Battle of Kwajalein 1944 - Applying Lessons Learned
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 26 ต.ค. 2021
- From January 31st until February 4th, 1944, men of the 4th Marine and the 7th Infantry Division fought the battle to take the islands of the Kwajalein Atoll on Marshall Islands.
This video provides a detailed description of the events, with original combat footage taken during the battles of Roi-Namur and Kwajalein Island.
If you like the video, please consider subscribing to the channel.
/ @fromthebattlefields
If you want to support the channel, gain access to extra content and source footage used for this video, please consider joining my Patreon page: / fromthebattlefields
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Lived on Kwajalein as a kid in 68/69 and I love coming across video's like this. A super nice but recently-passed neighbor was with the Marines on the invasions of Tarawa, Tinian, and Saipan. He told me that after a couple years knowing him when I told him I'd lived on Kwajalein as a kid. I was 40-ish years old when he told me that (and I'd heard about those battles...and I just never asked anything more). He wasn't a cook or CB coming in a couple weeks later...all three assaults (and maybe others) he was in it! Living in the sand, following orders, trying to stay alive and take ground. When he told me those three island names I was speachless! I never knew he was in the war or had gone through anything like that. And 10's of thousands of others went through the same! The Greatest Generation!
In 1982 I was sent there for a week for repairs on a missile tracking ship. It took 3 days to get from San Francisco to Honolulu to Johnson Atol to Majuro then to Kwajalein and I was dead tired, jet lagged, and just wanted to sleep. The Navy guy kept saying something about a mistake. I didn't care. I just wanted to sleep. I was in a barracks that seemed completely abandoned so I took a shower in the big group shower room the next morning. Along came a female Ensign and she was screaming at me and had the Shore Patrol come and arrest me. I got to the Base Commander's office where he apologized profusely. They got my name wrong and put me in the Female Batchelor's Officer's Quarters. I think what really set her off was when I turned around and said ''DO YOU MIND IF I GET THE SOAP OFF OF THIS FIRST???'' while twirling my junk. They assigned my to the crowded Men's BOQ where my room mate snored and farted all night long all week. The sunlight was so intense that I could not even look at the beach without dark sunglasses on.
My dad, a Navy Chief, and my mom lived on Kwajalein for a year, 1947 - 1948. Being married, they had a fresh water shower in their hut. Enlisted men took salt water showers. My dad let a select few enlisted to shower in their hut. I have a large box of shells my mom collected in that year.
@@dougs2747 We must have four or five coffee cans full of shells. I remember dad just buried them in the sand and let the critters in the ground clean out the shells. Also a huge 10' wide grass mat with palm tree, a handmade ~16" model of a Polynesian outrigger boat with sail, various Monkeywood? carvings, a temple... And so many wonderful memories. Always barefoot, always swiimming... Dad was there helping them put in a desalination plant for the island. It was during the ABM testing (Nike-X and Nike-Zeus at the time) and those were fascinating to this kid. The whole island shook when one of those launched! Edits: Sea-shells...Nike-Zeus and Spartan.
@@kimmer6 Too funny :-) I think our first flights over were in a DC-6 to Honolulu and then direct? to Kwaj. Later trips were in a 707. Ma said I loved crawling around in the isle so I could look up the stewardess' skirts.
I want to tell all of you who shared - thank you ! I was born and raised in Missouri and have traveled very little . Reading these gave me a glimpse into your world -thank you ! And I want to tell all service members thank you . You have my respect and gratitude . I did not serve but If I may share this , like most boys I loved playing with my "army men " ....had thousands of them . Birthdays, Christmas that's all I wanted . Had everything you can imagine - Navarone playset complete with mountain, every tank , truck , jeep, artillery ,etc I could get my hands on . As I got older - say 10-15 the Civil War took my attention . I would "reenact "battles ....I would have my army men sorted out into brigades - divisions-corps !!! J.E.B.Stuart, Hooker, Ewell, Stoneman, A.P.hill, Burnside, etc Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg ......my mom n sister hated winter time when I couldn't be outside because I would have ever cassette tape ,domino game , etc every bottle ;medicine, hairspray, ketchup, shampoo, etc using them with my Legos to build fortifications, trees, hills , etc .....hell I am almost embarrassed to admit I still did this occasionally even after I got married !!! Wife (ex) loved it !!!! Then again maybe she didn't?? Anyway - thanks for sharing your memories I really enjoyed reading them .
