The Never-Ending 'D-Days' of the Pacific Theatre: USA's Oft-Forgotten Harrowing Beach Landings
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- Опубліковано 28 чер 2024
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War Thunder is a highly detailed vehicle combat game containing over 2,000 playable tanks, aircraft, and ships spanning over 100 years of development. Immerse yourself completely in dynamic battles with an unparalleled combination of realism and approachability.
The brutal assaults U.S. Marines faced in the Pacific. From Tarawa to Peleliu, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa, were they deadlier than Omaha Beach?
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Chapters:
0:00 Introduction
2:47 Tarawa - Operation Galvanic
6:18 Peleliu - Operation Stalemate II
9:27 Iwo Jima - Operation Detachment
13:55 Okinawa - Operation Iceberg
17:37 Deadlier than Normandy?
20:43 World War II and the Transformation of Amphibious Warfare
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War Thunder is a highly detailed vehicle combat game containing over 2,000 playable tanks, aircraft, and ships spanning over 100 years of development. Immerse yourself completely in dynamic battles with an unparalleled combination of realism and approachability.
Can you note that Robert Lecky was a Marine not a soldier.
No mention of any of the large island campaigns. Invasion of Luzon makes Normandy look like a small operation and was arguably the largest number of Japanese regulars faced by the Allies in the entire theater. Some estimates 287,000 Japanese. My Grandfather was there. I don’t fault you it’s hard to find anything on these campaigns unless you specifically know about them and look for them. Grandfather was in Australia before the war.
I have seen the landing beaches on Guam.
As a person with a decent understanding of the profession of arms, the advantages for the defenders were extreme.
How those men managed to do what they did still shocks me...
I went to Guam this year. Next to my hotel in Tumon Bay, there were two gun nests. Standing next to them and seeing their fields of fire was crazy to think about what happened 80 years ago. On a hike I went on, there’s an old Sherman and a few other tanks in the middle of the trail. It was crazy to think those men fought on that land. Hiking in it was rough enough.
Uncle Joe was a Carpenter’s mate 2/c Seabee at Guam. Proud of Uncle Joe. No kids so I h guy received his things before he passed
Say fuck it and figure it out.
Lets not forget that the japanese were told that Marines were recruited from gangs and prisons. We were murderers, Grapists and cannibals.
Thats the main reason why they refused to be taken alive.
The Marines would become increasingly aggressive and brutal because those japs would play dead and attack them. Surrender, then magically pull a grenade out their azz to take out a few. Cry when wounded to hopefully get a Corpsman to help them, get stiched up, get water and morphine. Then stab the corpsman. My grandfather said that they initially felt bad for the jap soldiers because they emaciated, living in a bowl of rice and gallon of water for 1 week...but they used that against them. So they would dome the jap casualties with rocks and butt stocks. They also used to shoot soldiers who were on fire from flamethrowers. Then they stopped and let scream and burn
4 words. United States Marine Corps
Robert Leckie was never on Iwo Jima. He was thrown by an artillery shell concussion into a tree, causing internal injuries on Peleliu. It was his third landing. He was never even near Iwo
Yeah he was a Marine and not a soldier like the guy said lol
Thats what happened in the Pacific but in reality his removal from the front was far less dramatic. Read helmet for my pillow, excellent book
Yeah, I don't know why he said that. That's even depicted in the Pacific.
He was an author and wrote a book about the battle of Iwo Jima
Yeah 1st Marine division was never on iwo jima it was the 3rd 4th and 5th marine divisions that landed on the island
I guess that this answers my "Why were no Marines on D-Day?". They were hella busy with their own ones.
That and most of the army staff didn't like the Marine Corps
@@funsky40 Troll
also dday was on a way larger scale and they couldnt spare that many marines because it was a smaller branch
There were Marines at D-Day though. Mostly forward observers. The USS Texas's contingent of Marines also acted as snipers detonating mines for the rest of the landing boats, as well as having been on standby to assist the Rangers at Pointe Du Hoc.
