New "The Pacific" Clip

[Ripsnort]

I watched a 30 minute "Making of The Pacific" on HBO the other night. It's basicly 3 different stories that will follow 3 different Marines before, during and after the war. It's not all battle like Band of Brothers. They wanted to show how the war affected these men and their families. The largest segment (4 episodes) will be Peleliu.

Which was another internal war altogether!

[DREDger]

I'm looking forward to this series, the clips look great.

I just finished reading Helmet for My Pillow and also With the Old Breed, the series is based partially on these books, which are first person narratives of Marines in the pacific during WW2.

I'd recommend either book.  Helmet for My Pillow by Robert Leckie is a surprisingly literary book for a first person narrative.  He is not your stereotypical hero type either, he gets in plenty of trouble and ends up thrown in the brig twice.  Both times he is punished with 'bread and water' confinement. (I wonder if the Marines still do that?)  He also has some humorous accounts of scrounging for food or luxuries like cigars or booze, going AWOL to meet is girlfriend, stealing from officers or other units' supply dumps, and exaggerating sickness to get into the hospital.

With the Old Breed by Sledge is very good too.  That account is of Peleliu and Okinawa which were just awful.  Some of the horrors he talks about is how quickly bodies decompose in the tropical heat.  One account is of a Marine diving for cover, only to land on a decomposing Japanese body that explodes in a putrefying mass of maggots and rotting flesh....but then the Marine having to continue to wear the clothes covered in filth for days, as there were no supplies or relief for them.  Another account is when he is ordered to dig a foxhole for his mortar, and digs into a shallow grave of Japanese soldier.  The idiot Sergeant orders him to continue digging in that spot, as the officer had ordered it be placed there.  Sledge rebells and eventually gets to dig in another spot.  On Peleliu the Marines supply screwed up the fresh water supply, putting it in old gasoline drums without cleaning them properly...so all the Marines drinking water had a foul gasoline taste that made them sick, but they had no other choice.

Anyway good reading.

[Gh0stFT]

I'm sure it is well-done and will be a great success, but I really do wish Tom Hanks and company would turn their considerable talents to tell the story of the 8th AF, the 5th AF, RAF, or Luftwaffe airmen with the same intensity and realism that they devote to the soldiers.   It would be incredible, and there are so many dramatic events to be portrayed in the air war - Ploesti, Schweinfurt, the air battles over New Guinea, defense of the Reich, etc.   Would even love to see an even-handed treatment of the AVG...

i second that, but please no super modern CGI like in Pearl Harbour, all this 3rd person views while flying is like watching a Playstation 3 game.
Something like the old "Battle of Brittain" but directed from Tom Hanks & Spielberg, it would be awesome.

R
Gh0stFT

[Angus]

Was Palau more bloody than IWO, or Okinawa?
Knew an old Marine that was there, he said it was a complete terror. I think he was later at Saipan.

[DREDger]

Was Palau more bloody than IWO, or Okinawa?
Knew an old Marine that was there, he said it was a complete terror. I think he was later at Saipan.

Not in terms of deaths or casualties, Okinawa and Iwo Jima were more bloody.  However on Peleliu the casualty rate was higher (wounded or killed in relation to troops participating) I think.

[oakranger]

Was Palau more bloody than IWO, or Okinawa?
Knew an old Marine that was there, he said it was a complete terror. I think he was later at Saipan.

It was my understanding that Palau was the most bloodiest battle.  That may be do to the fact that:1) the island was only 3 square miles, 2) U.S said that they would take the island in four days, but end up taken 2 months, 3) we only used 1 marine division thinking that it would be a easy taken, but they where later relived by Army 81st, 4) The Japanese where well-fornicated and stiff resistance and 5) it is a controversial debate whether if it was worth of U.S. lives for such a small island that had no meaningful purpose in the war.

IWO and Okinawa did have a much high death rate.
 

