1. Many Marines were NOT pinned down on the beach as you implied. Elements of 2/5, 3/5, and the 7th Marines made it to the other side of the island, cutting it in two on D-day. 2/5 Marines had captured the southern side of the airfield.
2. There was a significan mangrove swamp in between White Beach and the airfield! A Japanese tank that crashed through the lines during the tank attack later D-day bogged down in that marsh. I've spent many days trudging through the swamp inland of the beach.
3. AA fire shot down at least one attacking plane on D-Day. Almost every Marine who made the invasion saw that plane go down. White Beach was enfiladed by a Type 96 25mm AA gun depressed for horizontal fire (on Point). Mistaken as a 47mm AT/AB gun in most histories of the battle. It's still there.
11. B-24's bombed the snot out of Peleliu during the pre-invasion bombardments. Several were shot down over Koror by highly accurate AA fire.
13. Lots of scrub growth, coconut groves and dense jungle inland of the beaches that caused problems with the Marines in keeping contact with one another. There was alot of initial jungle growth on the ridges but, as the campaign dragged on and napalm employed, they became more denuded, esp. around Oct.
23. You didn't have to brace an M-1 to fire a rifle grenade. While it's true one had to use blanks, it could be shoulder fired! They only fired the RG on the ground when employed to fire over ridges, etc.
Japanese used the Type 95 light tank on Peleliu, not Type 97's.
Well Mr. peleliuexplorer, it appears from your name and your post count that I can take full credit for having attracted you to this splendid forum! Welcome, and may I compliment you on the *cough* originality and modesty of your username.
To address your first point, "pinned down on the beach overnight" may have been an exaggeration, as Marine forces most certainly reached the scrub and sparse vegetation behind the beaches on 15 September, with K company, 3/1 seizing the point. The Fifth Marines, however, were ordered to halt and dig in parallel to the airstrip at 1700 hours on D-day, and did not reach the eastern shore (Sloan, 112-113, 118). The Seventh Marines did reach the eastern shore, I concede, but the southern promontories, a D-day objective, were not captured until D-plus-3, and were secured by the Seventh Marines and not 2/5. (Leckie, Delivered From Evil, 778).
2. No source I have ever come across, including the personal account of a Marine with 2nd Bn, First Marines (who landed at White Beach 2) describes the presence of a mangrove swamp between White Beaches 1 and 2 and the airfield. You appear to have visited the atoll, but I caution you that a tropical climate can enact significant changes in a landscape over a few short decades, particularly when influencing a coral atoll.
3. You appear to have read my post carelessly. I state that "a few" Navy fighters were lost to AA fire, as indeed occured. I acknowledge fully that an F6F went down at 0832 hours in front of the entire fleet (Sloan, 74). However, antiaircraft fire was by no means heavy, and was for the most part uncoordinated and ineffective.
4. Koror, the primary island of the Palaus chain, is just under 30 miles away from Peleliu. Koror may well have been bombarded by heavy bombers, but I have absolutely no record that B24s ever attacked Peleliu itself. A large raid neutralized the island's offensive capabilities on 2 March, 1944, but it was conducted by F6Fs and SBDs. The pre-invasion bombardment was conducted entirely by F6Fs, F4Us, TBDs, and SBDs from 12-15 September. At any rate, once US troops landed, the island's small size would have made aerial bombing by heavies a recipie for fraticide.
5. Again, you misread my post. I stated that no cover exists between the jungle BEHIND the airfield (the ultimate objective) and the airfield itself, meaning that once the Fifth Marines, accompanied by Second Battalion, First Marines, rose from the scrub to attack the airfield, they found no cover. I did not at any point imply that a strip of scrub did not exist between the beaches and the airfield. (The presence of that vegetation is attested to in maps on page 49 of Sloan and 268 of Leckie, Helmet).
As for point six, show me photographic or anecdotal evidence of a live rifle grenade being fired from the shoulder in combat or in training and I will gladly concede the point.
Finally, I agree that the Japanese employed thirteen to fifteen Type 95 Ha-Gos on Peleliu, as attested to in numerous sources. However, Call of Duty: World at War depicts the use of the Type 97. I suggest you take up the issue with them, not me.
Regards,
Nikita (spelled with two i's, for future reference)