues all the way up until the Marines hit the shoreline. To the surprise of the Americans, there is no enemy resistance as the Amtraks trundle up the beach. The Marines disembark to find the bodies of 50 dead Japanese defenders who were killed by exploding shells and strafing corsairs. However, the first units which advance inland begin taking fire from well-concealed pillboxes and 75 mm field guns. The 500 men defending Negativus Island have mostly waited out the bombardment in their bunkers and are now pouring out machine gun fire into the advancing marines. The island is dominated by low coral ridges rising just 20 ft tall where the enemy has built formidable defenses on this relative high ground. Luckily for the Marines, most of these positions are not mutually supporting like the defenses on Peloo. The Marines have also learned from their experience on the larger island. Enemy pillboxes are quickly identified by Marine infantrymen and then targeted by the LVT's 37 mm and 75 mm guns. Coordination and communication is far better, which allows third battalion to quickly penetrate deep into the island's interior. The LVTs silence several machine gun nests and bunkers on their way across the small fighter airirstrip, overrunning the air base within 2 hours of landing. The battle is also proving to be less hellish for the infantry who do not have to stomach the awful smells of decomposing bodies, human waste, and spoiled food which litters Pelu. However, the Marines now find themselves butting up against a network of larger and more formidable bunkers dominating the low ridges in the northwest corner of the island. This is Henry Sledge, son of Eugene Sledge and the author of The Old Breed: The Complete Story Revealed. A father, a son, and how World War II in the Pacific shaped their lives. >> Debus was a few hundred yards across the channel from northern Peloo. and they would to neutralize it to protect the Marines and soldiers from possible Japanese shellfire coming from there as they were trying to compress the Japanese pocket in the Bloody Nose Ridge area. And they also wanted the air strip. Every island had an air strip mostly. The air strip on Ingibus, the sand turned out to be too soft for the heavier American planes like the Corsaires and Hellcats and Avengers to use it. So that it ended up not being used at all as an airirst strip. But that was one one reason. But the other reason was to neutralize it. And they also wanted to to neutralize a potential landing spot for Japanese reinforcements coming down from the northern plow islands. >> Eugene Sledge's mortar squad sets up their weapons near a Japanese pill box they've been told has already been knocked out. Sledge is unpacking his mortar next to the pillbox when he hears hushed voices coming from inside the undamaged structure. Sledge yells out, "Bergen, there are nips in that pill box." An incredulous Bergen responds, "Shucks Sledgehammer, you're cracking up." The Marines all tense up as Bergen cautiously moves to investigate the bunker. He peers into a small ventilator shaft to see two eyes staring back at him. Bergen unleashes a torrent of curses as he points his M1 carbine into the opening and fires off a couple of rounds. A long second of silence follows before a grenade comes hurtling out of the bunker. The Marines scatter as more grenades fly out but explode away from the mortar squad. Bergen calls to Sledge, "Look in see what's in their sledgehammer." Sledge later writes, "Being trained to take orders without question, I raised my head above the sandbank and peered into the door of the bunker. It nearly cost me my life. Not more than 6 ft from me, crouch a Japanese machine gunner." Sledge instinctively ducks as the machine gunner fires off a burst, missing his head by an inch. When we went to the bunker on Ingressivas, I had my machete and the little blast wall at that bunker where my dad looked over and the Japanese gunner loose a burst of fire from his machine gun and my dad jerks his head down, his helmet comes off, you know, almost killed him. Kneeling in that spot and looking down into that bunker, I took my machete and hacked off a chunk of that concrete and brought it home. And I I have that to this day. The Marines scour the top of the bunker looking for a weakness until Private Vincent Santos discovers a vent pipe without a protective grate. Santos drops four grenades down the vent. The first two explode with a muffled bank. The second two come hurtling out of the entrance after being thrown out by the Japanese troops inside. They explode amongst the Marines, wounding one man. Bergen orders the mortar squad to pull back and takes off towards the beach to look for an Amtrak equipped with a 75 mm gun. As Bergen runs to get help, three Japanese soldiers dart out of the bunker, but are quickly cut down by the Marines. The tense standoff continues until Corporal Bergen returns with a twoman flamethrower team and an Amtrak. Several Japanese soldiers rush out of the bunker entrance. Apparently aware of what is about to happen, the Marines mow them down with rifle fire while the tank fires three rounds into the bunker entrance. A marine remarks that even if the fragments hadn't killed the last occupant, the concussion of the blasts had to have done the job. Now the flamethrower is brought up and jellied gasoline is fired into the opening port. Muffled screams are heard, but quickly go silent. Once the flamethrower has finished its dirty work, more grenades are tossed in before the Marines gingerely set foot inside the smoldering bunker. 