Australian 🇦🇺 Watches THE PACIFIC s1ep5 for the FIRST TIME 'Peleliu Landing' Reaction! 

In his later years, one of the marines featured in The Pacific (not saying who to avoid spoilers) said in an interview that he still thought of his life in two parts: before and after the landing on Peleliu. Forty-odd years later and this moment was still the turning point of his life. Just heart wrenching to think about.

“Peleliu smashing” LOL

The Japanese commander on Peleliu (Colonel Kunio Nakagawa) understood that the banzai charges weren’t working against the Americans as they were against the Chinese, and instead had his forces construct intricate and strong defensive fortifications within the rough terrain further inland along the vast coral ridges of the island, there was also an extremely extensive cave network on Peleliu that the Japanese used extensively, which is a major reason why the naval bombardment and airstrikes were so ineffective.

So the landing was so bad because the defenses near the beach were embedded in concrete bunkers and in coral rock features on the beach. In Leckie's sector, White Beach 1, there was a coral outcropping about 30ft high on the northern end of the beach called "The Point". It was a solid jagged coral ridge with about 6 or 7 concrete bunkers embedded into it, and Japanese infantry hid in the fissures and cracks in the rock formation. From here, the Japanese could fire 47mm guns and machine guns, and the US Navy hadn't seen this rock formation because it otherwise doesn't look too imposing from far away. The Japanese also had an emplacement with more machine guns and an artillery piece on White beach 2 further south called "The Promontory" which was a large coral hill on the beaches edge about 40 ft. high. Japanese guns from the point fired south down the beach while guns from the promontory fired north, catching the Marines in the crossfire. Sledge landed on Oramge Beach 3 further south, which, while not as heavily defended as White beaches 1 and 2, had a lot of concrete bunkers ahead of the area. There was also a small unamed island off the coast of Orange beach 3 that had Japanese snipers and a hidden 75mm gun that was destroying Marines on the beach. Enfilade fire from another island named Ngarmoked, connect to Peleliu by a narrow sandspit at the southern tip the island also fired northward at the beach Sledge was on. Most devastating of all, practically impregnable positions in the southernmost portion of the 300ft high Umurbrogol mountains in northern Peleliu overlooked all of the beaches and could fire down on them. Peleliu is mostly made of coral, so the Japanese dug caves into the rock and avoided being killed by the Naval bombardment by hiding either underground or within the caves of the mountains.

Basilone was an enormous celebrity war hero during the war. There is still a John Basilone day in his home town in New Jersey. They bombarded Iwo Jima for much more than three days, still couldn't reach a lot of the Japanese as they were dug in so deep. Many of the marines would see the bombardments and feel that nothing could survive it. They would come to learn that wasn't so over time. Peleliu was a coral Island. Not much in the way of greenery to begin with really. As they progressed across the Islands of the Pacific, the nature of the terrain changed.

Keen eye for noticing how different Peleliu looked conoared to the other islands. Peleliu formed as a result of volcanic uplift and undersea coral formations which gradually got pushed out of the water. The whole island is essentially hard limestone and coral rock with the exception of some mangrove swamps on the eastern shore if the island, opposite the landing beaches. Most of Peleliu has only a very thin layer of topsoil, so when the US began its bombardment, that thin layer of soil was blown away pretty fast. They'd actually began bombing Peleliu as early as March of 1944 with the US Navy's Task Force 58 and the 5th Air Force, and had done so through to August and in the process burned down a lot of the vegetation and completely wiped out native villages there, some of which dated back to the 17th century. The 3 day bombardment in September only added to that devastation. The Japanese also did a lot of teraforming on the island between 1939-1940, especially by clearing away the jungle to build the airfield, HQ complex, barracks, bunkers and an RDF complex, and supplanted much of the jungle with short grass. It's likely that once all of that burned away that it turned into that post-apocolyptic landscape.

There's been nothing official (I think) on revenue for this, but suspicion is yes it lost money and that's why they didn't pick up Masters of the Air. Pacific also cost about $100 million more than Band of Brothers to make, so it wouldn't surprise me if it's true. A big profit source for Band of Brothers was DVD sales and box sets, however Pacific came out when DVDs were on the way out.

