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c/n 4160464201042.
NATO codename:- Fencer-F
The ‘MP’ was an ELINT variant of which only ten were built.
It was refurbished by the 121st Aircraft Repair Plant at Kubinka in early 2016 and now on display in Area 1 of the Patriot Museum Complex.
Park Patriot, Kubinka, Moscow Oblast, Russia.
25th August 2017
c/n 00340209.
NATO codename:- Cock
The An-22 was the first Soviet 'wide-body' aircraft, and remains the worlds largest ever turboprop powered aircraft. The type first flew in 1965 and a total of 68 were built.
They have been extremely rare visitors to the UK, including a spectacular arrival at the 1988 Farnborough Airshow (bringing in a spare engine for an An-124), and a sole aircraft operated by the Antonov Design Bureau has made occasional visits to Stansted, East Midlands and recently to Manchester.
The Stansted one came over my (then) home in Ipswich and the noise and vibration were unbelievable!
This An-22 first flew in 1970 and during it's career was one of the aircraft that flew MiG-25RBV fighters to Egypt.
It was retired after a heavy landing at Addis Ababa in 1987, although it was repaired enough to allow it to fly to Monino, where it joined the museum.
On display at the Central Air Force museum, Monino, Moscow Oblast, Russia.
27th August 2017
This ones all Chris' influence. Its hard to do a drone at this scale with good articulation without taking a page from his book. Goddamn this this is flipping sweet. Its like a fucking action figure. Def gonna keep this guy together.
c/n 62211010.
NATO codename:- Farmer-B
Previously with the base museum where she was in camouflage and marked as ‘202 red’. As Kubinka has been the home of Soviet/Russian jet display teams since 1952, it is appropriate that she now wears the colours worn by MiG-19s when flown as an unnamed team.
She is seen on display near the main gate at Kubinka Air Base, Moscow Oblast, Russia.
23rd August 2017
The Triceratops is doing duty as a Surface-to-Air platform and mobile gun emplacement. His codename is Hedgehog.
The Pteradactyl is equipped for straffing and light bombing of ground targets. His codename is Groundfire.
Chassis n° ZFF67NHB000184232
The LaFerrari was codenamed “F150” in development : this first-phase test mule prototype was known as “M6”
Techno Classica 2022
Essen
Deutschland - Germany
March 2022
Leading up to the global reveal of the LaFerrari at the 2013 Geneva International Motor Show, the supercar titans of the automotive industry battled to develop their own production-ready hybrid powertrain technology. Within the space of five months, the Ferrari LaFerrari, McLaren P1, and Porsche 918 Spyder had all commenced production, cementing 2013 as a pivotal year for supercar evolution. After decades of competition between manufacturers to produce the fastest car by virtue of the most potent internal combustion engine, the embrace of the electric powertrain would change the game forever. This trio of hybrid supercar pioneers marked a new era of performance engineering.
Of course, Ferrari’s entrance onto the competitors’ stage was always going to be grand. The name alone of the Italian marque’s contribution to the hybrid supercar arms race caused a stir, with the boldly named LaFerrari translated as “The Ferrari”. It was described by company president Luca di Montezemolo as “the expression of what defines our company”. Following in the footsteps of the preceding 288 GTO, F40, F50, and Enzo, the LaFerrari took up the mantle as Ferrari’s flagship sports car. There would be 499 examples of the coupé version made for customers over three years, followed by the open-top Aperta, which spanned 210 cars manufactured over a two-year production run.
Clearly, for such an important car to live up to the Ferrari badge and go wheel-to-wheel with its hybrid supercar rivals, its development phase would always be crucial. What would be known internally during development as project code “F150”, the research and testing phases of the supercar’s progression were divided into three cycles.
To begin, the first test mule, known as “M6”, was derived from Ferrari’s Type F142 platform—more commonly known as the Ferrari 458 Italia. Compared to the final production version of the LaFerrari, this early test mule’s likeness to the 458 Italia is clear. It features the 458 Italia’s smooth and uninterrupted side panels, doing without the side-mounted air scoops that draw in air to cool the finished LaFerrari’s mid-mounted hybrid powertrain, while also featuring many of the flowing Pininfarina-penned lines of the earlier car. Conversely, the completed LaFerrari was the first Prancing Horse since the Dino 308 GT4—styled by Bertone and made from 1973 to 1980—not to wear a Pininfarina design.
The aluminium chassis was modified to accommodate the prototype hybrid LaFerrari powertrain, once more differing from the final car’s carbon monocoque that was made alongside Ferrari’s Formula 1 team cars. In the case of the “M6” mule, it was propelled by a V-12 Type F140FB engine, while the final production car would be fitted with Ferrari’s Type F140FE, a progression of this. Engineers also adapted the shock tower around the prototype as part of their research into weight distribution of the car. This first phase of the LaFerrari prototype was used between May 2011 and December 2012 as a development model for the testing of mechanical components; primarily focused on the research of brakes, steering, suspension and tyre integration; also marking the first application of an ESP (Electronic Stability Programme) in the LaFerrari project; and most importantly carrying out extensive testing around the prototype hybrid system.
Later stages of the tri-phase LaFerrari prototype cycle were known internally as the “Second Family Mulotipo” and “Third Family Preserie”—or “pre-series”—with each newer instalment looking more like the finished product that Ferrari would begin to deliver to customers in 2013. Given the complexity of the new electric powertrain, engineers and researchers at Ferrari committed significant resource behind development of the LaFerrari. The supercar was spotted on multiple occasions in pre-production camouflage around Ferrari’s Maranello headquarters, while there were also sightings of development cars in testing on Germany’s famously unforgiving Nürburgring circuit, even after the final car had been revealed. This was testament to Ferrari’s commitment to perfecting its design, and surely one of the ultimate locations to test a car to its limits.
Always known as a company that rewards its most loyal customers, Ferrari began to offer its LaFerrari development mules for sale once it was clear that they were no longer required for testing. This example, sold privately in July 2016, was offered subject to a refresh and repaint by Ferrari, on the understanding that the car was not homologated therefore could not be registered for road use nor be used on public race circuits. However, this very collectable part of Ferrari history could be used on private land with its running powertrain.
Now it is offered for sale again, with the distinguishable matte test mule Nero exterior finished over a Pelle Beige interior. Selected parts of its bodywork are cut or are rough, the interior presents an assortment of colours and styles, and the engine bay does without the conventional Ferrari neatness for an assortment of exposed wires, heat shield wraps, and protruding hoses—yet these endearing features only add to the fascinating history of this unique Ferrari test mule. All around this intriguing example, there are remnants of its past, not limited to the hand-cut access panels on the outside, also including exposed metalwork around the cabin, hand-written marker annotations, printed tester’s notes stuck to the dashboard, and exposed mechanical works behind the seats. The prototype is offered for sale with the additional exterior panels that it wore during testing. The car is officially recognised by Ferrari, and is Ferrari Classiche-certified with an accompanying Yellow Book.
The LaFerrari would go onto carve a legendary reputation. Its blistering performance can be attributed to its 6.3-litre V-12 engine lifted from the developmental FXX model, yet its electric motor and KERS (Kinetic Energy Recovery System) hybrid set-up sets it apart. With 3,322 km on its odometer at the time of cataloguing, it is remarkable to think about the extent of testing and hours of rigour this car was subject to while undergoing development with Ferrari. While the prototype cannot be registered for the road, it would easily slot into the collection of any Ferrari enthusiast as an incredible piece of the marque’s history and transition into the age of the hybrid supercar.
"Deckname Lenin"
Wladimir Iljitsch Uljanow
Ab Dezember 1900 verwendete er den Decknamen beziehungsweise das Pseudonym „Lenin“. Eine Erklärung besagt, dass er sich dabei auf den sibirischen Strom Lena bezog (Lenin bedeutet russisch: „Der vom Fluss Lena Stammende“) – nach Sibirien verbannt zu werden, bedeutete damals praktisch, dass man im zaristischen Russland als anerkannter Oppositioneller galt. Eine andere Erklärung besagt, dass er mehr an sein Kindermädchen Lena dachte, und dass er bereits als kleiner Junge auf die Frage, „wessen [Kind] er sei“ zu antworten pflegte: „Lenin!“ (russisch: „Lenas!“).
Lenin hatte mehrere Decknamen, beispielsweise lebte er im Münchner Stadtteil Schwabing als Iordan K. Iordanov und andernorts in München unter dem Namen Mayer. Vor diesem Hintergrund wirkt die Wahl des Pseudonyms eher zufällig.
c/n 96310422069.
NATO codename:- Flanker-C
Previously flew as ’69 red’ until transfered to the Russian Knights formation team. It was then allocated the code ’26 blue’ but never flew as such.
Refurbished by the 121st Aircraft Repair Plant at Kubinka in early 2016 and given a false bort code, it is now on display in Area 1 of the Patriot Museum Complex.
Park Patriot, Kubinka, Moscow Oblast, Russia.
25th August 2017
c/n 548705054.
NATO codename:- Hoplite
The ‘U’ is a dual control training version.
This example was previously operated by 131 uvp SVVAUL (Syzran Higher Military Aviation School) at Sokolovy.
It was refurbished at Kubinka (121ARZ) in early 2016 and is now on display in Area 1 of the Patriot Museum Complex.
Park Patriot, Kubinka, Moscow Oblast, Russia.
25th August 2017
A deep cover agent codename Emerald has been compromised. Grayhawk and a 4-man patrol from the Special Operations Group were tasked to extract the agent from the Naran Darre Mountain region.
The team traveled to a safe house in the region. In order to maintain a light footprint, the team was equipped with weapons that are common in the region.
To be continued...
Note: The story, all names, characters, and incidents are fictitious.
c/n 94210425.
NATO codename:- Fishbed-D
The PFS was a 2nd generation Interceptor variant. This is an early example which still has the original chord fin and one-piece canopy.
Since my previous visit in 2012 this is one of many exhibits which have been moved from their previous location under a covered pavilion and are now on display in a new ‘Cold War’ area of ‘Victory Park’. Unfortunately, they are all now parked tail on to some trees and the first sun that we had seen all week was now working against us. Oh, well!
Museum of the Great Patriotic War, Poklonnaya Hill, Moscow, Russia.
26th August 2017
c/n 10MK51403.
NATO codename ‘Flanker-C’
Operated by the 43rd Independent Naval Assault Aviation Regiment (OMShAP) Russian Navy, based at Saki.
Named ‘Irkutsk’, after the largest city in Siberia.
Seen displaying during the ARMY 2017 event held at Kubinka Airbase, Moscow Oblast, Russia.
23rd August 2017
c/n 9024.
NATO codename:- Fitter-B
The Su-17 was based on the longer Su-7U fuselage with an enlarged spine for extra fuel. It was only built for four years, being replaced by later variants.
On display at the Central Air Force museum, Monino, Moscow Oblast, Russia.
27th August 2017
Codenamed Operation Iceberg. Largest amphibious assault in the Pacific. Diorama complete, Thanks to al for following the progress !!
c/n 89A-817
NATO codename:- Careless
Built in October 1989 as CCCP-85663 and only flew with Aeroflot for its entire career. Reregistered as RA-85663 in mid/late 1992 and finally retired in 2009. It was donated to the Moscow Technical University of Civil Aviation as an instructional airframe and remains in use there on their ‘off-airport’ ramp.
Sheremetyevo International Airport, Moscow, Russia.
27th August 2017
c/n 49083501309.
NATO codename ‘Flanker-E’
Operated by the 4th Centre for Combat Application and Crew Training (GTsPAPIPVI), part of the 968th Instructior-Research Aviation Regiment (IISAP) based at Lipetsk. The unit uses four of the type to perform as the ‘Falcons of Russia’ combat demonstration team.
Seen taking off to display at the Aviation cluster of the ARMY 2017 event.
Kubinka Airbase, Moscow Oblast, Russia.
23rd August 2017
c/n 150ST22.
NATO codename:- Fishbed-J
Previously coded ’70 blue’.
The MiG-21SM was a third generation upgrade of the second generation MiG-21S. It had an uprated engine, built-in cannon and vastly updated avionics.
On display at the Central Armed Forces Museum,
Moscow, Russia.
26th August 2017
Abandoned since May 1945:
Einsatzhafen Vörden was the last of 3 military airfields to be built in the Bamsche area in the late 1930s. The other two were Hesepe and Achmer, and the three were functionally connected.
