In September 1944, the US 1st Marine Division is on its way to another amphibious invasion in the Pacific – the tiny island of Peleliu. For almost half the Marines it will be their baptism of fire against veteran Japanese troops with a new defensive doctrine. Some American commanders call for the operation to be cancelled, but it goes ahead. By its end, half the Marines and all the Japanese will be killed or wounded – but was Peleliu worth it?

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» SOURCES
Adams, Gregg, US Marine Versus Japanese Soldier: Saipan, Guam, and Peleliu, 1944 (Oxford : Osprey Publishing, 2024)
Blair, Bobby C. & John Peter DeCiocco, Victory at Peleliu: The 81st Infantry Division’s Pacific Campaign (Norman, Oklahoma : University of Oklahoma Press, 2011)
Eldridge, Robert D. The Necessary Commander and the Unnecessary Fight: Colonel Nakagawa Kunio and the Battle of Peleliu (London : Reed International, 2024)
Hough, Frank O. The Assault on Peleliu (Quantico, VA : Historical Division, U.S. Marine Corps, 1950)
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McManus, John C. “The Bloody Assault on Angaur Island Proved the Folly of “Mopping Up” Operations” Historynet (www.historynet.com/a-bloody-assault-on-angaur-isla…)
Moran, Jim & Gordon L Rottman, Peleliu 1944: The Forgotten Corner of Hell (Oxford : Osprey Publishing, 2002)
Murray, Stephen C., The Battle Over Peleliu: Islander, Japanese and American Memories of War (Tuscaloosa, AL : The University of Alabama Press, 2016)
Sledge, Eugene B. With the Old Breed at Peleliu and Okinawa (New York, NY : Ballantine Books, 2007)
Wright, Derrick, Pacific Victory: Tarawa to Okinawa 1943-1945 (Stroud : Sutton Publishing Limited, 2005)



»CREDITS
Presented by: Jesse Alexander
Written by: Jesse Alexander
Director: Toni Steller
Editing: Toni Steller
Motion Design: Toni Steller
Mixing, Mastering & Sound Design: above-zero.com/
Research by: Jesse Alexander
Fact checking: Florian Wittig
Executive Producer: Florian Wittig

Channel Design: Simon Buckmaster

Contains licensed material by getty images, picture alliance, and Reuters
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Music Library: Epidemic Sound

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