My dad was part of the 7th ID. He said the Island was so small there was not enough room to bury the Japanese dead. The bodies were loaded on landing craft and dumped out at sea. But the sailors didn't go out far enough and the swollen and bloated bodies drifted back with the tide.
My Mom's Uncle, Sgt. Rudy Meyer died on the third day of Kwajalein apparently by a Japanese sniper. He was a big 'ol moose of a farm-boy, like me, and died moving forward and fighting. Thanks Uncle Rudy, may you rest in peace.😔
The sergeants did a lot of the heavy lifting on Kwajalein. One sergeant with one or two men would assault one dugout at a time in their front, while rest of the squad formed a firing line and provided covering fire. No doubt Uncle Rudy was killed doing an assault on a defensive position. If you'd like to learn more about what Uncle Rudy experienced, check out the amazing book Island Victory: The Battle of Kwajalein Atoll
@@pizzafrenzyman Very Cool! Thank you!
I was a police officer on Kwajalein in the mid 80's. Every time there was construction I would have to gather up the bones they uncovered. They were then sent to Hawaii to determine USA or Japanese. While they were working on the runway the workers knocked off the top of a case of mortar shells. I had to stand there until an Army explosives expert would come and take them away. From time to time kids would find grenades or ammo washed up on a beach. The explosives were taken to an outer island and exploded.
My great grandfather was base commander at kwajalein in 1945, Cmdr. Murray Decker. Always interesting to learn more about such a small and often overlooked part of the pacific campaign.
I had the misfortune to have to layover at Kwaj about 15 years ago after our ferry flight out had to be cancelled because of an airport closure at PTPN. Kwaj is a fascinating place but the new Bucholz Army Airfield commander refused us access to everything except the "7-11" store (beer and chips for supper). I pretty sure your ancestor would not have approved of her too.
My dad was a SeaBee, built barracks on Kwajalein’44-‘45
The courage it took for those young men in the landing craft is astonishing.
Fun fact about this battle a Japanese imperial family member Prince Tadahiko Asaka died fighting on Kwajalein at just 30 years old as his death was reported February 6th 1944 by the Japanese government. He was the son of Yasuhiko Asaka who also fought in WW2. He was serving with the 6th Base Force as an officer.
That IS a fun fact. I'm glad at least ome member of the Emperor's family paid the price of the war they started.
@@hurdygurdyman1905 actually if you read into the imperial family tree the whole tree specifically the cadet branches many of the men served and thought in ww2. I do know that 1 more of the cadet families sons died in the Dutch East Indies if I recall in an aviation accident or dog fight. If I find his name I’ll reply back with more details on it.
@@scarletcrusade77 thanks
@@hurdygurdyman1905 Did a bit of digging and found 2 other Imperial royal family members who died in active service during WW2. They are as follows
Prince Hirohide Fushimi - During World War II, on 21 August 1943 while serving with the IJN 3rd Combined Communications Brigade, he was killed in action when his aircraft was shot down over the Gulf of Boni, Sulawesi in the Netherlands East Indies.
Prince Nagahisa Kitashirakawa - After the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War, the Prince was assigned to the North China Area Army. However, on 14 September 1940, Captain Prince Kitashirakawa died in an airplane crash while on duty in Mengjiang, thus becoming the first member of the Imperial Family killed in World War II .
Thanks very interesting
I was a Marine back in the 90s. I was an Amtracker (AAV crewman). This stuff fascinates me. Very detailed and the old footage is great. Thanks.
Edit: An AAV or Assault Amphibious Vehicle is a modern version of an LVT. Our job was what this video is about. For those who didn't know what I was talking about.👍
Could you imagine having to storm a well defended island, defended by determined fighters like Japanese were, in your slow moving, thin AAV? Haha man, that would suck. Debatably worst than just being a grunt on the beach hah. ;)
@@jonny-b4954 For sure. What a freaking nightmare. They are pretty awesome vehicles, but definitely have some weaknesses. I'll tell you what, on a cold, wet, bug infested field opp, looking out of my turret at a grunt laying in the mud. Never once did I say to myself "those guys got it made".
Besides, if we do miraculously make it to the beach, those guys have to get out and run toward that machine-gun fire.
@@ericnortan9012 Hahah true true. Pros and cons, pros and cons to everything in life. Reckon it depends if that defended position only has MG's or some direct fire pieces set up. Still, what a hell of Hell, do we even make anti tank, direct fire guns anymore?
@@jonny-b4954 As far as I know we do. I got out in 94 . It is definitely a different type of force now than 25 years ago.
