![]() ![]() Now, in advance of a planned visit by the emperor and empress to Palau early next month, an international team has been painstakingly searching through some of the 200 long-sealed caves on Peleliu in the hopes of locating the remains of the lost Japanese troops. Two members of this group, both in their 90s, met with Japan’s Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko last month and described their experience during the battle and its aftermath. ![]() In a stunning twist, a group of 35 soldiers survived within the caves of Peleliu, hiding out for some 18 months after the war ended before finally surrendering in April 1947. The bodies of some 2,600 Japanese soldiers were never found. forces exploded the caves during the battle. More than 10,000 soldiers were killed, many of them trapped inside their underground bunkers when U.S. The Japanese, of course, suffered even more casualties in the Battle of Peleliu. As it turned out, Peleliu would ultimately prove to have little strategic importance, and would be remembered as one of the most controversial battles of the war. forces finally secured the island on November 27, after suffering the highest percentage of casualties of any battle in the Pacific: nearly 1,800 killed and 8,000 more wounded. commanders predicted the battle for Peleliu would last only four or five days, it would stretch on for more than two months, as some 11,000 Japanese troops dug in and defended the island against 28,000 Americans. They hunkered down in a vast network of underground caves connected by passageways and tunnels in an attempt to protect themselves from Allied bombardment and bog the enemy down in a protracted conflict that would yield massive casualties. ![]() Having learned from past attacks, however, the island’s Japanese defenders took a new strategy. General Douglas MacArthur had pushed for the amphibious attack on the Japanese-controlled island and its airfield in order to diminish the potential threat to future Allied operations in the Pacific. Marines landed on Peleliu, a volcanic island in the western Pacific ocean measuring only 6 miles long and 2 miles across. One of the costliest battles of World War II began on September 15, 1944, when U.S. ![]()
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