Going by the codename "Villa" it had a logistics area (including a 'workmans camp', in reality a camp for forced labour, later a POW-camp) on the north and northeast side.
The airfield was equipped with three connecting concrete runways in the usual triangle form. To the north and south of the airfield the aircraft parkings were located.
On the northeast and southeast side air traffic control, hangars, workshops and barracks could be found.
In the surrounding woods were more aircraft parkings and wooden towers with light AAA.
The airfield had one major disadvantage: it did not have a connection to the railway system. This meant that all supplies, including fuel, had to be brought in by truck from a railroad connection 6 kilometers (ca. 4 miles) away. To store the aviation fuel 4 large 50 cubic meter tanks were dug in.
Shortly after World War II began the first units flew in.
Between 15 September 1939 and January 1940 the First Group of Fighter Wing (German: I. Gruppe des Jagdgeschwaders 1) "Oesau" was based here, flying Messerschmitt Bf 109E fighters.
When they left, Vörden became somewhat quiet: because of the logistics problem it was only used incidentally, and then mostly by smaller and therefore less fuel consuming aircraft.
To show the severity of the fuel problem: In the first half year of 1944 the First Group of Fighting Wing2 (German: I. Gruppedes Kampfgeschwaders 2) "Holzhammer" was based at Hesepe.
This unit was equipped with Dornier Do 217 bombers, which took up too much space at Hesepe, so several were dispersed to Vörden. When preparing for missions they would first fly the 7 kilometers (4 miles) to Hesepe to fill up their tanks and get their bomb loads.
From 1943 onwards the three bases grew in importance to counter Allied bombing raids, and of course this gave them their share of fighter activity. Between 21 November 1944 until January 1945 the Fourth Group/Fighter Wing 54 (German: IV./JG 54) "Grünherz" was based at Vörden, flying Focke-Wulf Fw 190A
Obviously the Allied forces were aware of the three fields, and they flew multiple missions against them, for instance on 21 February 1944. On 8 April however they got their share of luck: while the other two airfields were attacked, the unit that was to bomb Vörden bombed their secondary target Fliegerhorst Quakenbrück. But other attacks followed and combined they rendered Vörden unusable by early 1945.
The last air raid against Vörden took place on 3 April 1944.
The next morning the Luftwaffe blew up what little was left of the air base and left. On 9 April Scottish units took control of the base, ending the war for Vörden.
Today Vörden has only the old hardened runways left, of the former airbase remains very little. Its three runways are in reasonbly good shape, especially the south runway, given the times that have passed.
Source: www.forgottenairfields.com/germany/lower-saxony/oldenburg...
Rounding off a morning's shopping with codename 'wife' very nicely indeed!
Oh, by the way, couldn't help noticing that Clintons have Christmas cards out on display ... on the 25th August! That's a full 4 months of the year (or 1/3 of a year) dedicated to Christmas!! So, Happy Christmas everyone!!!
40145 arrives at the North End of Preston station as the 0Z40 Carnforth to Castleton Hopgood, returning to the ELR after hauling the diesel sections of two 'Scarborough Spa Expresses' on 17 and 24 Aug 17.
A Victorian special operations task force was assigned to ambush an exchange of radioactive material and capture a high value individual (HVI) codename Panther, a Russian arms dealer.
The tasks were assigned to the TF through drawing straws. The assault team consisted of Team 8, the Squadron Master Chief (Callsign Orca-minor), and two machine gunners from Team 7. The extraction team consisted of Team 55 with Squadron Commander (Callsign Orca-actual), and a fire support section from the Special Operations Regiment. The extraction team are mounted in two GMV, one LAV-FSV, one LAV-ICV, and one HMWV Cargo. The remaining operators from Team 7 in two HH-60 Pave Hawks would be the QRF and positioned at FOB Spade. Video links with the Task Force's TOC, Victoria’s National Command Centre (NCC), United States’ Situation Room and United Kingdom’s COBRA were also setup to monitor the mission on the day of the exchange.
After the AFO teams were inserted, the assault team followed. The assault team would enter the AO by high altitude high opening (HAHO) insertion and patrol in to the exchange site. Just prior to launch, operators from Team 7 assisted their sister team and triple check their parachute and equipment.
To be continued...
Note: The story, all names, characters, and incidents are fictitious.
c/n 0390206625.
NATO codename:- Flogger-G
Stored in a far corner of the site at Monino, Moscow Oblast, Russia.
27th August 2017
The car of a generation, a machine that moulded and became part of the British family scene during the 1960's and 70's. Think back to that era in motoring, where the T-Bird style wings and curves of the 50's gave way to the angles of the 60's, then this plucky car will probably be one of the first names to spring to mind. It is of course, the Ford Cortina.
Deriving its name from the Italian ski resort of Cortina d'Ampezzo, the site of the 1956 Winter Olympics, the Cortina was designed under the codename of Project Archbishop. The car's shape and general running was designed by chief designer Roy Brown, who had previously designed the infamous Edsel, one of the worst cars in the world. As punishment, he was exiled to Dagenham Plant in East London to work on a new line of family cars to ward off BMC's Morris Oxford and Vauxhall's Victor. The car went on sale in September 1962, and the car was promoted heavily in a special publicity stunt, where a selection of Cortina's were driven down the bobsled run at Cortina d'Ampezzo. The intention of the Cortina was to be more economical and cheap to run than the competition, but also cheaper to build.
The car was launched shortly before the 1962 London Motor Show, and came complete with 1.2L or 1.5L Kent Inline-4 engines. Immediately the car was praised for its ease of use and reliability, a perfect car for the British family. Mixed with a contemporary style, the car was also surprisingly spacious on the inside. Ford continued to promote the car heavily, with several Cortina's being featured in the hit 1963 film Carry On Cabby (a fantastically funny movie if I do say so myself!). That same year, a deal with Lotus produced the Ford Lotus Cortina, a high performance version fitted with a 1.6L Twin-Cam Inline-4 engine producing in excess of 200hp. The result was a car that thrashed the Group 2 Touring Car racing, with a recorded top speed of 143mph in a car designed to ferry kids to school!
1966 saw the next generation Cortina, a more angular derivative with updated interior and a larger platform for more space. This car was the product of another Roy, Roy Haynes, who you would later recognise as the mind behind the 1969 Mini Clubman, and the infamous Morris Marina of 1971. Major differences, aside from the styling, included a larger selection of engines, ranging from the 1.2L Kent Inline-4 to the 1.6L Crossflow Inline-4 and 1.6L Twin-Cam Inline-4 for the Lotus Cortina. Even though the lovable T-Bird lines of the original were now largely gone, the car still sold, becoming the highest selling car in the UK for 1967. Critically, the car was lauded for its sharp performance and beautiful styling. One of the most obscure examples of the Cortina MkII is the Ford Cortina Savage, a set of 1,000 cars modified by Basil Green Motors of South Africa, and fitted with high performance 3.0L Essex V6 engines, a little extra umph to beat the traffic at the Johannesburg stop-sign!
1970 saw the launch of the MkII, which abandoned the previous looks of the T-Bird in favour of a much more American look. Taking many cues from the Mustang, the new Cortina featured a sloping fastback, angular front, and grille similar to that found on contemporary Lincolns and Plymouths (depending on the variant). The MkIII Cortina was designed by Harley Copp, another American designer who had been shipped out to Europe for a while, and this would turn out to be his last European design before returning to Detroit. This was also the first time that Ford of Germany and Ford of Britain chose to merge their two model brands, the Cortina in Britain and the Taunus in Europe, into a single badge-engineered car. The MkIII also featured a selection of new and larger engines, with the 1.3L Crossflow Inline-4 at the bottom end, rising through 2.0L Pinto TL16 Inline-4 engines, till eventually reaching the top range 3.3L and 4.1L Falcon 200 Inline-6 engines. The MkIII also featured a variety of trim levels, the Base Cortina, the L for Luxury, the XL for Xtra Luxury, the GT Grand Touring, and the GXL, the Grand Xtra Luxury.
The MkIII Cortina has often been cited as the most popular of the Cortina models, although being built on the same platform as the MkII, it handled better, was much safer, heavier, more powerful and generally an all round winner. Sadly however, after the car's launch in October 1970, production was slow due to the various strikes at the Dagenham Plant in April and June 1971, with a loss in production of 100,000 cars, or half the annual output. This allowed contemporary vehicles such as the Morris Marina to sneak in and start to eat away Ford's profits. Eventually the strikes ended, and the combined efforts of the Cortina and the Escort put Ford back on top. The Cortina remained the UK's top selling car until 1976 when the MkII Escort took the title.
Eventually, this generation of the Cortina gave way in 1976 to the Cortina MkIV, which carried over a majority of the running gear and engines, but gave the car a new and more angular look, as designed by German based Ford stylist Uwe Bahnsen, who also designed the MkI Ford Sierra, the MkII Capri and the original Ford Scorpio of 1985.
This finally led to the last of the line MkV of 1979, which took styling from the higher range Granada. By this time the Cortina was looking tired, and its days in the sun were quickly coming to an end. Engines were downgraded to 1.3L Crossflow and 2.0L Pinto Inline-4 engines, and the general look of the car was made somewhat more mundane. Some improvements in the range included the fitting of a 116hp 2.3L V6, and improved corrosion protection so that there would be less chance of deterioration in the elements. Together, both this, and the TC3 Taunus, were able to heavily dominate the sales only losing the title of UK best seller in 1982, but the 1981 launch of the highly advanced Opel Ascona/Vauxhall Cavalier, meant that the Cortina was forced to retire. In 1982, the last Cortina/Taunus left the production lines in Dagenham and Cologne, with 2.6 million examples sold in Britain.
Many people would never believe something as mundane as the Ford Cortina would ever become a classic, but a classic it is, and a strong one at that. The Cortina has a huge following, and has one of the highest surviving rates of classic cars from the 1970's and early 80's. Although early models up to the MkIII would be harder to find, MkIII's, MkIV's and MkV's are still incredibly popular and common machines on the roads of Britain, a true example of Ford when they're on the right track.
c/n 220001012.
NATO codename:- Flogger-A
Previously coded ’71 blue’
The Mig-23S was the initial production variant of which only 60 were built.
On display at the Central Armed Forces Museum,
Moscow, Russia.
26th August 2017
(outer layer) 'plush fustian velvet' is basically a fancy codename for 'corduroy', so i modded accordingly.
Solar Union Military Intelligence threat briefing XX25.
"Next slide.
This image is of subject Q1, codename "Quadratic". This is a heretofore unseen Ijad frame operating in what looks to be a “Soldier” loadout. This subject does not match any of the known markings, iconography, or design styles of the Ijad clans/families we have on file."
"Quadratic? Seriously?"
"Sir?"
"That's the name the randomizer chose? Isn't that a little on the nose?"
"I'm not sure what to say, sir."
Systems are Black and are Color-Tagged.
Mobile Frame Zero: Rapid Attack Stats: 2Rd (gun) 1B (armor) 1G (jump booster) 1Y (scanner) 2W + SSR.
Designer’s Notes:
These are based on the builds I made for the Block Tech Block Bouquet Chrysanthemum review. I'm still searching for a name, hence the story. Also, these are a Brickblend of Block Tech and Lego.
A Victorian special operations task force was assigned to ambush an exchange of radioactive material and capture a high value individual (HVI) codename Panther, a Russian arms dealer.
The tasks were assigned to the TF through drawing straws. The assault team consisted of Team 8, the Squadron Master Chief (Callsign Orca-minor), and two machine gunners from Team 7. The extraction team consisted of Team 55 with Squadron Commander (Callsign Orca-actual), and a fire support section from the Special Operations Regiment. The extraction team are mounted in two GMV, one LAV-FSV, one LAV-ICV, and one HMWV Cargo. The remaining operators from Team 7 in two HH-60 Pave Hawks would be the QRF and positioned at FOB Spade. Video links with the Task Force's TOC, Victoria’s National Command Centre (NCC), United States’ Situation Room and United Kingdom’s COBRA were also setup to monitor the mission on the day of the exchange.
After the AFO teams were inserted, the assault team followed. The assault team would enter the AO by high altitude high opening (HAHO) insertion and patrol in to the exchange site. Just prior to launch, operators from Team 7 assisted their sister team and triple check their parachute and equipment.
