Snafu was a VERY interesting man; He was an African American who "passed" to get into the Marines; The photos I've seen of him make it perfectly clear that he wasn't "white" but no one seemed to care, even back then. Where you are in the shit, you are all green and you all leak red.
@@harryh5620 he wasn't African American mate, He was a Cajun which is French in origin and mixed with Spanish, he's just more than tan Sledge, but there are a lot of images and information and none list him as what you claim. That being said, African Americans served in the Corps and in forward units during WWII. Cheers
A little fact about Leckie’s later life. He ended up with Alzheimer’s disease. His family said that he soon forgot his family, but he never forgot the war. It saddens me to think how traumatic war can be and that it could linger in one’s memory that even when a disease makes you forget things it doesn’t remove the most traumatic experiences like the experiences that Leckie had lived through.
@@gravitypronepart2201 Nothing about Alzheimer is in the film. And enough people commented about Leckie's book so that already gives away the outcome of his surviving the war.
@@gravitypronepart2201 just recently watched the video. Not sure what is funny about that. The comment above, about Alzheimer's, I thought was interesting so I read it. Not sure why that is "🤣" I'm not sure the point you are trying to make. All I was saying is that if you don't want to know any information about a video prior to watching it, logic would tell you not to read the comments until you have watched the video I didn't know there was a statute of limitations on RUclips post. My apologies
How did the Japanese get so powerful? - Long story short the Japanese Imperial forces had been building up since 1905 when they defeated the Russian Navy in conquering Korea from there they leapt at the new technologies such as a bigger more modern navy (with aircraft carriers) and a conscript army. Not to mention Japan had been at War in China since 1937 so when WW2 commenced in the Pacific in 1941 the Japanese were well ready and thats why they took such huge territory after Pearl Harbor. The USA started their Island hopping campaign named so by taking those small islands they could strategically climb their way towards fighting the Japanese home islands. How do you aim that thing? - They use the mortar sight to aim where the round lands. Gold tooth Incident - the pacific war was beyond savage. Motivated by racist and fearmongering ideas of either side the Americans treated the Japanese like animals and the Japanese did like wise with Americans. There are official accounts of GIs sending back skulls of dead Japanese as souvenirs to their families, one case a wife used a top half of a skull as a paper weight. One Japanese account a commander killed and ate the liver of an American airmen who had been captured (that commander nearly captured George W. Bush Sr as well when he was a naval pilot bombing the island of Tichi Jima). Mortar men do what? Mortars, Bazookas, heavy machine guns are known as weapons platoons who as the names suggests train to operate the heavier weapons. They operate as teams because of all the baggage. They still carry weapons, either a pistol or a carbine. "What happens if one of them doesn't make it?" - They pick up the piece and move forward (just as Eugene did when Oswald got hit in the head he grabbed the sights and the tube). Corpsman - Naval Medic (everything is in naval terms for the marines since they are naval infantry) Dogs - All throughout the pacific and European theater units had specially trained dogs with them to detect enemy attacks since dogs have better hearing and sense of smell they could detect attacks coming better than any human could. They still train and employ dogs in warfare today. There's even a medal of honor equivalent for animals in warfare. "Woof" & "What the fuck was that?"- Best scene in the whole episode I greatly enjoy your videos and looking forward to the continuation of the Pacific.
Not to mention, Japan got an advantage on those islands they were taken from Germans back at world war 1, thus give them an early start of territory on the world war 2 and also since Japan rapid modernization, they have a huge surplus of manpower and that also give them an advantage on their conquest.
What many fail to realize about Banzai wave attacks is that they worked well, except against US/Aussie forces. The US had massive firepower to crush the fanatical(and drunk) human waves, and the Aussie/Brit/Canadian forces had very high morale which did not crack under the insane pressure. Chinese adversaries had no such response to this Japanese tactic. Soviets had massive armor and good morale too, so the Japanese avoiding fighting them after 1936.
The war dogs were extremely important, and began a widespread use that extended to Vietnam and beyond to today. Special Operations forces include dogs as important components, even jumping the dogs in with them. Their use and importance in WWII is memorialized in Guam with the National War Dog Cemetery and Memorial en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_War_Dog_Cemetery Other memorials include at Fort Benning, GA to Scout Dogs, and some Air Force locations as their Security Police often utilize dogs.
@@TheGunderian The wave attacks were also what had won them the war against the Russians before, it was a tried and true tactic, just kinda outdated by the time they fought the Americans, although that was only one of many issues the Japanese armed forces faced, another major one being the fact the army and navy had an extreme rivalry, to the point rifles given to Japanese marines and Japanese army men would use different ammo. When you peel away the curtain it's actually amazing how well the Japanese did considering how much they had that worked against them and how inefficient a lot of the ways they went about stuff were. Not to say they didn't do anything correct, I just find it fascinating.
The bloodiest battle of the Pacific was in Okinawa. My Dad fought there. It was the last pitched battle of the War. Casualties were high, many of the replacements were wounded or killed. My Dad's unit suffered over 100% casualties because the guys that were sent up to replace fallen Marines got hit immediately. It was so bad that war planners estimated that the Allies might suffer a million casualties when they invaded mainland Japan. Fortunately, the war ended before the date of the invasion. After the second atomic bomb, Hirohito knew that Japan was finished.
As much as many disagree, those atomic bombs saved countless lives !! The Japanese people are very proud, strong willed and very diligent in their lives, highly disciplined to their studies !! They need Jesus like everyone else !! 🙏🏻✝️❤️
I guess it depends on which island you were on. Saipan was no picnic. It was the turning point of the Pacific war. They sent wave after wave of japs straight at the front lines until twenty thousand died. In the end they were sending sick and wounded soldiers in suicide attacks at the Marines. They used Tinian for the port to drop off the components of the atomic bombs. That's why the japs wouldn't quit fighting there. They knew our bombers could reach Japan from there.
As you noticed, Peleliu was a complete change in Japanese tactics for the rest of the war. They no longer used "banzai" charges. Instead, they dug in deep and practiced incredible fire discipline to inflict maximum casualties on advancing Marines. This change in strategy cost the Americans heavily, with many units taking up to 50-60% casualty rate before they got cycled off the front line. As to the Marine that was hit in the head; I don't remember how much of the context was actually in the episode, but that group of Marines were well beyond their own lines. They went out there that night to try and ambush any Japanese units that might be sneaking around. That's why they needed to be quiet, because if they weren't it would not have been difficult for the Japanese to surround and overrun them, killing them all. If I remember correctly from Sledgehammer's book, the patrol's ranking officer got on the radio and told his CO that they could not stay out there because his men were on the verge of psychologically breaking (paraphased). The CO acknowledged the urgency and ordered them back to the line.
The Japanese ran around just about unchecked in the 1930s. They began expanding in 1931 and the Second-Sino Japanese War broke out between them and China in 1937 and lasted until '45. When Japan puts it's mind to something you better watch out. Don't even get me started on Unit 731.
Horrific. There have only been two movies done on unit 731 and neither is very good. Both are considered trashy exploitation on the level of Cannibal Apocalypse. But how do you cover that subject matter with the gravitas it deserves?
There is a movie about the Rape of Nanking (Nanjing). Sheer brutality that was imposed on the people from there. From women, to children, the old, they did not care. There are photos around the net you will find of just how horrible it was.
and they still glorify their imperial days. They still havent apologised for war atrocities like the Germans and still fly thier imperial flag yet most allied countries don't care. Dont understand how Americans wear the rising sun flag on t-shirts as a cool graphic design yet go nuts on a swastica, pretty much the same thing lol
@@jollajolyo not really the same, the swastika was a nazi symbol but the Japanese flag was always that one, it’s the country’s flag, not a symbol of an ideology.
@@burontimus same with my grandfather in Korea (Punchbowl) and my uncle in Vietnam (Cambodia in 1970). They both saw enough, didn't have to say a word.
Cassie, the Marines initiated the use of dogs in 1943 to help sniff out the enemy on the islands, particularly at night. The Japanese loved to attack the US soldiers and Marines at night in an attempt to exhaust them by depriving them of sleep.
“How do you even aim that thing?” Don’t ask about the ways of the tube strokers. They are an arcane and mysterious bunch, and no one really knows what they do, only that it involves obscure rituals and skating out of patrols on field ops.
Corpsman. We are the Marines Doc's. I served as a a Corpsman for 10 years. These battles were our history. Their stories were passed down. My post is actually named after a Doc when Served on Guadalcanal, Peleliu, then Siapan and Okinawa. Those Doc's are my Heroes
She has a very human reaction to an extremely unhuman thing. While she is sitting there almost crying many watching are like "Fucking hell he bought the farm".
It’s kind of sad, we’re watching a woman who is so full of joy and love of life being subjected to watching war films and shows. Please Cassie never lose your joyful personality.
Peleliu was a just a massive tragedy all the way around. There was a lot of debate amongst the commanders at the time as to weather Peleliu even needed to be taken at all. Even today that debate continues. By the time they took it, they had other airfields that rendered it redundant. The US severely underestimated the size of the garrison there and the Japanese commander was an excellent tactician. His underground network meant that he could engage or disengage the Marines as he pleased and there was little the Marines could do to retaliate. The tunnels went so deep that airstrikes and artillery did next to nothing. Also, Peleliu is a giant volcanic rock, so the Marines couldn't dig foxholes or defenses. Area's the US forces thought were cleared often had secret tunnel entrances which the Japanese used to attack them in the rear. The ridges were miserable terrain for the Marines and Army units to fight in, often unable to get tank support to help and no way to build defenses to protect themselves. Each artillery and machine gun nest had to be attacked head on at great cost. It ate American units up one by one. The Gunnery Sargent you see in the show was a world war one vet and fought at Guadalcanal. He said Peleliu was the worst fighting he had ever seen. He went to his CO and told him as soon as they were done there he was retiring. And he did.
the tunnels holding the artillery were on tracks. the japanese would wheel them out, fire, then wheel them back in. This is a big reason the bombing to prep for the landing was ineffective. in short: a defensive position that was not "softened up".
That is valuable intel. Japanese arty strikes would only come for every 30 seconds or so. Humbling thought in that situation. Crazy to think with all our advanced technology that nothing can puncture mother earth and natural defences. Well, almost nothing, as my astute colleage Jesse Vang mentioned. Up until now with bunker busters.
I served as mortar man in Afghanistan from 2011-2012. I was in a 60mm mortar section which the same weapon Sledge, Snafu, and the rest of those guys are using here. Back then that was the only system available but we also have 81mm and 120mm mortar teams in todays military. Basically the way the gun team works is new inexperienced guys fresh out of basic training will be tasked to cary the base plate and bipod and experienced guys usually carry the tube and sight. Most of the time it is the team leaders responsibility to carry the sight. It's kind of a mark within the platoon you know what the hell you're doing and can be trusted, which is why snafu was offended when their LT gave the sight to the new guy that shared his water. I respect your attention to detail in these reaction videos! Keep up the good work!
Also, new guys are an unknown. Are they gonna be that guy that needs a smoke so bad he lights up at 0dark30 and draws hell fire down on everyone? Is he the guys that's gonna lose it and go loose cannon on everyone? Is he the guy that's gonna be a constant whiner killing everyone's morale? Is the the guy that's gonna accidentally discharge into one of you?
Gunny was actually in his 50's during this battle because he was a marine in ww1 as well but every man has a breaking point... if you watch the actual interviews of these men in old age they still cry about what happened on that tiny piece of land.