17 dead Japanese soldiers are counted, and two of the 12 men in Sledge's mortar squad have been slightly wounded during the firefight. Sled remembered how this isolated battle for a single bunker served as a symbol for the entire Pacific War. It was univilized, as is all war, and was carried out with that particular savagery that characterized the struggle between the Marines and the Japanese. >> My father described it as two scorpions trapped in a bottle. And I mean, they're going to fight till one of them's dead. Despite ferocious resistance, the battle for Negasibus has gone well for the Marines. By 5:00 p.m. on the 28th of September, the last Japanese defenders have been squeezed into a tiny perimeter measuring 300x 500 yd. With no hope of reinforcements for the enemy, the Fifth Marines are ordered to halt for the night. Overnight, a tremendous storm batters the Palao Islands. The remaining enemy resistance is snuffed out on the following day and the Amtraks return to pick up the troops of third battalion fifth marines to return them to Peloo. The storming of Negibus has been a textbook amphibious operation and easily the most successful engagement of the Peloo campaign thus far. The battalion has suffered only light casualties with 15 men killed and 33 wounded out of a strength of around 700 men. By comparison, 470 of the 500 Japanese defenders have been killed during the battle. A rumor quickly spread through the ranks that the fifth Marines are headed back to their rear area base at Papuvu, which greatly improves morale. However, like most rumors in war, this is not true. The fifth marines are instead taking over the bulk of the fighting on Peloo, and they will take the lead in assaulting the positions on Bloody Nose Rich as General Rupertus' so-called 3-day battle for the island enters its third week. On the 1st of October 1944, the men of K Company Third Battalion, Fifth Marine Regiment, begin a long trek into the winding gullies and ravines of Peloo's Omar Brogal Mountain. Private Sterling Mace later recalled, "The terrain was like the surface of a waffle iron, only magnified about a million times. Under the command of Captain Andy Haldane, K Company inches forward towards their designated sector. Even though the Marines are technically behind the front, Japanese snipers are still active in the rear areas. Operating from caves blasted into the coral mountain. These isolated snipers occasionally fire on Captain Heldane's men. Several Marines are killed while the snipers disappear back into Peloo's labyrinth of caves and tunnels before the Americans can return fire. After a slow and exhausting trip, K Company finally reaches its jumping off point for an attack in two days time. They are about to experience the same hell which chewed up and spat out two infantry formations before them. The 1st of October represents D +15 on Pelu, which is unrecognizable after 2 weeks of heavy fighting. The once lush tropical landscape has been blasted into bare coral, littered with the wreckage of war, human waste, and decomposing bodies. The First Marine Division, along with the 321st Regiment of the 81st Wildcat Division, has managed to push the 1,500 men of Colonel Kunio Nakagawa's garrison into a small perimeter within the Umaral Mountain. This is better known to the infantry as Bloody Nose Ridge. Fighting in what has become known simply as the pocket is bloody and close courses with both sides suffering horrendous casualties in an area just 1,000 yd x 500 yd around the equivalent of 10 football pitches. This is Joseph Wan, author of Bitter Peloo, the forgotten struggle on the Pacific War's worst battlefield. The army went along this road that circumvented the island on the west side and the north side and then they came in on the north side of Umar Bur and launched attacks from there and they were a lot more effective. They they reduced it down to just the Ummer pocket where the the last remaining Japanese were in. the the army sent that regimental combat team up there and uh the Marines the remaining ones squeezed from the south. They reduced it down. The Japanese fought fiercely to the end. They did not surrender. Captain Haldane's men along with the rest of the fifth marine regiment have been brought into the Umar Bogal to finish off the last Japanese defenders on Pelu. The fifth marine regiment have suffered close to 30% casualties so far during the battle, but they are in far better shape than the other two regiments of the first marine division. The once mighty first marine regiment had been pulled off the line after losing nearly 60% of its strength. They were replaced by the seventh marine regiment who have fared little better. The seventh marines have taken similar losses and its infantry units are so depleted that two composite units composed of rear echelon troops are formed and sent to the front. The first marine division as a whole is worn out after 15 days of constant combat. But divisional commander major general William Rupertus still believes victory is just around the corner. And it's after they're on up in Umer Bro on Peloo and they go into a position that some Japanese infiltrators had gotten into the night before and killed one Marine with a bayonet or a knife. And when my dad and his buddy when they come in to take this position, they see this man's blood still in the bottom of this foxhole. And this man's guts and blood are still in it cuz he'd been killed the night before by an infiltrator. and he started taking some ammo boxes and cutting the cardboard and trying to lay them out to create a something they could sit on and set their mortar on and I'd have to sit in their comrade's blood. And as he writes one with the old breed, I thought of the folly shedding your blood gloriously on the field of battle. Only the flies benefited. And