@@cm-pr2ys interesting. I'll definetly have to look that up
There's one certainty, whichever beach landings or theatre of operations these men were fighting in, every single one of them were terrified, but they did their jobs nonetheless. And the world should thank each and every one of them for their sacrifices and services.
My grandpa was part of these actions as a US Navy radio operator. He never talked much about his part in the pacific campaign even though he had two bronze stars with valor devices on his DD214. Dude was a certified bada** and none of us ever knew it. There was one thing that’s stuck with me to this day though. I was watching Band of Brothers, the D-Day episode, when he scoffed and said, “hell, we had half a dozen of those just as big but all anyone ever remembers is Normandy.” In a way he was right. I’d even go as far as to argue that the pacific was more brutal than Europe because of the difference in enemy and terrain
He was right. Just taking a stroll in a jungle is brutal. Now fight on it is just nightmare.
The Pacific Theatre was brutality personified. Against a ridiculously tough and fanatical enemy. Fought with little in the way of logistics and practically no rest for those who fought it. In PNG alone let alone the other engagements. Personally I have been honoured to meet and talk with Veterans of this theatre when I was a young Digger. Australian, British and American Veterans. Good job pointing it out mate👍
I saw Flag of Fathers before Saving Private Ryan. Literally, the island hopping campaign was a D-Day every time US troops had to attack and gain a foothold into each Japanese island they came across (or rather, the ones the Higher Ups decided to attack). Everyone talks about D-Day, but almost no one acknowledges the landings at Tarawa. Iwo Jima. Okinawa. I'm glad to see the Pacific Campaign is getting more light on UA-cam as of late, thank you for this video.
You forgot the bloody beach assault in Saipan, and the infamous Japanese banzai counter attack that resulted in nearly 1,000 KIA and wounded US marines and soldiers at dawn on July 7, 1944. US forces suffered 3,225 KIA in Saipan.
While US Marines did most of the amphibious assaults and suffered heavy casualties in the Pacific, numerous US Army units also conducted beach landings and lost large numbers of troops in the island-hopping campaigns.
Soviet Russian forces also briefly conducted a few landings in the Pacific after entering the war vs. Japan in August 1945. The Russians, particularly army, navy and naval infantry suffered considerably in the invasion of Kuril Islands, with 3,000 casualties in the amphibious assault of Shumsu Island, considered to be the last major battle of WW2.
The US Army conducted more amphibious assaults in the Pacific than the marines did, there were far more army soldiers fighting too, and they did most of the fighting and took most of the casualties
@@maximilianodelrio Me when I spread misinformation
@@FireOverLordX it's literally true though, casualties for the us army ground forces in the Pacific were 41,500 dead and 145,000 wounded, compared to 23,000 marine dead and 67,000 wounded
@@FireOverLordXhe’s telling the truth.. look it up
@@maximilianodelrio Correct on both counts. I meant to say the Marines led the bigger and more famous amphibious assaults in the Pacific. The US Army conducted more amphibious assaults by the numbers especially in South Central Pacific and the Philippines campaign. Even more accurately we can say the US Navy led and conducted the most amphibious assaults in the Pacific and all theaters of operations combined in WW2.
There were plenty more smaller D Days on the many small atolls and islands across the pacifc, many more than are covered here. Its worth seeking out information on some of this smaller battles. Many have hard fighting just on a smaller scale.
According to my information, and if I counted correctly, there were 103 D-Days in the Pacific alone during WW2.
Honoring the memory of those who fought on both sides of any war will always be a noble endeavor. And WWII is no exception.
No. How those doing the fighting conduct themselves matters. Individual units sometimes committed murder of surrendering enemy. The japanese chain of command promoted attrocities like torture, rape, and murder. The British never had a "Bataan Death March". The Americans never conducted "medical" experiments on prisoners of war. The Americans and Germans did have individuals committing war crimes....the Japanese on the other hand celebrated it.
@@SunTzu119you…don’t think the Germans didn’t celebrate their fucking war crimes?