That was the most brutal fighting of the entire war. I've read a lot of books on ww2 and I can't think of any battle worse across the board than peleliu.
@@cjsawyer362 saipan was a really serious shit show since no track amphibious vehicles, just higgins boats and the marines got let off in chest-head deep or deeper water.
My grandfather was on Iwo and was taking out of action at day 5. His eye was blown out, wore an eye patch the rest of his life. Great grandfather was killed in France WWI and is still buried there. My family line is proud Marines to the present day.
Speaking of Marines and chick flicks, I remember in Iraq, someone was sent a portable dvd player, and they sent The Notebook. Watched it several times, no shame, anything to keep your mind off things. I read a lot of Nicholas Sparks novels too.
In the 80s, the entire squadron maintenance division was obsessed with "All My Children". if you missed an episode, there were always people you could ask about what happened to Jenny and Tad. Of course, there could be reenactments involved.
I watched Pitch Perfect about 300 times it seems in 2013 on my first deployment because at any given time at least 2 people in my platoon could be expected to be watching it. TBF, it's a comedy full of hot women so its no surprise really
The scene with Sledge and Leckie and the bible was a little weird because Leckie stayed a devout Christian his whole life, even during his time in the Marines.
@@NSUSashiel It doesn’t sound like it. He literally said he doesn’t have any use for Him and basically rebukes God. As a Christian myself it rubs me the wrong way.
Snafu was real, he was a Cajun from south Louisiana. Hold on they still have to get through Peleliu, Iwo Jima and Okinawa. Remember the oil drums they were detailed to clean in an earlier part, that's what the fresh drinking water was carried in for the invasion, hence they had no drinkable water.
The mortar crew fired upon where the target WAS. During that time-of-flight of the mortar round, the 'target' may not be there anymore. That's the problem with a moving target...like a tank.
I'm an airborne 11c ( mortarman ). The method of firing they were using on the airfield is known as " direct lay " , which means simply looking through the sight, putting the crosshair on the target and firing at the visible target, then slowly adjusting rounds to the target until it is destroyed. Doing this on a moving target is VERY difficult, especially if the target is purposefully avoiding being hit. The mortarmen in WW2 have my upmost respect, they went into battle with only a few rounds on each man, and were very VERY effective, meaning they were able to fire, adjust and destroy multiple targets in one battle with very little ammunition. In the many live fires I have done, it can take dozens of rounds to effectively and consistently get rounds on target, and that is without bullets and explosions around us and dudes from your squad getting killed. These guys were GOOD. Really good.
@@huntclanhunt9697 As far as the methods used to put rounds on target, no, not much as changed at all. You can hear them call for " mark center sector, and adjust " at 24:50 , that is still used today, it's a step of qualifying ourselves to continue to be mortarmen. However, the actual equipment used had obviously changed drastically. We use 60mm mortars ( used in this series ) 81mm and 120mm mortars, alongside advanced baseplates, tubes, and bipods. We are even able to fire rounds digitally through computers in coordination with our forward observers. The newest systems are 100% digital, all that needs to be done on these systems is actually "hanging" the rounds, the computers sight the guns for us.
I love how emotionally invested you get into these episodes, this is just some of the history they taught us in boot camp that built the foundation of what the Marines are today
You’ll see much better officers commanding Eugene’s company than Leckie’s. Lt. Jones “Hillbilly”, and Capt. Haldane “Ack Ack” were greatly loved by their men.
Until Ack Acks successor Stumpy was wounded, then they had a CO they nicknamed "The Shadow". He's was a dick. And then there was Mac, Sledges Lt, who's antics included pissing in the mouths of Japanese corpses and once threw a hand grenade amongst his men as a joke (It was a common prank in the marines at the time, but you removed the explosives first, Mac only removed a small amount of explosives and it exploded.)
22:55 Wow! I'm impressed you noticed the change in tactics that the Japanese had. Yes, early in the war, Japanese used a lot suicide charges. But the commander on peleliu saw them as futile, so they dug in and waited for the Marines to come close to negate the Marines' firepower.
It actually started before Peleliu. Look at Tarawa as an example. BTW, Tarawa was watched VERY closely by the Generals planning Overlord, as they needed to see how assaulting a defended beachhead would fare.
@@michaelshostak93 Tarawa's defenses were quite different than Peleliu's though. Tarawa was more of a unique situation as defense in-depth was not the focus of Tarawa because of its tiny size, but rather holding off the enemy at the island's perimeter and beaches for as long as possible. The tactics at Peleliu which involved a progressively more violent battle the further troops went inland actually started at Biak. Like at Peleliu, the Japanese at Biak hid in and fought from caves and had to be rooted out.
We had this old guy at the big box store I worked at ;bike assembler - wore his Dress Blues to work every 11 November. A compact little guy like all of the WW2 guys ... Anyway ; one day he tells me he was in the first wave at Peleliu, and smart ass me , knowing that all of the first wave amtracs were stopped at the reef ( according to legend ) asked "How did you get ashore ?" and without missing a beat he said " I waded in, like everybody else...." Fair winds , Les. I'll buy you a beer in Valhalla someday!
It's my understanding that SNAFU joined the Marines as a replacement at some point in Australia and was sent to Cape Gloucester. Which you'll remember as the island where it rained all the time and where Leckie saw that fellow shoot himself. As a result, he hasn't exactly come out with his for lack of a better word sanity intact.
There's a difference between being anxious/snappy which is the natural expression of seeing that/having PTSD and the stoned/high on weed mannerisms that Rami Malek (the actor) decided to portray Cpl. Merriell "Snafu" Shelton as.
@@user-uy1rg8td1v I think he was kind of trying to go for "I've seen the Elephant and I don't care about anything anymore, whether it be someone else's life or my own." Which while not a healthy response to what he's been through, it is a response that can result. Though I will admit there are times he does come off more as a stoner, than lackadaisical, combat fatigued veteran.
Post-War statisticians called this place the "Island of bullets." It took roughly 15 million rounds of ammunition to kill the 13,600 Japanese soldiers on Peleliu and the surrounding islands.
@@Jay2RealENT No I remembered it word for word. Lol I'm a big history and politics person. I looked up the battle after the first time I saw this episode. That massive figure gave me a different perspective when I watched this episode for the second time. A lot of the reactors are uploading this series on the same day. The info is usually still fresh in my mind. Lol
@@thomast8539 And they barely used the airfield for bombing missions or supply runs after the Marines took the island. The Japanese on the island had no way of interfering with the rest of the war effort. Could've left it be.
@@DisgruntledHippo The problem with letting it be is then you have an island full of Japanese holdouts. And instead of it being a lone soldier refusing to surrender. It would've been a whole island garrison, well-armed and entrenched. The job would have to have been one way or another at some point.
When I was a kid with the Navy League Cadets, the USS Peleliu was moored at Vancouver harbour for a few days, along with a Canadian frigate and another American vessel I don't recall. The foam green coloring of the frigate stood in stark contrast to the far more intimidating "battleship" grey of the American ships. It left me with a sense that the yanks meant business. We got a tour of the Peleliu and were able to talk to the personnel on board, who were happy to show off their awesome kit. It was an experience that I never forgot and the name "Peleliu" always stuck with me. But it wasn't until this series that I actually understand what it meant. I was sad to learn she was decommissioned back in 2015.
Nice adage. Fratricide > Friendly Fire > Blue-on-blue. It's super interesting to me how the language for it has changed overtime and it's now devorced from any emotion or violence at all.
Since You've already gone through "Saving Private Ryan" and "The Band of Brothers" and now You're going through "The Pacific", I would strongly recommend You to do "The Thin Red Line" from 1998 next. It appeared the same year then "Saving Private Ryan" and was a bit overshadowed by it, but believe me, this one is a MUST. You won't regret it.
Merril "Snafu" Shelton is a real person, you'll get more of his story soon. As to his behaviour, Snafu is a harder man, not brought up in a wealthy, southern, country, god fearing family like Sledge, who as you identify is very innocent at the start of the show. Snafu has already been there and seen combat, and he started, personality wise, in a harder more cynical place than Sledge, the result is a still harder more savage and bitter survivor. The different personalities which enter the cauldron will be impacted in different way, you see this in BoB for example look at Winters (who comes into his authority), Sobel (who becomes more vulnerable with pressure) and Nixon (who never fits comfortably into the military and war). But the Pacific TV show, demonstrating the unique pressures of the War in that theatre demonstrates it in a different and more stark way.
Also THIS version of Snafu is a composite character. In the book, the real Snafu got along with Sledge right away and Sledge never said if Snafu did things like collect gold teeth. He definitely was fool-mouthed, combat hardened, and was often abrasive towards officers.
Well said. Also consider that island fighting allows little room for prisoners and thus empathy. The Pacific was a war of annihilation, where Europe followed more conventional norms.
@@TheGunderian Here I disagree. The Island war was essentially a war of multiple small sieges, which does, I acknowledge, tend to be vastly more savage and brutal. But, the real issue which made the Pacific vastly different from Europe was the diametric clash of cultures (the Japanese ideal of duty, sacrifice and courage was completely alien to the western liberal - US ideals on the same concepts). Add the issues of propaganda dehumanisation of the enemy, the racial differences (which have fed hate throughout history) and the ever present habit of soldiers to tell lurid tales of horror. Then mix the fear, stress and tension of island war. This gets you the mix of horror which was the Pacific. The Japanese strategy was, at its base level, one where they would sacrifice as many of their people as necessary to make the Pacific battles so bloody and horrific that the, who they perceived as weaker willed, western liberal nations would quit and sue for peace. The US and allied soldiers bore the brunt of this misjudgement, as did hundreds of thousands of ideologically blinded Japanese.
Eugene Sledge wrote two excellent books, one about his experience in the war and one about his unit's service in China after the war. His first book in particular is a classic: With the Old Breed at Peleliu and Okinawa. When I went through Drill Instructor School at Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego in 1981, it was required reading. Your understanding of the mortar squad is pretty accurate - I was a mortarman. The mortar breaks down into sections: one person carries the barrel, one the baseplate, one the bipod, and one the sight. If you're shorthanded, two people can carry it: one takes the barrel and baseplate, the other the bipod (the heaviest part) and the sight. We were usually shorthanded. The 60mm mortars in the Weapons platoon in a rifle company, where both Eugene and Sid served, is almost like a giant grenade launcher - each round weighs about three pounds. The Marine Corps also used/uses a larger mortar, the 81mm - that's in a separate company rather than a rifle company, and where there is a squad of 60mm mortars in the Weapons platoon of each rifle company, there's a platoon of 81mm mortars in the Weapons company of an infantry battalion. The 81mm is a lot bigger and fires a round about three times the size of the one the 60mm fires. The unit sizes are, in ascending order: squad (maybe a dozen people); platoon; company; battalion; regiment; brigade; division; corps. Each unit is made up of several of the smaller type before it on that list. You'll see Marine units designated like this (my first unit): 1st Squad, 60mm mortar section, Weapons Platoon, K Company, 3rd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division - abbreviated Wpns Plt., K Co., 3/4, 3rdMarDiv. You would be interested in the Ken Burns documentary series titled The War. It follows service members from four towns in different parts of the U.S. through World War II. Eugene's friend Sid was one of the veterans whose stories the series told, and it featured extensive interview footage of Sid and his sister. They talked a lot about Eugene Sledge, but he had died some years before the series was made. John Basilone is one of the iconic heroes of the Marine Corps. One of the main roads at Camp Pendleton is named for him.