To be continued...
Note: The story, all names, characters, and incidents are fictitious.
c/n 4708.
NATO codename ‘Curl’.
The AFS is an aerial survey variant. This example is operated by the Belarusian Air Force.
Seen visiting Kubinka Airbase, Moscow Oblast, Russia.
23rd August 2017
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Battle of Peleliu
Part of the Mariana and Palau Islands campaign of the Pacific Theater (World War II)
Date15 September – 27 November 1944
(2 months, 1 week and 5 days)
Location
Peleliu, Palau Islands
7°00′N 134°15′ECoordinates: 7°00′N 134°15′E
ResultAmerican victory
Belligerents
United States Japan
Commanders and leaders
United States William H. Rupertus
United States Paul J. Mueller
United States Roy S. Geiger
United States Herman H. Hanneken
United States Harold D. Harris
United States Lewis B. PullerEmpire of Japan Kunio Nakagawa †
Empire of Japan Sadae Inoue
Units involved
United States III Amphibious Corps
1st Marine Division
81st Infantry Division
Additional support units
Empire of Japan Peleliu garrison
14th Infantry Division
49th Mixed Brigade
45th Guard Force
46th Base Force
Additional support units
Strength
47,561[1]:3610,900[1]:37
17 tanks[2]
Casualties and losses
10,786
2,336 killed
8,450 wounded[3]10,897
10,695 killed
202 captured (183 foreign laborers, 19 Japanese soldiers)[1]:89[3]
17 tanks lost
Battle of Peleliu is located in Palau
Battle of Peleliu
Mariana and Palau Islands campaign
The Battle of Peleliu, codenamed Operation Stalemate II by the United States military, was fought between the U.S. and Japan during the Mariana and Palau Campaign of World War II, from September to November 1944, on the island of Peleliu.
U.S. Marines of the 1st Marine Division, and later soldiers of the U.S. Army's 81st Infantry Division, fought to capture an airstrip on the small coral island of Peleliu. This battle was part of a larger offensive campaign known as Operation Forager, which ran from June to November 1944, in the Pacific Theater.
Major General William Rupertus, Commander of the 1st Marine Division, predicted the island would be secured within four days.[4] However, after repeated Imperial Army defeats in previous island campaigns, Japan had developed new island-defense tactics and well-crafted fortifications that allowed stiff resistance,[5] extending the battle through more than two months. The heavily outnumbered Japanese defenders put up such stiff resistance, often fighting to the death in the Emperor's name, that the island became known in Japanese as the "Emperor's Island."[6]
In the United States, this was a controversial battle because of the island's negligible strategic value and the high casualty rate, which exceeded that of all other amphibious operations during the Pacific War.[7] The National Museum of the Marine Corps called it "the bitterest battle of the war for the Marines".[8]
Background
By 1944, American victories in the Southwest and Central Pacific had brought the war closer to Japan, with American bombers able to strike at the Japanese main islands from air bases secured during the Mariana Islands campaign (June–August 1944). There was disagreement among the U.S. Joint Chiefs over two proposed strategies to defeat the Japanese Empire. The strategy proposed by General Douglas MacArthur called for the recapture of the Philippines, followed by the capture of Okinawa, then an attack on the Japanese mainland. Admiral Chester Nimitz favored a more direct strategy of bypassing the Philippines, but seizing Okinawa and Taiwan as staging areas to an attack on the Japanese mainland, followed by the future invasion of Japan's southernmost islands. Both strategies included the invasion of Peleliu, but for different reasons.[9]
The 1st Marine Division had already been chosen to make the assault. President Franklin D. Roosevelt traveled to Pearl Harbor to personally meet both commanders and hear their arguments. MacArthur's strategy was chosen. However, before MacArthur could retake the Philippines, the Palau Islands, specifically Peleliu and Angaur, were to be neutralized and an airfield built to protect MacArthur's right flank.
Preparations
Japanese
By 1944, Peleliu Island was occupied by about 11,000 Japanese of the 14th Infantry Division with Korean and Okinawan labourers. Colonel Kunio Nakagawa, commander of the division's 2nd Regiment, led the preparations for the island's defense.
After their losses in the Solomons, Gilberts, Marshalls, and Marianas, the Imperial Army assembled a research team to develop new island-defense tactics. They chose to abandon the old strategy of stopping the enemy at the beach, where they were exposed to naval gunfire. The new tactics would only disrupt the landings at the water's edge and depend on an in-depth defense farther inland. Colonel Nakagawa used the rough terrain to his advantage, by constructing a system of heavily fortified bunkers, caves, and underground positions all interlocked into a "honeycomb" system. The traditional "banzai charge" attack was also discontinued as being both wasteful of men and ineffective. These changes would force the Americans into a war of attrition, requiring increasingly more resources.
Japanese fortifications
Nakagawa's defenses were centred on Peleliu's highest point, Umurbrogol Mountain, a collection of hills and steep ridges located at the center of Peleliu overlooking a large portion of the island, including the crucial airfield. The Umurbrogol contained some 500 limestone caves, interconnected by tunnels. Many of these were former mine shafts that were turned into defensive positions. Engineers added sliding armored steel doors with multiple openings to serve both artillery and machine guns. Cave entrances were opened or altered to be slanted as a defense against grenade and flamethrower attacks. The caves and bunkers were connected to a vast tunnel and trench system throughout central Peleliu, which allowed the Japanese to evacuate or reoccupy positions as needed, and to take advantage of shrinking interior lines.
The Japanese were well armed with 81 mm (3.19 in) and 150 mm (5.9 in) mortars and 20 mm (0.79 in) anti-aircraft cannons, backed by a light tank unit and an anti-aircraft detachment.
The Japanese also used the beach terrain to their advantage. The northern end of the landing beaches faced a 30-foot (9.1 m) coral promontory that overlooked the beaches from a small peninsula, a spot later known to the Marines who assaulted it simply as "The Point". Holes were blasted into the ridge to accommodate a 47 mm (1.85 in) gun, and six 20 mm cannons. The positions were then sealed shut, leaving just a small slit to fire on the beaches. Similar positions were crafted along the 2-mile (3.2 km) stretch of landing beaches.
The beaches were also filled with thousands of obstacles for the landing craft, principally mines and a large number of heavy artillery shells buried with the fuses exposed to explode when they were run over. A battalion was placed along the beach to defend against the landing, but they were meant to merely delay the inevitable American advance inland.
American
Unlike the Japanese, who drastically altered their tactics for the upcoming battle, the American invasion plan was unchanged from that of previous amphibious landings, even after suffering 3,000 casualties and two months of delaying tactics against the entrenched Japanese defenders at the Battle of Biak.[10] On Peleliu, American planners chose to land on the southwest beaches because of their proximity to the airfield on South Peleliu. The 1st Marine Regiment, commanded by Colonel Lewis B. (Chesty) Puller, was to land on the northern end of the beaches. The 5th Marine Regiment, under Colonel Harold D. Harris, would land in the center, and the 7th Marine Regiment, under Col. Herman H. Hanneken, would land at the southern end.
The division's artillery regiment, the 11th Marines under Col. William H. Harrison, would land after the infantry regiments. The plan was for the 1st and 7th Marines to push inland, guarding the 5th Marines left and right flank, and allowing them to capture the airfield located directly to the center of the landing beaches. The 5th Marines were to push to the eastern shore, cutting the island in half. The 1st Marines would push north into the Umurbrogol, while the 7th Marines would clear the southern end of the island. Only one battalion was left behind in reserve, with the U.S. Army's 81st Infantry Division available for support from Angaur, just south of Peleliu.
On September 4, the Marines shipped off from their station on Pavuvu, just north of Guadalcanal, a 2,100-mile (3,400 km) trip across the Pacific to Peleliu. A U.S. Navy's Underwater Demolition Team went in first to clear the beaches of obstacles, while Navy warships began their pre-invasion bombardment of Peleliu on September 12.
The battleships Pennsylvania, Maryland, Mississippi, Tennessee and Idaho, heavy cruisers Indianapolis, Louisville, Minneapolis and Portland, and light cruisers Cleveland, Denver and Honolulu,[1]:29 led by the command ship Mount McKinley, subjected the tiny island, only 6 sq mi (16 km2) in size, to a massive three-day bombardment, pausing only to permit air strikes from the three aircraft carriers, five light aircraft carriers, and eleven escort carriers with the attack force.[11] 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 were dropped on the islands during this period.
The Americans believed the bombardment to be successful, as Rear Admiral Jesse Oldendorf claimed that the Navy had run out of targets.[11] In reality, the majority of the Japanese positions were completely unharmed. Even the battalion left to defend the beaches was virtually unscathed. During the assault, the island's defenders exercised unusual firing discipline to avoid giving away their positions. The bombardment managed only to destroy Japan's aircraft on the island, as well as the buildings surrounding the airfield. The Japanese remained in their fortified positions, ready to attack the American landing troops.
Opposing forces
Naval command structure for Operation Stalemate II
Admiral Chester W. Nimitz
Admiral William F. Halsey, Jr.
Vice Adm. Theo. S. Wilkinson
Expeditionary Troops and III Amphibious Corps commanders
Maj. Gen. Julian C. Smith
Maj. Gen. Roy S. Geiger
Marine ground commanders on Peleliu
Maj. Gen. William H. Rupertus
Oliver P. Smith as a major general
Lewis B. Puller as a major general
American order of battle
United States Pacific Fleet[12]
Admiral Chester W. Nimitz
US Third Fleet
Admiral William F. Halsey, Jr.
Joint Expeditionary Force (Task Force 31)
Vice Admiral Theodore S. Wilkinson
Expeditionary Troops (Task Force 36)
III Amphibious Corps[a]
Major General Julian C. Smith,[b] USMC
Western Landing Force (TG 36.1)
Major General Roy S. Geiger, USMC
1st Marine Division
Division Commander: Maj. Gen. William H. Rupertus,[c] USMC
Asst. Division Commander: Brig. Gen. Oliver P. Smith,[d] USMC
Chief of Staff: Col. John T. Selden, USMC
Beach assignments
Left (White 1 & 2)
1st Marine Regiment (Col. Lewis B. "Chesty" Puller,[e] USMC)
Co. A of the following: 1st Engineer Battalion, 1st Pioneer Battalion, 1st Medical Battalion, 1st Tank Battalion
Center (Orange 1 & 2)
5th Marine Regiment (Col. Harold D. "Bucky" Harris, USMC)
Co. B of the following: 1st Engineer Battalion, 1st Pioneer Battalion, 1st Medical Battalion, 1st Tank Battalion (reduced)
Right (Orange 3)
7th Marine Regiment (Col. Herman H. "Hard-Headed" Hanneken, USMC)
Co. C of the following: 1st Engineer Battalion, 1st Pioneer Battalion, 1st Medical Battalion, 1st Tank Battalion (reduced)
Other units
11th Marine Regiment, Artillery (Col. William H. Harrison, USMC)
12th Antiaircraft Artillery Battalion
1st Amphibian Tractor Battalion
3rd Armored Amphibian Tractor Battalion
4th, 5th, 6th Marine War Dog Platoons
UDT 6 and UDT 7
Japanese order of battle
Lt. Col. Kunio Nakagawa
Marine with captured Japanese 141mm mortar
Palau District Group[15]
Lieutenant General Inoue Sadao[f] (HQ on Koror Island)
Vice Admiral Yoshioka Ito
Maj. Gen. Kenjiro Murai[g]
14th Division (Lt. Gen. Sadao)
Peleliu Sector Unit (Lt. Col. Kunio Nakagawa[h])
2nd Infantry Regiment, Reinforced
2nd Bttn. / 2nd Infantry Regiment
3rd Bttn. / 2nd Infantry Regiment
3rd Bttn. / 15th Infantry Regiment
346th Bttn. / 53rd Independent Mixed Brigade
Battle
Landing
Routes of Allied landings on Peleliu, 15 September 1944
U.S. Marines landed on Peleliu at 08:32, on September 15, the 1st Marines to the north on White Beach 1 and 2 and the 5th and 7th Marines to the center and south on Orange Beach 1, 2, and 3.[1]:42–45 As the other landing craft approached the beaches, the Marines were caught in a crossfire when the Japanese opened the steel doors guarding their positions and fired artillery. The positions on the coral promontories guarding each flank fired on the Marines with 47 mm guns and 20 mm cannons. By 09:30, the Japanese had destroyed 60 LVTs and DUKWs.