Geetsly, I don't think that I have ever* thanked you for YEARS of quality historical wartime exposés, (if I may add this personal note too), and your excellent efforts to always correctly pronounce French 🇫🇷 and German 🇩🇪 words and names. So many narrators bulldoze ignorantly and maladroitly through the French and German words, not having bothered to even take the time to look up the pronunciation. I say this as a French teacher with a university minor in German. 🙋🏻♂️🇺🇸🤝🇦🇺
Thank you so much for the lovely comment! Much appreciated:)
Very few know this. It wasn't the airfields or the Japanese knowing where American planes were going to bomb iapan from iwo jima that made it a must take island.
Here is the real reason. The Japanese could fly planes to iwo jima and from there to bases they still held on smaller islands. Sure they had been bombed but airfields are easy to repair.
From there, they were attacking the b29s on sipain. Several raids had pretty big losses to the B29s. Imagine the b29 with he atomic bomb being g blown up on the runway.
Now you know.
@@theodoresmith5272 Now I know. 👍🏻
Thank you for laying out the burden carries by the men in the Pacific.
Each theater had its trials. Europe was one big happenstance. The Pacific was lots of smaller but equaly devistating events. Which is worse getting killed by one big lion or nibbled to death by her cubs
I’ve been to Peleliu 2x for a total of 4 days. Had the entire battlefield to myself using a rental car and kayak. Hard to believe how much carnage took place in one of the most beautiful places on earth
How did you get there ? I thought you needed a pass
@@user-fy4hl6wl3g you are thinking of Iwo Jima
@@user-fy4hl6wl3gNah Peleliu is pretty open, the Palau islands are pretty touristic and one of the landing beaches is actually now a liked location for honeymoons. Iwo Jima is the one pretty hard to get to.
Good video.
I appreciate the slowing down of the audio to about 60/65% to take advantage of more ads. Very respectful to the people youre talking about.
Yep, D-Day was one landing. To be an Australian at war against Japan was to have been in dozens of amphibious attacks, the last one being the capture of Borneo.
Nothing but respect for all those brave souls who fought valiantly and gave up their lives for something greater than themselves.
They had no choice. Forward or die.
Had two uncles that fought the pacific theater. From pearl harbor to the dropping of the bomb.
One didn't tell stories until days before leaving this life. He carried a flame thrower...hell on earth he stated.
The other was far more vocal and quite a bit more sadistic.
He kept several pieces from killed men swords, bayonets, a flag.
He very much brought
Me into the horrors and chaos of combat. Those guys earned every inch of those islands.
The first had good respect for the Japanese fighting man.
The other
Held a grudge till he was gone
My grandfather fought in the Pacific with the 1st Marines and my grest uncle with the 2nd Marines. My other grandfather flew B-17s and B-29s over Europe and then B-29s in the Pacific
There's is this odd phenomenon that has been studied of why veterans of the European and Pacific Theaters can't relate to one another. Watching the two HBO shows, Band of Brothers and The Pacific, puts it into perspective for us. And I never even realized just how different they were until i watched the Pacific for the second time. The conditions that the Marines were in were greatly worse than those in Europe. Europe was your classic conventional warfare. With tactics, maneuvers, and an enemy that valued its own life. The Pacific Theater was a slow grind anywhere the Marines went. There was virtually no sense of comfort as the enemy would often sneak in at night. The Marines were often undersupplied in the Pacific. And there was no week in Paris to relax. The best thing you got was to go back to the ship that brought you to the island or rest in the camp that weeks earlier was hell on earth.
- The Army fought in the Pacific too, not just Marines.
- Band of Brothers is an extremely narrow portrayal of the war in Europe, even in terms of US participation. The experiences of Easy Company 506th (about 240 men collectively) should not be considered representative of the fighting that US infantry experienced in Europe (and the Mediterranean) as a whole.
-There was no week to relax in Paris, but there were months to relax in Australia, Fiji, New Caledonia, and Hawaii. Rotation periods lasted much longer in the Pacific Theater than in Europe due to the time required to plan and prepare operations. I find it funny how even the show forgets that it dedicated an entire episode to the 1st Marine Division on leave in Melbourne.