I always appreciate how mindful you are about the stories and suffering of these men and their families. Not many youtubers are as respectful and as genuine. That's why i enjoy your take.
FYI, Japan got that powerful that fast because they industrialized sooner and faster than the Chinese, Koreans and the rest of East Asia. The Japanese were building a 20th century military while the Chinese were still using muskets.
The Chinese weren't THAT far behind in the 30s. The Chinese were also undergoing military modernization ironically with Nazi Germany sending a lot of assistance to China to fight their own ally during the early part of the war.
Its just nuts to think that the marines who invaded these tiny islands, also had the backs of the Navy and Air force. They didnt land on those beaches alone, behind them are destroyers and aircraft carriers. All with planes and huge artillery pieces.
I'm a self-taught historian and an author of historical fiction. As my dad and two of his brothers served in WWII (his brother David was in the Pacific, and participated in the battles of Tinian and Saipan Islands...and Iwo Jima. The first part of American history that I learned about is WWII, because of my dad and his two brothers. As you watched Saving Private Ryan, and now the mini-series The Pacific, I have often found myself wishing I could have been there nearby, watching with you, and answering your questions as you asked them. I have watched those movies several times. I would also like to recommend HBO" WWII in HD. All of these movies are excellent and will give you the utmost respect for the Greatest Generation. Let's not forget the families at home, who did their part during WWII, and those who lost sons, husbands, brothers, and of course, the nurses who took care of our boys. In WWII, you get to hear the words of Army nurse, June Wandrey, as she tells of her experiences.
My dad was 1st Marine Div. Guadalcanal,and my Uncle Sgt. Allen C. Raney was 4th Marine Div. Tinian, Saipan, and Iwo Jima. Allen was a cook in H.Q. and don't know what action he saw, because he NEVER opened up to tell us his experiences.
Mortars are highly mobile, mini-artillery platforms that can either be carried or transported by infantry without needing trucks or machinery. Often they were small, like what you see in Band of Brothers and The Pacific because they're relatively light mortars meant to be carried by the infantry, with relative ease - again, to eliminate the need for any greater infrastructure or supply chain beyond ammunition. The mortars themselves are inclined tubes used to launch munitions in a parabola for extremely effective, but indirect, fire - so you can land shots, accurately, on targets that are behind defenses or at greater distances than standard direct-fire infantry platforms like bazookas. Some mortars, though, were significantly larger than what you see here and they had attached wheels that made them, again, still move-able by your standard infantry so they could maintain their mobility that made them so effective on the front-line. All that crap you see them loading up and lugging around is the equipment to make the mortar an accurate, stable and safer weapons platform (the mortar sight, the back-plate, etc).
Sledge at this point is far from being called a recruit. He is a Marine but also referred to a “Boot” which insinuates he is fresh out of boot camp (Recruit Training).
Your reaction is genuine and your emotions flow as mine do. My dad was 1st Marines WWll, and my uncle was 4th Marines. Both came close to dying. My uncle NEVER told us his experiences, but kept his uniform on display though out his life. My dad opened up to me the last year of his life, and finally told me the horrific details of his ordeals in the war. The demons that haunted him, passed away with him in 1998.
War is hell and it never really changes. I learned about all these stories when I was in the Marines going to Iraq and Afghanistan. I liked hearing about my battalions history in WW2 fighting in the Pacific. I love your videos. It makes me feel like I'm really watching it with a gf. My friends always complain about their wife or gf talking during movies but honestly I love hearing you talk through it. Makes me feel a little less alone.
"Here we go boys!" That whole sequence, with that music, of them loading the boats, exiting the ship into the blinding sunlight....superb piece of cinematography.
One movie you should watch is “we were soldiers” it’s about America’s first battle in Vietnam my grandfather was in that battle and it’s the only movie that ever made me cry at the end I highly recommend it
My great grandpa was navy Seabees, he went inland attached to a marine unit on Peleliu and Iwo Jima, there were stories that he wouldn’t tell me until I told him I was going into the marines, his stories were incredibly intense, I couldn’t imagine being there and doing what they did
I wasn't really that interested in Eugene's story at first the first time I watched this series, but his segments ended up being my favorite by the end. Also, his Captain was such a nice guy.
I was active in the Marine Corps . The fact that you listened to your views and make sure you differentiate between soldiers and Marines is awesome . That’s truly awesome . You should look in to chesty puller . He was their commander during the first battles and he is the most decorated Marine
I was a mortarman in the Army. Everyone carried their personal weapon, part of the mortar system, and ammo for both. The sight is the lightest piece of the system.
So a little bit of notes on stuff these episodes had to skip over: 1. A big reason for the lack of water on Peleliu was due to the barrels in which they attempted to bring fresh water onto the beach were tainted. The barrels in which they used were old oil barrels (those you saw sledge cleaning) however none of the Marines were ever told what these barrels were going to be used for so those sent to clean them slacked off on the job meaning when they were filled later, the residue oil still in them tainted the water. 2. The beach landings were a bit more chaotic than shown. Several platoons and companies ended up landing in the wrong location due to tide and the tidal reefs that covered a lot of the shore just before the beech would bog down several of the LVT’s they were transported in early or cause them to slow down making them easier targets. 3. So to talk about SNAFU and the dead Japanese soldier with the gold tooth. Japanese soldiers (and Japanese society at large) were taught to show off their wealth. It was standard for old samurai to show off their wealth through intricate armour, swords, bows, etc. As such the soldiers of the Imperial Japanese army who were taught to see themselves like these ancient warriors would flaunt there wealth instead through other means; one being to have fake teeth made of gold. Marines and Army soldiers would take these from dead (and sometimes living) Japanese soldiers. It was essentially their way of taking revenge for all the horror killings the Japanese would do upon them - the Japanese having zero sense of worth in human lives would treat captured or surrendering soldiers with utter barbarity from chopping off a certain body part down low and shoving it in a mans mouth like a gag before killing him, to using dead and wounded soldiers as booby traps (playing explosives under them or on them and having the triggers set to when someone tried to help them or recover the mans dog tags or recover the body... Boom!) and they done much more than just that (another famous one was for Japanese soldiers to tie prisoners above bamboo. Bamboo can grow in most conditions and doesn’t care for what lies above it. You can kind of guess when what happens to said prisoner when the bamboo start having to grow through said person). This type of barbarity prompted many on the American side (plus a lot of propaganda and racial propaganda) to reply in kind, feeling that the saying “an eye for an eye” was quite applicable in this type of conflict. - to note SNAFU as a character is a configuration of several marines. While he is a real person not all his actions were done by him some were committed by others however being character focused the series moved several actions to more prominent characters. 4. The weapon sledge and his team carry is a mortar. This weapon is a crew served weapon - usually manned between 3-5 people, one main gunner/sighter (the man who corrects the range and elevation of the weapon and calls the fire) , one hanger/loader (he is the man who primes the mortar rounds and hangs them over the firing tube to release and fire), and between one to three ammo bearers (since the main body of the weapon + sight + mortar plate, all having said men also lug mass amounts of ammo about would be terrible, as such members of the team will be prioritised this duty so that the team always has a large number of rounds on hand - and if they lose someone carrying some they ain’t completely out). However all members of the team are trained as mortar men so can fire and load the weapon. As for the weapon itself it’s a large metal tube that is elevated or lowered to increase/decrease the range. At which point when I’m the correct position the gunner will call the hangman to release the mortar shell into the tube. The weight off the shell with spark the firing pin at the bottom and ignite the mortar shell firing it out of the tube towards the intended target. The mortar Sledge and his team are using is a 60mm mortar. These were light mortars expected to work alongside infantrymen in close proximity and with line of sight to the target (they can fire indirectly over other obstacles to get to this target but need eye on said target to spot it first - doesn’t have to be their eyes but any friendly who can call the effective target + range, tho the mortar team firing directly at the target without need of additional spotting will be more accurate as they are trained better in judging and calculating the ranges). Other mortars can range from the 81mm medium mortar to the 120mm heavy mortars, that had a very much longer range and wouldn’t be seen alongside the infantry like 60mm but instead would be set up further behind and be dialled into their target using a spotter/forward observer - men given radios and trained to fight alongside the infantry and find a good position to start co-ordinating the mortars and giving them their targets and ranges (as they wouldn’t be able to see them). Interestingly for the American Military, they preferred having every Platoon (or at worse each company) assigned a portable radio set (the backpack radios you see a lot in war movies) which allowed each platoon commander to ask and co-ordinate his own fire support without need of a specialist on sight. While they weren’t as trained as the specialist, it still meant they had access to said support. 5. The reason the marines brought dogs was due to the Japanese specialisation of night attacks and using tunnels, long grass and a host of other things to sneak about and ambush marines. As such brining dogs with them who were trained to smell out Japanese soldiers and having better senses at night/in the day would likely pick up noise before the marines as such would alert them to the hidden enemy and allow them to react appropriately and quickly. As such the Gunny was joking that they didn’t need a dog because it wouldn’t be able to smell/sense a Japanese soldier before he did. 6. From what information we have that evening, the situation with the screaming man was a bad one. When he did first start screaming they attempted to calm him down with morphine shots (which are helped to help reduce pain, calm people and most important slow someone’s heart rate down slightly so as to reduce blood loss when shot). However, the man wasn’t calming down even after several shots (which is quite the dose) as such the officer ordered the men to punch him which they did but the punches failed to quiet him or knock him out and he just fought back harder and panicked louder, as such the Lieutenant called for someone to hit him with something in hope it would be enough to knock him out. Sadly the man who was close friends with the panicking man grabbed for the closest thing near him and found his entrenching tool (thing a small shovel) and grabbing it went to hit the screaming man with the flat edge of the tool. However, being very dark (remember movies make it lighter for us to see stuff so you can guess it was a lot darker than what we saw) and a frantic situation, he didn’t notice the tool had changed angle and came down with the sharper edge. This blow would sadly kill his friend. The marines the next morning agreed that the situation, while sad, had to in some way happen as his screaming could have cost all of them their lives (easy way to cope is to see the “benefits” of a bad situation). They also agreed never to speak said marines name as they didn’t want him tormented by civilians or other marines/recruits who wouldn’t see the full picture of the situation and just focus on him killing another fellow soldier. - essentially this was one of those theoretical morale situations played out IRL. I.e. you and your group of people are being stalked by a entity who can easily kill/harm you all. However, one of the group has a baby that won’t stop crying. Is it ok to suffocate the child to stop it’s crying likely saving everyone or take the chance of it crying but whatever out there finding you easier? It’s a complicated question that comes down to: are you willing to take another’s life in order to guarantee your own and everyone else’s safety or do you spare said person and take the greater risk of being found and killed along with everyone else (including this unfortunate noisy soul). - and to put this situation into perspective. The marines had to make a choice of using a potentially lethal tool to knock this other marine out (again a risk of killing him) or risk being found/heard by the Japanese who could easily surround and ambush them or more likely use the noise to find and co-ordinate an artillery strike on them killing/wounding probably all of them.
For the water barrels, you know that A: Those men never slacked cleaning barrels out later B: God forbid their kids down the line either waste water or half ass a cleaning job
The issue they had landing on peleliu was the Japanese were inland on the high ground. They had their machine guns and mortars zeroed on the beach. They don’t really give you a sense of how long it took them just to move 50 yards in land. Took them hours to get off the beach
Remember those oil drums that they were scrubbing? Those were for drinking water. Their drinking water in this episode was contaminated because the oil drums weren't properly sanitized and there was still residual oil, which ruined all of their drinking water.