5th Marines on Orange Beach
The 1st Marines were quickly bogged down by heavy fire from the extreme left flank and a 30-foot-high coral ridge, "The Point".[1]:49 Colonel Chesty Puller narrowly escaped death when a dud high velocity artillery round struck his LVT. His communications section was destroyed on its way to the beach by a hit from a 47 mm round. The 7th Marines faced a cluttered Orange Beach 3, with natural and man-made obstacles, forcing the Amtracs to approach in column.[1]:52
The 5th Marines made the most progress on the first day, aided by cover provided by coconut groves.[1]:51 They pushed toward the airfield, but were met with Nakagawa's first counterattack. His armored tank company raced across the airfield to push the Marines back, but was soon engaged by tanks, howitzers, naval guns, and dive bombers. Nakagawa's tanks and escorting infantrymen were quickly destroyed.[1]:57
At the end of the first day, the Americans held their 2-mile (3.2 km) stretch of landing beaches, but little else. Their biggest push in the south moved 1 mile (1.6 km) inland, but the 1st Marines to the north made very little progress because of the extremely thick resistance.[1]:42 The Marines had suffered 200 dead and 900 wounded. Rupertus, still unaware of his enemy's change of tactics, believed the Japanese would quickly crumble since their perimeter had been broken.[18]
Airfield/South Peleliu
On the second day, the 5th Marines moved to capture the airfield and push toward the eastern shore.[1]:61 They ran across the airfield, enduring heavy artillery fire from the highlands to the north, suffering heavy casualties in the process. After capturing the airfield, they rapidly advanced to the eastern end of Peleliu, leaving the island's southern defenders to be destroyed by the 7th Marines.[1]:58
This area was hotly contested by the Japanese, who still occupied numerous pillboxes. Heat indices[19] were around[20] 115 °F (46 °C), and the Marines soon suffered high casualties from heat exhaustion. Further complicating the situation, the Marines' water was distributed in empty oil drums, contaminating the water with the oil residue.[21] Still, by the eighth day the 5th and 7th Marines had accomplished their objectives, holding the airfield and the southern portion of the island, although the airfield remained under threat of sustained Japanese fire from the heights of Umurbrogol Mountain until the end of the battle.[11]
American forces put the airfield to use on the third day. L-2 Grasshoppers from VMO-3 began aerial spotting missions for Marine artillery and naval gunfire support. On September 26 (D+11), Marine F4U Corsairs from VMF-114 landed on the airstrip. The Corsairs began dive-bombing missions across Peleliu, firing rockets into open cave entrances for the infantrymen, and dropping napalm; it was only the second time the latter weapon had been used in the Pacific.[citation needed] Napalm proved useful, burning away the vegetation hiding spider holes and usually killing their occupants.
The time from liftoff to the target area for the Corsairs based on Peleliu Airfield was very short, sometimes only 10 to 15 seconds. Consequently, there was almost no time for pilots to raise their aircraft undercarriage; most pilots did not bother and left them down during the air strike. After the air strike was completed and the payload dropped, the Corsair simply turned back into the landing pattern again.
The Point
The fortress at the end of the southern landing beaches (a.k.a. “The Point”) continued to cause heavy Marine casualties due to enfilading fire from Japanese heavy machine guns and anti-tank artillery across the landing beaches. Puller ordered Captain George P. Hunt, commander of K Company, 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines, to capture the position. Hunt's company approached The Point short on supplies, having lost most of its machine guns while approaching the beaches. Hunt's second platoon was pinned down for nearly a day in an anti-tank trench between fortifications. The rest of his company was endangered when the Japanese cut a hole in their line, surrounding his company and leaving his right flank cut off.[1]:49
However, a rifle platoon began knocking out the Japanese gun positions one by one. Using smoke grenades for concealment, the platoon swept through each hole, destroying the positions with rifle grenades and close-quarters combat. After knocking out the six machine gun positions, the Marines faced the 47 mm gun cave. A lieutenant blinded the 47 mm gunner's visibility with a smoke grenade, allowing Corporal Henry W. Hahn to launch a grenade through the cave's aperture. The grenade detonated the 47 mm's shells, forcing the cave's occupants out with their bodies alight and their ammunition belts exploding around their waists. A Marine fire team was positioned on the flank of the cave where the emerging occupants were shot down.
K Company had captured The Point, but Nakagawa counterattacked. The next 30 hours saw four major counterattacks against a sole company, critically low on supplies, out of water, and surrounded. The Marines soon had to resort to hand-to-hand combat to fend off the Japanese attackers. By the time reinforcements arrived, the company had successfully repulsed all of the Japanese attacks, but had been reduced to 18 men, suffering 157 casualties during the battle for The Point.[1]:50–51 Hunt and Hahn were both awarded the Navy Cross for their actions.
Ngesebus Island
The 5th Marines—after having secured the airfield—were sent to capture Ngesebus Island, just north of Peleliu. Ngesebus was occupied by many Japanese artillery positions, and was the site of an airfield still under construction. The tiny island was connected to Peleliu by a small causeway, but 5th Marines commander Harris opted instead to make a shore-to-shore amphibious landing, predicting the causeway to be an obvious target for the island's defenders.[1]:77
Harris coordinated a pre-landing bombardment of the island on September 28, carried out by Army 155 mm (6.1 in) guns, naval guns, howitzers from the 11th Marines, strafing runs from VMF-114's Corsairs, and 75 mm (2.95 in) fire from the approaching LVTs.[1]:77 Unlike the Navy's bombardment of Peleliu, Harris' assault on Ngesebus successfully killed most of the Japanese defenders. The Marines still faced opposition in the ridges and caves, but the island fell quickly, with relatively light casualties for the 5th Marines. They had suffered 15 killed and 33 wounded, and inflicted 470 casualties on the Japanese.
Bloody Nose Ridge
After capturing The Point, the 1st Marines moved north into the Umurbrogol pocket,[1]:81 named "Bloody Nose Ridge" by the Marines. Puller led his men in numerous assaults, but each resulted in severe casualties from Japanese fire. The 1st Marines were trapped in the narrow paths between the ridges, with each ridge fortification supporting the other with deadly crossfire.
The Marines took increasingly high casualties as they slowly advanced through the ridges. The Japanese again showed unusual fire discipline, striking only when they could inflict maximum casualties. As casualties mounted, Japanese snipers began to take aim at stretcher bearers, knowing that if stretcher bearers were injured or killed, more would have to return to replace them, and the snipers could steadily pick off more and more Marines. The Japanese also infiltrated the American lines at night to attack the Marines in their fighting holes. The Marines built two-man fighting holes, so one Marine could sleep while the other kept watch for infiltrators.
One particularly bloody battle on Bloody Nose came when the 1st Battalion, 1st Marines—under the command of Major Raymond Davis—attacked Hill 100. Over six days of fighting, the battalion suffered 71% casualties. Captain Everett Pope and his company penetrated deep into the ridges, leading his remaining 90 men to seize what he thought was Hill 100. It took a day's fighting to reach what he thought was the crest of the hill, which was in fact another ridge occupied by more Japanese defenders.
Marine Pfc. Douglas Lightheart (right) cradles his .30 caliber (7.62×63mm) M1919 Browning machine gun in his lap, while he and Pfc. Gerald Thursby Sr. take a cigarette break, during mopping up operations on Peleliu on 15 September 1944.
Trapped at the base of the ridge, Captain Pope set up a small defense perimeter, which was attacked relentlessly by the Japanese throughout the night. The Marines soon ran out of ammunition, and had to fight the attackers with knives and fists, even resorting to throwing coral rock and empty ammunition boxes at the Japanese. Pope and his men managed to hold out until dawn came, which brought on more deadly fire. When they evacuated the position, only nine men remained. Pope later received the Medal of Honor for the action. (Picture of the Peleliu Memorial dedicated on the 50th anniversary of the landing on Peleliu with Captain Pope's name)
The Japanese eventually inflicted 70% casualties on Puller's 1st Marines, or 1,749 men.[1]:66 After six days of fighting in the ridges of Umurbrogol, General Roy Geiger, commander of the III Amphibious Corps, sent elements of U.S. Army's 81st Infantry Division to Peleliu to relieve the regiment.[1]:66 The 321st Regiment Combat Team landed on the western beaches of Peleliu—at the northern end of Umurbrogol mountain—on 23 September. The 321st and the 7th Marines encircled The Pocket by 24 Sept., D+9.[1]:75,81
By 15 October, the 7th Marines had suffered 46% casualties and General Geiger relieved them with the 5th Marines.[1]:83 Col. Harris adopted siege tactics, using bulldozers and flame-thrower tanks, pushing from the north.[1]:83–84 On October 30, the 81st Infantry Division took over command of Peleliu, taking another six weeks, with the same tactics, to reduce The Pocket.[1]:85
On 24 November, Nakagawa proclaimed "Our sword is broken and we have run out of spears". He then burnt his regimental colors and performed ritual suicide.[1]:86 He was posthumously promoted to lieutenant general for his valor displayed on Peleliu. On 27 November, the island was declared secure, ending the 73-day-long battle.[18]
A Japanese lieutenant with twenty-six 2nd Infantry soldiers and eight 45th Guard Force sailors held out in the caves in Peleliu until April 22, 1947, and surrendered after a Japanese admiral convinced them the war was over.[1]:81
Aftermath
The reduction of the Japanese pocket around Umurbrogol mountain has been called the most difficult fight that the U.S. military encountered in the entire war.[21] The 1st Marine Division was severely mauled and it remained out of action until the invasion of Okinawa began on April 1, 1945. In total, the 1st Marine Division suffered over 6,500 casualties during their month on Peleliu, over one third of their entire division. The 81st Infantry Division also suffered heavy losses with 3,300 casualties during their tenure on the island.
Postwar statisticians calculated that it took U.S. forces over 1500 rounds of ammunition to kill each Japanese defender and that, during the course of the battle, the Americans expended 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, and approximately 150,000 mortar rounds.[11]
The battle was controversial in the United States due to the island's lack of strategic value and the high casualty rate. The defenders lacked the means to interfere with potential US operations in the Philippines[11] and the airfield captured on Peleliu did not play a key role in subsequent operations. Instead, the Ulithi Atoll in the Caroline Islands was used as a staging base for the invasion of Okinawa. The high casualty rate exceeded all other amphibious operations during the Pacific War.[7]
In addition, few news reports were published about the battle because Rupertus' prediction of a "three days" victory motivated only six reporters to report from shore. The battle was also overshadowed by MacArthur's return to the Philippines and the Allies' push towards Germany in Europe.
The battles for Angaur and Peleliu showed Americans the pattern of future Japanese island defense but they made few adjustments for the battles for Iwo Jima and Okinawa.[22] Naval bombardment prior to amphibious assault at Iwo Jima was only slightly more effective than at Peleliu, but at Okinawa the preliminary shelling was much improved.[23] Frogmen performing underwater demolition at Iwo Jima confused the enemy by sweeping both coasts, but later alerted Japanese defenders to the exact assault beaches at Okinawa.[23] American ground forces at Peleliu gained experience in assaulting heavily fortified positions such as they would find again at Okinawa.[24]
On the recommendation of Admiral William F. Halsey, Jr., the planned occupation of Yap Island in the Caroline Islands was canceled. Halsey actually recommended that the landings on Peleliu and Angaur be canceled, too, and their Marines and soldiers be thrown into Leyte Island instead, but was overruled by Nimitz.[25]
In popular culture
In the March of Time's 1951 documentary TV series, Crusade in the Pacific, Episode 17 is "The Fight for Bloody Nose Ridge."
In NBC-TV's 1952-53 documentary TV series Victory at Sea, Episode 18, "Two if by Sea" covers the assaults at Peleliu and Angaur.
The Battle of Peleliu is featured in many World War II themed video games, including Call of Duty: World at War. The player takes the role of a US Marine tasked with taking Peleliu Airfield, repelling counter-attacks, destroying machine-gun and mortar positions and eventually securing Japanese artillery emplacements at the point. In flight-simulation game War Thunder, two teams of players clash to hold the southern and northern airfields. In multi-player shooter Red Orchestra 2: Rising Storm, a team of American troops attack the defensive Japanese team's control points.
