In late 1944, as a precursor to the invasion of the Philippines, U.S. military analysts decided to seize the small island of Peleliu to ensure that the Japanese airfield could not threaten the invasion forces.
It was estimated that the island would fall in a week or so. In fact, the fighting on Peleliu would go on for 74 days. The US would pay a heavy price for capturing the island with a higher casualty rate than the fighting on Iwo Jima and Okinawa.
In this episode, I'm joined by Pacific War historian Joseph Wheelan, author of Bitter Peleliu: The Forgotten Struggle on the Pacific War's Worst Battlefield.
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187 - Desert Armour: Tank Warfare in North Africa
186 - Our Man in Tokyo
185 - Adrian Carton de Wiart
184 - My Road to Mandalay
183 - The Waffen-SS
182 - The British Parachute Regiment
181 - Britain's Coast at War
180 - US Navy Demolition Divers
178 - Battles of Rzhev Salient
177 - Japan's Pacific War
176 - Colditz
175 - Dünkirchen, 1940
174 - The Pacific, August 1945
173 - The Maritime Struggle in the Mediterranean and Middle East
172 - The Battle of Stalingrad
171 - Tom, Dick and Harry
170 - The German Battle of the Bulge
169 - The U-Boat War
168 - Operation Foxley
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