Excellent. Detailed, but not tedious. Gives clear understanding of what happened and how it happened.
Thank you! I'm trying to create the story of an event instead of only listing the facts.
After the islands were secure the Marine Corsair Squadron the Fighting 311 (AKA Hell's Belles) established an airbase on Roi-Namor. My dad was stationed on Roi as a metalsmith (and doubled as a nose art artist) repairing damage on returning Corsairs.
1956-1957 started 1st grade on Kwaj. Air Force dependent. Arrived on USS Shanks from San Fransisco to Hawaii to Kwajalein. Was honored as a Son of Neptune for crossing the International Dateline. Moved to Suffolk county AFB Long Island, NY, to Laredo AFB TEXAS, to Hickam AFB HAWAII from 1960 - 65. 10 different schools in 10 different towns in elementary school. Learned a hell of a lot about people and the world. Great adventure!
A fellow AF brat, cool, my story sounds a lot like yours and pretty much the same time frame.
My dad was a Seabee in the 92nd NCB. He served at Kwajalein, Saipan, and Tinian. It was only shortly before his death in 2009 that he mentioned he did the surveying for the atomic bomb pits and ramps on Tinian where they loaded the atomic bombs on the Enola Gay and Bock's car.
Maybe Gen. Berger should watch before he finishing getting rid of all Marine amphibious armor. He already got rid of all USMC tanks.
My dad's troop ship stopped in Kwajalein en route to the Philippines. He said the invasion naval gunfire had removed just about all of the trees, so the island was just six feet of bare land sticking out of the ocean.
I was on Kwajalein on a ship repair assignment in 1982. My dad was there in 1944 and said that the big joke was that ''There's a girl behind every palm tree''. When the newbies got there, there were no trees at all left standing. In 1982, there were plenty of them. I found a crushed 30:06 brass case in the sand there and brought it home. I heard that there were troop transports knows as The Dirty Dozen. Do you remember the name of the ship he was on?
@@kimmer6 Regrettably, no, and we lost him in 2017. It might be somewhere among papers family members retained, or on a manifest at the National Archives.
The rumor on the island in the mid-50's was that one tree survived. When I was there plenty had regrown.
I was 6 years old in 1956 and lived on Kwaj for 18 months with my sailor dad. There was still evidence of the battle with small arms ammo and the occasional grenade and mortar rounds found on the beach. There is a fine monograph by SLA Marshall entitled ' The Battle at the Pig Pen ' on nearby Ebeye Island.
Ken, We may have known each other back then. I lived there in '55-'56. Did you go to the school? My mom, Dorothy Green, ws the principal.
@@leegreen6723 Lee, good to hear from you. I remember going to school on Kwaj, but my memory has no details. My mother was a Christian lady and I am recall her and me and my brothers taking a Navy small boat with a ramp to Eybye to carry gifts and necessities to the native Islanders. I especially remember a lady missionary arriving at Kwaj in a schooner named ' The Morning Star '. I saw a picture of a memorial to a lady missionary on a Kwaj video...maybe that was her. I have so many memories...the island was a paradise for me and my brothers, being 5,6, and seven years old. Do you remember the outdoor theatre? I could go on and on! Reply back please...
@@keystoneken5032 Ken, I have very fond memories of that theater. It is still in use. Great memories, wearing a poncho and sitting in the rain 'cause that was the only place to see a movie and they weren't shown for weeks and weeks. You went when it was there or missed it completely. Especially remember my dad's laugh ringing out over the bleachers/seats and people saying, "Well, the Chief is here". He especially liked the Looney Tunes Cartoons with Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote being his favorite. I understand the open air church is also still in use.
Did you ever ride the fire hose when they drained and refilled the Enlisted Men's Pool with ocean water? How about going to the bowling alley and watching the enlisted guys doing the pin setting to make a few extra dollars? How about swimming in the giant bomb crater that had been blasted into the corral reef on the ocean side? Our house, one of the few two-story houses on the island, was close to it. I've seen it in a couple of TH-cam videos and it was once shown in an overhead view on the front cover of National Geographic when it did an article on the Marshall's. Were you lucky enough to inherit an island dog? We were. His name was Sam and he came with the house. And the Luau's were great, though I never managed to acquire a taste for Poi
Sounds like you went to Ebeye on a landing craft, probably a Higgins type. They were small and had a front ramp. We went there once on an LST, a much larger landing craft, with many of the Kwaj residents for a day's outing at the Marshallese village there. My mom hired a young native girl named Tatina (sp?) who cleaned our house and we spent the day with her family. They fed us and the village had a festival with foot races and other contests.