Per capita, only Betio (Tarawa, for normies) was deadlier than Omaha Beach. Overall, however, Omaha Beach was costlier than any "D-Day" landing in the Pacific and deadlier per capita than most landings in the Pacific. That includes Iwo Jima, Peleliu, and Saipan. Speaking of Saipan, why isn't it featured? The 2nd & 4th Marine Divisions collectively lost 2,000 men killed and wounded on June 15. It was much deadlier than the Okinawa landing, which shouldn't really be on this list at all given that the Japanese hardly defended Okinawa at the waterline at all.
I would like to speak up for Operation Iceburg. 12,000 Americans dead. 59,000 wounded. It was by far the largest amphibious assault in the pacific.
"which shouldn't really be on this list at all given that the Japanese hardly defended Okinawa at the waterline at all."
Quite true ... and *quite* the sick and ironic April Fool's Day joke, considering all the carnage and horror that would ensue inland ...
The 2nd Marine Division had a serious lack of good luck when it came to amphibious landings. They really deserve their own movie.
I think it likely that the worst landing is the one you are amidst making.
@@philipliethen519 Yes, I always avoid using the term "worse" when discussing military history. From the individual serviceman's perspective there is no such thing as a "worse" experience beyond his own.
I have always felt that the War in the Pacific was much more Brutal than was the War in Europe.
Aside from the sheer carnage of the Eastern Front, the Pacific Theatre follows closely behind it for me in terms of the worst fronts of the war
@@samtheman4234 I was referring to Which Theater of Battle was worse as far as America was concerned.
Yes, it was. A more brutal environment coupled with an even more brutal enemy.
@@samtheman4234in my opinion the Pacific front was even worse than that of the Russian one. But the thing is, the Russians made it bad for themselves. Constantly sending men to their death without sometimes even a weapon, and firing upon their own men. It was even worse for the Germans all across the line, literally starving and freezing to death.
But the Americans on the islands dealt with much worse. The weather their was humid, warm and fainting and heatstroke would be a regular occurrence. Then disease like Malaria were running rampant through the forces. Then the jungle itself was dangerous. Such a thick jungle was life threatening especially because of the animals there. Then it was the rain, which during the moesson they were always wet and clothes and shoes rotted of the soldiers. The mud was even worse. Swallowing whole vehicles at times. On Okinawa the mud was so deep they couldn't get vehicles in to remove the bodies so they would constantly rot away. During landings they had to go through deep water with heavy equipment, with many drowning. On Guadalcanal the marines were starving most of the time and on Peleliu they didn't have water in immensely high temperatures. Then the Japanese. A enemy that would rather die than surrender. Banzai charging was a common occurance in the early campaign. Later on they dug in in caves. The marines had to smoke them out of every single cave. So although the Russian front was bad, the Pacific was 10 times worse.
Thanks for making this video, my uncle was an Army boat driver at Iwo Jima and Okinawa and while I definitely appreciate the focus on the Normandy landings having been in the 101st myself much later i do feel that what our forces did in the Pacific sometimes gets overshadowed.
Great video! My Gramps joined the Army in the late 30's and was with the 7th ID from Alaska, up through the occupation of Japan. It took a heavy toll on him. He managed to move on in life but often woke up screaming, tearing his clothes and tackling my Grandma (also a WW2 vet). He never talked about his time in the service to anyone until opening up to me shortly before he passed. You never know what the man next to you has gone through, especially if he has served in combat. God bless our Veterans!
Why are the GI's who fought in the Pacific Forgotten? Or the Navy Corpsman who helped raise the Original Smaller Flag on Iwo Jima?
The pic of the soldier looks like my cover of the naked and the dead. Fugging brilliant book
Being in the Navy, I’ve had the experience of going to Saipan, Guam, Okinawa, the Philippine , and even Tinian. It’s very eery just thinking about the loss of life in those places. Okinawa doesn’t really show the devastation that happened there in 45, but I’ve been to”suicide cliff” in Saipan. Man that’s long, long drop. The murals dedicated to those on the American, and Japanese side. I just had to bow my head for all those who perished.