Didn't see this comment on here, when the Marine was having the nightmare and was killed, it was his best friend that had to hit him with an entrenching tool to shut him up.
And Just to add: they tried giving him morphine to calm him down but it only made him scream louder (I think...I'm working from memory) so they belted him a couple of times to knock him out.
@@nickmitsialis hind sight 20/20, they shoulda done a blood choke on him instead of trying knocking him out with the entrenching tool, a proper blood choke will make someone take a good short nap if done right and relatively quickly to.
My wife’s grandfather was with The Old Breed, 7th Marines, was at every one of the campaigns starting with Guadalcanal. He spoke to me about his experiences once so I could write them down. He said Peleliu was the worst by far. Okinawa was bad, but Peleliu was horrible. He told about going on patrol with a full squad up on Bloody Nose Ridge and coming back with three.
With the man that was killed with a shovel incident. Every man in King Co. never revealed the identity of who had the shovel. But everyone was on the same boat, it was just horribly tragic. If anyone had to die that night, it was him. War is hell.
I highly recommend watching Generation War next. It's basically a German band of Brothers telling the story of 5 best friends during WW2: A German Officer with a impressive military career, His Brother, A fresh new recruit who is a very quiet pacifist, A German Army Nurse, A singer and her partner, a Jewish man. Just an amazing mini series about 3 episodes long I think.
Keep in mind that John Basilone, Robert Leckie, Eugene Sledge, and most of the characters are/were all real people. Leckie wrote a book about his experience, it's called "A Helmet for My Pillow". Sledge wrote one called "With the Old Breed". They are both GREAT books, and are what this Miniseries is based upon.
For more perspective on the Pacific War, Dan Carlin's "Supernova in the East" goes into terrific detail, especially regarding how Japan got to where it did.
Loading into those amptracs I was back in the well deck of our ship. I could smell the fuel and sweat. You could feel the heat. And then the long roll down the ramp until you fell off into the ocean. And the hope that you'd pop backup to the surface and not sink like rock.
These films are very important so that the new generations know and VALUE that the freedom they enjoy today was paid for by their previous generations. From Independence to today. They also SHOULD listen to and honor veterans...ALWAYS. Years ago, I was lucky enough to be in Washington DC for Veteran's Day. In our living room I keep a photo that I took with two Vietnam veterans whom I thanked for their sacrifice. Despite being Argentine, I was a soldier and I understand them as if they were my brothers. Thanks to the U.S.A. Today the world enjoys more freedom. I can only say. THANK YOU... from Argentina 🇦🇷 I don't forget it, God bless you!.🇱🇷.
My Marine Combat Vet husband was very good friends with R.V. Burgin for several years until he passed. He was a Marine mortar section leader like Burgin. They spent a lot of time together. He misses his friend.
Recently my uncle passed away. He fought on Okinawa. He never talked about the war much. But he did say that the Japanese had no souls and that bad things happen in war and you just have to get over them. He was 96 years old and was happiest on his farm with my aunt who he was married to for 70+ years!
You’re a doll for doing these. These guys went through absolute hell on earth. It’s just nightmarish to watch, and I bawl every time I watch this. As for how the Japanese got that powerful, that’s a history course that I can’t give you in RUclips comments. There’s a big, long story behind that…
The reason new recruits are treated the way they are is pretty simple. All the veterans have lost a large number of friends already. If they don't make new friends the chances of losing a friend and the pain associated with it is less.
You're stronger than I am, Popcorn dude. I loved Band of Brothers but I couldn't make it through The Pacific. I think Ep. 9 is where I needed to stop it. You're tough.
Just to help clarify, Leckie is a member of H Company, 2nd Battalion, 1st Marines (regiment), 1st Marine Division (H 2/1). Sledge is a member of K 3/5 (K Company, 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines, 1st Marine Division.
I recommend Sledge's books about his time in the Marines, if you like reading. I loved getting to see more of the story than Band of Brothers went into individually. Have you watched the documentary about Winters here on RUclips? It's called We Stand Alone Together.
You might wanna watch Born on the 4th of July at some point... Very good movie, based on a true story, about a vietnam veteran. It was made by Oliver Stone as part of his Vietnam trilogy and with an amazing Tom Cruise in the lead.
@@deweyplanck9850 I think A Few Good Men and The Firm shouldn’t be forgotten in that regard. He can be serious - and good while doing it - if he wants too.
If I had to make a recomendation for the next War movie, id recomend "Memphis Belle (1990)." it has a very well written story and characters, and is always a rush to watch! but in terms of the combat, it is much more mild in comparison to The pacific and Band of Brothers.
As the Marines prepare to attack the airfield they grow dehydrated and suffer severe casualties while crossing the airfield, Leckie is evacuated and Sledge confesses his fear and begins writing about his experience.
I never smoked until I got to combat. A rocket hit near me and didn't blow up. I was so scared and my nerves were shot, but a buddy brought me a cigarette. I quit over ten years ago but I still remember that first one in 2004.
Sledge mentioned in his book! That the water brought ashore was in fuel drums, that had not been cleaned properly! So go without water, or drink the tainted stuff.
@@joshuaortiz2031 still can't believe 16 square miles of Tokyo was destroyed from napalm and if i recall right more people died from that particular bombing raid than the initial little boy detonation. 100,000 was the number if i recall for Tokyo.
16:37 oh, it can and it did. Peleliu was different for the Marines than anyother battle. Marine pilots were taking off of the airfield and making bombing runs 1,000 yards away from their target. That’s within infantry machine gun range and some Marine snipers could hit that far out with their rifles. By piloting standards, that’s rock throwing range.
"Fuck dat shit, I scrub drums for no man... I like to watch the new guys sweat". Rami Malek's performance throughout The Pacific was amazing! This was the first show I saw him in back in 2010 - I knew he would be a star one day. Fun fact: Most of the Pacific was filmed in Australia. The Jungle scenes were mostly shot in the State of Queensland (specifically North Qld) and the rest was shot down in the State of Victoria in and around You Yangs National Park. For the episode in Melbourne - you see Flinders Street Station and the Melb Trams. They transformed the streets of Geelong (south west of Melbourne) into the 1940's for the filming of Stella's house and surrounding streets. Lots of the cast members are also well known Australian actors doing American accents (some worse than others). Chuckler, Lt Stone, Gibson, Lt Hillbilly Jones, Lt Corrigan, Sgt Gunny Haney, Stella, Virgina Grey, Gwen, Gwen's Grand-dad as some examples. Obvs a proud Aussie here!
Bob Hope entertained the troops on Pavuvu. He always said he could tell that the boys he was on stage for were headed for trouble , most of them never made it home. As for Peleliu, my Grandpa was a SeaBee (construction batallion)on Peleliu
I've been to Peleliu and one thing about that island they don't mention is that the whole damn thing is nothing but coral and rock. Not only can you not dig a foxhole in that, but rock and coral does nothing to absorb explosions. Normally what happens when a hand grenade or artillery shell explodes is that some of that force will dig into the ground, absorbing some of the force and shrapnel. With rock and coral, the force and the shrapnel will just bounce. In many cases it'll spray shards of rock and coral, adding to shrapnel from the explosion.
I can't remember if it was Leckie or Sledge's book where I read this, but the oil drums they were scrubbing in the last episode were what they brought water in. So when they finally got water, it was contaminated with oil.
I was stationed at 29 Palms, 1sr Marine Division, 7th Marines, 3rd LAR BN, B CO. H&S CO. I went to Okinawa and visited the pill boxes and tunnels the Japanese army used. It was insane.
SNAFU is a military acronym that means “Situation Normal, All Fucked Up”. Kind of describes Snafu’s character, and yes, he was a real person.
Lmao everyone had a Cpl like Snafu. A complete A-hole but funny as hell.
Came from a cartoon character from Stars and Stripes. Pvt. SNAFU and his brother, Seaman TARFU...
FUBAR was also coined during WWII ie "Fucked Up Beyond All Reason".
Snafu was a VERY interesting man; He was an African American who "passed" to get into the Marines; The photos I've seen of him make it perfectly clear that he wasn't "white" but no one seemed to care, even back then. Where you are in the shit, you are all green and you all leak red.
@@harryh5620 he wasn't African American mate, He was a Cajun which is French in origin and mixed with Spanish, he's just more than tan Sledge, but there are a lot of images and information and none list him as what you claim. That being said, African Americans served in the Corps and in forward units during WWII. Cheers
A little fact about Leckie’s later life. He ended up with Alzheimer’s disease. His family said that he soon forgot his family, but he never forgot the war. It saddens me to think how traumatic war can be and that it could linger in one’s memory that even when a disease makes you forget things it doesn’t remove the most traumatic experiences like the experiences that Leckie had lived through.
Can you not spoil please?
@@gravitypronepart2201 Nothing about Alzheimer is in the film. And enough people commented about Leckie's book so that already gives away the outcome of his surviving the war.
@@gravitypronepart2201 you could just not read the comments.
@@SCc8154 you're reading the comments from two years ago? 🤣
@@gravitypronepart2201 just recently watched the video. Not sure what is funny about that. The comment above, about Alzheimer's, I thought was interesting so I read it. Not sure why that is "🤣" I'm not sure the point you are trying to make. All I was saying is that if you don't want to know any information about a video prior to watching it, logic would tell you not to read the comments until you have watched the video I didn't know there was a statute of limitations on RUclips post. My apologies
How did the Japanese get so powerful? - Long story short the Japanese Imperial forces had been building up since 1905 when they defeated the Russian Navy in conquering Korea from there they leapt at the new technologies such as a bigger more modern navy (with aircraft carriers) and a conscript army. Not to mention Japan had been at War in China since 1937 so when WW2 commenced in the Pacific in 1941 the Japanese were well ready and thats why they took such huge territory after Pearl Harbor. The USA started their Island hopping campaign named so by taking those small islands they could strategically climb their way towards fighting the Japanese home islands.
How do you aim that thing? - They use the mortar sight to aim where the round lands.
Gold tooth Incident - the pacific war was beyond savage. Motivated by racist and fearmongering ideas of either side the Americans treated the Japanese like animals and the Japanese did like wise with Americans. There are official accounts of GIs sending back skulls of dead Japanese as souvenirs to their families, one case a wife used a top half of a skull as a paper weight. One Japanese account a commander killed and ate the liver of an American airmen who had been captured (that commander nearly captured George W. Bush Sr as well when he was a naval pilot bombing the island of Tichi Jima).
Mortar men do what? Mortars, Bazookas, heavy machine guns are known as weapons platoons who as the names suggests train to operate the heavier weapons. They operate as teams because of all the baggage. They still carry weapons, either a pistol or a carbine. "What happens if one of them doesn't make it?" - They pick up the piece and move forward (just as Eugene did when Oswald got hit in the head he grabbed the sights and the tube).
Corpsman - Naval Medic (everything is in naval terms for the marines since they are naval infantry)
Dogs - All throughout the pacific and European theater units had specially trained dogs with them to detect enemy attacks since dogs have better hearing and sense of smell they could detect attacks coming better than any human could. They still train and employ dogs in warfare today. There's even a medal of honor equivalent for animals in warfare.
"Woof" & "What the fuck was that?"- Best scene in the whole episode
I greatly enjoy your videos and looking forward to the continuation of the Pacific.
Not to mention, Japan got an advantage on those islands they were taken from Germans back at world war 1, thus give them an early start of territory on the world war 2 and also since Japan rapid modernization, they have a huge surplus of manpower and that also give them an advantage on their conquest.
