On September 15, 1944, the 1st Marine Division landed on the island of Peleliu in the Palau archipelago. Major General William Rupertus predicted the island would be secured in four days. The battle lasted 73 days and resulted in over 10,000 American and Japanese casualties — and controversy over whether the battle was even necessary.

The Japanese Defense

Colonel Kunio Nakagawa had transformed Peleliu into a death trap. Abandoning the traditional Japanese tactic of defending the waterline, he built a defense in depth centered on the island's coral ridges — called the Umurbrogol by the Palauans and "Bloody Nose Ridge" by the Marines. Over 500 limestone caves were connected by tunnels and fortified with steel doors from a local mine. Some caves had multiple levels, electric lighting, and ventilation systems.

The Marines encountered something new and terrifying: an enemy that wouldn't show himself. The Japanese fired from hidden positions, retreated through tunnels, and reappeared behind the Marines. The temperature on the exposed coral rock regularly exceeded 115°F. Water ran out. Men collapsed from heat exhaustion at rates of 15-20 per hour.

The Forgotten Battle

Unlike Iwo Jima and Okinawa, Peleliu was deliberately downplayed by military authorities. The battle's ferocity and the questions about its strategic necessity made it an embarrassment. The few journalists present were discouraged from filing stories. No iconic photograph emerged. The 1st Marine Division was so shattered that it was effectively out of the war for months.

Eugene Sledge, a Marine who fought at Peleliu, later wrote about it in "With the Old Breed" — one of the greatest and most harrowing war memoirs ever published. "Peleliu was the most savage fighting I saw in the war," he wrote. "It was a nightmare."

Nakagawa committed seppuku in his final command cave on November 24, 1944. Of his garrison of approximately 11,000, only 202 survived — 19 Japanese soldiers and 183 Okinawan and Korean laborers.