The Philippines is all trees and humidity, disgusting just being there (no offense to those who are from there).
Guam is only a few miles from Saipan (highly recommend all who visit Guam to just take 1 day in Saipan… I promise that’s all you need) and another place you can’t really feel the devastation
The most craziest experience I had was Tinian. You can see the craters, where the Japanese would’ve positioned themselves at to open fire on the Marines. How empty that island is, for even the locals who did show themselves were so happy to see us (right after a terrible typhoon in 2018). That island was destroyed, not from the typhoon, but the war. You can drive that entire island in like 20 minutes I reckon. Very sad.
You don’t have to join the Navy to see these experiences. But man I can only imagine the fear of those men. Not just the Americans, but the Japanese too.
Those brave, brave men. R..I.P
I didn’t know you had a history channel I follow you your Star Wars channel to love your videos
I had no idea that you had a historical channel Geetsly... this is so called! I love your Star Wars videos!
Another excellent video, as always!
It was an informative and wonderful historical coverage video...thank you 🙏 ( the front channel) for sharing.
great video, makes me want to watch the pacific and play world at war.
Haha 1v1 me
@RyanC_ wanna play D Day with me ? 😏🏳️🌈❤️
Makes you want the beach at home.
Soldier: Yeah, I was part of the largest amphibious landing in history. Where were you?
Marine: Only one landing, huh? 🚬
Marine: -Only one landing, huh?- Liberating a coral rock because the Navy said so...
the canadians had just as much action at juno as on at omaha but they had arnoued support because they landed their tanks as close to the beaches as possible.
also don't forget the landings in anzio and Salerno which had major casualties.
Actually, they didn't. The Canadians and British (yes, the British also had forces on Juno) made contact with elements of 1st Infantry Division, but as far as the sheer amount of men, equipment, etc, Juno is not comparable to Omaha in any way. At Omaha, Allied intelligence failed to observe that the 352nd Infantry Division (12,000 men, of which 6,800 had some form of combat experience) had been moved to the front. This, coupled with the failure of Allied bombing (due to overcast weather, poor visibility, and the use of vertical bombing instead of horizontal), meant that US forces would come ashore under fire from experienced troops defending virtually intact defensive lines. This, after crossing nearly 100 meters of open ground, zeroed in by artillery and mortars before having to scale a virtual cliff dotted with bunkers and other fortifications. As far as casualties go, as far as I recall, the vast majority of them would come from artillery, which DD tanks provided no cover for. Regarding DD tanks, Allied landing craft were forced to jettison their tanks further out at Omaha than Juno due to rough sea conditions or risk being swamped themselves. While the loss of DD tanks certainly exacerbated the issue, there were many other variables as to why Omaha was arguably the worst beach on D-Day. Even the British Imperial War Museum in London has a good article on it.
I'd like to think Juno is a different beast altogether because Canadian and British forces landed right on the edge of a town and basically had to clear each house out as they went. They would also run head-long into an SS Panzer unit towards the end of the first day, which Allied naval and aerial gunfire helped blunt. But I don't think we should compare the beaches, as they were vastly different in many ways.
There’s always a Canadian in every comment section wanting to make everything about Canada.
@@DiviAugusti actually iam australian lol we were too busy elsewhere to play a big role at normandy, but we did have quite a large role in the air combat and the naval operations.
@@DiviAugusti agreed.
@poil8351 yeah man. Nobody was denying the courageous and important contributions. This is akin to the snobs dropping "well actually the soviets lost" numbers out of the blue, as if to minimize. Reeks of some weird nationalist insecurity.
Army: D-Day
Marines: Tuesday
I like your videos on ww2 and ww1 keep up the good work😊
I always wondered if there is an association of marines, Pacific Island Hoppers who made from one island to another to the last island.
Really good job. If you thought Peleliu was bad take a look at the bundogal at Guam .