What many fail to realize about Banzai wave attacks is that they worked well, except against US/Aussie forces. The US had massive firepower to crush the fanatical(and drunk) human waves, and the Aussie/Brit/Canadian forces had very high morale which did not crack under the insane pressure. Chinese adversaries had no such response to this Japanese tactic. Soviets had massive armor and good morale too, so the Japanese avoiding fighting them after 1936.
The war dogs were extremely important, and began a widespread use that extended to Vietnam and beyond to today. Special Operations forces include dogs as important components, even jumping the dogs in with them. Their use and importance in WWII is memorialized in Guam with the National War Dog Cemetery and Memorial en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_War_Dog_Cemetery Other memorials include at Fort Benning, GA to Scout Dogs, and some Air Force locations as their Security Police often utilize dogs.
Thank you for all the interesting information ❤️
@@TheGunderian The wave attacks were also what had won them the war against the Russians before, it was a tried and true tactic, just kinda outdated by the time they fought the Americans, although that was only one of many issues the Japanese armed forces faced, another major one being the fact the army and navy had an extreme rivalry, to the point rifles given to Japanese marines and Japanese army men would use different ammo. When you peel away the curtain it's actually amazing how well the Japanese did considering how much they had that worked against them and how inefficient a lot of the ways they went about stuff were. Not to say they didn't do anything correct, I just find it fascinating.
"How can it get worse than what they've already been doing". Oh, it can and will get ALOT worse
@Necramonium Hello there Okinawa episodes!! That was much worse.
Okinawa was the worst no doubt
Was thinking the same thing. Oh, it gets worse!
@Necramonium at least they don't show her Tarawa.
@@mrninninnin the biggest mass suicide was at saipan
The bloodiest battle of the Pacific was in Okinawa. My Dad fought there. It was the last pitched battle of the War. Casualties were high, many of the replacements were wounded or killed. My Dad's unit suffered over 100% casualties because the guys that were sent up to replace fallen Marines got hit immediately. It was so bad that war planners estimated that the Allies might suffer a million casualties when they invaded mainland Japan. Fortunately, the war ended before the date of the invasion. After the second atomic bomb, Hirohito knew that Japan was finished.
God bless your Dad and his buddies! To me, all of these were superhero’s! Thank your Dad for them if he’s still with us
As much as many disagree, those atomic bombs saved countless lives !! The Japanese people are very proud, strong willed and very
diligent in their lives, highly disciplined to their studies !! They
need Jesus like everyone else !!
🙏🏻✝️❤️
I guess it depends on which island you were on. Saipan was no picnic. It was the turning point of the Pacific war. They sent wave after wave of japs straight at the front lines until twenty thousand died. In the end they were sending sick and wounded soldiers in suicide attacks at the Marines. They used Tinian for the port to drop off the components of the atomic bombs. That's why the japs wouldn't quit fighting there. They knew our bombers could reach Japan from there.
My dad was on Saipan, Tinian and later served in the Korean war.
As you noticed, Peleliu was a complete change in Japanese tactics for the rest of the war. They no longer used "banzai" charges. Instead, they dug in deep and practiced incredible fire discipline to inflict maximum casualties on advancing Marines. This change in strategy cost the Americans heavily, with many units taking up to 50-60% casualty rate before they got cycled off the front line.
As to the Marine that was hit in the head; I don't remember how much of the context was actually in the episode, but that group of Marines were well beyond their own lines. They went out there that night to try and ambush any Japanese units that might be sneaking around. That's why they needed to be quiet, because if they weren't it would not have been difficult for the Japanese to surround and overrun them, killing them all. If I remember correctly from Sledgehammer's book, the patrol's ranking officer got on the radio and told his CO that they could not stay out there because his men were on the verge of psychologically breaking (paraphased). The CO acknowledged the urgency and ordered them back to the line.
Letters from Iwo Jima does a great job in showing us the audience that change in tactics
The Japanese ran around just about unchecked in the 1930s. They began expanding in 1931 and the Second-Sino Japanese War broke out between them and China in 1937 and lasted until '45. When Japan puts it's mind to something you better watch out. Don't even get me started on Unit 731.
Horrific. There have only been two movies done on unit 731 and neither is very good. Both are considered trashy exploitation on the level of Cannibal Apocalypse. But how do you cover that subject matter with the gravitas it deserves?
There is a movie about the Rape of Nanking (Nanjing). Sheer brutality that was imposed on the people from there. From women, to children, the old, they did not care. There are photos around the net you will find of just how horrible it was.
and they still glorify their imperial days. They still havent apologised for war atrocities like the Germans and still fly thier imperial flag yet most allied countries don't care. Dont understand how Americans wear the rising sun flag on t-shirts as a cool graphic design yet go nuts on a swastica, pretty much the same thing lol
It’s crazy , the Chinese army had mostly German surplus helmets and weapons during that period
@@jollajolyo not really the same, the swastika was a nazi symbol but the Japanese flag was always that one, it’s the country’s flag, not a symbol of an ideology.
My Dad was in the Pacific during WW2. He was in a mortar platoon. He was a Sergeant. He was on Peleliu.
@Necramonium That's a possibility. Wish he was still alive to ask him.
@@t.j.payeur5331 My Dad never talked about the war. I found out what I know from his service records.
@@t.j.payeur5331 Wow! lol
@@burontimus same with my grandfather in Korea (Punchbowl) and my uncle in Vietnam (Cambodia in 1970). They both saw enough, didn't have to say a word.
@Hans He ended up in Japan after they surrendered and then returned home. So I don't know what happened between Peleliu and Japan.
Cassie, the Marines initiated the use of dogs in 1943 to help sniff out the enemy on the islands, particularly at night. The Japanese loved to attack the US soldiers and Marines at night in an attempt to exhaust them by depriving them of sleep.
“How do you even aim that thing?”
Don’t ask about the ways of the tube strokers. They are an arcane and mysterious bunch, and no one really knows what they do, only that it involves obscure rituals and skating out of patrols on field ops.
This comment made me giggle for two minutes.
*evil tubestroker laughter*
HAHAHA!
🤣
Corpsman. We are the Marines Doc's. I served as a a Corpsman for 10 years. These battles were our history. Their stories were passed down. My post is actually named after a Doc when Served on Guadalcanal, Peleliu, then Siapan and Okinawa. Those Doc's are my Heroes
They Call Me Doc
ruclips.net/video/pNoRuW8pgeA/видео.html
Semper, Fi, Doc.
Navy recruited, but marine trained. Every marine loves his Corpsman.
Thank You for your service doc
Cassie, I think I speak for all of your military veterans when I say you melt our hearts every reaction. Thanks so much for caring as much as you do.
She has a very human reaction to an extremely unhuman thing. While she is sitting there almost crying many watching are like "Fucking hell he bought the farm".
Same.
It’s kind of sad, we’re watching a woman who is so full of joy and love of life being subjected to watching war films and shows. Please Cassie never lose your joyful personality.
Peleliu was a just a massive tragedy all the way around. There was a lot of debate amongst the commanders at the time as to weather Peleliu even needed to be taken at all. Even today that debate continues. By the time they took it, they had other airfields that rendered it redundant. The US severely underestimated the size of the garrison there and the Japanese commander was an excellent tactician. His underground network meant that he could engage or disengage the Marines as he pleased and there was little the Marines could do to retaliate. The tunnels went so deep that airstrikes and artillery did next to nothing.
Also, Peleliu is a giant volcanic rock, so the Marines couldn't dig foxholes or defenses. Area's the US forces thought were cleared often had secret tunnel entrances which the Japanese used to attack them in the rear. The ridges were miserable terrain for the Marines and Army units to fight in, often unable to get tank support to help and no way to build defenses to protect themselves. Each artillery and machine gun nest had to be attacked head on at great cost. It ate American units up one by one.
The Gunnery Sargent you see in the show was a world war one vet and fought at Guadalcanal. He said Peleliu was the worst fighting he had ever seen. He went to his CO and told him as soon as they were done there he was retiring. And he did.
they thought they'd take it in 3-4 days
Factual didn’t really need to be taken according to many military historians today. Tragic loss of life for essentially no strategic gain.
Even Bull Halsey was against this operation. All Halsey wanted was to get his hands around the throats of the Japanese.
With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa is a World War II memoir by United States Marine Eugene Sledge, first published in 1981.
In future I would avoid mentioning the author by name, as it indirectly spoils some stuff.
@@andreraymond6860 Too late. It's been mentioned in comments in every episode, and the series itself lists the books from which they are sourced.
@@andreraymond6860 I appreciate your gentle correction. I wrote a spoiler a couple of weeks ago and got the fiddlestick treatment. Oops.
“Islands of the Damned”, “Faithful Warriors”, “Marine!”, “Helmet for My Pillow”, and “Red Blood, Black Sand” are all phenomenal reads.
@@catherinelw9365 I would as much as possible come into it blind. As reactors would like to do as much as possible.
the tunnels holding the artillery were on tracks. the japanese would wheel them out, fire, then wheel them back in. This is a big reason the bombing to prep for the landing was ineffective. in short: a defensive position that was not "softened up".
They were dug in deep. Wish we bunker busters back than
That is valuable intel. Japanese arty strikes would only come for every 30 seconds or so. Humbling thought in that situation. Crazy to think with all our advanced technology that nothing can puncture mother earth and natural defences. Well, almost nothing, as my astute colleage Jesse Vang mentioned. Up until now with bunker busters.
I served as mortar man in Afghanistan from 2011-2012. I was in a 60mm mortar section which the same weapon Sledge, Snafu, and the rest of those guys are using here. Back then that was the only system available but we also have 81mm and 120mm mortar teams in todays military. Basically the way the gun team works is new inexperienced guys fresh out of basic training will be tasked to cary the base plate and bipod and experienced guys usually carry the tube and sight. Most of the time it is the team leaders responsibility to carry the sight. It's kind of a mark within the platoon you know what the hell you're doing and can be trusted, which is why snafu was offended when their LT gave the sight to the new guy that shared his water. I respect your attention to detail in these reaction videos! Keep up the good work!
Well their cpl gave him the sight not the LT but great info
As a Combat Vet myself, never get close to the new guys, in case they get killed its easier to move on. You don't let them in, they have to earn it.
Also, new guys are an unknown.
Are they gonna be that guy that needs a smoke so bad he lights up at 0dark30 and draws hell fire down on everyone?
Is he the guys that's gonna lose it and go loose cannon on everyone?
Is he the guy that's gonna be a constant whiner killing everyone's morale?
Is the the guy that's gonna accidentally discharge into one of you?
Gunny was actually in his 50's during this battle because he was a marine in ww1 as well but every man has a breaking point... if you watch the actual interviews of these men in old age they still cry about what happened on that tiny piece of land.
That was the most brutal fighting of the entire war. I've read a lot of books on ww2 and I can't think of any battle worse across the board than peleliu.
@@stevep2380 okinawa, saipan and iwo jima would like a word
@@cjsawyer362 saipan was a really serious shit show since no track amphibious vehicles, just higgins boats and the marines got let off in chest-head deep or deeper water.
@@cjsawyer362 . . . . and Tarawa.
My grandfather was on Iwo and was taking out of action at day 5. His eye was blown out, wore an eye patch the rest of his life. Great grandfather was killed in France WWI and is still buried there. My family line is proud Marines to the present day.
Speaking of Marines and chick flicks, I remember in Iraq, someone was sent a portable dvd player, and they sent The Notebook. Watched it several times, no shame, anything to keep your mind off things. I read a lot of Nicholas Sparks novels too.