so I say that because if you're going to experience the legacy of Eugene Slesman, that's where he takes you because that's what it was to him. Rupitus plans another general assault on the pocket on the 3rd of October to finally snuff out the enemy, but makes yet another baffling tactical decision. The division's first tank battalion still has 12 serviceable Sherman tanks on Pelu, but Rupetus orders them off the island and back to the first marine division's base at Pavuvu. The division's executive officer, Brigadier General Oliver Smith, will later say it was a bad mistake. The tanks were sorely missed when heavy mobile firepower was so important. However, Rupetus believes the tanks are ineffective in such rough terrain and sticks to his decision to evacuate them. Faced with this loss of firepower, the commander of the fifth marine regiment, Colonel Bucky Harris, introduces tactical changes intended to save the lives of his infantry. He believes the pocket can only be taken using siege tactics and pledges to be lavish with ammunition and stingy with men's lives. Another barrage from massive 155 mm long tom artillery pieces, M1 75mm pack howitzers and 81 mm mortar fire from five marine battalions pounds bloody nose bridge at 6:00 a.m. on the 3rd of October. F4U Corsair's taking off from Peloo's airfield dive in low to drop Napon on suspected enemy positions before returning to rearm. The distance is so short that most sorties last around 30 seconds and many pilots don't bother with retracting their landing gear. The men of K Company Third Battalion Fifth Marines are to assault the dreaded Five Sisters Hills in order to help the Seventh Marines finally secure the island's east road. At 7:03 a.m., the general attack begins. Initially, the Marines make outstanding progress as Eugene Sledge's mortar team fires high explosive and smoke shells in support of the advancing infantry. G Company of the Second Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, quickly advances up the slopes of Hill 100, the same place where Captain Everett Pope's company ceased to exist almost 2 weeks ago. Within half an hour, G Company secures the summit of Hill 100 without a single casualty. Meanwhile, the fifth marine regiment has surprising success against the previously unconquerable five sisters. One hilltop falls, followed quickly by another. By noon, four of the five sisters have been captured by the fifth marines, and it seems as though General Rupertus is right about the Japanese defenders being on the brink of collapse. However, these successes do not bear more fruit thanks to familiar problems. When G company, a top hill 100, attempts to expand their gains, they run into a withering crossfire from other Japanese positions and are pinned down. The same happens to the fifth marines on the five sisters. Once the infantry reach the top of the hills, they are subjected to empalading fire from machine guns dotting the mountainous landscape. Sterling Mace later said, "We took out some caves on our way up the slopes, but we must have bypassed several more because we started taking hostile fire from the rear as well as the front." Meanwhile, a convoy of Marine and US Army vehicles is attempting to use the West Road at 4 p.m. when the column is stopped by sniper fire at a point on the road known as Dead Man's Curve. Colonel Joseph Henkins of the division headquarters battalion attempts to get the convoy moving again when he is shot and killed by enemy fire. He becomes the highest ranking US officer to be killed on Pelu at the five sisters. The situation is becoming untenable for third battalion of the fifth marines. The battalion is suffering heavy losses by 3 p.m. and Private Sledge is wrote into stretcher bearer duty to help move the wounded. Sledge later remembered, "We usually threw our phosphorus and smoke grenades as a screen and the riflemen covered us, but enemy snipers fired as rapidly as possible at stretcherbearers. The Japanese were merciless in this as in everything else in combat. Because of the rugged rockstream terrain and intense heat on Peloo, four men were needed to carry one casualty on a stretcher. Everyone in the company took his turn as a stretcher bearer nearly every day. All hands agreed it was backbreaking, perilous work. Ultimately, the attacks on the 3rd of October gain very little ground despite the promising start. While G Company is able to hold its position on Hill 100, also called Walt Ridge by some at this point in the battle, the Fifth Marines are forced to retreat from their hard one gains by the end of the day. The attacks are repeated the very next day and repulsed in the same manner. No ground is gained against the five sisters and the seventh marine regiment are especially mowled trying to capture the high ground past hill 100. L company of third battalion storms the summit of the nearby hill 120 only to fall into a deadly trap. The enemy waits in nearby caves until the top of the hill is choked with American infantry before unleashing a barrage of machine gun and mortar fire. Of the 48 Marines who made it to the top, 37 are killed outright and six are wounded. The massacre of L company signals the end for the seventh Marine regiment on Pelu. With more than 46% of its strength gone, General Roy Gger recommends to Major General Rupertus that he replace the regiment. However, Rupetus refuses and insists the Marines can do the job. Give him a little more time, they'll take the pocket and the battle will be over. It takes two more days of fruitless attacks before Rupetus listens to reason and finally relieves the seventh marine regiment. The regiment has suffered 1,486 casualties in the 3 weeks of his 3-day