18:01 correction: gold beach was actually 1000 casualties, not 400
Tarawa Blood beach as it become known for Brutal especially when you see the color film footage that shows many dead young marines 😢 ❤❤❤❤
Great video. Can you do a video on the ANZACs landing in Gallipoli on 25/04/15? And the subsequent failure on the British landings at Suvla Bay. Respect to the gallant Turkish defenders.
13:50 Over 22k airmen during emergency landing on Iwo Jima. Just a little less causalities than we sufferred. 6k dead. So.... statistically, it was worth it. Did they ever install smoke launchers on the landing craft? Like what modern tanks have? Seems like they'd have at least made the front panel armored. I guess it doesn't really matter when it goes down and you have to charge forward. I've always thought they should have moveable cover. A heavy steel plate that takes 2 guys to carry but you can have squads line them up and give a bulletproof wall. Guess that doesn't help against arty though and you'll always have something else better worth carrying and slowing yourself down. I figured we'll have AI driven vehicles, like 4-wheeler size, that follow the squad for supplies, carrying a litter, maybe a little mortar or mounted HMG. That'll be cool once those are deployed at the platoon/company level.
If you read Richard Frank, the Navy's chief historian for a long time, he says Iwo, much like Tarawa and Peleliu, was a mistake and the fiction of the emergency landing field was coked up after the war to justify the 25,000 casualties.
But still, 22k airmen landed at that airfield and I'd assume a lot of those wouldn't have been able to emergency land or bail out and survive without it. But sure, most of that stuff is PR theater. All the way back to the American Revolution. Quite wild how much of a role propaganda played even in that war.@@formwiz7096
By the way, they called the landing day on Peleliu D-Day. 2 years before Normandy. The 1st Marine Division was almost entirely decimated on that island.
Another way to look at it is that the Japanese fought the Alamo. A defense to the death, over and over and over. They were damn brave fighters.
Hello! Excellent work, but something is bugging my mind, where does the photo at 18.46 comes from? I think I never saw this picture when it comes to the Normandy landings.
Im not a strategists by any means, nor am i a historian. But i am a former Infantryman who served in the early years of GWOT. No matter what it takes boots on the ground even if air power devastates the enemy you still have to send in marines and Army Infantry to mop up and finish taking the objective. So i dont think on Pelilu the marines were sent in when they didnt have to be . Just my opinion but id say it was nessacary to sent in Marines and Infantry.
If you look at this from the Japanese perspective it is truly terrifying. Despite them fighting to the last handful of men, never giving a bloodless victory whatsoever, the Americans still pressed forward.
If any of you have ever watched HBO’s “The Pacific”, there was an episode of Marines entering peleliu. There were half tracks destroyed by artillery fire, before they even made it to the beach. All that the marines could do was pray. The landing was no better. Beaches would be barren with almost no cover
I've read Bob Locke's book. He wasn't at Iwo Jima. Why are you quoting him here?
The Marines had a doctrine for Amphibious landings by the mid-Thirties.
They later taught the Army.
Part of the reason i wish the pacific thatre got more attention. The whole thing was just insane .
Dudes had balls of steel
It was a horrible series of events. Thank you all my brothers.
No joke... my brain read the thumbnail as "worse than Obama" rather than Omaha not once but twice. I was very confused for about 15 seconds lol
It took you 15 seconds to recover. Is not a good sign mate .
Get proper rest and sleep .
Consider yourself forgiven. Reasonable mistake.
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
@@hellomoto2084 was under a vehicle listing to stuff while replacing a flywheel. Scrolling and reading is hard when its at arms length upside down. Lol
I mean Obama was pretty terrible.
it’s always baffling to me how the japanese consistently suffered such grievously higher casualties compared to the marines despite their prepared positions
d-day could not fail by amount of bodies thrown at germans alone
but how do you land on islands?
bunch of smaller d-days that's how
only this opposite site doesn't surrender and every step costs liters of blood
Watched from Old Harbour Jamaica.
My dad was on an escort carrier supporting the island campaign. Weeks of boredom broken by hours of sheer terror when kamikaze planes attacked his ship. He lost a few fingers but escaped alive. They aren't wrong calling his, the greatest generation.