In the 80s, the entire squadron maintenance division was obsessed with "All My Children". if you missed an episode, there were always people you could ask about what happened to Jenny and Tad. Of course, there could be reenactments involved.
I watched Pitch Perfect about 300 times it seems in 2013 on my first deployment because at any given time at least 2 people in my platoon could be expected to be watching it. TBF, it's a comedy full of hot women so its no surprise really
Doesn’t that have a few war scenes though?
@@A_Qwynide pitch perfect goes hard
@@Ailurophile1984 I think so, but definitely not a big part of the movie, it's been awhile since I seen it
The scene with Sledge and Leckie and the bible was a little weird because Leckie stayed a devout Christian his whole life, even during his time in the Marines.
Well he WAS drunk on moonshine at the time.
@@NSUSashiel It doesn’t sound like it. He literally said he doesn’t have any use for Him and basically rebukes God. As a Christian myself it rubs me the wrong way.
They never met. I read both their autobiographies.
@@82SSchultz Yes, it was fabricated for the series.
@@82SSchultz So they made up stuff for dramatic purposes. I'm not even surprised.
Snafu was real, he was a Cajun from south Louisiana. Hold on they still have to get through Peleliu, Iwo Jima and Okinawa. Remember the oil drums they were detailed to clean in an earlier part, that's what the fresh drinking water was carried in for the invasion, hence they had no drinkable water.
That sounds like sabotage
"I wonder if Basilone is going to come back."
Oh, you sweet, sweet, innocent lady.
agreed. I can only imagine what her reaction will be at that point. Or the fact his wife never remarried and died alone.
@@mabrrm dude, spoilers!
Spoilers!
She really is right! Lol
Dude spoilers!
Mortars are the light cannons they're carrying. They fire straight up and come down on top of the target from above, letting them shoot over things.
The mortar crew fired upon where the target WAS. During that time-of-flight of the mortar round, the 'target' may not be there anymore. That's the problem with a moving target...like a tank.
I'm an airborne 11c ( mortarman ). The method of firing they were using on the airfield is known as " direct lay " , which means simply looking through the sight, putting the crosshair on the target and firing at the visible target, then slowly adjusting rounds to the target until it is destroyed. Doing this on a moving target is VERY difficult, especially if the target is purposefully avoiding being hit.
The mortarmen in WW2 have my upmost respect, they went into battle with only a few rounds on each man, and were very VERY effective, meaning they were able to fire, adjust and destroy multiple targets in one battle with very little ammunition. In the many live fires I have done, it can take dozens of rounds to effectively and consistently get rounds on target, and that is without bullets and explosions around us and dudes from your squad getting killed.
These guys were GOOD. Really good.
@@bendavis4477 out of curiosity, have mortars changed much since WW2?
@@huntclanhunt9697 As far as the methods used to put rounds on target, no, not much as changed at all. You can hear them call for " mark center sector, and adjust " at 24:50 , that is still used today, it's a step of qualifying ourselves to continue to be mortarmen. However, the actual equipment used had obviously changed drastically. We use 60mm mortars ( used in this series ) 81mm and 120mm mortars, alongside advanced baseplates, tubes, and bipods. We are even able to fire rounds digitally through computers in coordination with our forward observers. The newest systems are 100% digital, all that needs to be done on these systems is actually "hanging" the rounds, the computers sight the guns for us.
I love how emotionally invested you get into these episodes, this is just some of the history they taught us in boot camp that built the foundation of what the Marines are today
It’s history is what makes the Corps, The Corps! Marines love our history
You’ll see much better officers commanding Eugene’s company than Leckie’s. Lt. Jones “Hillbilly”, and Capt. Haldane “Ack Ack” were greatly loved by their men.
Until Ack Acks successor Stumpy was wounded, then they had a CO they nicknamed "The Shadow". He's was a dick. And then there was Mac, Sledges Lt, who's antics included pissing in the mouths of Japanese corpses and once threw a hand grenade amongst his men as a joke (It was a common prank in the marines at the time, but you removed the explosives first, Mac only removed a small amount of explosives and it exploded.)
Read captain Haldane's Wikipedia. He is not forgotten. He was a superb leader. As you see in the movie his men would follow him straight into hell.
22:55 Wow! I'm impressed you noticed the change in tactics that the Japanese had. Yes, early in the war, Japanese used a lot suicide charges. But the commander on peleliu saw them as futile, so they dug in and waited for the Marines to come close to negate the Marines' firepower.
It actually started before Peleliu. Look at Tarawa as an example. BTW, Tarawa was watched VERY closely by the Generals planning Overlord, as they needed to see how assaulting a defended beachhead would fare.
@@michaelshostak93 Tarawa's defenses were quite different than Peleliu's though. Tarawa was more of a unique situation as defense in-depth was not the focus of Tarawa because of its tiny size, but rather holding off the enemy at the island's perimeter and beaches for as long as possible. The tactics at Peleliu which involved a progressively more violent battle the further troops went inland actually started at Biak. Like at Peleliu, the Japanese at Biak hid in and fought from caves and had to be rooted out.
We had this old guy at the big box store I worked at ;bike assembler - wore his Dress Blues to work every 11 November. A compact little guy like all of the WW2 guys ... Anyway ; one day he tells me he was in the first wave at Peleliu, and smart ass me , knowing that all of the first wave amtracs were stopped at the reef ( according to legend ) asked "How did you get ashore ?" and without missing a beat he said " I waded in, like everybody else...." Fair winds , Les. I'll buy you a beer in Valhalla someday!
Bruh Peleliu, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa i couldn't imagine fighting there
And Tarawa, Wake and dozens of other places too. This series is only part of the bigger picture of what our freedom cost these brave human beings.
It's my understanding that SNAFU joined the Marines as a replacement at some point in Australia and was sent to Cape Gloucester. Which you'll remember as the island where it rained all the time and where Leckie saw that fellow shoot himself. As a result, he hasn't exactly come out with his for lack of a better word sanity intact.
There's a difference between being anxious/snappy which is the natural expression of seeing that/having PTSD and the stoned/high on weed mannerisms that Rami Malek (the actor) decided to portray Cpl. Merriell "Snafu" Shelton as.
@@user-uy1rg8td1v I think he was kind of trying to go for "I've seen the Elephant and I don't care about anything anymore, whether it be someone else's life or my own." Which while not a healthy response to what he's been through, it is a response that can result. Though I will admit there are times he does come off more as a stoner, than lackadaisical, combat fatigued veteran.
I'm proud of you girl this is harder stuff than you were probably comfortable with but you stuck with it.
Post-War statisticians called this place the "Island of bullets." It took roughly 15 million rounds of ammunition to kill the 13,600 Japanese soldiers on Peleliu and the surrounding islands.
did you copy paste this? I swear I saw this comment on another channel
@@Jay2RealENT No I remembered it word for word. Lol I'm a big history and politics person. I looked up the battle after the first time I saw this episode. That massive figure gave me a different perspective when I watched this episode for the second time. A lot of the reactors are uploading this series on the same day. The info is usually still fresh in my mind. Lol
Damn the bullets...the REAL cost was in US blood that was spilled...all to support MacArthur.
@@thomast8539 And they barely used the airfield for bombing missions or supply runs after the Marines took the island. The Japanese on the island had no way of interfering with the rest of the war effort. Could've left it be.
@@DisgruntledHippo The problem with letting it be is then you have an island full of Japanese holdouts. And instead of it being a lone soldier refusing to surrender. It would've been a whole island garrison, well-armed and entrenched. The job would have to have been one way or another at some point.
When I was a kid with the Navy League Cadets, the USS Peleliu was moored at Vancouver harbour for a few days, along with a Canadian frigate and another American vessel I don't recall. The foam green coloring of the frigate stood in stark contrast to the far more intimidating "battleship" grey of the American ships. It left me with a sense that the yanks meant business. We got a tour of the Peleliu and were able to talk to the personnel on board, who were happy to show off their awesome kit. It was an experience that I never forgot and the name "Peleliu" always stuck with me. But it wasn't until this series that I actually understand what it meant.
I was sad to learn she was decommissioned back in 2015.
Old militarism: Friendly fire often isn't very friendly.
Nice adage.
Fratricide > Friendly Fire > Blue-on-blue.
It's super interesting to me how the language for it has changed overtime and it's now devorced from any emotion or violence at all.
One of several "Murphy's Laws" of Combat Operations...
or even briefer: Friendly Fire... isn't.
The easy way is mined
Since You've already gone through "Saving Private Ryan" and "The Band of Brothers" and now You're going through "The Pacific", I would strongly recommend You to do "The Thin Red Line" from 1998 next. It appeared the same year then "Saving Private Ryan" and was a bit overshadowed by it, but believe me, this one is a MUST. You won't regret it.
"I heard the Marines like a good chick flick..." (grins)
That made laugh. Thanks for that, PiB! Hope you enjoy the rest of 'The Pacific'!
I like that acronym PIB for Cassie I think everyone should use it from now on. 😊
@@robroberts1473 Her FB page said "PiB", but then I just saw the 'About' section. So my bad. :)
Maybe not in the traditional sense of "chick flick". 😏
There's a reason why it's referred to as "Bloody Peleliu"...
Yep, and I hope MacArthur is paying for all of it's unnecessary costs.
It really was, it decimated Chesty Puller's regiment.
All for an airfield that not one plane landed on. Fuck Douglas MacArthur and his enormous ego.
@@stevep2380 McArthur wasn't in command of this theater, Nimitz was. Remember the Pacific was Huge that they had to divide it into two commands.
@@josevicentejrmeneses8552 Exactly...
Merril "Snafu" Shelton is a real person, you'll get more of his story soon. As to his behaviour, Snafu is a harder man, not brought up in a wealthy, southern, country, god fearing family like Sledge, who as you identify is very innocent at the start of the show. Snafu has already been there and seen combat, and he started, personality wise, in a harder more cynical place than Sledge, the result is a still harder more savage and bitter survivor. The different personalities which enter the cauldron will be impacted in different way, you see this in BoB for example look at Winters (who comes into his authority), Sobel (who becomes more vulnerable with pressure) and Nixon (who never fits comfortably into the military and war). But the Pacific TV show, demonstrating the unique pressures of the War in that theatre demonstrates it in a different and more stark way.
Also THIS version of Snafu is a composite character.
In the book, the real Snafu got along with Sledge right away and Sledge never said if Snafu did things like collect gold teeth.
He definitely was fool-mouthed, combat hardened, and was often abrasive towards officers.
Well said. Also consider that island fighting allows little room for prisoners and thus empathy. The Pacific was a war of annihilation, where Europe followed more conventional norms.
@@TheGunderian Here I disagree. The Island war was essentially a war of multiple small sieges, which does, I acknowledge, tend to be vastly more savage and brutal. But, the real issue which made the Pacific vastly different from Europe was the diametric clash of cultures (the Japanese ideal of duty, sacrifice and courage was completely alien to the western liberal - US ideals on the same concepts). Add the issues of propaganda dehumanisation of the enemy, the racial differences (which have fed hate throughout history) and the ever present habit of soldiers to tell lurid tales of horror. Then mix the fear, stress and tension of island war. This gets you the mix of horror which was the Pacific. The Japanese strategy was, at its base level, one where they would sacrifice as many of their people as necessary to make the Pacific battles so bloody and horrific that the, who they perceived as weaker willed, western liberal nations would quit and sue for peace. The US and allied soldiers bore the brunt of this misjudgement, as did hundreds of thousands of ideologically blinded Japanese.
