American infantrymen at the Battle of Angaur in the Pacific War pass the corpses of Japanese soldiers lying on the island's narrow gauge railroad tracks. The remaining Japanese forces were holed up in the northwestern part of the island. Angaur was declared safe on September 20, 1944, but the fighting continued. It took about another four weeks or more before the Japanese completely cut off the resistance after a fierce meat-and-pound battle using flamethrowers, grenades, and explosives. Next, the Japanese forces, starving, thirsty, and damaged by American artillery and bombing, were annihilated in a final slashing assault on October 19. Of the approximately 10,000 American troops, the casualties were approximately 260 dead, 1,354 wounded, and 940 lost in non-combat roles. Japanese casualties were about 1,338 dead and 59 prisoners of war. The American casualties of about 2,560 outnumbered the Japanese casualties of about 1,397.
The Battle of Angaur in the Pacific War broke out on Angaur Island in the Palau Islands from September 17 to September 30, 1944. Angaur Island is a small volcanic island about 4.8 km long, separated from Peleliu Island by a 9.7 km strait, which was suitable for the construction of an airstrip. It was located at the southernmost tip of the Palau Islands, about 800 km east of Mindanao. When it became apparent that the U.S. military was going to invade Palau, the Japanese military evacuated the civilian population and local residents from Angaur Island to the main island of Palau. About 180 young local men, along with Koreans, were sent to help the Japanese army as soldiers. American troops also landed on Angaur Island and were involved in the fighting, starting with the bombardment of the island by artillery and dive bombers on September 11, followed by the landing on September 17. American troops landed on the northeast and southeast coasts on September 17. The invasion was delayed when they encountered about 1,400 Japanese mines and snipers. They were caught in dense terrain infested with Japanese machine guns and snipers. The Japanese had also invaded the caves. In order to secure the cave, the American troops used bulldozers to seal off the entrance to the cave. The lack of food and water on the battlefield gradually drove the Japanese soldiers back, and the inside of the cave shelter took on the appearance of a dough prison with the moans of the seriously wounded as they sought suicide grenades. The Battle of Peleliu had already broken out between September 15 and November 27.
Sergeant Hiroshi Funasaka, mortally wounded by the American onslaught, charged the American command post with a pistol in his left hand, a hand grenade in his right, and five grenades strapped to his body. He was shot in the left neck, fell into a coma, and lost consciousness for about two days before being rescued. Even though he was a prisoner of war wounded, he still attempted to attack the observers and blow up the airfield. After demobilization to Japan, he ran a bookstore where he learned about the advanced American culture that leads to prosperity and peace. He opened a bookstore in front of Shibuya station with just one tsubo (one square meter). This led to the creation of the Taiseido Bookstore, the first book department store in Japan to occupy an entire building.
