Combat· World War II
Peleliu D-Day landings
The D-Day assault on 15 September 1944 sent five infantry battalions of the 1st, 5th, and 7th Marines across 600–800 yards of fire-swept coral reef toward five landing beaches.
Concealed antiboat and antitank guns on the flanking points raked the amphibian tractors, destroying landing craft and command groups, and the fight for "The Point" on the left flank was savage from the first hour. By dusk the division held its beachhead, but only the center approached its planned objective line. That evening the Japanese launched a tank-infantry counterattack across the airfield that was crushed by Marine armor and antitank fire. The first day's landings cost the division 548 killed, 18 missing, and 1,775 wounded, a steep price that signaled the brutal weeks to come.
Podcast episodes on World War II
Record no. 575