operation on Pelu. However, Rupertus is still hoping to prevent the army from getting any credit and places his hopes of capturing the pocket on his last regiment, the fifth Marines. Colonel Harris continues his siege tactics, only launching small attacks with armored support from the army's 710th tank battalion. Flamethrower tanks are brought up to fire jellied gasoline directly into enemy cave entrances, while the 155 mm long tom batteries fire on Japanese strong points over open sights. The battery crews often have to shield themselves from the shrapnel blasting out of the coral cliffs. Even with these precautions, the fifth marine regiment suffers terribly. Those who are not killed or wounded eventually succumb to exhaustion and must be evacuated to the rear areas. Most Marines go days without sleep, including Corporal RV Bergen, who remembered going 72 hours without even a nap. I was so punchrunk I couldn't focus my eyes anymore. I made it back to my squad's position, crawled up behind some rocks, and passed out like a light. I didn't stir for around 12 hours straight. Peloo is truly becoming a putrid cesspool after almost a month of fighting. Eugene Sledge wrote, "Everywhere we went on the ridges, the hot, humid air rire with the stench of death. A strong wind was no relief. It simply brought the horrid odor from an adjacent area." Corsair pilots will later attest they could smell the island at 1,500 ft. Although the Marine Corps do their best to remove dead bodies in a timely fashion, their efforts are not nearly enough. Aside from the problem of where to bury the deceased in the rock hard ground, Japanese soldiers often booby trap the bodies of dead marines with grenades or mortar shells. Afraid of getting wounded or killed, corman become leerary of checking and removing corpses. The fly population explodes, which forces the Americans to deploy the newly developed DDT pesticide. It does little good, and the flies continue to multiply, feeding on the rubbish and corpses. Despite these difficulties, American forces control 90% of Pelu by the end of the first week of October with only the stubborn Japanese holdouts remaining in the pocket. Canon Nakagawa has lost telephone communication with most of his surviving troops and can only give orders via runner or personally visiting the men in the dead of night. Nakugarawa soldiers are starving and trapped inside their caves and tunnels within the Umarogal mountain. For all intents and purposes, the surviving Japanese garrison on Pelu is no longer a threat to the American air base. Yet, Major General Rupertus insists that the rest of the island needs to be captured and orders the fifth Marines and Colonel Harris to finish the job. On the morning of the 7th of October, Harris plans to launch an assault across a rugged valley in the heart of the pocket, nicknamed the Horseshoe. The commander of fifth marines will spare no expense in destroying enemy positions before sending third battalion into the horseshoe. Dozens of 75 mm pack howitzers are forcibly hauled by hand up sheer cliffs to fire into cave entrances and bunkers. They are joined by all of the battalion's mortar teams. Six US Army Sherman tanks and armored vehicles fitted with bulldozers to cut paths through the rubble and loose coral blocking parts of the valley. At 6:30 a.m., the Marine artillery opens fire with a hellacious barrage lasting 2 and 1/2 hours. The objective is to finally capture the high ground of the five sisters, the five brothers, and a feature known as Hill 300. Their battalion launches their assault with the bulldozers in the lead, backed by the army tanks. The Marines advance in tight columns behind the armor while the bulldozers methodically clear the obstacles ahead. Although Major General Rupetus is dismissive of the army's fighting ability, the tanks and marine infantry work together with good coordination. The Marines call out enemy strong points which are then blasted by 75 mm tank rounds and machine guns. Japanese heavy artillery targets the Shermans, but none are destroyed. In desperation, several Japanese soldiers leap out of cave entrances and rush towards the tanks carrying mines intent on giving their lives to destroy them. The Marines cut them down with a volley of machine gun and rifle fire before they can do any damage. The Americans make good progress on Peloo for the first time in weeks, advancing further into the pocket than ever before. Captain Andy Haldane and K Company third battalion fifth marines make it to within 100 yards of the five brothers. K Company is halted by a shallow pond and is forced to withdraw after running out of ammunition, but the unit remarkably takes no casualties on the day. Captain Haldane, a college classmate of fellow Marine Company commander and Medal of Honor recipient Everett Pope, leads from the front and is an inspiration for the men under his command. Sergeant Dick Higgins later described him as more than just a commanding officer. He was a real friend. Anytime he told the men they had to go up front, he was right there with them. Eugene Sledge later wrote, "We were thankful that Haldane was our skipper, felt more secure in it, and felt sorry for other companies not so fortunate." >> Growing up, the name Aack from my early childhood years, you know, I knew I knew who Aakane was. He was, I think, probably the most revered company commander. Well, I mean, that's me speaking through the eyes of my father and the other guys, a lot of the other guys in K Company that I got to know. Captain Helane was so well respected. He was such a good man. He was compassionate man. He was a a good officer, a good marine, a good leader. He led from the front. He