The battle including footage and stills are featured in the fifth episode of Ken Burns' The War.
The battle features in episodes 5, 6 and 7 of the TV mini-series The Pacific.
In his book, With the Old Breed, Eugene Bondurant Sledge described his experiences in the battle for Peleliu.
In 2015, the Japanese magazine Young Animal commenced serialization of Peleliu: Rakuen no Guernica by Masao Hiratsuka and artist Kazuyoshi Takeda, telling the story of the battle in manga form.
One of the final scenes in Parer's War, a 2014 Australian television film, shows the Battle of Peleliu recorded by Damien Parer with his camera at the time of his death.
The Peleliu Campaign features as one of the campaigns in the 2019 solitaire tactical wargame “Fields of Fire” Volume 2, designed by Ben Hull, published by GMT Games LLC.
Individual honors
Japan
Posthumous promotions
For heroism:
Colonel Kunio Nakagawa – lieutenant general
Kenjiro Murai – lieutenant general
United States
Pfc. Richard Kraus, USMC (age 18), killed in action
Medal of Honor recipients
Captain Everett P. Pope – 1st Battalion, 1st Marines
First Lieutenant Carlton R. Rouh – 1st Battalion, 5th Marines
Private First Class Arthur J. Jackson – 3rd Battalion, 7th Marines
Corporal Lewis K. Bausell –1st Battalion, 5th Marines (Posthumous)
Private First Class Richard E. Kraus – 8th Amphibian Tractor Battalion, 1st Marine Division (Reinforced) (Posthumous)
Private First Class John D. New – 2nd Battalion, 7th Marines (Posthumous)
Private First Class Wesley Phelps – 3rd Battalion, 7th Marines (Posthumous)
Private First Class Charles H. Roan – 2nd Battalion, 7th Marines (Posthumous)
Unit citations
D-day Peleliu, African Americans of one of the two segregated units that supported the 7th Marines - the 16th Marine Field Depot or the 17th Naval Construction Battalion Special take a break in the 115 degree heat, 09-15-1944 - NARA - 532535
Presidential Unit Citation:
1st Marine Division, September 15 to 29, 1944[26]
1st Amphibian Tractor Battalion, FMF[27]
U. S. Navy Flame Thrower Unit Attached[27]
6th Amphibian Tractor Battalion (Provisional), FMF[27]
3d Armored Amphibian Battalion (Provisional), FMF[27]
Detachment Eighth Amphibian Tractor Battalion, FMF[27]
454th Amphibian Truck Company, U. S. Army[27]
456th Amphibian Truck Company, U. S. Army[27]
4th Joint Assault Signal Company, FMF[27]
5th Separate Wire Platoon, FMF[27]
6th Separate Wire Platoon, FMF[27]
Detachment 33rd Naval Construction Battalion (202 Personnel)[27]
Detachment 73rd Naval Construction Battalion's Shore Party (241 Personnel)[27]
USMC Commendatory Letter:[i]
11th Marine Depot Company (segregated)
7th Marine Ammunition Company (segregated)
17th Special Naval Construction Battalion (segregated)
c/n 34012843292.
NATO codename ‘Havoc-B’.
Reported to be operated by the 15th Army Aviation Brigade (15BrAA), based at Ostrov.
On static display at the Aviation cluster of the ARMY 2017 event.
Kubinka Airbase, Moscow Oblast, Russia.
23rd August 2017
R667 type bunker with Pak43 88mm gun - Omaha Beach - Widerstandsnest 72 - Vierville sur Mer, Dog Green sector, Normandy
Omaha Beach
Omaha was divided into ten sectors, codenamed (from west to east): Able, Baker, Charlie, Dog Green, Dog White, Dog Red, Easy Green, Easy Red, Fox Green and Fox Red. On june 6, 1944 -D-Day - the initial assault on Omaha was to be made by two Regimental Combat Teams (RCT), supported by two tank battalions, with two battalions of Rangers also attached. The RCT's were part of the veteran 1st Infantry division ("The Big Red One") and the untested 29th ("Blue and Grey") , a National Guard unit.
The plan was to make frontal assaults at the "draws" (valleys) in the bluffs which dominate the coast in Normandy , codenamed west to east they were called D-1, D-3, E-1, E-3 and F-1 . These draws could then be used to move inland with reserves and vehicles.
The Germans were not stupid; they knew the draws were vital and concentrated their limited resources in defending them. To this end they built "Widerstandsneste" with AT guns, mortars, MG's in Tobrul's, trenches and bunkers, manned by soldiers of the German 716th and - more recently - 352nd Infantry Division, a large portion of whom were teenagers, though they were supplemented by veterans who had fought on the Eastern Front. All in all some 1100 German soldiers defended the entire Omaha beach sector of over 5 miles.
Preliminary bombardments were almost totally ineffective and when the initial waves landed at low tide they met with fiece opposition of an enemy well dug in and prepared.
Casualties were heaviest amongst the troops landing at either end of Omaha. At Fox Green and Easy Red, scattered elements of three companies were reduced to half strength by the time they gained the relative safety of the shingle, many of them having crawled the 300 yards (270 m) of beach just ahead of the incoming tide. Casualties were especially heavy amongst the first waves of soldiers and the gap assault teams - at Omaha these were tasked with blasting channels through the beach obstacles. German gunfire from the bluffs above the beach took a heavy toll on these men. The demolition teams managed to blast only six complete gaps and three partial ones; more than half their engineers were killed in the process.
Situation at Dog Green and on Easy Red on the other end of Omaha by mid morning was so bad with nearly all the troops essentially pinned down on the beach gen. Eisenhower seriously considered to abandon the operation; in "First Wave at OMAHA Beach", S.L.A. Marshall, chief U.S. Army combat historian, called it "an epic human tragedy which in the early hours bordered on total disaster."
As the US first waves assault forces and combat engineers landing directly opposite the "draws" were pinned down it was up to forces landing on the flanks of the strongpoints to penetrate the weaker German defences by climbing the bluffs. Doing this they had to overcome the minefields and barbed wire as well as machinegun fire from German positions but they did and they were able to attack some key strongpoints from the side and the rear, taking them out by early afternoon.
This happened on several spots at Omaha and essentially saved the day: individual acts of initiative by lower ranked officers and courage like that of First Lieutenant Jimmy Monteith, who led a group of men to take one of the key German widerstandsneste and was killed in action, succeeded where a flawed plan failed.
WN 72:
Widerstandsnest 72 is part of the "Atlantic Wall". It guarded the "Dog-1" exit towards Vierville-sur-mer and was built in 1943-44 . It lies in the Dog Green sector which saw some of the heaviest fighting in the morning of june 6, 1944.
The reason why this particular spot on Omaha Beach was so heavily defended is the famous "Vierville Draw": a road through the bluffs leading directly to the town of Vierville-sur-Mer and then connecting to the Route Nationale. In other words: an ideal spot for a breakout after the landings and of course the Germans realised this too, making the Dog-1 exit a deathtrap for anyone trying to take it.
The Defenses
The Draw was defended by three German "Widerstandsneste" numbered WN 71, WN72 and WN73 and manned by members of the veteran 352nd division . WN72 consisted of two H-667 type casemates, which are directly overlooking the beach with one of them housing a formidable 88 mm. PAK43 gun.
Both casemates are guarded from fire from the sea and have gun positions enfilading the beach, their muzzle flashes were not visible from the sea. In 1944 these bunkers were protected by barbed wire, minefields and trenches.
The hill behind also had several strongpoints of WN 71 and 73, with at least nine MG positions , two mortar positions and a light fieldgun on top of the bluffs over a stretch of some 200 metres these defenses were the best the Germans had to offer in the entire Omaha sector. To top it off an anti-tank wall 2 metres high was erected to block any vehicle.
D-Day
When A-Company, 1st Battalion, 116th Infantry of the 29th "Blue & Grey" division landed here (an old Virginia National Guard Unit with a long tradition harking back to Stonewall Jackson's Brigade) it was "H-Hour" on D-Day: june 6, 1944: 06.30 hour. They were coming in exactly on the right spot opposite the draw (a lot of units in other sectors drifted away from their designated areas due to the strong current) in six Royal Navy LCA assault boats. The soldiers could see the German bunkers in the distance and the beach seemed to be untouched by the preliminary bombardments. They had to cross a large stretch of beach (some 250 metres) towards the Vierville draw. The germans waited until the landing craft were all empty and then opened fire with their MG 42's, mortars, and guns.
It was carnage. A-Company was virtually wiped out within the first minutes of the landing; no one knows exactly what happened with the 30 men in LCA 1015 but all of them were killed, and most of their bodies were found on the beach, commanding officer captain Taylor Fellers among them. In fact all all but one officers were killed in action within the first minutes, as were more then half of the soldiers and NCO's. Those who did survive the initial onslaught could do little more then stay in the water or press them self against the sand hanging on to their lifes. The shingle bank offered a little bit of protection to the happy few which made it that far, but most survivors had to stay in the water, creeping forward with the rising tide.
Incredible acts of heroism were performed by men trying to help their wounded comrades out of the water only to see them cut down by enemy fire or get shot themselfes. A-Company was reduced from an assault company to a small rescue party within 15 minutes. The follow up troops of the second wave didn't fare much better and subsequent waves landed more to the east of this WN where resistance was less heavy.
Among the casualties in A-company were 19 men from Bedford, VA. Bedford’s population in 1944 was about 3,200, and proportionally the Bedford community suffered the nation’s most severe D-Day losses.
Note: Some Ranger units also landed here, just to the west of Dog Green on Charlie sector, and this was the inspiration for the famous first scene of the 1998 movie "Saving Private Ryan".
On the Photo:
The R-667 type casemate prominent in the picture is the main defensive position of WN72; it houses a formidable 88 mm. PAK43 gun (which is still there behind the steel framework) and it;s positioned so that it enfillades the beach and is guarded from naval gunfire by an extra wallsegment (to the right). On top of the casemate now rests the National Guard memorial. To the left is the road which exits the beach to Vierville-sur-Mer, in june 1944 an anti-tank wall was erected between the bunker and the base of the bluff (far left). Sidenote: in 1944 this bunker was built into the remnants of a hotel which served as camouflage.
See my other Omaha beach photo's for more viewpoints, panorama shots and notes on the fighting
Tonemapped using three (Handheld) shots made with a Nikon D7000 and a Tamron 28-75 mm f/2,8 XR Di, augustus 2012.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Battle of Peleliu
Part of the Mariana and Palau Islands campaign of the Pacific Theater (World War II)
Date15 September – 27 November 1944
(2 months, 1 week and 5 days)
Location
Peleliu, Palau Islands
7°00′N 134°15′ECoordinates: 7°00′N 134°15′E
ResultAmerican victory
Belligerents
United States Japan
Commanders and leaders
United States William H. Rupertus
United States Paul J. Mueller
United States Roy S. Geiger
United States Herman H. Hanneken
United States Harold D. Harris
United States Lewis B. PullerEmpire of Japan Kunio Nakagawa †
Empire of Japan Sadae Inoue
Units involved
United States III Amphibious Corps
1st Marine Division
81st Infantry Division
Additional support units
Empire of Japan Peleliu garrison
14th Infantry Division
49th Mixed Brigade
45th Guard Force
46th Base Force
Additional support units
Strength
47,561[1]:3610,900[1]:37
17 tanks[2]
Casualties and losses
10,786
2,336 killed
8,450 wounded[3]10,897
10,695 killed
202 captured (183 foreign laborers, 19 Japanese soldiers)[1]:89[3]
17 tanks lost
Battle of Peleliu is located in Palau
Mariana and Palau Islands campaign
The Battle of Peleliu, codenamed Operation Stalemate II by the United States military, was fought between the U.S. and Japan during the Mariana and Palau Campaign of World War II, from September to November 1944, on the island of Peleliu.
U.S. Marines of the 1st Marine Division, and later soldiers of the U.S. Army's 81st Infantry Division, fought to capture an airstrip on the small coral island of Peleliu. This battle was part of a larger offensive campaign known as Operation Forager, which ran from June to November 1944, in the Pacific Theater.