We had a Tidal Wave (now called Tsunami) scare while there. With a median elevation just above sea level it had everyone on edge. Turned out to only be a foot or so higher than the normal wave action.
Kwaj was one of the best places I've ever lived. I have a huge shell collection from there and many other reminders.
@@leegreen6723 Lee, sorry it took me a few days to answer. This conversation with you has been a shock and wonderful surprise. I never thought I would be sharing this part of my life with anyone other than my two brothers...my parents have passed, but how I wish that I had pressed them for more details of our life there. One doesn' know the questions to ask until it is too late to ask. Your messages have stirred an existential whirlwind and I find myself looking back over the years and wondering where it all went. Please forgive me for sounding lost, but this is flooding over me in a strange way. I will finish this when I can collect my thoughts as it sounds as if our paths may well have crossed. I'll finish my note tomorrow perhaps. My friend, this is extraordinary. Thank you.
@@keystoneken5032 Yea, it's pretty amazing hearing from someone who was there when I was. Been commenting on Kwaj videos for some time now hoping for such a connection. I'm the last pf my family to still be on the right side of the lawn. Are your brothers older than you? If so, perhaps they remember my brother, Len.
Here's some other memories for you.
Riding the shuttle bus because there were no private cars allowed. The island is so small you could walk anywhere in a few minutes anyway.
The school dress code being very lax. The island is close to the equator so the girls only needed a top and shorts; the boys only needed shorts. No shoes were needed.
On the subject of shoes we mostly wore "go-aheads" (now called "flip-flops"). They were called that because of the difficulty walking backwards in them. After a while you really didn't even need them as your feet got so callused you could walk around barefoot with no trouble.
Being taken out of school for half a day every week for swimming lessons; it is an island after all and the Navy wanted all the kids to be as safe as possible. There really weren't any swimming, or even sunbathing, beaches on either side of the island. The school was a three room thing with mixed grade classes. As I remember it, one room at a time went for the lessons. The Enlisted Men's pool was used.
And lastly, for this message at least, remember the closets all having low watt light bulbs constantly on? Mildew was a problem because of the humidity and the light kept clothes and, especially, regular shoes from being destroyed by it.
Looking forward to your reply.
very well done, the inclusion of maps helps the viewer to see daily advances. thank you
Thank you!
I like the way this series of battles in the Pacific is presented. Easy to understand and digest. The maps definitely help but the pace of the narration is superb.
nice video, well put together and very factual. (Get the voice sorted when you can, it's the only thing that lets it down). 'From the Battlefields' is going on my favourites list
Thank you, I'm aware that voice should be better. I'll see what I can do.
20 plus years ago I had a 3 week temp job replacing a guy who was on leave. It was so nice and peaceful its hard to believe the carnage that was once there. I worked on the west end of the island and could not have conceived of it being the site of RED 1 and 2
Excellent content. This video and channel deserves the views!!
Thank you!
I grew up there from 2012-2019! What a great video! Seeing stuff like this makes me happy :)
Thank you!
Excellent content with this documentary. I’ll be looking for more.
Thanks!
This is a great video on the campaign - problem is that the maps were made with Post-War maps / modern maps versus period accurate battle maps. Also a note - if you see checkered flags on the backs of soldiers - that's the US Army 7th infantry on Kwajalein vs the 4th Marine Division on Roi-Namur who are in the camo covered helmets.
I lived and worked on Kwaf from 90 - 93.
Really appreciate the story telling in this whole series. The background with the strategic overview helps set the scene, and the discussion on how the tactics evolved from hard lessons learned at previous battles isn't something i knew or heard about before. Subscribed and looking forward to seeing additional videos in the future.
Thank you very much!
My dad was stationed at this air field sometime after the battle. Marine aircraft mechanic
My father was there as ground crew with the Army Air Corp. Loaded bombs on B-24s. I wonder if your’s and mine ever crossed paths.
@@robertbeirne9813 Maybe 🤔 my dad was marine. Working mostly on F4U fighters
@@tommcqueeney6774 your dad could never have imagined a tv character depicting his job. God bless them both, happy New Year.
@@robertbeirne9813 ya I remember that show. He watched it never really said much about it. Show wasn't bad
He may have met my great grandfather, Murray T. Decker. He was the base commader from 1945 to the end of the war.
Always informative, thanks
Thanks for watching!
