By Lilit Marcus, CNN
Peleliu, Palau (CNN) — The island is lush, myriad shades of green made deeper by the effects of the morning’s rainfall. Just offshore, snorkelers float over beds of unbleached corals. Walking off the small wooden boat dock, visitors pass clumps of ficus trees and ankle-deep ferns, while cairns of gray stones mark hiking trails.
And then, in the middle of an empty field, stands an amphibious Japanese military tank with garlands of green plants sprouting between its rusted wheels.
The juxtaposition is jarring. But that’s why tourists have come from as far away as the United States, Canada, Taiwan, South Korea and Japan today — for an up-close look at the tropical island where one of the bloodiest and least remembered battles of World War II’s Pacific theater took place.
When American troops arrived on the remote Pacific island of Peleliu in September 1944, their job was simple: to attack the island and destroy the Japanese air base there. After a few days’ bombardment, soldiers set foot on the island to find it empty, all enemies seemingly vanquished.
Unknown to the Americans, and unspotted by their air reconnaissance, Peleliu is full of deep underground cave networks. The Japanese had fortified many of these caves and stocked them with food, water and ammunition, so when the shelling began, they went underground.
The Battle of Peleliu, which was supposed to be a few days’ work, dragged on for months. It became one of the grimmest battles of the entire Pacific theater, and now most historians agree that none of it was necessary. Yet its story remains largely unknown to Americans, who are more likely to have learned about Iwo Jima and Guadalcanal in school.
“It was just a horror show,” says Joe Whelan, author of the book “Bitter Peleliu.”
“It was actually a battle that needn’t have been fought at all — and probably shouldn’t have. In fact, Admiral Halsey recommended that they just skip it. But the invasion fleet was already on its way, and he was overruled by Admiral Nimitz, who was in charge of the whole Pacific.” William Halsey Jr. was the five-star admiral who commanded naval troops in the region.
In all, about 14,000 Japanese and 10,000 Americans lost their lives during the siege of Peleliu. Not all were killed by bombs and guns, either. Temperatures can regularly soar past 100 degrees Fahrenheit, so men died of heatstroke and dehydration. Others became sick from drinking contaminated water. Eventually, the top Japanese commanders died by seppuku, a ritual method of suicide. By then, says Whelan, the war was essentially over and the Japanese, realizing they were losing, had switched to a strategy of attrition.
“They wanted the Americans to attack them, and they could kill more Americans. And they thought if they did that, they could persuade America to negotiate.”
Most historians mark the end date of the Battle of Peleliu as November 24, 1944, the day when the lead Japanese commander, Colonel Kunio Nakagawa, died. These days, tour guides escort travelers in and past some of these caves, where Shinto stones engraved with Japanese writing memorialize the places where soldiers died. Some visitors leave Japanese flags or pressed sakura flowers on these graves, whose stones quickly become overgrown with moss due to the island’s humid climate.
Peleliu is a Micronesian island located about 500 miles east of the Philippines. These days, it’s part of the small cluster of islands that comprise the country of Palau. Palau has been controlled by Japan, Spain, Germany and the United States during its history, but became an independent nation in 1994. Its flag — bright blue with a yellow orb just slightly off center — is nicknamed “happy Japan” by vexillologists, or flag enthusiasts, who think it looks like a brighte