Bitter Peleliu

One of the most costly and hardest fought landings in the Pacific War was for the island of Peleliu, which was to be taken as a precursor to invading the Philippines. It was supposed to be easy, but by this point the Japanese had learnt not to contest the landings and waste manpower on banzai attacks. Instead they targeted the beaches with artillery and mortars and used a system of tunnels and strongpoints to make every inch of ground a killing zone.

To make matters worse, Admiral Olendorf only allocated two days of Naval bombardment to soften the Japanese up, despite it taking 13 days on Guam. This gripping account comes with a photo plate section that illustrates what a brutal struggle this turned into.

• Osprey Publishing
• ISBN 978-1-4728-4950-2
• 340 pages. Hardback. £25

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