Thanks, interesting presentation,
You are welcome!
Boats i recognized: LCM-3 ( landing craft mechanized, with the grate on the ramp); LCVP (landing craft vehicle personnel); and LCP (landing craft personnel, with out ramps. )
My dad flew as an RNZAF Air Gunner on recon missions throughout 44-45 in the South Pacific. He never talked much about it. Just said “ it needed to be done “ , got shot up and had burnt feet. Crazy to think all those young men willingly risked all to save the western world
I great range of helmets illustrated here in the footage. Nets, a zig zag paint 16:31, and the USMC 1st version (“third” type 'Frogskin' ) helmet covers.
Throwing a satchel charge into an ammo storage, that's a mistake you are only going to make once.
😂
Yeah, that made one hell of an explosion!
Great videos
Thanks!
Thank - you.
My father in law Melvin Francis Wampler was on Roi Island. He took several pictures.
When the enemy shows up on the doorstep of your homeland with 11 aircraft carriers and they're using your fortified outposts as a training exercise for their greenhorns, you know you're screwed at that point.
No. No, not really.
Amazing how the Japanese were willing to sacrifice their resources for no gain. Very poor top command.
@@rogersmith7396 The Japanese plans for the war were generally haphazard and poorly coordinated. The IJA and IJN were fighting the war separately and with different objectives, often getting in each other's way and seldom coordinating their efforts. The main source of their successes was from the fact that they were fanatical fighters, and their enemies grossly underestimated Japanese military build up in the 20's and 30's so when the Japanese finally moved on the Pacific, nobody was in any situation to confront them.
The entire reason for the attack on Pearl Harbor was an attempt to avoid war with the US so they could solidify their holdings in Asia without having to worry about a threat from across the ocean. They never considered that it wouldn't work. That didn't work out so well for them in the end. In fact, most of their tactical and strategic plans relied on the enemy acting in a specific way.
@@tjsogmc Well they were easily the most powerful Asian country and they appear to mainly wanted to conquer Asia. They seemed to discount the US would really care that much about it. They got a lot of islands after WWI and I have read they actually integrated them into the Japanese economy via the Koppra trade. No one else ever had. They also have considered Hawaii to be naturally one of their islands. My trip there found lots of Japanese and not very pleasant ones either. I wonder if there had been no attack on Pearl or the Phillipines if the US really would have cared much.
@@rogersmith7396 The US probably wouldn't have take too much of an interest in that region without the invasion of the Philippines. They probably would have come to some kind of non-aggression pact and left Asia for the Asians to deal with. The US at that time was still trying to maintain neutrality and the only reason they had a presence in that region was to support the UK, which resulted in the US helping with a blockade of resources that the Japanese needed to conduct their operations.
But the negotiations for that agreement failed, and the rest as they say, is history.
The convention is “25th Marines”, not “25th Marine” (this is one example). Occasionally the computer narrator adds the “s” but most often doesn’t.
Lee Marvin was in army 4 that did all the amphibious landings on the islands there.
Great episode. Sadly, the US Navy never learned how ineffective its bombardment was. It sounds like all it did was raise morale of the landing troops (until they realized once ashore that the enemy was fully capable). Even at Iwo Jima and Okinawa in 1945, naval bombardment was almost useless at incapacitating the defenders and never once interrupted their planned defense (except at Tarawa, where the communications lines were all severed, and that might have saved the landing on the first night from Japanese banzai counter-attack).
Near the end of this video in the "Lessons Learned" part, the narrator says that the pre-invasion bombardment and air strikes killed at least 50% of Japanese personnel. Japanese resistance would have been much tougher. Perhaps it wasn't totally ineffective.
I think you may be thinking about Iwo Jima and you're probably right in this case. However, Iwo Jima defenses were pretty well dug in. Their tunnels were so deep and extensive that bombs in those days just didn't have the capacity to destroy them. As the narrator says at the end though, that by applying lessons learned from Tarawa in this battle Navy bombardment, artillery, and air attacks combined to kill 50%-75% of the enemy before the landing. I wouldn't call that ineffective.
The Japanese later did not bother to try and defend beaches but dug in underground, away from where the beach landings were set to take place. Both sides learned and changed tactics as the war went on. But the Japanese late war strategy was adopted because they realized they could not win any of the island battles but only make things more difficult casualty wise. It was a nihilistic strategy. Iwo likely would have been bypassed had the Navy realized the extent of the caves and defenses. Okinawa was a much bigger island. The Japanese put their entire army in one section of the island that they thought was the most defensible and waited.