Eugene Sledge wrote two excellent books, one about his experience in the war and one about his unit's service in China after the war. His first book in particular is a classic: With the Old Breed at Peleliu and Okinawa. When I went through Drill Instructor School at Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego in 1981, it was required reading.
Your understanding of the mortar squad is pretty accurate - I was a mortarman. The mortar breaks down into sections: one person carries the barrel, one the baseplate, one the bipod, and one the sight. If you're shorthanded, two people can carry it: one takes the barrel and baseplate, the other the bipod (the heaviest part) and the sight. We were usually shorthanded.
The 60mm mortars in the Weapons platoon in a rifle company, where both Eugene and Sid served, is almost like a giant grenade launcher - each round weighs about three pounds.
The Marine Corps also used/uses a larger mortar, the 81mm - that's in a separate company rather than a rifle company, and where there is a squad of 60mm mortars in the Weapons platoon of each rifle company, there's a platoon of 81mm mortars in the Weapons company of an infantry battalion. The 81mm is a lot bigger and fires a round about three times the size of the one the 60mm fires.
The unit sizes are, in ascending order: squad (maybe a dozen people); platoon; company; battalion; regiment; brigade; division; corps. Each unit is made up of several of the smaller type before it on that list. You'll see Marine units designated like this (my first unit): 1st Squad, 60mm mortar section, Weapons Platoon, K Company, 3rd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division - abbreviated Wpns Plt., K Co., 3/4, 3rdMarDiv.
You would be interested in the Ken Burns documentary series titled The War. It follows service members from four towns in different parts of the U.S. through World War II. Eugene's friend Sid was one of the veterans whose stories the series told, and it featured extensive interview footage of Sid and his sister. They talked a lot about Eugene Sledge, but he had died some years before the series was made.
John Basilone is one of the iconic heroes of the Marine Corps. One of the main roads at Camp Pendleton is named for him.
For someone who has little to no prior knowledge/experience with military/war "stuff," I am impressed with how quickly you pick up on things!
I always appreciate how mindful you are about the stories and suffering of these men and their families. Not many youtubers are as respectful and as genuine. That's why i enjoy your take.
FYI, Japan got that powerful that fast because they industrialized sooner and faster than the Chinese, Koreans and the rest of East Asia. The Japanese were building a 20th century military while the Chinese were still using muskets.
The Chinese weren't THAT far behind in the 30s.
The Chinese were also undergoing military modernization ironically with Nazi Germany sending a lot of assistance to China to fight their own ally during the early part of the war.
Thank you for taking time to watch this. Episode 7 8 and 9 only get more brutal
Its just nuts to think that the marines who invaded these tiny islands, also had the backs of the Navy and Air force. They didnt land on those beaches alone, behind them are destroyers and aircraft carriers. All with planes and huge artillery pieces.
I'm a self-taught historian and an author of historical fiction. As my dad and two of his brothers served in WWII (his brother David was in the Pacific, and participated in the battles of Tinian and Saipan Islands...and Iwo Jima. The first part of American history that I learned about is WWII, because of my dad and his two brothers. As you watched Saving Private Ryan, and now the mini-series The Pacific, I have often found myself wishing I could have been there nearby, watching with you, and answering your questions as you asked them. I have watched those movies several times. I would also like to recommend HBO" WWII in HD. All of these movies are excellent and will give you the utmost respect for the Greatest Generation. Let's not forget the families at home, who did their part during WWII, and those who lost sons, husbands, brothers, and of course, the nurses who took care of our boys. In WWII, you get to hear the words of Army nurse, June Wandrey, as she tells of her experiences.
My dad was 1st Marine Div. Guadalcanal,and my Uncle Sgt. Allen C. Raney was 4th Marine Div. Tinian, Saipan, and Iwo Jima. Allen was a cook in H.Q. and don't know what action he saw, because he NEVER opened up to tell us his experiences.
Indeed the Greatest Generation!
Mortars are highly mobile, mini-artillery platforms that can either be carried or transported by infantry without needing trucks or machinery. Often they were small, like what you see in Band of Brothers and The Pacific because they're relatively light mortars meant to be carried by the infantry, with relative ease - again, to eliminate the need for any greater infrastructure or supply chain beyond ammunition. The mortars themselves are inclined tubes used to launch munitions in a parabola for extremely effective, but indirect, fire - so you can land shots, accurately, on targets that are behind defenses or at greater distances than standard direct-fire infantry platforms like bazookas. Some mortars, though, were significantly larger than what you see here and they had attached wheels that made them, again, still move-able by your standard infantry so they could maintain their mobility that made them so effective on the front-line. All that crap you see them loading up and lugging around is the equipment to make the mortar an accurate, stable and safer weapons platform (the mortar sight, the back-plate, etc).
"How can it get worse?" wait till they get to Okinawa.
Sledge at this point is far from being called a recruit. He is a Marine but also referred to a “Boot” which insinuates he is fresh out of boot camp (Recruit Training).
bombing is done not by the air force for Marines. Its a Navy/Marine Corps air unit.
Your reaction is genuine and your emotions flow as mine do. My dad was 1st Marines WWll, and my uncle was 4th Marines. Both came close to dying. My uncle NEVER told us his experiences, but kept his uniform on display though out his life. My dad opened up to me the last year of his life, and finally told me the horrific details of his ordeals in the war. The demons that haunted him, passed away with him in 1998.
War is hell and it never really changes. I learned about all these stories when I was in the Marines going to Iraq and Afghanistan. I liked hearing about my battalions history in WW2 fighting in the Pacific. I love your videos. It makes me feel like I'm really watching it with a gf. My friends always complain about their wife or gf talking during movies but honestly I love hearing you talk through it. Makes me feel a little less alone.
That is so freaking cool that you reviewed these. This war although horrific is what shaped our world into what it is.
"Here we go boys!" That whole sequence, with that music, of them loading the boats, exiting the ship into the blinding sunlight....superb piece of cinematography.
One movie you should watch is “we were soldiers” it’s about America’s first battle in Vietnam my grandfather was in that battle and it’s the only movie that ever made me cry at the end I highly recommend it
5 gets you ten she completely loses it.
My great grandpa was navy Seabees, he went inland attached to a marine unit on Peleliu and Iwo Jima, there were stories that he wouldn’t tell me until I told him I was going into the marines, his stories were incredibly intense, I couldn’t imagine being there and doing what they did
Love your reactions.Let us not forget our history.My father was a WW2 veteran.
Basilone comes back , careful what you wish for. I love the passion and surprise you show while watching
Remember from the first episode of Band of Brothers "Some lucky guy is being shipped to the Pacific."
Hand feeding the flamingos
22:12 LOL, that's what I thought when I first watched. "They haven't started crossing yet?!"
I wasn't really that interested in Eugene's story at first the first time I watched this series, but his segments ended up being my favorite by the end. Also, his Captain was such a nice guy.
I was active in the Marine Corps . The fact that you listened to your views and make sure you differentiate between soldiers and Marines is awesome . That’s truly awesome . You should look in to chesty puller . He was their commander during the first battles and he is the most decorated Marine
If I understand correctly, the Marines have ever since had a string of bulldogs in the post of official mascot, all named "Chesty". 😊
I was a mortarman in the Army. Everyone carried their personal weapon, part of the mortar system, and ammo for both. The sight is the lightest piece of the system.
When pib hid behind her blanket was too cute. Lol
So a little bit of notes on stuff these episodes had to skip over:
1. A big reason for the lack of water on Peleliu was due to the barrels in which they attempted to bring fresh water onto the beach were tainted. The barrels in which they used were old oil barrels (those you saw sledge cleaning) however none of the Marines were ever told what these barrels were going to be used for so those sent to clean them slacked off on the job meaning when they were filled later, the residue oil still in them tainted the water.
2. The beach landings were a bit more chaotic than shown. Several platoons and companies ended up landing in the wrong location due to tide and the tidal reefs that covered a lot of the shore just before the beech would bog down several of the LVT’s they were transported in early or cause them to slow down making them easier targets.
3. So to talk about SNAFU and the dead Japanese soldier with the gold tooth. Japanese soldiers (and Japanese society at large) were taught to show off their wealth. It was standard for old samurai to show off their wealth through intricate armour, swords, bows, etc. As such the soldiers of the Imperial Japanese army who were taught to see themselves like these ancient warriors would flaunt there wealth instead through other means; one being to have fake teeth made of gold. Marines and Army soldiers would take these from dead (and sometimes living) Japanese soldiers. It was essentially their way of taking revenge for all the horror killings the Japanese would do upon them - the Japanese having zero sense of worth in human lives would treat captured or surrendering soldiers with utter barbarity from chopping off a certain body part down low and shoving it in a mans mouth like a gag before killing him, to using dead and wounded soldiers as booby traps (playing explosives under them or on them and having the triggers set to when someone tried to help them or recover the mans dog tags or recover the body... Boom!) and they done much more than just that (another famous one was for Japanese soldiers to tie prisoners above bamboo. Bamboo can grow in most conditions and doesn’t care for what lies above it. You can kind of guess when what happens to said prisoner when the bamboo start having to grow through said person). This type of barbarity prompted many on the American side (plus a lot of propaganda and racial propaganda) to reply in kind, feeling that the saying “an eye for an eye” was quite applicable in this type of conflict.
- to note SNAFU as a character is a configuration of several marines. While he is a real person not all his actions were done by him some were committed by others however being character focused the series moved several actions to more prominent characters.
4. The weapon sledge and his team carry is a mortar. This weapon is a crew served weapon - usually manned between 3-5 people, one main gunner/sighter (the man who corrects the range and elevation of the weapon and calls the fire) , one hanger/loader (he is the man who primes the mortar rounds and hangs them over the firing tube to release and fire), and between one to three ammo bearers (since the main body of the weapon + sight + mortar plate, all having said men also lug mass amounts of ammo about would be terrible, as such members of the team will be prioritised this duty so that the team always has a large number of rounds on hand - and if they lose someone carrying some they ain’t completely out). However all members of the team are trained as mortar men so can fire and load the weapon.
As for the weapon itself it’s a large metal tube that is elevated or lowered to increase/decrease the range. At which point when I’m the correct position the gunner will call the hangman to release the mortar shell into the tube. The weight off the shell with spark the firing pin at the bottom and ignite the mortar shell firing it out of the tube towards the intended target.
The mortar Sledge and his team are using is a 60mm mortar. These were light mortars expected to work alongside infantrymen in close proximity and with line of sight to the target (they can fire indirectly over other obstacles to get to this target but need eye on said target to spot it first - doesn’t have to be their eyes but any friendly who can call the effective target + range, tho the mortar team firing directly at the target without need of additional spotting will be more accurate as they are trained better in judging and calculating the ranges).
Other mortars can range from the 81mm medium mortar to the 120mm heavy mortars, that had a very much longer range and wouldn’t be seen alongside the infantry like 60mm but instead would be set up further behind and be dialled into their target using a spotter/forward observer - men given radios and trained to fight alongside the infantry and find a good position to start co-ordinating the mortars and giving them their targets and ranges (as they wouldn’t be able to see them). Interestingly for the American Military, they preferred having every Platoon (or at worse each company) assigned a portable radio set (the backpack radios you see a lot in war movies) which allowed each platoon commander to ask and co-ordinate his own fire support without need of a specialist on sight. While they weren’t as trained as the specialist, it still meant they had access to said support.
