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Spinoff: Was Pelelieu the Biggest Waste of a Campaign in WWII?
Posted on 3/16/16 at 10:24 am
Posted on 3/16/16 at 10:24 am
I say yes. Although I'm only using hindsight seeing as I wasn't a higher echelon officer in the Pacific Theater in those days. Or even alive.
We seized it for its airfield and to shore up our right flank in the Pacific. The airfield was rarely (if ever) used. While Anguar was almost exclusively used. And the fleet never anchored there. Instead it anchored at Ulithi.
Not to mention how many lives MG Rupertus threw away only doing the pre-invasion bombardment for 3 days instead of two weeks like he should've.
Huge waste of a campaign in my opinion.
We seized it for its airfield and to shore up our right flank in the Pacific. The airfield was rarely (if ever) used. While Anguar was almost exclusively used. And the fleet never anchored there. Instead it anchored at Ulithi.
Not to mention how many lives MG Rupertus threw away only doing the pre-invasion bombardment for 3 days instead of two weeks like he should've.
Huge waste of a campaign in my opinion.
10
Posted on 3/16/16 at 10:25 am to TigerFanInSouthland
Is Spinoff: needed in the title?
Posted on 3/16/16 at 10:32 am to CaptainsWafer
quote:
Is Spinoff: needed in the title?
DO you ever focus on the actual topic of the thread or just play wannabe admin all day?
Posted on 3/16/16 at 10:33 am to TigerFanInSouthland
quote:
Biggest Waste of a Campaign in WWII?
Operation Market Garden says hi
Posted on 3/16/16 at 10:36 am to TigerFanInSouthland
It has been a while since I read Flags of our Fathers but I seem to recall them talking about Pelelieu quite a bit, or maybe I am thinking of a different text?
Posted on 3/16/16 at 10:36 am to TigerFanInSouthland
They completely missed the amount of force that was required to take that shithole. Pride got the best of them andits debatable whether it was needed but they didnt want to appear weak not only to the Japanese but back home. Strategically it was questionable from the jump but I guess they felt resistance would be lighter and not so entrenched
This post was edited on 3/16/16 at 10:41 am
Posted on 3/16/16 at 10:36 am to JumpingTheShark
Way to stay on topic.
ETA Sometimed I focus on the thread.
ETAA But not on what I'm typing apparently.
ETA Sometimed I focus on the thread.
ETAA But not on what I'm typing apparently.
This post was edited on 3/16/16 at 10:38 am
Posted on 3/16/16 at 10:39 am to JumpingTheShark
I think you're thinking of "With the Old Breed" by E.B. Sledge
Posted on 3/16/16 at 10:40 am to TigerFanInSouthland
Yes! I was, thank you for that. Read it when I saw the preview for The Pacific.
Posted on 3/16/16 at 10:42 am to TROLA
I agree with that, I mean hell, when Chesty Puller almost loses his entire regiment something is definitely wrong. They also kept getting orders to attack head on into the Umburgol (sp) Mountain which was the teeth of the Japanese defense.
Posted on 3/16/16 at 10:51 am to ShoeBang
quote:
Biggest Waste of a Campaign in WWII?
Operation Market Garden says hi
I'd rank Market Garden up there with Pelelieu. You could also add to that list...
The Brit/French expeditionary force sent to Norway.
The Brit expeditionary force sent to Greece
The Dieppe Raid
The Itlalian invasion of France
The Italian invasion of Greece
The Italian invasion of Egypt
Hell, Italy even being in the war period!
Operation "Nordwind" (last German offensive in the West)
Operation "Spring Awaking" (Last German offensive in the East)
And the list goes on and on but those are the one's I can think of right off the top of my head.
Posted on 3/16/16 at 10:51 am to TigerFanInSouthland
quote:
I'm only using hindsight
Yes. Yes you are. If only we could all know the future I'm sure we'd all do things much differently.
Posted on 3/16/16 at 10:53 am to TigerFanInSouthland
The Japanese also changed strategy after earlier losses to suck us into the island. They abandoned the head first strategy to more of what we saw down the line of lengthy battle of attrition. Essentially it was the beginning of the end for the japs and many of the higher up knew it and began to focus on the defense of the home island.
This post was edited on 3/16/16 at 10:54 am
Posted on 3/16/16 at 10:55 am to TigerFanInSouthland
One of my favorite anecdotes of the Pacific theater:
quote:
During late October the Marines were relieved by soldiers of the Army’s 81st Infantry Division. Higgins boats took the Marines to waiting Navy ships. As the Marines struggled up the cargo nets and onto the decks of the ships they were stunned to see Navy officers scrubbed, clean shaven, and starched. One of the ship’s officers asked, “Got any souvenirs to trade?” A Marine stood silent for a moment, then reached down and patted his own rear end. “I brought my arse out of there swabie. That’s my souvenir of Peleliu.”
Posted on 3/16/16 at 10:57 am to TigerFanInSouthland
You are only looking at it from an offensive standpoint.
I too was not alive nor am I a military strategist, but by holding the area it prevented the enemy from having and utilizing it.
I too was not alive nor am I a military strategist, but by holding the area it prevented the enemy from having and utilizing it.
Posted on 3/16/16 at 11:04 am to The Eric
quote:
You are only looking at it from an offensive standpoint.
I too was not alive nor am I a military strategist, but by holding the area it prevented the enemy from having and utilizing it.
We didn't actually have to take Pelelieu. We could have simply by-passed and isolated it like we did with numerous other Japanese held islands.
But of course as has already been pointed out in this thread, we're looking at this matter with the benefit of hindsight.
Posted on 3/16/16 at 11:06 am to TigerFanInSouthland
My dad flew the Marine version of a B-24 (a photographic version) to take pictures of Pelelieu before the invasion.
Posted on 3/16/16 at 11:12 am to TigerFanInSouthland
I would argue that Market Garden was a bigger waste.
We already had a way into Germany so why invade the Netherlands?
Plus the Allies failed to capture all the bridges
We already had a way into Germany so why invade the Netherlands?
Plus the Allies failed to capture all the bridges
Posted on 3/16/16 at 11:24 am to Darth_Vader
quote:
We didn't have to take Pelelieu. We could have simply by-passed and isolated it like we did with numerous other Japanese held islands.
That's my biggest thing. We could've not even touched it and it wouldn't have been a hair off our arse. The only two main islands we needed after that were Iwo and Okinawa.
Posted on 3/16/16 at 11:28 am to willymeaux
quote:
I would argue that Market Garden was a bigger waste.
We already had a way into Germany so why invade the Netherlands?
The thinking was this....
1. It would be the fastest and easiest way to get allied forces across the Rhine which was a substantial barrier.
2. It would stop the Germans from launching their V2s from Holland which at that time were pounding London
3. Holland has the huge ports of Rotterdam & Amsterdam which we desperately needed at that time. By late summer and early fall our supply situation on the Western Front was becoming pretty desperate the closer we go to Germany due to the distance supplies had to travel overland from France to the front.
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