During the Battle of Peleliu Island, an American soldier was killed by Japanese artillery fire north of the airfield on Peleliu Island. The body of the slain American soldier had his right lower leg blown off at the base.
In the Pacific War, American troops landed on Peleliu Island in the Palau archipelago in the Western Pacific on September 15, 1944. After fierce Japanese resistance and heavy casualties, American forces were finally able to capture the island on November 27. The attack on Peleliu Island was the deadliest amphibious landing in American military history.
Peleliu Island had a linkage of caves made of rock, which the Japanese connected with tunnels to serve as fortifications. When the Japanese invaded, they did so from directly above the caves, inflicting maximum damage on the American troops directly below.
More than 10,000 Japanese troops were stationed on Peleliu Island, a volcanic island six miles long and two miles wide. The island had an airfield and was invaded in an amphibious assault that neutralized this threat. on the morning of September 15, 1944, American forces landed on the southwestern tip of Peleliu Island. On the morning of September 15, 1944, American forces landed on the southwestern tip of Peleliu Island, preceded by raids and bombings by carrier-based aircraft. The landings came in waves, gathering on the island's shores and pushing inland.
However, it took the Japanese many days to stop the American invasion, resulting in massive casualties. Peleliu Island had many caves and a network of tunnels connecting it, and the Japanese were largely unscathed from the Allied bombardment. The Japanese defended their airstrip on the southwestern part of Peleliu Island for four days.
As the Americans moved northward and began their invasion, they became the target of a volley of Japanese heavy artillery and rifle fire from a cave dug into the rock face of Umbrugol Mountain, dubbed Bloody Nose Ridge along the way. Over the next eight days, American troops engaged in one of the most harrowing and costly battles of the Pacific War, suffering about 50% casualties.
Meanwhile, U.S. reinforcements sent in re-attacked Nosebleed Ridge from the west on September 24. Allied forces were able to encircle the Japanese positions on the mountain. The Japanese held out and finally retreated after much bloodshed during October. More American reinforcements arrived, and on November 25, the ridge was finally occupied, and the Japanese refused to surrender, nearly all of them killed.
The Battle of Peleliu produced the highest casualty rate for amphibious operations in American military history. Of the 28,000 U.S. soldiers who participated in the battle, about 40 percent were killed or wounded, with 1,800 killed in action and 8,000 wounded, for a total of about 9,800 casualties. On the other hand, the U.S. forces achieved their objectives from the capture of Peleliu Island to the recapture of the Philippines and the invasion of the Japanese main islands.
