Battle of Peleliu

Battle of Peleliu
	Part of the Mariana and Palau Islands campaign of the Pacific Theater (World War II)
	; The first wave of U.S. Marines in LVTs during the invasion of Peleliu on 15 September 1944.
Date	15 September – 27 November 1944; (2 months, 1 week and 5 days)
Location	Peleliu, Palau Islands7°00′N 134°15′E
Result	American victory
Belligerents
United States	Japan
Commanders and leaders
William H. Rupertus; Paul J. Mueller; Roy S. Geiger; Herman H. Hanneken; Harold D. Harris; Lewis B. Puller	Kunio Nakagawa †; Sadae Inoue
Units involved
III Amphibious Corps 1st Marine Division; 81st Infantry Division; Additional support units	Peleliu garrison 14th Infantry Division; 49th Mixed Brigade; 45th Guard Force; 46th Base Force; Additional support units
Strength
47,561	10,900; 17 tanks
Casualties and losses
Total Palau Group; 1,989-2,143 battle deaths; 8,514 wounded and injured; Breakdown by locations Peleliu and Ngesebus Islands 1,573+ battle deaths; 6,531+ wounded and injured; Angaur Island 260+ battle deaths; 1,354+ wounded and injured; Navy (excluding Peleliu Island) 134 battle deaths; 255 wounded; ; Breakdown by service Marines 1,252-1,336 killed, died of wounds, missing presumed dead; ~5,200-5,274 wounded; Army; 542-612 killed, died of wounds, missing; 2,736 wounded and injured; Navy 195 killed and died of wounds; 504 wounded; ;	Total Palau Group 12,033 dead (excluding stragglers); 360 prisoners (excluding stragglers); Breakdown by locations Peleliu and Ngesebus Islands 10,695 dead; 301 prisoners; Angaur Island 1,338 dead; 59 prisoners; ;
	Location within Palau Battle of Peleliu (Asia) Battle of Peleliu (Pacific Ocean)

The Battle of Peleliu, codenamed Operation Stalemate II by the US military, was fought between the United States and Japan during the Mariana and Palau Islands campaign of World War II, from 15 September to 27 November 1944, on the island of Peleliu.

US Marines of the 1st Marine Division and then soldiers of the US Army's 81st Infantry Division fought to capture an airfield on the small coral island of Peleliu. The battle was part of a larger offensive campaign known as Operation Forager, which ran from June to November 1944 in the Pacific Theater.

Major General William Rupertus, the commander of the 1st Marine Division, predicted that the island would be secured within four days. However, after repeated Imperial Japanese Army defeats in previous island campaigns, Japan had developed new island-defense tactics and well-crafted fortifications, which allowed stiff resistance and extended the battle to more than two months. The heavily-outnumbered Japanese defenders put up such stiff resistance, often by fighting to the death in the Japanese Emperor's name, that the island became known in Japanese as the "Emperor's Island."

In the US, it was a controversial battle because of the island's negligible strategic value and the high casualty rate, which exceeded that of all other amphibious operations during the Pacific War. The National Museum of the Marine Corps called it "the bitterest battle of the war for the Marines".

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