The Devil's Anvil: The Assault on Peleliu

by James H. Hallas

On September 15, 1944, General William Rupertus and the 16,000 Marines of the U.S. 1st Marine Division moved confidently toward Peleliu, an obscure speck of coral island 500 miles east of the Philippines. Though he knew a tough fight awaited him, Rupertus anticipated a quick two-day crush to victory, strengthening Gen. Douglas MacArthur's flank in his drive on the Philippines. Instead, as The Devil's Anvil reveals, American forces struggled desperately for more than two months against 10,000 deeply entrenched Japanese soldiers who had spent six months preparing for the battle. By the time the weary Americans could claim a victory, the fight had become one of the war's most costly successes. Even more tragic, Peleliu was later deemed a more or less unnecessary seizure.

For those who survived, Peleliu remains a bitter, emotionally exhausting chapter of their lives. In The Devil's Anvil , Hallas reports on the personal combat experience of scores of officers and enlisted men who were at Peleliu. These men describe the heartbreaking loss of friends, the pain of wounds, and the heat, dirt, and exhaustion of a fight that never seemed to end.

Genres: World War II, History, Nonfiction, Military Fiction, Military History

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1994

Reviews

[James]

As good an account as any I've read on Peleliu.

[Rich]

Interesting but disjointed read

The author covered the basics of the invasion and taking of Peleliu with numerous stories of individual endeavors. However he jumped around from fight to fight without building a cohesive picture. The maps on the kindle version are next to worthless devoid of detail because of fuzziness and lacking in explanation.

[Douglas]

Very detailed book on the Peleliu campaign. Thoroughly enjoyed it.

[Bill V]

This is the only in depth book I've read on the invasion of Peleliu but I thought it was great. The battle was largely unknown to me. This favorable impression does not mean the book is not without its flaws. The biggest, in my opinion, is the mysterious Admiral Seiichi Itou. There was another admiral by that name but he was never stationed or part of Peleliu. Who this person was is a mystery. Perhaps he did not exist.
Another small problem I have is that there is no list of acronyms and the text uses several different acronyms. I ended up having to research several of them and compile them on a list.
Despite these flaws, the book is very readable; combining a great balance of personal observations and anecdotes with the way the campaign unfolded. There are a handful of maps that although they could be drawn a bit clearer, are very helpful. Following the battle without them would have been very frustrating. I found the contrast between the combat styles used by the Marines and the U.S. Army to be very interesting. The Marines were willing to take more casualties to attain their goals more quickly while the army was more deliberate and less willing to risk the lives of its soldiers.
It is tragic that this essentially unnecessary battle did not garner more attention than it did, although the author offers a few reason why it was so.

[Rbolia]

An nice book on a very interesting battle. There are lots of books on Iwo Jima and Okinawa, but with a very few exceptions (most notably the USMC monograph published not long after the war, which mostly neglects the role of the 81st Infantry Division) there have been no good general histories of the 2-month-long battle for Peleliu. Hallas is a good writer and does a good job covering the campaign from the strategic to the tactical level. I would highly recommend this for anyone wanting to understand the battle - especially the tactical lessons learned (or not learned) which would impact later struggles in the Pacific.

[Tom Hooker]

I chose this book to read because my father was a Marine Corps radioman who participated in the Peleliu action. I'm sure Mr. Hallas has a military background. His book reads like a combined action report for all the units involved in the battle. He covers the events in great detail. However, he provides so much detail that the reader is overwhelmed, and loses his ability to see how the whole thing fits together. The agonizing detail failed to engage this reader.

[Tyler]

A great history of one of the lesser known battles in the Pacific during WWII. It was even more interesting to me because my grandfather was there.

[Madeline]

The battle for Peleliu has a personal note for me. My father was there in WWII and would never speak about it. I am trying to read this book to get a better understanding of him.