...i see some of the comments.
All i can say is that i got drunk off my ass on this island in 07 with my Marine fast platoon. Then flew out the next day and slept on cargo pallets.
Short but memorable.
You could really feel the isolated nature of the place.
I was born on kwajalein 1955 I have an engraved coconut with kwajalein 1944 on it pretty cool
Dear From the Battlefields, could you please continue your great presentation of WWII in the Pacific through the remainder of the war with battles like: Saipan & the Battle of the Philippine Sea (June 15, 1944, Saipan, Guam, and Tinian, the Marianas), Guam & Tinian (Marianas) (July 21, July 24, 1944 respectively), Competing Strategies & Peleliu (September 15, 1944, Palau Islands), Battle of Leyte Gulf (October 20, 1944, eastern Philippines), Return to the Philippines, Battle of Iwo Jima, Okinawa?
Sure. Saipan, Tinian, and Guam are on my to-do list for this year. I hope in the next few months these videos would be on YT.
@@FromtheBattlefields I saw you had a Patreon account and joined and it unlocked THE MARIANAS - PART I - SAIPAN that I asked for you to do. Thanks!
Going into 1944 and knowing the possibility of the Atomic Bomb there was never any consideration as to the target other than "Japanese targets" as this very well presented series proved out. The US Navy would quickly lose its Fleet after discovering just how ineffective it was at doing its job of landing Marines and annihilating the enemies of their US Marine Corps.
nice
Thanks!
That place had one helluva harbor.
I know that US army forces in Europe during world war II we're not rated very highly and thought to be very dependent on air power and overwhelming artillery fire. I've wondered before but it strikes me now watching this video how different the perception might have been if the Marines had been the dominant U.S. Force in Europe instead of the US army. I do think that the United States army was underrated but obviously suffered from a lack of experience that all other troops in that theater had. It's not exactly an even playing field.
Despite the superficial doctrinal differences, the Marines were no less dependent on supporting arms than the Army. The only major difference being that the biggest guns the Army had was the 155mm, whereas Marines had 16-inch guns provided by the Navy as well as their own dedicated CAS.
In actuality the perception of American ground forces relying solely on supporting arms to win the day is an overemphasized half-truth. Especially considering that any army with sufficient airpower and artillery would make better use of those arms than their opponents - just as the Germans and Japanese had done early in the war. That of course doesn't mean their infantry was weak or inexperienced. It just means they have better combined arms capabilities and know how to use them. US infantry, Army or Marine, were more than capable of fighting in less favorable conditions.
@@redaug4212 there's always going to be the perception that American soldiers were less skilled and over reliant on the help of air and artillery. I think the best comparison is the American soldier of 1943 to the American soldier of 1944. It's experience that really makes the US army into a complete fighting force and it definitely shows in the performance of the United States army in places like North Africa early on versus their performance pushing the German army back to their borders. I personally think that the Marines were the better fighting force but that could be debated forever.
@@bookaufman9643 That perception only seems to exist because many people have bought into the circular belief that the more an army utilizes its material and support then the less skilled the army must be. Because if they were a skilled army, then they wouldn't otherwise be using vast quantities of material and support. And since the US military was the best at providing material and support, then it stands to reason they had some of the worst soldiers. Only that entire logic is based purely on an assumption - as if an army can't have both strong combined arms and quality soldiers.
US Army training during WWII was designed to cover every aspect of warfare, including small unit tactics. The reason we see so much artillery in use by the Army in Europe isn't because Army units can't fight Germans any other way. It's because European battlefields are usually most suited for artillery. Had Marines been the dominant American force in Europe, then nothing would change in that regard. Moreover, if the Marines had become the new American army in Europe, then that's exactly what they would become - an army. I think we tend to forget that the Army was nearly 20x larger than the Marine Corps during WWII. Any perceived superiority the Marines had over the Army is only owed to the modest size of the service. Not having to worry about mobilizing 12 million men means the focus of Marine leadership is gracefully limited to training an elite handful of divisions and perfecting their amphibious doctrine while the Navy and the Army take care of strategy, operational planning, logistics, as well as training their own personnel.
@@redaug4212 I'm only stating the argument I do not agree with it. I would only rate United States forces lower in world war II because of lack of experience and in the case of the Germans and to a lesser extent the Japanese there was also a lifelong military training under the banner of organizations like the Hitler youth. Obviously if you do something 25 times you are going to be far better at it when you have to do it for a 26th time.
