ARTICLE: Canned Crab and Suicides Pt.II

Peleliu and a change of tack

Jul 26, 2024

∙ Paid

This is a shortened version of the talk I gave last weekend at We Have Ways Fest 2024. Earlier in the week the first part was all about how over-extended Japan was in 1944, and how the Americans took the Marianas that summer. You can read that for free:

Canned Crab & Suicides Pt.I

Alex Churchill

Jul 23

This is a written, truncated version of the talk I just gave at We Have Ways Fest 4. To mark the 80th anniversary of the end of Japanese ambition in the Pacific, I talked about the critical loss of Saipan, and the change in tactics that was then adopted at Peleliu, making it one of the most hideous experiences in this theatre for the US Marine Corps…

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The second part of the talk was all about how the Japanese then changed their defensive tack by the time the US tried to take the Palaus, specifically Peleliu in September.

(US National World War II Museum)

First though, I need to recap on that bonkers naval battle I mentioned last time. That (not) genius plan the Japanese had to wait for the Americans to approach the Marianas and then lure their naval force out to see for a pitched battle where they would fling the kitchen sink at the enemy. They did this. It’s officially called the Battle of the Philippines Sea, it’s more colloquially known as the Great Mariana’s Turkey Shoot. It happened precisely when the Americans were trying to take Saipan, and it was an epic pratfall for Japan. They lost three of their nine carriers, but far more devastating was the destruction of their air power….

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