Major General William Rupertus, Commander of the 1st Marine Division, predicted the island would be secured within four days.[4] However, after repeated Imperial Army defeats in previous island campaigns, Japan had developed new island-defense tactics and well-crafted fortifications that allowed stiff resistance,[5] extending the battle through more than two months. The heavily outnumbered Japanese defenders put up such stiff resistance, often fighting to the death in the Emperor's name, that the island became known in Japanese as the "Emperor's Island."[6]
In the United States, this was a controversial battle because of the island's negligible strategic value and the high casualty rate, which exceeded that of all other amphibious operations during the Pacific War.[7] The National Museum of the Marine Corps called it "the bitterest battle of the war for the Marines".[8]
Background
By 1944, American victories in the Southwest and Central Pacific had brought the war closer to Japan, with American bombers able to strike at the Japanese main islands from air bases secured during the Mariana Islands campaign (June–August 1944). There was disagreement among the U.S. Joint Chiefs over two proposed strategies to defeat the Japanese Empire. The strategy proposed by General Douglas MacArthur called for the recapture of the Philippines, followed by the capture of Okinawa, then an attack on the Japanese mainland. Admiral Chester Nimitz favored a more direct strategy of bypassing the Philippines, but seizing Okinawa and Taiwan as staging areas to an attack on the Japanese mainland, followed by the future invasion of Japan's southernmost islands. Both strategies included the invasion of Peleliu, but for different reasons.[9]
The 1st Marine Division had already been chosen to make the assault. President Franklin D. Roosevelt traveled to Pearl Harbor to personally meet both commanders and hear their arguments. MacArthur's strategy was chosen. However, before MacArthur could retake the Philippines, the Palau Islands, specifically Peleliu and Angaur, were to be neutralized and an airfield built to protect MacArthur's right flank.
Preparations
Japanese
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By 1944, Peleliu Island was occupied by about 11,000 Japanese of the 14th Infantry Division with Korean and Okinawan labourers. Colonel Kunio Nakagawa, commander of the division's 2nd Regiment, led the preparations for the island's defense.
After their losses in the Solomons, Gilberts, Marshalls, and Marianas, the Imperial Army assembled a research team to develop new island-defense tactics. They chose to abandon the old strategy of stopping the enemy at the beach, where they were exposed to naval gunfire. The new tactics would only disrupt the landings at the water's edge and depend on an in-depth defense farther inland. Colonel Nakagawa used the rough terrain to his advantage, by constructing a system of heavily fortified bunkers, caves, and underground positions all interlocked into a "honeycomb" system. The traditional "banzai charge" attack was also discontinued as being both wasteful of men and ineffective. These changes would force the Americans into a war of attrition, requiring increasingly more resources.
Japanese fortifications
Nakagawa's defenses were centred on Peleliu's highest point, Umurbrogol Mountain, a collection of hills and steep ridges located at the center of Peleliu overlooking a large portion of the island, including the crucial airfield. The Umurbrogol contained some 500 limestone caves, interconnected by tunnels. Many of these were former mine shafts that were turned into defensive positions. Engineers added sliding armored steel doors with multiple openings to serve both artillery and machine guns. Cave entrances were opened or altered to be slanted as a defense against grenade and flamethrower attacks. The caves and bunkers were connected to a vast tunnel and trench system throughout central Peleliu, which allowed the Japanese to evacuate or reoccupy positions as needed, and to take advantage of shrinking interior lines.
The Japanese were well armed with 81 mm (3.19 in) and 150 mm (5.9 in) mortars and 20 mm (0.79 in) anti-aircraft cannons, backed by a light tank unit and an anti-aircraft detachment.
The Japanese also used the beach terrain to their advantage. The northern end of the landing beaches faced a 30-foot (9.1 m) coral promontory that overlooked the beaches from a small peninsula, a spot later known to the Marines who assaulted it simply as "The Point". Holes were blasted into the ridge to accommodate a 47 mm (1.85 in) gun, and six 20 mm cannons. The positions were then sealed shut, leaving just a small slit to fire on the beaches. Similar positions were crafted along the 2-mile (3.2 km) stretch of landing beaches.
The beaches were also filled with thousands of obstacles for the landing craft, principally mines and a large number of heavy artillery shells buried with the fuses exposed to explode when they were run over. A battalion was placed along the beach to defend against the landing, but they were meant to merely delay the inevitable American advance inland.
American
Unlike the Japanese, who drastically altered their tactics for the upcoming battle, the American invasion plan was unchanged from that of previous amphibious landings, even after suffering 3,000 casualties and two months of delaying tactics against the entrenched Japanese defenders at the Battle of Biak.[10] On Peleliu, American planners chose to land on the southwest beaches because of their proximity to the airfield on South Peleliu. The 1st Marine Regiment, commanded by Colonel Lewis B. (Chesty) Puller, was to land on the northern end of the beaches. The 5th Marine Regiment, under Colonel Harold D. Harris, would land in the center, and the 7th Marine Regiment, under Col. Herman H. Hanneken, would land at the southern end.
The division's artillery regiment, the 11th Marines under Col. William H. Harrison, would land after the infantry regiments. The plan was for the 1st and 7th Marines to push inland, guarding the 5th Marines left and right flank, and allowing them to capture the airfield located directly to the center of the landing beaches. The 5th Marines were to push to the eastern shore, cutting the island in half. The 1st Marines would push north into the Umurbrogol, while the 7th Marines would clear the southern end of the island. Only one battalion was left behind in reserve, with the U.S. Army's 81st Infantry Division available for support from Angaur, just south of Peleliu.
On September 4, the Marines shipped off from their station on Pavuvu, just north of Guadalcanal, a 2,100-mile (3,400 km) trip across the Pacific to Peleliu. A U.S. Navy's Underwater Demolition Team went in first to clear the beaches of obstacles, while Navy warships began their pre-invasion bombardment of Peleliu on September 12.
The battleships Pennsylvania, Maryland, Mississippi, Tennessee and Idaho, heavy cruisers Indianapolis, Louisville, Minneapolis and Portland, and light cruisers Cleveland, Denver and Honolulu,[1]:29 led by the command ship Mount McKinley, subjected the tiny island, only 6 sq mi (16 km2) in size, to a massive three-day bombardment, pausing only to permit air strikes from the three aircraft carriers, five light aircraft carriers, and eleven escort carriers with the attack force.[11] 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 were dropped on the islands during this period.
The Americans believed the bombardment to be successful, as Rear Admiral Jesse Oldendorf claimed that the Navy had run out of targets.[11] In reality, the majority of the Japanese positions were completely unharmed. Even the battalion left to defend the beaches was virtually unscathed. During the assault, the island's defenders exercised unusual firing discipline to avoid giving away their positions. The bombardment managed only to destroy Japan's aircraft on the island, as well as the buildings surrounding the airfield. The Japanese remained in their fortified positions, ready to attack the American landing troops.
Opposing forces
Naval command structure for Operation Stalemate II
Admiral Chester W. Nimitz
Admiral William F. Halsey, Jr.
Vice Adm. Theo. S. Wilkinson
Expeditionary Troops and III Amphibious Corps commanders
Maj. Gen. Julian C. Smith
Maj. Gen. Roy S. Geiger
Marine ground commanders on Peleliu
Maj. Gen. William H. Rupertus
Oliver P. Smith as a major general
Lewis B. Puller as a major general
American order of battle
United States Pacific Fleet[12]
Admiral Chester W. Nimitz
US Third Fleet
Admiral William F. Halsey, Jr.
Joint Expeditionary Force (Task Force 31)
Vice Admiral Theodore S. Wilkinson
Expeditionary Troops (Task Force 36)
III Amphibious Corps[a]
Major General Julian C. Smith,[b] USMC
Western Landing Force (TG 36.1)
Major General Roy S. Geiger, USMC
1st Marine Division
Division Commander: Maj. Gen. William H. Rupertus,[c] USMC
Asst. Division Commander: Brig. Gen. Oliver P. Smith,[d] USMC
Chief of Staff: Col. John T. Selden, USMC
Beach assignments
Left (White 1 & 2)
1st Marine Regiment (Col. Lewis B. "Chesty" Puller,[e] USMC)
Co. A of the following: 1st Engineer Battalion, 1st Pioneer Battalion, 1st Medical Battalion, 1st Tank Battalion
Center (Orange 1 & 2)
5th Marine Regiment (Col. Harold D. "Bucky" Harris, USMC)
Co. B of the following: 1st Engineer Battalion, 1st Pioneer Battalion, 1st Medical Battalion, 1st Tank Battalion (reduced)
Right (Orange 3)
7th Marine Regiment (Col. Herman H. "Hard-Headed" Hanneken, USMC)
Co. C of the following: 1st Engineer Battalion, 1st Pioneer Battalion, 1st Medical Battalion, 1st Tank Battalion (reduced)
Other units
11th Marine Regiment, Artillery (Col. William H. Harrison, USMC)
12th Antiaircraft Artillery Battalion
1st Amphibian Tractor Battalion
3rd Armored Amphibian Tractor Battalion
4th, 5th, 6th Marine War Dog Platoons
UDT 6 and UDT 7
Japanese order of battle
Lt. Col. Kunio Nakagawa
Marine with captured Japanese 141mm mortar
Palau District Group[15]
Lieutenant General Inoue Sadao[f] (HQ on Koror Island)
Vice Admiral Yoshioka Ito
Maj. Gen. Kenjiro Murai[g]
14th Division (Lt. Gen. Sadao)
Peleliu Sector Unit (Lt. Col. Kunio Nakagawa[h])
2nd Infantry Regiment, Reinforced
2nd Bttn. / 2nd Infantry Regiment
3rd Bttn. / 2nd Infantry Regiment
3rd Bttn. / 15th Infantry Regiment
346th Bttn. / 53rd Independent Mixed Brigade
Battle
Landing
U.S. Marines landed on Peleliu at 08:32, on September 15, the 1st Marines to the north on White Beach 1 and 2 and the 5th and 7th Marines to the center and south on Orange Beach 1, 2, and 3.[1]:42–45 As the other landing craft approached the beaches, the Marines were caught in a crossfire when the Japanese opened the steel doors guarding their positions and fired artillery. The positions on the coral promontories guarding each flank fired on the Marines with 47 mm guns and 20 mm cannons. By 09:30, the Japanese had destroyed 60 LVTs and DUKWs.
5th Marines on Orange Beach
The 1st Marines were quickly bogged down by heavy fire from the extreme left flank and a 30-foot-high coral ridge, "The Point".[1]:49 Colonel Chesty Puller narrowly escaped death when a dud high velocity artillery round struck his LVT. His communications section was destroyed on its way to the beach by a hit from a 47 mm round. The 7th Marines faced a cluttered Orange Beach 3, with natural and man-made obstacles, forcing the Amtracs to approach in column.[1]:52
The 5th Marines made the most progress on the first day, aided by cover provided by coconut groves.[1]:51 They pushed toward the airfield, but were met with Nakagawa's first counterattack. His armored tank company raced across the airfield to push the Marines back, but was soon engaged by tanks, howitzers, naval guns, and dive bombers. Nakagawa's tanks and escorting infantrymen were quickly destroyed.[1]:57
At the end of the first day, the Americans held their 2-mile (3.2 km) stretch of landing beaches, but little else. Their biggest push in the south moved 1 mile (1.6 km) inland, but the 1st Marines to the north made very little progress because of the extremely thick resistance.[1]:42 The Marines had suffered 200 dead and 900 wounded. Rupertus, still unaware of his enemy's change of tactics, believed the Japanese would quickly crumble since their perimeter had been broken.[18]
Airfield/South Peleliu
On the second day, the 5th Marines moved to capture the airfield and push toward the eastern shore.[1]:61 They ran across the airfield, enduring heavy artillery fire from the highlands to the north, suffering heavy casualties in the process. After capturing the airfield, they rapidly advanced to the eastern end of Peleliu, leaving the island's southern defenders to be destroyed by the 7th Marines.[1]:58
This area was hotly contested by the Japanese, who still occupied numerous pillboxes. Heat indices[19] were around[20] 115 °F (46 °C), and the Marines soon suffered high casualties from heat exhaustion. Further complicating the situation, the Marines' water was distributed in empty oil drums, contaminating the water with the oil residue.[21] Still, by the eighth day the 5th and 7th Marines had accomplished their objectives, holding the airfield and the southern portion of the island, although the airfield remained under threat of sustained Japanese fire from the heights of Umurbrogol Mountain until the end of the battle.[11]
American forces put the airfield to use on the third day. L-2 Grasshoppers from VMO-3 began aerial spotting missions for Marine artillery and naval gunfire support. On September 26 (D+11), Marine F4U Corsairs from VMF-114 landed on the airstrip. The Corsairs began dive-bombing missions across Peleliu, firing rockets into open cave entrances for the infantrymen, and dropping napalm; it was only the second time the latter weapon had been used in the Pacific.[citation needed] Napalm proved useful, burning away the vegetation hiding spider holes and usually killing their occupants.