I’m a veteran of both Iraq and Afghanistan. In my modern experience, the “important” battles (known to the public) are often the ones most accessible to the media.
The kobiashi maru ?
Certainly not forgotten by us of the Pacific…, forever in their debt..🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹
If only the youth today could understand how Horrible the last moments of some of these poor men had to feel to give them the freedom they have today and sit behind a screen and talk 💩about the past ... I thank and bless all the lost souls for giving up their lives for my freedom
Regarding this debate between the US Marines and the US Army about amphibious operations, I think it's more accurately we can say the US Navy led and conducted the most amphibious assaults in the Pacific, Europe and all theaters of operations combined in WW2.
Much respect. I'm a sailor... and proud. Served with Marines... 😅😅😅. Make friends with the devildogs... always...
I enjoy your videos a lot, but I feel like y’all are slowing down your voice to stuff more ads in the video. Playing at 1.5x speed sounds so much better.
Japan was brutal during ww2
Oh yeah... Four Islands of the Apocalypse
Seipan?
Thanks for making this video. My father fought in the Solomon Islands campaign, on New Georgia, Guadalcanal, and Bougainville. He had many stories, late in life, when he finally had space and time enough to talk about experiences that left him deeply scarred. He never understood why most Americans, at the time, regarded the Pacific war as a "sideshow," when the Japanese attack on Pearl was what got us into the war, and was an actaul attack on our country. He always maintained the Axis was really beaten from day one. We just had to convince them this was true. PS: my two pence; don't play War
Thunder, if you don't want their tax money to fund the war against Ukraine, it's why I quit playing. Research this, if you like.
How could the assault on the island be both unnecessary but also have been invaluable to the war effort
Almost sounds like they're saying they would have rather not attack that island left it alone and had the bomber pilots die instead of the Japanese that were fighting against us
Everyone acts like the army had it the worst on their D-day
anzio was far worse in terms of casualties.
I thank the US marines who helped save the workd
Leckie didnt serve in Iwo. Why was that quote there?
Leckie wrote a book about Iwo Jima and other Marine battles that he was not involved in. He was a historian, as well as author of his own memoir.
Like I always said I’d rather have fought on the western front than the pacific
Does this content creator happen to do Star wars as well ??
All those heroes then and now; we get over paid Sports figures dissing the Country. Tragic.
D-Day was repeated on every pacific island the USA stepped foot on.
Maybe in the sense that they all involved Higgins boats, but not in terms of losses of intensity of combat. Most landings in the PTO were uncontested at the waterline. Only a handful of major assault landings in the Pacific were met with the same kind of resistance as the D-Day (Normandy) landings.
@@redaug4212someone doesn’t know history and watch saving private Ryan…
@@knightblade0188 Talking about yourself, eh?
@@redaug4212 no talking about you the only Normandy landing that had resistance was Omaha the others went smooth. Utah went smoothly with the with most casualties being air borne further in not part of the landing force storming the beach. Gold did have some fighting on its beach but it was minimal with almost casualties and intense fighting happening further inland especially advancing towards Caen. Juno did have a lot of intense fighting but that was after the landing had happened and a beachhead was secured. Sword did also have some German defensive guns operating but they were quickly cleaned up. Normandy landings were not as intense as you claim with a survival rate of between 96% and 98%. Only Omaha got intense and that was because of a variety of reasons. Hell the bulk of the casualties were from Omaha and the airborne.
@@knightblade0188 I'm not sure what that has to do with the response I made to OP. My point stands that the majority of "D-Days" in the Pacific were not contested at the waterline. Whereas, every major beach during the Normandy landings was contested at the waterline to some degree. Were they all like Omaha? No. Were they a cakewalk? Emphatically no. Gold and Juno beaches certainly met more intense resistance at the waterline than you give them credit for. Sword, as well, met strong resistance in certain areas with 30-45% of the first wave being killed or wounded in the "Queen White" and "Queen Red" sectors.
