[Illustration: “=Counterattack=” _The phone rang. A battalion CO
reported the Japs’ infiltration and the beginning of the counterattack.
He asked what reserves were available and was told there were none.
Small arms fire ahead of us became a continuous rattle. Abruptly three
star shells burst in the sky. As soon as they died floating down,
others flared to take their place. Then the howitzers just behind us
opened up, hurling their charges over our heads, shaking the ground
with their blasts._]
[Illustration: “=Artillery Support=” _At the southern end on our side
of the field opposite the hill our artillerymen had dug holes and
carried 75mm field howitzers to the sites. As we came down to them
these batteries were firing continuously, throwing shells into the Jap
hangars and buildings at the foot of the hill, and at caves in the hill
where Jap mortar and artillery and machine-gun fire was dealing out
misery to marines._]
[Illustration: “=The Blockhouse=” _Looking up at the head of the
trail I could see the big Jap blockhouse that commanded the height.
The thing was now a great jagged lump of concrete, smoking. I saw
our lead man meet a front line detail posted by the blockhouse while
the other troops advanced down the hill with the three tanks and the
flamethrowers. Isolated Jap snipers were at work on our slope, small
groups of marines fanned out on both sides of the trail to clean them
out, while we climbed toward the blockhouse._]
]
[Sidebar (page 48): For Extraordinary Heroism
[Illustration]
The Secretary of the Navy awarded the Presidential Unit Citation
to the 1st Marine Division, and its reinforcing organizations, for
“extraordinary heroism in action against enemy Japanese forces at
Peleliu and Ngesebus from September 15 to 29, 1944.” In addition,
Marine Aircraft Group 11 and the 3d 155mm Howitzer Battalion were
awarded the Navy Unit Commendation. On an individual basis, 69
participants in the battle for Peleliu were decorated with the Navy
Cross, the second seniormost combat award in the Naval service.
The nation’s highest award, the Medal of Honor, was presented to eight
Marines in the fight for Peleliu; five were decorated posthumously, as
indicated by (*): *Corporal Lewis K. Bausell, USMC, 1/5; Private First
Class Arthur J. Jackson, USMC, 3/7; *Private First Class Richard E.
Kraus, USMCR, 8th Amphibian Tractor Battalion; *Private First Class
John D. New, USMC, 2/7; *Private First Class Wesley Phelps, USMCR, 3/7;
Captain Everett P. Pope, USMC, 1/1; *Private First Class Charles H.
Roan, USMCR, 2/7; and First Lieutenant Carlton R. Rouh, USMCR, 1/5.
]
_Sources_
The basic source work for this pamphlet is the Marine Corps’ official
monograph, _The Assault on Peleliu_, by Maj Frank O. Hough, published
by the Government Printing Office in 1950, while LtCol Gordon D.
Gayle was serving as deputy director of Marine Corps history, and
editor of the monograph series. Other books used in this narrative
were: George W. Garand and Truman R. Strobridge, _Western Pacific
Operations_, vol IV, _History of U.S. Marine Corps Operations in
World War II_ (Washington: Historical Division, HQMC, 1971); George
P. Hunt, _Coral Comes High_ (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1946);
E. B. Sledge, _With the Old Breed at Peleliu and Okinawa_ (Presidio
Press, 1981); Edward S. Miller, _War Plan Orange: The U.S. Strategy
to Defeat Japan_ (Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 1991); Edward
Behr, _Hirohito: Behind the Myth_ (New York: Vantage Books & Random
House, 1989); Bill D. Ross, _Peleliu: Tragic Triumph, The Untold
Story of the Pacific War’s Forgotten Battle_ (New York: Random House,
1992); James H. Hallas, _The Devil’s Anvil: The Assault on Peleliu_
(Westport, Connecticut: Praeger, 1944); Harry A. Gailey, _Peleliu
1944_ (Annapolis, Maryland: Nautical & Aviation Publishing Inc.,
1983); Masataka Chihaya, _Fading Victory: The Diary of Admiral Matome
Ugaki, 1941-45_ (University of Pittsburg Press, 1962); Larry L.
Woodward, _Before the First Wave: The 3rd Armored Amphibian Tractor
Battalion--Peleliu and Okinawa_ (Manhattan, Kansas: Sunflower Univ.
Press, 1944); Burke Davis, _Marine: The Life of Lieutenant General
Lewis B. (Chesty) Puller, USMC (Ret)_ (Boston: Little, Brown Company,
1962).
The Oral History and Personal Papers Collections in the Marine Corps
Historical Center, Washington Navy Yard, Washington, D.C., hold a
number of interviews and diaries of participants in the Peleliu
operation. These documents from the following were particularly useful:
LtGen Oliver P. Smith; BGen Harold D. Harris; BGen Harold O. Deakin;
and LtGen Lewis J. Fields, along with numerous personal interviews with
campaign veterans--officers and enlisted men.
The author wishes to thank the Army Center of Military History for
the loan of the photographs of Tom Lea’s artwork appearing in this
pamphlet. He also wishes to thank Phillip D. Orr for permitting use of
the interesting photographs of Peleliu as it appeared in 1994.
_About the Author_
[Illustration]
Brigadier General Gordon D. Gayle, USMC (Ret), graduated from the
U.S. Naval Academy in June 1939 and was commissioned a Marine second
lieutenant. After completing Basic School in Philadelphia in 1940,
he was assigned to the 5th Marines, 1st Marine Division with which
he served in three Pacific campaigns: Guadalcanal, Cape Gloucester,
and Peleliu. For his extraordinary heroism while commanding the 2d
Battalion, 5th Marines, on Peleliu, he was awarded the Navy Cross.
He returned to 1st Marine Division in the Korean war to serve first as
the executive officer of the 7th Marines, then as G-3 on the division
staff. He is a graduate of the Army’s Command and General Staff
College. In 1963-65, he chaired the Long Range Study Panel at Quantico,
developing concepts for the Corps’ operational, organizational,
logistical and R&D needs for the 1985 period. He was promoted to
brigadier general in 1964. Retiring in 1968, he joined Georgetown
University’s Center for Strategic and International Studies.
[Illustration]
THIS PAMPHLET HISTORY, one in a series devoted to U.S. Marines in
the World War II era, is published for the education and training of
Marines by the History and Museums Division, Headquarters, U.S. Marine
Corps, Washington, D.C., as a part of the U.S. Department of Defense
observance of the 50th anniversary of victory in that war.
Editorial costs of preparing this pamphlet have been defrayed in part
by a grant from the Marine Corps Historical Foundation and a bequest
from the estate of Emilie H. Watts, in memory of her late husband,
Thomas M. Watts, who served as a Marine and was the recipient of a
Purple Heart.
=WORLD WAR II COMMEMORATIVE SERIES=
_DIRECTOR EMERITUS OF MARINE CORPS HISTORY AND MUSEUMS_
=Brigadier General Edwin H. Simmons, USMC (Ret)=
_GENERAL EDITOR,
WORLD WAR II COMMEMORATIVE SERIES_
=Benis M. Frank=
_CARTOGRAPHIC CONSULTANT_
=George C. MacGillivray=
_EDITING AND DESIGN SECTION, HISTORY AND MUSEUMS DIVISION_
=Robert E. Struder=, Senior Editor;
=W. Stephen Hill=, Visual Information Specialist;
=Catherine A. Kerns=, Composition Services Technician
Marine Corps Historical Center
Building 58, Washington Navy Yard
Washington, D.C. 20374-5040
=1996=