The time from liftoff to the target area for the Corsairs based on Peleliu Airfield was very short, sometimes only 10 to 15 seconds. Consequently, there was almost no time for pilots to raise their aircraft undercarriage; most pilots did not bother and left them down during the air strike. After the air strike was completed and the payload dropped, the Corsair simply turned back into the landing pattern again.
The Point
The fortress at the end of the southern landing beaches (a.k.a. “The Point”) continued to cause heavy Marine casualties due to enfilading fire from Japanese heavy machine guns and anti-tank artillery across the landing beaches. Puller ordered Captain George P. Hunt, commander of K Company, 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines, to capture the position. Hunt's company approached The Point short on supplies, having lost most of its machine guns while approaching the beaches. Hunt's second platoon was pinned down for nearly a day in an anti-tank trench between fortifications. The rest of his company was endangered when the Japanese cut a hole in their line, surrounding his company and leaving his right flank cut off.[1]:49
However, a rifle platoon began knocking out the Japanese gun positions one by one. Using smoke grenades for concealment, the platoon swept through each hole, destroying the positions with rifle grenades and close-quarters combat. After knocking out the six machine gun positions, the Marines faced the 47 mm gun cave. A lieutenant blinded the 47 mm gunner's visibility with a smoke grenade, allowing Corporal Henry W. Hahn to launch a grenade through the cave's aperture. The grenade detonated the 47 mm's shells, forcing the cave's occupants out with their bodies alight and their ammunition belts exploding around their waists. A Marine fire team was positioned on the flank of the cave where the emerging occupants were shot down.
K Company had captured The Point, but Nakagawa counterattacked. The next 30 hours saw four major counterattacks against a sole company, critically low on supplies, out of water, and surrounded. The Marines soon had to resort to hand-to-hand combat to fend off the Japanese attackers. By the time reinforcements arrived, the company had successfully repulsed all of the Japanese attacks, but had been reduced to 18 men, suffering 157 casualties during the battle for The Point.[1]:50–51 Hunt and Hahn were both awarded the Navy Cross for their actions.
Ngesebus Island
The 5th Marines—after having secured the airfield—were sent to capture Ngesebus Island, just north of Peleliu. Ngesebus was occupied by many Japanese artillery positions, and was the site of an airfield still under construction. The tiny island was connected to Peleliu by a small causeway, but 5th Marines commander Harris opted instead to make a shore-to-shore amphibious landing, predicting the causeway to be an obvious target for the island's defenders.[1]:77
Harris coordinated a pre-landing bombardment of the island on September 28, carried out by Army 155 mm (6.1 in) guns, naval guns, howitzers from the 11th Marines, strafing runs from VMF-114's Corsairs, and 75 mm (2.95 in) fire from the approaching LVTs.[1]:77 Unlike the Navy's bombardment of Peleliu, Harris' assault on Ngesebus successfully killed most of the Japanese defenders. The Marines still faced opposition in the ridges and caves, but the island fell quickly, with relatively light casualties for the 5th Marines. They had suffered 15 killed and 33 wounded, and inflicted 470 casualties on the Japanese.
Bloody Nose Ridge
After capturing The Point, the 1st Marines moved north into the Umurbrogol pocket,[1]:81 named "Bloody Nose Ridge" by the Marines. Puller led his men in numerous assaults, but each resulted in severe casualties from Japanese fire. The 1st Marines were trapped in the narrow paths between the ridges, with each ridge fortification supporting the other with deadly crossfire.
The Marines took increasingly high casualties as they slowly advanced through the ridges. The Japanese again showed unusual fire discipline, striking only when they could inflict maximum casualties. As casualties mounted, Japanese snipers began to take aim at stretcher bearers, knowing that if stretcher bearers were injured or killed, more would have to return to replace them, and the snipers could steadily pick off more and more Marines. The Japanese also infiltrated the American lines at night to attack the Marines in their fighting holes. The Marines built two-man fighting holes, so one Marine could sleep while the other kept watch for infiltrators.
One particularly bloody battle on Bloody Nose came when the 1st Battalion, 1st Marines—under the command of Major Raymond Davis—attacked Hill 100. Over six days of fighting, the battalion suffered 71% casualties. Captain Everett Pope and his company penetrated deep into the ridges, leading his remaining 90 men to seize what he thought was Hill 100. It took a day's fighting to reach what he thought was the crest of the hill, which was in fact another ridge occupied by more Japanese defenders.
Marine Pfc. Douglas Lightheart (right) cradles his .30 caliber (7.62×63mm) M1919 Browning machine gun in his lap, while he and Pfc. Gerald Thursby Sr. take a cigarette break, during mopping up operations on Peleliu on 15 September 1944.
Trapped at the base of the ridge, Captain Pope set up a small defense perimeter, which was attacked relentlessly by the Japanese throughout the night. The Marines soon ran out of ammunition, and had to fight the attackers with knives and fists, even resorting to throwing coral rock and empty ammunition boxes at the Japanese. Pope and his men managed to hold out until dawn came, which brought on more deadly fire. When they evacuated the position, only nine men remained. Pope later received the Medal of Honor for the action. (Picture of the Peleliu Memorial dedicated on the 50th anniversary of the landing on Peleliu with Captain Pope's name)
The Japanese eventually inflicted 70% casualties on Puller's 1st Marines, or 1,749 men.[1]:66 After six days of fighting in the ridges of Umurbrogol, General Roy Geiger, commander of the III Amphibious Corps, sent elements of U.S. Army's 81st Infantry Division to Peleliu to relieve the regiment.[1]:66 The 321st Regiment Combat Team landed on the western beaches of Peleliu—at the northern end of Umurbrogol mountain—on 23 September. The 321st and the 7th Marines encircled The Pocket by 24 Sept., D+9.[1]:75,81
By 15 October, the 7th Marines had suffered 46% casualties and General Geiger relieved them with the 5th Marines.[1]:83 Col. Harris adopted siege tactics, using bulldozers and flame-thrower tanks, pushing from the north.[1]:83–84 On October 30, the 81st Infantry Division took over command of Peleliu, taking another six weeks, with the same tactics, to reduce The Pocket.[1]:85
On 24 November, Nakagawa proclaimed "Our sword is broken and we have run out of spears". He then burnt his regimental colors and performed ritual suicide.[1]:86 He was posthumously promoted to lieutenant general for his valor displayed on Peleliu. On 27 November, the island was declared secure, ending the 73-day-long battle.[18]
A Japanese lieutenant with twenty-six 2nd Infantry soldiers and eight 45th Guard Force sailors held out in the caves in Peleliu until April 22, 1947, and surrendered after a Japanese admiral convinced them the war was over.[1]:81
Aftermath
The reduction of the Japanese pocket around Umurbrogol mountain has been called the most difficult fight that the U.S. military encountered in the entire war.[21] The 1st Marine Division was severely mauled and it remained out of action until the invasion of Okinawa began on April 1, 1945. In total, the 1st Marine Division suffered over 6,500 casualties during their month on Peleliu, over one third of their entire division. The 81st Infantry Division also suffered heavy losses with 3,300 casualties during their tenure on the island.
Postwar statisticians calculated that it took U.S. forces over 1500 rounds of ammunition to kill each Japanese defender and that, during the course of the battle, the Americans expended 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, and approximately 150,000 mortar rounds.[11]
The battle was controversial in the United States due to the island's lack of strategic value and the high casualty rate. The defenders lacked the means to interfere with potential US operations in the Philippines[11] and the airfield captured on Peleliu did not play a key role in subsequent operations. Instead, the Ulithi Atoll in the Caroline Islands was used as a staging base for the invasion of Okinawa. The high casualty rate exceeded all other amphibious operations during the Pacific War.[7]
In addition, few news reports were published about the battle because Rupertus' prediction of a "three days" victory motivated only six reporters to report from shore. The battle was also overshadowed by MacArthur's return to the Philippines and the Allies' push towards Germany in Europe.
The battles for Angaur and Peleliu showed Americans the pattern of future Japanese island defense but they made few adjustments for the battles for Iwo Jima and Okinawa.[22] Naval bombardment prior to amphibious assault at Iwo Jima was only slightly more effective than at Peleliu, but at Okinawa the preliminary shelling was much improved.[23] Frogmen performing underwater demolition at Iwo Jima confused the enemy by sweeping both coasts, but later alerted Japanese defenders to the exact assault beaches at Okinawa.[23] American ground forces at Peleliu gained experience in assaulting heavily fortified positions such as they would find again at Okinawa.[24]
On the recommendation of Admiral William F. Halsey, Jr., the planned occupation of Yap Island in the Caroline Islands was canceled. Halsey actually recommended that the landings on Peleliu and Angaur be canceled, too, and their Marines and soldiers be thrown into Leyte Island instead, but was overruled by Nimitz.[25]
In popular culture
In the March of Time's 1951 documentary TV series, Crusade in the Pacific, Episode 17 is "The Fight for Bloody Nose Ridge."
In NBC-TV's 1952-53 documentary TV series Victory at Sea, Episode 18, "Two if by Sea" covers the assaults at Peleliu and Angaur.
The Battle of Peleliu is featured in many World War II themed video games, including Call of Duty: World at War. The player takes the role of a US Marine tasked with taking Peleliu Airfield, repelling counter-attacks, destroying machine-gun and mortar positions and eventually securing Japanese artillery emplacements at the point. In flight-simulation game War Thunder, two teams of players clash to hold the southern and northern airfields. In multi-player shooter Red Orchestra 2: Rising Storm, a team of American troops attack the defensive Japanese team's control points.
The battle including footage and stills are featured in the fifth episode of Ken Burns' The War.
The battle features in episodes 5, 6 and 7 of the TV mini-series The Pacific.
In his book, With the Old Breed, Eugene Bondurant Sledge described his experiences in the battle for Peleliu.
In 2015, the Japanese magazine Young Animal commenced serialization of Peleliu: Rakuen no Guernica by Masao Hiratsuka and artist Kazuyoshi Takeda, telling the story of the battle in manga form.
One of the final scenes in Parer's War, a 2014 Australian television film, shows the Battle of Peleliu recorded by Damien Parer with his camera at the time of his death.
The Peleliu Campaign features as one of the campaigns in the 2019 solitaire tactical wargame “Fields of Fire” Volume 2, designed by Ben Hull, published by GMT Games LLC.
Individual honors
Japan
Posthumous promotions
For heroism:
Colonel Kunio Nakagawa – lieutenant general
Kenjiro Murai – lieutenant general
United States
Pfc. Richard Kraus, USMC (age 18), killed in action
Medal of Honor recipients
Captain Everett P. Pope – 1st Battalion, 1st Marines
First Lieutenant Carlton R. Rouh – 1st Battalion, 5th Marines
Private First Class Arthur J. Jackson – 3rd Battalion, 7th Marines
Corporal Lewis K. Bausell –1st Battalion, 5th Marines (Posthumous)
Private First Class Richard E. Kraus – 8th Amphibian Tractor Battalion, 1st Marine Division (Reinforced) (Posthumous)
Private First Class John D. New – 2nd Battalion, 7th Marines (Posthumous)
Private First Class Wesley Phelps – 3rd Battalion, 7th Marines (Posthumous)
Private First Class Charles H. Roan – 2nd Battalion, 7th Marines (Posthumous)
Unit citations
D-day Peleliu, African Americans of one of the two segregated units that supported the 7th Marines - the 16th Marine Field Depot or the 17th Naval Construction Battalion Special take a break in the 115 degree heat, 09-15-1944 - NARA - 532535
Presidential Unit Citation:
1st Marine Division, September 15 to 29, 1944[26]
1st Amphibian Tractor Battalion, FMF[27]
U. S. Navy Flame Thrower Unit Attached[27]
6th Amphibian Tractor Battalion (Provisional), FMF[27]
3d Armored Amphibian Battalion (Provisional), FMF[27]
Detachment Eighth Amphibian Tractor Battalion, FMF[27]
454th Amphibian Truck Company, U. S. Army[27]
456th Amphibian Truck Company, U. S. Army[27]
4th Joint Assault Signal Company, FMF[27]
5th Separate Wire Platoon, FMF[27]
6th Separate Wire Platoon, FMF[27]
Detachment 33rd Naval Construction Battalion (202 Personnel)[27]
Detachment 73rd Naval Construction Battalion's Shore Party (241 Personnel)[27]
USMC Commendatory Letter:[i]
11th Marine Depot Company (segregated)
7th Marine Ammunition Company (segregated)
17th Special Naval Construction Battalion (segregated)
Utah Beach - Normandy, France.