I do find it odd, however, you would choose such a bizarre argument to downgrade the severity of the Normandy landings since I seem to recall you, in a different comment chain, arguing that the men landing in Normandy had it easier because they faced hardly any resistance inland at all. Well, which is it? Did the British and Canadians suffer most of their losses on the beach before rolling through the countryside, or were the beach landings the easy part and the hard fighting came later?
We forgot the island hopping campaign??
I love you 🇬🇧
is this the same guy as geetslys?
Big part of Japans logic in starting this war was that the us wouldn’t have the guts to invade contested beach after beach after beach
"Bay. She. Oh"
Need the Well Actually Gang to help ne out here...
Always thought Betio was pronounced "Bay-Sho"? Am I faded?
Oorah
The 2nd Marines were not at Peleliu
With Amtracs? They did it better in the Pacific. No less deadly or heroic though.
The fact is that each of the US island assaults during WW2 would be considered nothing more than a small tactical engagement on the eastern front. I'm NOT belittling the effort... just putting it in a realistic context.
I would disagree…. My grandfather fought in 5 campaigns in the Pacific on the large island campaigns. The amphibious landing at Leyte Gulf involves far more tonnage and men than Normandy. Just no one talks about it or gives it any study. All the talk is of the small island campaigns of the USMC. Not the campaigns of the Army thru the Solomons, New Guinea, and the like.
This thing is worse than Omaha, Nebraska
Do the Russian civil war from the allies point of view they even sent combat troops!
Was Robert Leckie at Iwo Jima?!?!?! Someone confirm please!!!
No, he was in the 1st MARDIV, they were not on Iwo Jima.
Honestly, I think he was out by then.
@@stanstenson8168 I know he served in guadalcanal, cape gloucester and peleliu, but he mentioned him there so i thought he might have been there
He was wounded on Peleliu by an artillery shell which was serious enough to get him into a hospital before his eventual discharge in 1945. He wasn't at Iwo Jima.
My great grandfather served in US army during ww2 and when he came home he wasnt the same,The screams before people fell in the water never left him. His job was...........Lifegaurd at a swimming pool
Same here. They made my gramps stand at attention for minutes at a time, whether he had enough SPF or not. He never really talked about it to anyone but gamgam told us about his nightmares.
Many of those casualties could have been easily avoided if they had bothered to fire some smoke shells from naval gunnery.
You don't know shit lol
Marine Corps did most of the fighting in the Pacific.
No. On the ground the Army did most of the fighting, and at sea the Navy did most of the fighting. The Marine Corps was relatively small as it's designed to be.
my great grandpa and all 3 of his brothers served in ww2, his brother joined at just 17, and wound up hitting Iwo Jima, most of his people died but he didnt!
i wanna say he was 3rd marines he came by boat.
never met him he died in like 79 i came in 84 , wish i coulda known him😢
I’m not belittling the Army’s fight against the Nazis, not by any means whatsoever! But if you read the literature, and know the history, then there is no other conclusion one can reach but to say that The Marines in the Pacific had it much harder than the Army in Europe.
Army combat units outnumbered Marine units in the Pacific theater by a factor of 3-1. And also Peleliu was invaded four months after the Normandy invasion, and almost every operation is designated as "D-Day" because that's just military nomenclature for the starting day of any given operation, even non-seaborne ones.
I would say it's about equal. Aside from D Day allies in Europe had landings in north Africa and Italy. Count in the landing at England. Even if it is a landing to a friendly country, it meant shipping all those men and material over the hostile Atlantic Incurring great losses during the early happy hunting years of German U Boats.
I wouid say the ampibious hardships and losses were about equal in European and Pacific theaters.
My mother was 16yo at the battle of Okinawa. She hid out in caves with her schoolmates waiting to kill the Americans. She was shot when she activated the grenade, fortunately for her and the soldiers the grenade was a dud. This was how brainwashed the civilians were on Okinawa. My mom lost her dad and three brothers during the battle. She use to say that being shot by the Americans was the best thing that ever happened to her. She was a proud American for 65 years.