Tales of the American Empire
The 1944 plan to retake the Philippines was to invade the island of Peleliu first to deny the Japanese use of its excellent airfield, which could then be used by American aircraft to support a US Army landing in the southern Philippines. A huge US Navy carrier task force cruised through the region to destroy Japanese air power prior to the planned landings and found little opposition. As a result, the Army and Navy agreed to skip the invasion of the southern Philippines and land at Leyte in the central Philippines with Navy carriers providing air support. There was no need to invade Peleliu, but the US Marine Corps had already assembled an invasion force and insisted the landing proceed. This madness resulted in over 10,000 unnecessary American casualties.
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“OPERATION STALEMATE II”; LtCol Daniel C. Hodges USMC; Fort Leavenworth KS, 2004; https://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltex… agrees that Peleliu was senseless.
Related tale: “The American Empire’s Disastrous Defeat in 1942”; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cG1yL…
Related tale: “The Japanese Victory on Iwo Jima”; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8b9wU…