did not yell at or berate his men. As part of Colonel Harris's new tactics, the Marines do not attempt to storm the steep cliffs of the hills surrounding the horseshoe. Instead, they identify as many enemy caves and strong points as possible before marine artillery and the tanks blast them. When the tanks and infantry begin to run low on ammunition, they withdraw before attacking again 2 hours later. This new tactic is intended to wear down the Japanese defenders in a battle of attrition rather than capture territory. By most measures, this shift in strategy is a success. More than a dozen large caves are destroyed and at least 75 Japanese soldiers are killed by marine and army firepower. Major Frank Huff later describes the 7th of October as the single largest dose of destruction delivered to the Japanese in the pocket. L Company does even better than the rest of the Marines and penetrates into an area that will become known as China Wall, the inner perimeter of the pocket. L Company comes under withering enemy fire and is forced to withdraw. But the successes of the 7th of October prove that Colonel Harris's approach can work without unacceptable casualties. Even so, General Rupertus berates Harris for moving slowly. By now, Rupetus is on the verge of an emotional breakdown after almost a month of combat, and his behavior has grown more erratic. After reprimanding Bucky Harris for his approach to the battle, Rupetus bursts into tears and instead asks the colonel to take over the first marine division. He said, "You take over. You take over. I can't can't do this." But of course, he couldn't. You know, military protocol wouldn't let him just hand it over to someone. But, uh, he was he despared. Ashult Harris manages to console his commanding officer, but is understandably deeply disturbed by the episode. The following days are spent further reducing the pocket using Colonel Harris's siege tactics. Marine Corsair dump thousands of tons of nap and 1,000lb bombs on the five sisters and the five brothers, leaving nothing behind except scorched coral. After the 75mm artillery proved successful in destroying caves and bunkers, 105 mm howitzers are manhandled into place by the marines to blast stronger enemy positions. Landslides are triggered by the shelling, dooming many trapped Japanese soldiers to a dark grave within the mountain. Most of the enemy troops still left on Pelu have lived underground since the beginning of the battle, living only on tiny rations of rice and dried fish with only rainwater to drink. Still, they resist tenaciously, much to the exasperation of the Marines and the 321st Army Regiment. A Marine flamethrower operator later said, "I still hated the little bastards, but they were damned good fighters. I don't know how they took it, but they did. On the morning of the 10th of October, D plus 25, Captain Haldane and K Company are tasked with clearing a ridge of Japanese snipers overlooking the island's western road. The terrain is so terrible in places that the Sherman tanks along with the flamethrower variants. Easily the best weapons for clearing out entrenched enemy positions can't get close enough to fire into caves or bunkers. Eugene Sledge writes, "The enemy were firing from positions that were almost impossible to locate, and they shot any and everybody they could, even casualties being evacuated by Amtrak. The Marines will have to clear out the snipers the old-fashioned way, a slow and meticulous advance up the ridge by foot. K Company has passed 40% casualties by this point in the battle, and its remaining men are tired and emotionally spent as the campaign drags into its second month. The fifth Marines spend the next two days searching for the elusive enemy snipers, but fail to even spot a single Japanese soldier. Without any enemy to eliminate, the Marines instead spend hour after hour blasting shut every cave entrance they come across to hopefully seal the defenders within. The methodical and exhausting search for snipers ends on the 12th of October when third battalion of the fifth marines is ordered to take over a hot section of the front from second battalion which has been pulled off the line after suffering heavy casualties. Captain Haldane and K Company are among the last of the first Marine division to see combat on Pelu. K Company settles into new positions on a ridgeeline unfamiliar to them. As they occupy high ground, cenamed Hill 140, the survivors of second battalion leave them with a strict warning. Do not look over the crest of the ridge. However, Captain Haldane must familiarize himself with the terrain. so K Company can implace their machine guns and mortars. True to Thorn, he volunteers himself to steal a peak over the crest of the ridge. Along with four other men, Alane creeps up the ridge on his stomach and raises his head just 4 in above the crest to look for a place for the company machine gun sections. He calls out, "We need to get them as close before a loud smack cuts him off." Corporal Jim Anderson will later recall, "I was right beside him, and I can't even describe the shock of it. The sniper must have had his sight zeroed in on that exact spot. I knew immediately the captain was dead, but I still couldn't make myself believe it." The rest of K Company is devastated by the news. Sledge later writes, "Never in my wildest imagination had I contemplated Captain Haldane's death. We felt forlorn and lost. It was the worst grief I endured during the entire war. The intervening years have not lessened it any. In a symbol of how badly the Marines have been bloodied on Pelu, Alane's death now puts a sergeant Jim Mckenry in charge of sea company. The night of the 12th of October