The book starts out by noting that this is a battle that "need never have been fought at all.""
The book details the various bombardments and air strikes against Peleliu and its surrounding islands, and how those failed to kill off the Japanese who were hidden in naturally-occurring caves and man-made caves, much as was done later on Iwo Jima.
The Japanese commander was able to figure out in advance exactly where the Americans would land (again, as was done on Iwo Jima), and was able to position his artillery and other forces in positions so that they could form a vicious cross-fire to hit the American troops with. They also fought with the same "until death" type of mentality as seen in later battles.
"During the 1930s the militarist regime had saturated Japanese society with ultra-nationalist propaganda, playing to a centuries-old culture of chauvinist racism and to the cult of Emperor-worship. An over-lapping network of social controls in community, school and workplace kept the individual under perpetual surveillance-and with the willing cooperation of the majority.""
That might be a little much, as a lot of the so-called "cooperation" was done because either the individual cooperated, or at least appeared to cooperate, or the individual was, at best, arrested and tortured, at worst killed. Virtually all the media was also totally under the control of the militarist regime, so the common person was unable to get the truth of what was really happening during the war, although by late in the war, with the B-29's bombing dozens of cities, the civilian population, at least, began to recognize that the end was near for their country.
This is a book filled with information about what was probably a totally unnecessary battle that resulted in the deaths and suffering over 1500 Americans and the death of around 10,000 Japanese soldiers. The book spares nothing; it has gruesome discussion of the fight itself, (in extreme detail); it examines the extremely poor leadership of the American forces, and also examines the various “friendly-fire” type of mistakes that occurred. The book also includes a section of black-and-white photos.
A very well done, but very upsetting book to read.
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