Dick Winters is my fav in BoB. Eugene Sledge is my fav in The Pacific. My fav guy in MoTA is also in Episode 5. I’m really enjoying your reactions; Ep 3 & 4 aren’t my faves in this series but your commentary is super entertaining - especially during the romantic bits 😂 If you want to learn more about the U.S. Navy and their battles in the Pacific - in addition to “The War” 2007 docuseries, I highly recommend “Battle 360: USS Enterprise.” This 2008 documentary never gets old. The legendary “Big E” and her crew would make a fantastic movie or series of their own! Here’s a link to a playlist that includes the full version 10 episodes ru-vid.com/group/PL1AQFVBBuLpw5VTAdLN-R52JlSxDjdDeW&si=KkfuYP3HyiGpiK2b … or look up the channel - Jack Striker - USS Enterprise.

Better landing craft ... but bad island anyway ;-( Two years after the Guadalcanal landing.

Not to spoil anything for next episodes but you’ll find out why all the Japanese on Peleliu survived the bombardment, keep it up man you’re killing it!

The natural rock formations on Pelelieu, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa allowed the Japanese to dig caves and tunnels in order to protect themselves from artillery, naval bombardment, and dive bombers from the carriers. Many of the Japanese caves were sealed with soldiers inside using satchel explosives.

It's a great series. Don't pay attention to RU-vid money reports. I have not told you things to enable you to discover them. The last episode ends with details and photographs of the real people.

I like how I’m in this episode u can see the advancement in their gear. Guadalcanal episode u can see they still had ww1 versions of the 30cal machine guns (with the big water cooled canister looking things around the barrels. Plus the amtraks and upgraded camo patterns are sick 😅

it cant possibly be cold enough in Australia to be wearing a toque. lol

Haney is played by veteran Australian actor Gary Sweet. Ask your folks if you don’t know.😆

SNAFU - Situation Normal All F'd Up. FUBAR - F'd Up Beyond All Recognition

The Battle for Pelelieu was totally unnecessary. The Island was selected earlier in the war because the airfield posed a threat to MacArthur's right flank when it came time for him to land in the Philippines. He also wanted to use Pelelieu as a staging area for his campaign. Admiral Halsey, who carriers had been operating near Pelelieu, had noted very little Japanese Air Force activity. He suggested the Island be bypassed since the airfield no longer posed a threat to his landings. Admiral Nimitz, and Admiral King (head of all Naval operations) sided with Army General MacArthur mainly because he needed the Island as a staging area. The Battle of Pelelieu began on September 15th and the Island was secured November 27th. MacArthur gave his "I have returned," speech on October 20th a full 5 weeks before Pelelieu was secured. He also used Ulithie Island for his staging area. Halsey was 100% correct in opposing taking Pelelieu. So 2000 Americans died and 8500 were wounded while 12,000 Japanese died and all to satisfy the egoes of a few men, including Marine 1 Division commander Maj. Gen. William Rupertus, who assured everyone that his Marines could take Pelelieu within a week. The Battle for Pelelieu and all the battles that followed were more vicious than any of the previous battles because the Japanese changed tactics. They knew they were going to lose the war so the strategy was to inflict as many casualties on the Americans so they would grow weary of the war and the Japanese could negotiate a better peace treaty. Pelelieu, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa were all battles of attrition. The Japanese followed no rules and the Americans weren't the only ones that suffered; civilians on the Islands (Saipan, Guam, and Okinawa) were oftened used by the Japanese in forced labor and as shields. If we had listened to Halsey and bypassed Pelelieu we could have invade Iwo Jima 5 months earlier than we did thus cutting down the time they used to fortifying that Island. If we had landed on Iwo in September 1944 instead of Pelelieu our casualties would have been fewer than we experienced. No one knows how many lives would have been saved if the military leadership had just listened to Admiral Halsey.

It's so sad that WWI & WWII vets had to suffer their PTSD in silence. It was considered just "shell shock" & they were expected to suck it up & get over it. There was no medical/psychiatric help available. People viewed them as being "weak" or "cowardly" if they couldn't deal with the trauma.😢

Basilone has roads named after him at Camp Pendelton, where he trained men before Iwo Jima, where he died. We were lucky to have men like him. Unlike the vast majority of Americans today, who are spoiled, entitled brats! Hardest thing most people here in the US have to do now, is get out of bed!