is one of terror for K Company. Private Sterling Mace and Charlie Orman are sharing a shallow fighting hole near a flat piece of corrugated metal large enough for a man to lie on. The two men debate using the metal piece as a bed before deciding that the metal scraping against the coral would make too much noise and attract attention from the enemy. Mace keeps watch tries to catch some sleep as the sun sets on Peloo. In the dead of night, a marine machine gun opens fire just a few yards away from Mace's position. A grenade explodes, silencing the gun before the cry goes out for a corman. Mace grabs his Browning automatic rifle and points it at two dark figures running right past him. The two men pass within 5 ft of the fighting hole, but Mace holds his fire, unsure of whether they are friend or foe. The darkened figures disappear into the night. An hour later, both Orman and Mace are struggling to stay awake when the pattering of feet is heard. Mace brings his bar to the ready as four grenades suddenly hurtle out of the darkness. The Marines take cover as the grenades explode all around them, but neither man is wounded. An offine star shell bathes the area in light and four Japanese soldiers are seen scrambling over the broken coral. Mace pops up and unloads a full magazine at the shadowy figures now retreating the way they came. Mace is reloading his BAR when he hears the scraping and creaking of steel against rock. Realizing it's the corrugated metal sheet, he quickly aims his weapon at it and unloads another magazine. Orman whispers, "I think you got him." But Mace does not sleep for the rest of the night. When dawn breaks, the two men find a dead Japanese soldier not even 10 ft from their fighting hole, still clutching a live grenade with rigger mortise, preventing the firing pin from going off. 15 enemy infiltrators are killed on this section of the line on this night alone. K Company spends another day attempting to clear Japanese resistance from the ridgeel line. Corsair drop Napal on enemy positions throughout the day, bathing the area in fiery explosions. Finally, on the 14th of October, Admiral Nimtt appoints Rear Admiral George Fort as overall commander of the Peloo operation. Thor's first act is to pull the Marines off Peloo, much to the relief of Geigger, who has been agonizing over whether to sack General Rupertus. After 31 torturous days of brutal combat in unimaginable conditions, the Army's 81st Wildcat Division officially replaces the First Marine Division on the 16th of October. You know, my dad talked about when they're in Bloody Nose Ridge and they they see the army the soldiers from the Wildcat Division coming in to take positions beside him. You know, he felt a sense of comradeship. They were their relief. They looked pretty good to him. >> Sledge's fifth Marine Regiment has taken 1,378 casualties during their time on Peloo. and their 40% casualty rate is somewhat remarkable considering the regiment spent the longest time on the island. Even so, fifth marines will need to be reconstituted before they can see combat again. Sledge later wrote about his time on Pelu. None of us would ever be the same after what we had endured. To some degree that is true, of course, of all human experience, but something in me died at Peloo. Perhaps it was a childish innocence that accepted as faith the claim that man is basically good. Possibly I lost faith that politicians in high places who do not have to endure war savagery will ever stop blundering and sending others to endure it. Now it's the wildat's turn to experience the hell that is Peloo. The commander of the 81st division, Major General Paul Mueller, continues the siege tactics, and the 323rd Infantry Regiment soon arrives to bolster the army's presence on the island. Flamethrower LVTs are sent into the pocket to support the attritional losses against the last of the Dugen Japanese defenders. By now, there are less than 1,000 enemy soldiers left, but every single one must be eliminated for the island to be completely secure. The 321st Infantry Regiment continues to take heavy losses despite their conservative tactics, and among them is the unit's beloved K-9 mascot, Murphy. Regimental commander Robert Dark later wrote, "Murphy was in the thick of the fighting. A mortar shell had his number on it, and he died like the hero that he was. The troops began to fight as they had never fought before. One man took a light machine gun off the mount and slung a beltload with ammunition over his shoulder, moving forward with the machine gun cradled in the crook of his arm. The army expands on many of the tactics used by the Marines before them. To solve the problem of digging into the coral rock, the soldiers initiate an extensive sandbacking operation where bags are filled with sand from the beaches and then hauled up the mountain to the front line. In some cases, advancing infantrymen actually push sandbags ahead of them as they crawl forwards towards enemy positions. When the night falls, the sandbags are collected and used to make artificial foxholes, which are most effective against Japanese infiltrators. The Americans on Pelu go to extreme lengths to flush out and destroy the last enemy defenders. Army artillerymen disassemble their guns and use ropes and pulleys to hoist the pieces into position at top the jagged ridge lines in order to provide better fire support for the assaults into the pocket. An army school analysis of the campaign later described how frequently it was necessary to depend upon the engineers to build roads through impossible terrain in order to put tanks on vantage points to render direct fire support. Evacuating casualties still proves to be an