@@bookaufman9643 I think a military is only as good as the apparatus supporting it. Germany and Japan went to war on the naive assumption that quick decisive victories would force unprepared armies to capitulate. Neither nation was actually equipped to win a real war against committed opponents. While attrition degraded everything from logistics to quality of training for the Wehrmacht, Allied nations were only improving every aspect of their armies.
Training 25 times means nothing if you're too tired to do it the 26th. That alone is why the US had a better army imo. The Dupuy Institute's recent study on the Ardennes offensive shows as much, with US forces enjoying a 2.6-1 combat effectiveness ratio over the Germans.
He is a US Marine. He won't cry.
I cry for him.
I see what you did there.
Such a shame when you use the wrong stock footage such as at 1:46 which is clear by the Wildcat's early war roundel
There was only one tree left standing on Kwaj.
my Dad took out some bunkers at the end of the runway with rockets from his TBF Avenger. He almost got blown up by bombers above him dropping payload
13:31 does anyone know why they are wearing those Black and White Squares on their backs?
Actually, these are red and white squares. This recognition system was used only on Kwajalein to avoid casualties caused by friendly fire, primarily during air attacks.
@@FromtheBattlefields Thanks for replying, keep up the good work, I'll be staying tuned to your uploads 👍
The English accent is pretty convincing for a robot.
such an overkill ammount of means deployed to take a 28000men garrison already half cutted from mainland
it is so sad that countries can not just stay within their own country and they want to conquer and we as a great country try to help those countries the cost our men die and families lose their dad or mom we always say this is the last war or conflict but it never ends let's hope and pray that day comes and we do not have to fight other peoples wars just because we are a strong country that is we try and assist those countries being attacked
Tare- Ah- Wah
Or even with a hard R
Tar- ah- wah
Or am I wrong and pronounced it wrong my whole life? Hearing it however he said it made me want to pull my hair out.
is this the same narrator of that 90s PC tie fighter piloting game? has to be.
The environmental damage was immense.
The narrator sounds like Boris Karloff.
What’s with the computerized voice?
Currently is either that or subtitles.
My dad was there we two
Any defense that results in KIAs is a "serious defense".
I do kind of agree, even one marine who is KIA is one man less in the army of millions with his own life and emotions and Japanese were killing them by the thousands.
What a dreadful voice for this presentation.
He sounds as if he's bored to tears and ready to fall asleep.
IF THEY WERE TO APPLY WHAT WAS LEARNT THEN WE WOULD HAVE NEVER HAD ANOTHER WAR
TAR-a-wa; eni-WE-tok; KWA-ja-lin. I don't mean to sound like a grammar-nazi, just that my father LANDED on three of those islands (not Tarawa), and it annoys me terribly to hear a Brit "computer-voice mispronounce those names. Especially, as I am a former Marine, those names matter to us, and American dead are BURIED on some of those islands...STILL. Just sayin'.😍🇺🇸
Semper Fi
Thank you for your service. Had the PLEASURE of living/working on Kwajalein from 89-90. Reminiscing now, seriously!
Good video, pity about the computer generated commentary, pronunciation is abysmal
Well, this is the best I can do at this moment.
My dad was with the V amphibious group, landing Marines, on Betio, Kwajalein & Saipan. Was online for the invasion of Japan, fortunately the war ended.
When it came to the battles in the Pacific there seem to be three kinds. The first kind was the coral atolls and those are so problematic because of the cave systems the other really troublesome kinds were the heavy jungle ones were tanks couldn't really get moving and the world tons of places to hide and a lot of the soldiers got sick and trench foot etcetera. Where the Marines really were able to do their best work or the flatter islands that had decent road networks. And those they got tanks moving and soldiers moving and they just completely dominated. Kwajalein is definitely one of the last ones and the Marines did an incredible job. It reminds me a lot of tinian which has the same kind of setup and even though there was a few more problems on 10 a.m. it was still a an acceptable death rate compared to later nightmares or even earlier nightmares like Okinawa or Iwo Jima. no matter what type of fighting they had to do the Marines always found a way to get it done but some of them we're bloody nightmares that had death rates that were just far too high. These were the ones that also took a very long time to say that they were under control because there were so many hidden Japanese soldiers waiting for Marines to pass them by unknowingly and then take them out by hand grenade or shots from behind the Marines were definitely America's best fighting force and if we could have somehow had enough of those guys to use them in Europe I think we could have been in Germany a month or two earlier. This is not a diss on the army but the Marines were very specialized while the army contained a great variety of which some of them were fantastic and others maybe not so much😊
Kwajalein (the island) was taken by the US Army, not the Marine Corps. The Marines managed Roi-Namur at the northern end of the atoll. As far as the fighting done by the Army's 7th Infantry Division went, yes, they performed remarkably well. Only Marine General Holland Smith had mud to sling at the Army after the battle; saying they were too slow and claiming their share of the fighting was easy compared to the Marines on Roi-Namur, which Army General Charles Corlett promptly quashed in front of correspondents by pointing out that Smith wasn't even on the island during the fighting.