[DREDger]

It was my understanding that Palau was the most bloodiest battle.  That may be do to the fact that:1) the island was only 3 square miles, 2) U.S said that they would take the island in four days, but end up taken 2 months, 3) we only used 1 marine division thinking that it would be a easy taken, but they where later relived by Army 81st, 4) The Japanese where well-fornicated and stiff resistance and 5) it is a controversial debate whether if it was worth of U.S. lives for such a small island that had no meaningful purpose in the war.

IWO and Okinawa did have a much high death rate.
 

I did a wiki search and found:

Okinawa:  50,000 casualties  12,000 KIA (approx)
Iwo Jima:  26,038 casulaties  6,821 KIA
Peleliu:       8,000 casulaties  1,700 KIA (approx)

But yeah, I think because there was only one marine division, the casualty rate was so much higher as a percentage of those who participated in the batte.

[oakranger]

I did a wiki search and found:

Okinawa:  50,000 casualties  12,000 KIA (approx)
Iwo Jima:  26,038 casulaties  6,821 KIA
Peleliu:       8,000 casulaties  1,700 KIA (approx)

But yeah, I think because there was only one marine division, the casualty rate was so much higher as a percentage of those who participated in the batte.

I wonder if they look at the size of the battlefield that determines how bad it was too.  If you look at the map of the island, it is so small that you would question, "how could this little island served U.S in the war?".  And for such a small island, only 3 square miles if i am not mistaking, why did it took 2 months?  We could have bombed the hell out of it or shell it too. 

[Stoney]

I wonder if they look at the size of the battlefield that determines how bad it was too.  If you look at the map of the island, it is so small that you would question, "how could this little island served U.S in the war?".  And for such a small island, only 3 square miles if i am not mistaking, why did it took 2 months?  We could have bombed the hell out of it or shell it too. 

If you combine the Japanese and U.S. KIA on Iwo, you have one body for every square yard of Iwo Jima.  Furthermore, (I'll probably miss these numbers a bit) since its inception in 1775, the USMC has suffered a little over 40,000 KIA.  Almost 7,000 of those occurred on Iwo.  It took 4 divisions roughly 30 days to secure an island 5 miles long, and 3 miles at its widest point. 

Just some stats for discussion.

[oakranger]

If you combine the Japanese and U.S. KIA on Iwo, you have one body for every square yard of Iwo Jima.  Furthermore, (I'll probably miss these numbers a bit) since its inception in 1775, the USMC has suffered a little over 40,000 KIA.  Almost 7,000 of those occurred on Iwo.  It took 4 divisions roughly 30 days to secure an island 5 miles long, and 3 miles at its widest point. 

Just some stats for discussion.

OK, Palaiu was a hell lot smaller in size.  so...........i am lost now.   

[DREDger]

If you combine the Japanese and U.S. KIA on Iwo, you have one body for every square yard of Iwo Jima.  Furthermore, (I'll probably miss these numbers a bit) since its inception in 1775, the USMC has suffered a little over 40,000 KIA.  Almost 7,000 of those occurred on Iwo.  It took 4 divisions roughly 30 days to secure an island 5 miles long, and 3 miles at its widest point. 

Just some stats for discussion.

Being an engineer of course I had to check your math, slightly off I think.

I read that Iwo Jima is 8 square miles, and that equates to 24,780,800 square yards.

So, if there were approximately 25,000 combined killed on the island, that would be one body for every 100 square yards.

Still though, when you think about it.  Create a grid over that entire island, 10 yards by 10 yards, and you could place one soul in each.

[Saxman]

The Japanese where well-fornicated and stiff resistance

 

[trax1]

4) The Japanese where well-fornicated and stiff resistance
 

Haha, didn't catch that, funny.

[oakranger]

Haha, didn't catch that, funny.

 , i just did after he posted that.  Man, i am such a dork.

[rogwar]

Kinda hard to compare them since they all were pretty much hell on earth.