Utah beach is the codename for the westernmost of the 5 Allied landing zones during D-day. It is the only beach on the Cotentin peninsula and closest to the vital harbour city of Cherbourg. Together with Omaha beach it is the sector where the American forces were disembarked. The amphibious assault, primarily by the US 4th Infantry Division and 70th Tank Battalion, was supported by airborne landings of the 82nd and 101st Airborne Division. These Airborne troops were dropped on the Cotentin penisula.
In stark contrast with Omaha beach where the landing turned into a near disaster with most of the troops pinned down for hours with heavy losses in both men and material the landings at Utah went relatively smooth. This does not mean the GI's came ashore unopposed: some 200 casualties were suffered by the 4th division.
One of the factors that contributed to this success was that the preliminary bombing of the target areas here was accurate and the German forces - in contrast with what happened at Omaha beach - were in disarray at H-hour, 06:30, when the first wave of 20 landing craft approached the beach. The GI's of the 2nd Battalion, 8th Infantry landed on Uncle Red and Tare Green sectors. What they didn't know initially was that pushed to the south by strong currents they landed some 1.8 kilometres south of their designated landing spot!
Brigadier General Theodore Roosevelt, Jr. was the first high ranking officer that landed and , not discouraged by the dviation, he decided to "start the war from right here". He ordered further landings to be re-routed. As it was this was a good decision because the Americans landed on a relative weak spot in the German defenses. Only one "Widerstandsnest" (WN5) opposed them and it was severely affected by the preliminary bombardments. It took the GI's about an hour to clear the defenses. Today the remains of this German widestandsnest can still be seen and are partly incorporated into the Utah beach museum. Well worth a visit.
After the succesful landings the real difficulties started because of the inundated areas behind the beach and the increasing German resistance which lead to weeks of fighting on the Cotentin peninsula.
On the Photo:
Uncle Red sector - view towards the south and the area west of the village of Grandcamp-Maisy in the far distance.
Tonemapped using three (handheld) shots made with a Fuji X-T3 and Fujinon 16mm f/1.4 lens, september 2019.
A set of photo's with notes of Utah Beach and the Cotentin peninsula with the Airborne sectors.
Here's the complete set of photo's made on Pointe du Hoc over the past years
My Omaha beach photo's with several viewpoints, panorama shots and notes on the fighting
These are my photo's and notes of the British and Canadian sectors: Gold, Juno and Sword.
Name: Troy Hudson
Age: 18
Weapons: Escrima sticks that can double as a bo staff
Relationships to other characters: Conner Silver
(Boyfriend), Finch (Partner)
Height: 6’2
Weight: 136 Ibs
Ethnicity: American
Alias: Nexus
Skills: Various hand to hand combat techniques, Acrobatics, Technopathic (Communicate with machines and manipulation over them and electricity within people via the electromagnetic brainwaves)
Nemesis: Façade
Universe: DC
Affiliation: Hero
Back story
My name is irrelevant to whoever would be reading this, I only tell it to those I care for and there are very few people I care for. Though I was given the codename Nexus to go by, the link between that of machine and man. I’ve had a troubled past, my Mum died when I was born and my Dad… Well he’s a jackass. He spent all his money on whatever booze he could get meaning we lived in what I would call a shack that was falling apart at the seams. The man kept me locked in my room except for school, if I was late home, which I almost always was he beat me. He told me that I was a failure that he was stuck with and legally obliged to look after me. He even referred to me as his ‘Daughter’ because of who I liked, I’d come out as gay when I was thirteen and that didn’t sit well in where I lived. The place was fool of religious gats who claimed I was broken and needed to be fixed, me and Conner that was. And if I wasn’t getting beat up at home it was at school. The guys were a bunch Homophobes afraid of the different. I guess this is what inspired me to start training myself. I began to build myself up and train. I was sick of being treated like trash. I first discovered my unusual ability when walking home one day. The televisions in the store window caught my eye on my route to the shack. Breaking News was spelt in big red letters up in the corner and I saw some type of earthquake event that had torn apart Gotham. Cataclysm. I placed my hands on the windows trying to hear the muffled sound through the glass. I felt a jolt spring through me and leave out my fingertips. The televisions exploded outwards shards of glass flying everywhere, sending me to the ground and the person who had been standing next to me. I had to be given twenty six stitches in one arm; I’d almost pierced an artery. Dad had a fit, he’d claimed I’d put us back by too much money and beat me close to death. I had to go back to Hospital, that idiot. As I was otherwise incapacitated I decided to find out what had happened at the electronics store and what the jolt of power was. I didn’t find anything out. I couldn’t even replicate the situation. It took me two months to heal. Plus the added time it took me to get over the added attacks. But I only had to suffer for a half a year. That’s when I ran away. Of course I was going to miss some people. There was Conner of course. I’ll be back for him; I just had to find out a few things. I didn’t give up on trying to stay fit and decided that if I was on my own I’d need some kind of weapon to protect myself. I’d heard that Nightwing fellow used some kind of batons to fight. They looked fun to use. I used the library computers to look at some footage of Nightwing in action and where I could find those, what I believe is called Escrima Sticks. Then I felt that jolt. Damn. The computers and lights blew out sending sparks and shards all over the place and causing the library to go dark. Again, this had happened so many times since I’d left. It was becoming more and more frequent. I ran, I couldn’t afford to be charged with damage repair. Though I wouldn’t know who would charge a sixteen year old in a hoody I didn’t know. Then they found me, the organization Mockingbird. They’d taken interest in me since the event at the electronics store. They took me off the streets and bundled me into a van. Of course I screamed and kicked, but they overpowered me and I suddenly felt myself go limp. They’d drugged me. The next thing few events were a blur but next I remember I was in a poorly lit room with huge lights blinding me. A silhouette of a man appeared in front of the flood lights. He asked me my name. I stayed silent. He said it didn’t really matter if I never spoke to him at all, he had my file. All he needed to know was in their. He went on to explain that I was one of many like me. I was what was called a Nexus. The first Nexus. He said that twenty years ago Mockingbird was created to make a person capable of communing with electronics and machines. They attempted to do such a thing with cell alterations. Sixteen years ago the experiment was put into action and what people thought was a new type of influenza shot held the genetic material that would change the firstborn of whoever was injected with it. Unfortunately the side effect was that the woman was born to die in childbirth. I was the first person to activate my altered DNA and alert them that we were beginning to come online. At first they kept there distance incase their machinery had a surge of power and it was just false data. They said they needed me to find the others. That I was the ‘Nexus Prime.’ And that’s how I became the agent Nexus, the only teenager working for a sub division of the Government, legally that is, sort of. I of course needed a little training before they let me out of the facility. It helped that I’d kept in shape. And I finally got those Escrima sticks, and they double as a Bo staff. I ended up working with the agent who’d come to see me in their interrogation room. He’s called Finch. How ironic. Of course I was reluctant at first to jump on there band wagon and I tried to escape several times. Though I had nowhere better to go, I was pissed that from birth I had been engineered for the life I had and will have. I was never to have a mother, I was supposed to work with them that I was supposed to help them find other people like me and ruin their lives too. I had to ask why. Why they created us anyway. Finch only said that they would need us for something. He never said what. So you could see why I had a hard time trusting these people, though the vague comments and cold comfort grew on me. Strange as that may seem I started to enjoy myself. I got to be what people my age dream of being, a superhuman. Though I’m still not at total comfort with what they did, I’m just going to have to live with it. I’d promised myself I’d go back for Conner, though it took two years of trust building and training to get there but I did in the end. He was happy enough to see me to say the least. He got an apartment in the closest city to Mockingbird base and I visited him as often as I could. It was tough on him. I had even told him he needed to move on with his own life and find someone else other than me and have a normal life. I was in serious trouble for telling an outsider about what I do and Finch threatened to kill him if I told anyone else or if he blabbed. He didn’t blab. And that’s the short and rather depressing story of how I became who I am. I’m still not completely happy with how this all turned out but hey, I’m a superhero in my own right and my powers are still growing. I’ve been able to tell machines to change or do things without making them explode, so that’s a bonus. This is why I am Nexus, the link between man and machine.
My entry for TTPES build a hero contest the technopath Nexus!
Doc was the Joe team’s original medic three years before Lifeline would essentially update the character or at least his concept. In the cartoon Doc is most likely remembered for saving Duke’s life after he’s impaled by one of Serpentor’s snake spears. However in the comics he would go on to make the ultimate sacrifice when he was gunned down by SAW Viper.
Not sure if this will be the last in the series or not. I have a few more Joes to pull from, but time is much more limited these days.
c/n 0030101V
NATO codename:- Hook
Previously marked as ‘02 blue’.
Built 1960 and flew on factory trials until 1963. Its last flight was in May 1965 when it came to Monino for use as an instructional airframe with the Zhukovski Engineering College. It moved to the adjacent museum in August 1978 where it remains on display.
Central Air Force museum, Monino, Moscow Oblast, Russia.
27th August 2017
Real name: William 'Billy' Wintergreen
Current alias: Bishop
Relatives: Adam Wintergreen (son), Joseph Wilson (godson), Grant Wilson (godson)
Alignment: Neutral
Identity: Secret
Billy Wintergreen was a soldier in the British army. In the army, he was a special commando, with his codename being Bishop. His team had to work together with an American taskforce, to save the daughter of the minister from defense from terrorists. In that American taskforce was Slade Wilson. The two of them started rough, but became good friends afterwards, with Billy saving Slade's life at one point. Billy had several more missions, before quitting the army to be with his family. They moved to America, where Billy was happily greeted by his old friend Slade. Slade offered Billy a spot on a team called Team 7. Slade was approached to join that team by its founder: Maxwell Lord Sr. Billy had to think about it since he did come to America to be with his family some more. His wife said he had to go, because being a soldier is what he does, and loves doing the most. He asks his son Adam if he feels the same about it, and Adam says that he is proud of his father nonetheless, and Billy excepts the job. They get to the briefing and meet their new team members. Maxwell Lord Jr, Amanda Waller, Kurt Lance, Frank Rock, and King Faraday. The team was shipped to Lian Yu, where they were tasked into retrieving a magical item. The team split up in two: Max, Kurt, and Slade would go through the caves. The rest went through the forrests. Billy had a special connection with Frank Rock, who was a general in the American army, and even lost an eye during one of his battles. A couple of hours later, Max Lord comes running back, saying that they were ambushed, and that Slade and Kurt were killed. Billy couldn't believe it and he began to have a mental breakdown, but he was calmed down by Rock and Waller. They were shipped from the island immediately, and Billy decided he would be done. He brought the news of Slade to his family, who he would become a father figure to. He especially had a good connection with Joey Wilson. A couple of years later, Slade returns with only one eye, as the mercenary Deathstroke. Billy was glad that Slade wasn't dead and he asked what happened. Slade said he got struck on the head and was left for dead. He spent 5 years on the island, and had several things to tell Billy, like how his eye got popped out by a spoiled brat with an arrow, and how he had to kill the woman he seemingly had feelings for. Billy is currently Slade's tech support, and provides him with information about his targets.
c/n 4249.
NATO codename:- Hip-C
The Mi-8T was the initial, mass produced, transport variant. This example was previously coded ’10 red’. It was refurbished at Kubinka (121ARZ) in early 2016 and painted in a rather odd, green, camouflage. It is now on permanent display in the main exhibition area of the Park Patriot site, Kubinka, Moscow Oblast, Russia.
25th August 2017