5. The reason the marines brought dogs was due to the Japanese specialisation of night attacks and using tunnels, long grass and a host of other things to sneak about and ambush marines. As such brining dogs with them who were trained to smell out Japanese soldiers and having better senses at night/in the day would likely pick up noise before the marines as such would alert them to the hidden enemy and allow them to react appropriately and quickly. As such the Gunny was joking that they didn’t need a dog because it wouldn’t be able to smell/sense a Japanese soldier before he did.
6. From what information we have that evening, the situation with the screaming man was a bad one. When he did first start screaming they attempted to calm him down with morphine shots (which are helped to help reduce pain, calm people and most important slow someone’s heart rate down slightly so as to reduce blood loss when shot). However, the man wasn’t calming down even after several shots (which is quite the dose) as such the officer ordered the men to punch him which they did but the punches failed to quiet him or knock him out and he just fought back harder and panicked louder, as such the Lieutenant called for someone to hit him with something in hope it would be enough to knock him out. Sadly the man who was close friends with the panicking man grabbed for the closest thing near him and found his entrenching tool (thing a small shovel) and grabbing it went to hit the screaming man with the flat edge of the tool. However, being very dark (remember movies make it lighter for us to see stuff so you can guess it was a lot darker than what we saw) and a frantic situation, he didn’t notice the tool had changed angle and came down with the sharper edge. This blow would sadly kill his friend.
The marines the next morning agreed that the situation, while sad, had to in some way happen as his screaming could have cost all of them their lives (easy way to cope is to see the “benefits” of a bad situation). They also agreed never to speak said marines name as they didn’t want him tormented by civilians or other marines/recruits who wouldn’t see the full picture of the situation and just focus on him killing another fellow soldier.
- essentially this was one of those theoretical morale situations played out IRL. I.e. you and your group of people are being stalked by a entity who can easily kill/harm you all. However, one of the group has a baby that won’t stop crying. Is it ok to suffocate the child to stop it’s crying likely saving everyone or take the chance of it crying but whatever out there finding you easier?
It’s a complicated question that comes down to: are you willing to take another’s life in order to guarantee your own and everyone else’s safety or do you spare said person and take the greater risk of being found and killed along with everyone else (including this unfortunate noisy soul).
- and to put this situation into perspective. The marines had to make a choice of using a potentially lethal tool to knock this other marine out (again a risk of killing him) or risk being found/heard by the Japanese who could easily surround and ambush them or more likely use the noise to find and co-ordinate an artillery strike on them killing/wounding probably all of them.
For the water barrels, you know that
A: Those men never slacked cleaning barrels out later
B: God forbid their kids down the line either waste water or half ass a cleaning job
The issue they had landing on peleliu was the Japanese were inland on the high ground. They had their machine guns and mortars zeroed on the beach. They don’t really give you a sense of how long it took them just to move 50 yards in land. Took them hours to get off the beach
Remember those oil drums that they were scrubbing? Those were for drinking water. Their drinking water in this episode was contaminated because the oil drums weren't properly sanitized and there was still residual oil, which ruined all of their drinking water.
The Marines sole purpose is beach landings so imagine knowing this will happen again on pretty much every Island
Didn't see this comment on here, when the Marine was having the nightmare and was killed, it was his best friend that had to hit him with an entrenching tool to shut him up.
And Just to add: they tried giving him morphine to calm him down but it only made him scream louder (I think...I'm working from memory) so they belted him a couple of times to knock him out.
@@nickmitsialis hind sight 20/20, they shoulda done a blood choke on him instead of trying knocking him out with the entrenching tool, a proper blood choke will make someone take a good short nap if done right and relatively quickly to.
My wife’s grandfather was with The Old Breed, 7th Marines, was at every one of the campaigns starting with Guadalcanal. He spoke to me about his experiences once so I could write them down. He said Peleliu was the worst by far. Okinawa was bad, but Peleliu was horrible. He told about going on patrol with a full squad up on Bloody Nose Ridge and coming back with three.
With the man that was killed with a shovel incident. Every man in King Co. never revealed the identity of who had the shovel. But everyone was on the same boat, it was just horribly tragic. If anyone had to die that night, it was him. War is hell.
The guy who she asked if he was ok..he's my spirit animal 😂
I highly recommend watching Generation War next. It's basically a German band of Brothers telling the story of 5 best friends during WW2: A German Officer with a impressive military career, His Brother, A fresh new recruit who is a very quiet pacifist, A German Army Nurse, A singer and her partner, a Jewish man. Just an amazing mini series about 3 episodes long I think.
Keep in mind that John Basilone, Robert Leckie, Eugene Sledge, and most of the characters are/were all real people. Leckie wrote a book about his experience, it's called "A Helmet for My Pillow". Sledge wrote one called "With the Old Breed". They are both GREAT books, and are what this Miniseries is based upon.
For more perspective on the Pacific War, Dan Carlin's "Supernova in the East" goes into terrific detail, especially regarding how Japan got to where it did.
My maternal grandfather was stationed at Peleliu Island during WWII.
Loading into those amptracs I was back in the well deck of our ship. I could smell the fuel and sweat. You could feel the heat. And then the long roll down the ramp until you fell off into the ocean. And the hope that you'd pop backup to the surface and not sink like rock.
These films are very important so that the new generations know and VALUE that the freedom they enjoy today was paid for by their previous generations. From Independence to today. They also SHOULD listen to and honor veterans...ALWAYS. Years ago, I was lucky enough to be in Washington DC for Veteran's Day. In our living room I keep a photo that I took with two Vietnam veterans whom I thanked for their sacrifice. Despite being Argentine, I was a soldier and I understand them as if they were my brothers. Thanks to the U.S.A. Today the world enjoys more freedom. I can only say. THANK YOU... from Argentina 🇦🇷 I don't forget it, God bless you!.🇱🇷.
My Marine Combat Vet husband was very good friends with R.V. Burgin for several years until he passed. He was a Marine mortar section leader like Burgin. They spent a lot of time together. He misses his friend.
Recently my uncle passed away. He fought on Okinawa. He never talked about the war much. But he did say that the Japanese had no souls and that bad things happen in war and you just have to get over them. He was 96 years old and was happiest on his farm with my aunt who he was married to for 70+ years!
You’re a doll for doing these. These guys went through absolute hell on earth. It’s just nightmarish to watch, and I bawl every time I watch this.
As for how the Japanese got that powerful, that’s a history course that I can’t give you in RUclips comments. There’s a big, long story behind that…
Another is, “Empire of the Sun” with Christian Bale. Director Steven Spielberg.
The reason new recruits are treated the way they are is pretty simple. All the veterans have lost a large number of friends already. If they don't make new friends the chances of losing a friend and the pain associated with it is less.
Pretty much the same treatment the replacements initially got in "Band of Brothers".
You're stronger than I am, Popcorn dude. I loved Band of Brothers but I couldn't make it through The Pacific. I think Ep. 9 is where I needed to stop it. You're tough.
Just to help clarify, Leckie is a member of H Company, 2nd Battalion, 1st Marines (regiment), 1st Marine Division (H 2/1). Sledge is a member of K 3/5 (K Company, 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines, 1st Marine Division.
I recommend Sledge's books about his time in the Marines, if you like reading. I loved getting to see more of the story than Band of Brothers went into individually. Have you watched the documentary about Winters here on RUclips? It's called We Stand Alone Together.
She did We Stand Alone Together on Patreon. It was great.
@@catherinelw9365 Ah, okay, cool!
You might wanna watch Born on the 4th of July at some point... Very good movie, based on a true story, about a vietnam veteran. It was made by Oliver Stone as part of his Vietnam trilogy and with an amazing Tom Cruise in the lead.
The only true piece of serious work that Tom cruise ever did in my opinion.
@@deweyplanck9850 I think A Few Good Men and The Firm shouldn’t be forgotten in that regard. He can be serious - and good while doing it - if he wants too.
If I had to make a recomendation for the next War movie, id recomend "Memphis Belle (1990)." it has a very well written story and characters, and is always a rush to watch! but in terms of the combat, it is much more mild in comparison to The pacific and Band of Brothers.
SNAFU grows on ya....give him a chance.
As the Marines prepare to attack the airfield they grow dehydrated and suffer severe casualties while crossing the airfield, Leckie is evacuated and Sledge confesses his fear and begins writing about his experience.
I never smoked until I got to combat. A rocket hit near me and didn't blow up. I was so scared and my nerves were shot, but a buddy brought me a cigarette. I quit over ten years ago but I still remember that first one in 2004.
Sledge mentioned in his book! That the water brought ashore was in fuel drums, that had not been cleaned properly! So go without water, or drink the tainted stuff.
"How does this end?"
with a nuke.
Nope, two.
Two, actually
one would have done it.
two is a statement xD
@@ErdTirdMans and thousands of tons of napalm, incendiary munitions dropped on Tokyo
@@joshuaortiz2031 still can't believe 16 square miles of Tokyo was destroyed from napalm and if i recall right more people died from that particular bombing raid than the initial little boy detonation. 100,000 was the number if i recall for Tokyo.
16:37 oh, it can and it did. Peleliu was different for the Marines than anyother battle. Marine pilots were taking off of the airfield and making bombing runs 1,000 yards away from their target. That’s within infantry machine gun range and some Marine snipers could hit that far out with their rifles. By piloting standards, that’s rock throwing range.
"Fuck dat shit, I scrub drums for no man... I like to watch the new guys sweat". Rami Malek's performance throughout The Pacific was amazing! This was the first show I saw him in back in 2010 - I knew he would be a star one day.
Fun fact: Most of the Pacific was filmed in Australia. The Jungle scenes were mostly shot in the State of Queensland (specifically North Qld) and the rest was shot down in the State of Victoria in and around You Yangs National Park. For the episode in Melbourne - you see Flinders Street Station and the Melb Trams. They transformed the streets of Geelong (south west of Melbourne) into the 1940's for the filming of Stella's house and surrounding streets.
Lots of the cast members are also well known Australian actors doing American accents (some worse than others). Chuckler, Lt Stone, Gibson, Lt Hillbilly Jones, Lt Corrigan, Sgt Gunny Haney, Stella, Virgina Grey, Gwen, Gwen's Grand-dad as some examples. Obvs a proud Aussie here!
Bob Hope entertained the troops on Pavuvu. He always said he could tell that the boys he was on stage for were headed for trouble , most of them never made it home. As for Peleliu, my Grandpa was a SeaBee (construction batallion)on Peleliu
I've been to Peleliu and one thing about that island they don't mention is that the whole damn thing is nothing but coral and rock. Not only can you not dig a foxhole in that, but rock and coral does nothing to absorb explosions.
Normally what happens when a hand grenade or artillery shell explodes is that some of that force will dig into the ground, absorbing some of the force and shrapnel. With rock and coral, the force and the shrapnel will just bounce. In many cases it'll spray shards of rock and coral, adding to shrapnel from the explosion.
You are a sweet young woman, props for watching this series. We Marines feel
I seen the pacific many times n I just realized the guy who was kind enough to gave his water to his team. He died even though he did something good.
We still celebrate John Basilone Day every year.
I can't remember if it was Leckie or Sledge's book where I read this, but the oil drums they were scrubbing in the last episode were what they brought water in. So when they finally got water, it was contaminated with oil.
I was stationed at 29 Palms, 1sr Marine Division, 7th Marines, 3rd LAR BN, B CO. H&S CO. I went to Okinawa and visited the pill boxes and tunnels the Japanese army used. It was insane.