excruciating process. At one point during the fighting, it takes on average 90 minutes to evacuate wounded men a distance of slightly more than a quarter of a mile. Far too often, according to the theater surgeon, the intensity of enemy fire made evacuation impossible. The 81st division suffers 1,06 casualties between the 27th of September and the 20th of October. Most of these from the 321st Infantry Regiment. But the army has succeeded in squeezing the pocket into a perimeter measuring 475 yd wide and 350 yards in length. Packed into the caves and subterranean tunnels are 700 malnourished Japanese soldiers still clinging to their positions with no hope of escape. The battle for Peloo has long since descended into a series of vicious small unit actions fought by platoon as Japanese resistance dwindled. Some of the geographic features which have resulted in the deaths of many Americans are finally taken over the next month. The five sisters falls on the 2nd of November, but not before it has devastated two full regiments of the First Marine Division and the 321st Army Regiment. It takes another 20 days before men of the 323rd Infantry Regiment are able to scale one of the sheer cliffs which surround China Wall, the last Japanese holdout. Army engineers construct a ramp to allow flamethrower LVTs to enter the hollow center of China Wall and methodically burn out the remaining defenders. 5 days later, Kono Nakagawa commits ritual sepuku from his command bunker within China wall and sends a farewell message to the nearby Japanese garrison on Kore which reads simply cherry blossom. Nakagawa is postumously promoted to left tenant general and the last 57 Japanese soldiers on Pelu are ordered to split into small groups and wage a guerilla campaign against the occupiers. On the 27th of November 1944, D + 73, Army troops infiltrate Nakagawa's cave to find no enemy soldiers remaining. The island is finally secure. >> The Japanese fought fiercely to the end. They did not surrender. They just fought to the death. The Battle of Pelu is one of the bloodiest battles of the Pacific War and a harsh reminder for the Allies that Imperial Japan will not go quietly even in the face of hopeless odds. Despite Major General William Rupertus promise that the campaign would last 4 days at the most. Pelu is only secured after 2 and 1/2 months of some of the most brutal fighting seen in the Second World War. Colonel Nakagawa was able to use the island's unique geography to neutralize the Marines overwhelming firepower and force the Americans to bleed over every inch gained. One Japanese officer in particular takes great interest in Nakagawa's tactics. Lieutenant General Tadamichi Kuri Bayashi. In 4 months, he will use a similar strategy to defend the island of Ewima. The first marine division has suffered appalling losses with all three of its regiments taking over 40% casualties. >> It said the percentage lo rate is higher than any of their battle other battles in the Pacific during the war. Higher than the UIA and Okinawa. >> The army's 81st division was similarly bloodied taking 3,275 casualties. Altogether 1,573 men are killed on Pelu and 6,531 wounded. 79% of these losses have been in the infantry and 15% of the Americans who participated in the battle became a casualty. The First Marine Division, once considered by some to be the best unit in the United States Armed Forces, is so badly mowled it will not be ready for combat again until the Okinawa campaign in April of 1945. Some of these guys had been at Gloucester. Some of these guys had been at Qual Canal. That was a pretty widely acknowledged feeling among a lot of the men that there was just something uniquely horrific about Pelis. The Japanese garrison of 10,900 men is wiped out almost to the last man. A diist at Imperial General Headquarters writes of the Peloo garrison, "They were warriors to the end, and their actions really are a model of military men. 301 prisoners are some of the few survivors from the battle. Japanese holdouts remain on the island still fighting and raiding supplies to stay alive. And uh they had this place, this cave, it's like fivetory cave where they stored everything and where they lived. There were oh a couple dozen of them there and they got boulder and boulder and they ended up even attacking some Marines on patrol threw grenades at them or something. So they called in a marine unit from Guam and uh they came ashore and started patrolling heavily armed and uh they they found one person that one of the holdouts and he told them where the others were. So they brought in a Japanese admiral who had testified I guess at a war crimes trial on Guam and uh he rode around the island in a jeep with a loudspeaker and telling them the war was over. This was 1947 two years later almost and uh that they should come in and just uh surrender. They'd be treated well. they could they would send him back to Japan. And so they they finally did. >> The 57 men who disappeared into the mountain are all eventually rounded up or killed over the course of 2 years. The costs of the battle are considered completely unacceptable, and many historians have since deemed the Peloo campaign to be entirely unnecessary. Colonel Benjamin Venibal of the 81st Infantry Division wrote after the war, "The expedition was unnecessary. It accomplished little and immobilized two divisions for 6 months." In the book Pelu 1944, authors Jim Moran and Gordon Rottman wrote that the southern flank of the invasion of the Philippines was secured by the operation. Yet they contend that this danger though was minimal as all Japanese aircraft in the Palao had been destroyed and few of the Japanese barges were capable