whats up with that robotic voiceover ? sounds so artificial to my ear. but dont get me wrong, this is not a complain, cause the informative value of the video highly beats this weirdo voice :) peace my friend and thank you for the effort. live long and prosper ;)
Trust me, it is much better than my voice. Thank you for your support.
The Rock Rats put together a book with hundreds of photos. 14 lbs of bombs were dropped for every sq. Ft of Kwaj, there is a photo of "the Lone Palm" that was left standing just one
My son has my copy, would be great if a copy was included shown as a 100 % accurate way of showing what went down there. The book was produce by the people who lived, and fought there.
It seems strange to me that whoever made that map of the Kwajalein still used a Japanese style/ Islander style font in their spellings of all of the different Island groups and lagoons etc. It kind of presupposes that this is a Japanese territory. It's not a big deal I just find it a little strange.
I enjoy these videos for their content, but the voiceover is bizarre. Machine generated? There are lots and lots of extra "the"s thrown in where they shouldn't be (copyright?) and the script seems written by either an algorithm or a non-native speaker. I often have to bail out of watching because I can't stand all the creepy, incorrect inflections, bad grammar, etc. Most of the VO is surprisingly lifelike, but the exceptions are so glaring they generally spoil the experience. Please improve, your videos are better than most.
Thank you for your kind words. Your comment is very encouraging and gives me motivation for further work.
It's teh-ruh-wuh not te-ra-wa.
Interesting details but the robovoice is absolutely awful.
It is a shame that the narrator speaks like a robot. His phrasing is extremely poor, and it sometimes sounds as though he does not understand the script.
Well, actually, it is a robot. I'm trying to manipulate this voice as much as I can. At this moment, it is either this voice or subtitles.
The narration voice sounds better with an English accent vs an American accent. As an American, I prefer the British accent when it comes to computerized voice narration - more tolerable IMO.
Pronunciations are random and terrible. What is gained by fake voice?
My main focus is on content, and trust me, this voice is currently the only option I have.
@@FromtheBattlefields "this voice" is good enough for me.
I have been so focused on the great content in the whole series (and the best series so far) that the voice never crossed my mind.
This narrator doesn’t sound like a computer . The pronunciation is terrible. Great video though
Twenty plus minutes of computer voice? No thanks. Sorry, but I can't do that.
Maybe it can be hard to listen. But if you are interested in the topic, it can be endured. In my opinion, the voice-over sounds fine. Anyway, thank you for your comment. I'll see what I can improve.
Bye
Your loss
listening to the narrator butcher the name of the Island "Tarawa" repeatedly caused me to turn this video off.
Find an advertiser who is not a fascist.
That computer voice... I can't do more than 2 min.
Unfortunately, this is the best I can do now. My main focus is on the content.
@@FromtheBattlefields Drachinifel had to make the same step. look at him now, in the TH-cam firmament!
@@FromtheBattlefields honestly if computer generated not bad, some otherwise great content channels are ruined by someone narrating who does not have an orators voice, just my opinion
Didn’t even notice that it was a computerized voice. Thanks for posting this video!!
Sean makes a good point. There are a few channels I can't listen to despite the great content.
Their voices are just so grating
Robot voices can't pronounce island names worth a damn.
I turned this off as soon as I heard that narrators voice.. It has found it's way into too many videos. I loath that voice
Yet again, no one talks about the Japanese defending the island. What units? What commanders? What tactical and strategic aims? No one knows. Ra ra 'murica.
I really admire Japanese bravery and I stated that in Eniwetok video.
Worked there, they have a Jap grave yard still, appears it was made up what they could get , from translations on the markers. It was about 50 yards from my office, use to be a lot of nisi working there in the 80's.
Please stop with these terrible computer narrative voices
I lived on kwaj. From 1980 until 1986 I work for a global associates and that was one of the best times of my life I had a red inflatable numbered 426 if any of my friends read this send me an email