of the 700-mile open sea trip to the Philippines. Many of the men who fought on Pelu would also come to believe the battle was pointless. Sergeant Swed Hansen later said, "I still like to get my hands on MacArthur and Nimtt by sending us into that terrible place for no good reason." Corman Bill Jenkins agreed. Peloo was a political thing that got a lot of people killed for nothing. It makes you sick to think about, but it's the truth. Corporal RV Bergen reflected on the cost of the battle. In my opinion, we never should have hit the damn island in the first place. It still makes me mad to think about all the lives that were wasted there. Some of their leaders came to agree with this viewpoint. Rear Admiral Jesse Oldenorf's bombardment force failed to dent the enemy defenses and he later regretted his participation in the battle. Writing after the war, he admitted a lack of foresight by himself and other military leaders and concluded that the assault on Peloo should have never been attempted. My dad was a marine. MacArthur, of course, was a very egocentric, self agrandizing soldier, army general. I think he deeply resented MacArthur. Uh, you know, the stated reason for invading Peloo in September of 1944 was to protect MacArthur's flank as he advanced along that southwestern axis toward the Philippines, which of course retaking the Philippines was a sacrian goal for for MacArthur all along for very obvious and understandable reasons. As an enlisted marine in the first marine division, my father and all the guys who fought beside him on Peloo deeply resented MacArthur because they felt like they were sent to invade this island. It ended up being tactically and strategically pointless because of course MacArthur goes ashore in the Philippines long before Pel was actually secured. >> It wasn't worth the effort, wasn't worth all the losses. And it's interesting, they interviewed some of these marine survivors in later years and some of them ended up fighting at the Chosen Reservoir in Korean War. That was another ordeal, the Marine Corps, different kind. And this one guy said, "If I had my choice, I would go back to Chosen any day before I would go back to Pel." Even Polar when he was interviewed said they asked him what was the toughest battle? He said Peloo. But did the allies gain anything from their capture of Pelu? On the surface, yes. Securing the island has ensured MacArthur's invasion of the Philippines will not be bothered by enemy forces in the Palo. Japanese submarines can also no longer use the Pala as a supply base and enemy submarine activity east of the Philippines will decrease after the battle. The campaign's most important contribution ended up being that Pelu became a link in the flight path and communication lines from Hawaii to the Philippines. But the price for taking Pelu almost certainly outweighs the benefits which are marginal at best and the battle has not changed the strategic picture of the Second World War. That being said, the 316 survivors of the infamous sinking of the heavy cruiser USS Indianapolis in July of 1945 will be saved by a scout aircraft flying out of the repaired airfield on Peloo. It is likely that they would have never been rescued had the Marines and army not spilled so much blood to take the island. Major General William Rupertus has been widely criticized for his conduct during the battle. After promising the invasion would be over in just three or four days, Rupertus insisted on launching costly frontal attacks on Japanese positions in the belief that the enemy would break any day despite the Marines suffering horrendous losses. His steadfast refusal to request reinforcements from the 81st Infantry Division on the grounds that he preferred the First Marine Division to claim the glory of capturing the island has been noted as a textbook example of interervice rivalry getting in the way of good strategy. Historian and co-host of the World War II live podcast, John McManus shares his opinion in his book, Island Infernoes, the US Army's Pacific War Odyssey, 1944. If ever lions were wedded by a doggy in modern American warfare, surely this is true of the Marines who had the misfortune to serve under repair at Peloo. In his book, Brotherhood of Heroes, the Marines at Pelu, 1944, the bloodiest battle of the Pacific War, historian Bill Sloan argued that Rupertus was guided by the knowledge that he was dying of heart disease and by his various mental health issues. He wrote, "Perhaps Rupertus sensed that Peloo was his last campaign. Perhaps the realization added to his obsessive determination to see his command credited with the victory, whatever the human cost. No one knows because the division commander apparently kept his feelings strictly to himself. What is known is that within 6 months, Rupertus would be dead of a heart attack. Today, Peloo is one of the best preserved Second World War battlefields due to its remote geography and lack of human habitation. Tropical vegetation has reclaimed what was once a blasted landscape of limestone and coral, but the distinct geographical features where so many young men were killed or maimed still remain. The point bloody nose ridge and negus island are easily distinguishable reminders of a forgotten corner of hell. Thanks again to Joseph Wan, author of Bitter Peloo, The Forgotten Struggle on the Pacific War's worst battlefield. to John McManis, historian and co-host of the World War II Live podcast and author of Island Infernos, the US Army's Pacific War Odyssey, 1944. And to Henry Sledge, son of Eugene Sledge and the author of The Old Breed: The Complete Story Revealed: A Father, a Son, and How World War II in the Pacific Shaped Their Lives.