Most epic battle of WWII?

Pricey.....Thats the problem with Lou..He keeps waking up. I tried to get the fact that we Brits provided most of the troops for Omaha beach head once...He woke up then too...Frustrating init...

 

Got to go with all of you who say that your foxhole and your battle was most important. My Grand Father never ever mentioned what Division he was in, he was a Guardsman and all that mattered was his battalion I don't even think he mentioned his Brigade mattered. If you happen to get shot in the tiniest skirmish it matters to you more than the grand scheme of things.

 

Impossible to say which was the most epic, that's like saying who was the best pitcher in MLB or the best quaterback in the NFL..... I would just like to add Cassino/Anzio. Terrible battles in extreme conditions.

Best Regards

 

It's like people ask me which was worse, Peleliu or Okinawa. That's a really tough question to answer. I also throw Ngesebus in there because we drew another landing. Each was their own. In fact, I don't even have the words right now.

That damned Peleliu was such a grind, and it was my first, and you didn't have to step a few yards and there would be a Nip, alive or dead. I did a lot of killing there.

Ngesebus was a short jaunt, but I came closer to death on that tiny island too many times. It's like trying to get into the endzone in football: Not a lot of room to operate.

Then Okinawa, the innocence I had during Peleliu had all but vanished. I remember I was so sullen. The constant rain, and incoming, and running straight into machine gun fire, just wore me down physically and mentally. It was heartbreaking. I really should have been a dead man there.

Sterling G. Mace

 

Artist Tom Lea had painted mostly heroic, propoganda type paintings during WWII up until he landed with the Marines at Peleilu. Something changed the artist there, and he produced this picture (among others) that had a totally different feel and perspective. This is one of my favorite "Two-Thousand Yard Stare", of a young Marine at Peleilu and I always think of it when the battle is mentioned. For you Mr. Mace, and all the Marines that landed there with you!

 

oops

 

Have seen that painting before... Very intense....Always heard "thousand yard stare". Wonder if the painting was a result or if it started the phrase...Guessing : Post Traumatic Disorder...Shell shock.
Will look/read/learn Ngesebus.
VOTED

 

Thank you. That photo, it's true. The funny thing is, I recall something very similar to that behind a tank going up the west road. I never looked at myself in a mirror while I was on Peleliu, but let me tell you, we were haggard just a few days in. I lost a lot of weight. After finally coming off the line, though - maybe a few days after October 15th, 1944, it didn't take us long to start smiling again, to begin gaining our weight back. We were still on that island, sure. But just knowing we didn't have to go back out changed our whole perspective.

Sterling G. Mace

 

Poppy,
I'm not sure how much you'll find on Ngesebus. It was just a small island off of Peleliu. But after being in the first wave on Peleliu, let me tell you, we really were shocked that they asked us to make another landing. We were also naive enough to think we were going to get another battle star (though in restrospect, what did it matter?)

Some other books make it look like a small afair, just as small as the island, itself. But like we said, it's all perspective. I was at the spearhead of the attack, and it was no picnic.

 

Excellent. Checked your page. Like how you got the tattooed forearm with sun tanned rippling muscles, black hat with feather. Maybe you should re enlist?...Peace man...

 

Again, found another discrepancy with the "2000 yard stare" . In this bit, the youtube video refers to the painting and how some called the look " the 2000 year old stare". Wondering if that's a mistake?
Tom Lea: Texas Artist
Tom Lea's World War II Sketchbook at El Paso Museum of Art - YouTube

 

The "2000 year old stare" video has been removed Poppy but, the painting was named "The 2000 yard stare" by Lea, so that's the correct name. No discrepency. As for Lea's paintings here's a link to a web site with a number of his Peleilu paintings.
PELELIU 1944 PELELIU ART

 

USMC Price, that is an incredible link.

While there, I clicked to see the memorial page for Uncle Joe.... What these men went through.....

 

Excellent...This Is Sad Sack Calling Charlie Blue ...
One of my favorite cartoons:
Sad Sack - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Wonder if it's related...The phrase was already in use , guessing.

 

Most epic battle of WWII in the American view could be the Battle of the Bulge.

The US Army was caught in the Ardennes by the Germans and shown exactly what a "professional" Army could still accomplish.

It took the resources of the entire theater just to stop the Germans; if they were successful, the Germans might still be under Russian occupation.

My view.

 

Found this on Amazon....http://www.amazon.com/Two-Thousand-...=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1323230993&sr=1-1

 

I know exactly what you mean Lou. I had always thought the ground campaign on Guadalcanal epic. There were these Marines, surrounded, cut off, meager supplies, little hope of reinforcement, fighting an enemy that had gained the reputation of being supermen. There were numerous occasions where one man stood between victory and total defeat for the americans. "Red" Mike Edson rallying his men and barely holding onto "Bloody Ridge", Al Schmid firing his machine gun and holding the line at Alligator Creek, even after being totally blinded. John Basilone and Mitchell Paige standing by their guns against determined Japanese assaults. Epic fights against the odds, like the Spartans at Thermopylae or the 24th Foot at Rorke's Drift.

Then I read more on the Air Campaign and their struggle was also truly epic and against the odds. Then you have the naval aspect, the US Navy had been worn down, took severe losses but kept coming back. Then when they were all used up and desperate, Halsey sends in Washington and South Dakota the last of his ships. Literally, a "hold to the last man, and the last bullet" situation.
It was reading "Neptune's Inferno" that once again got me to thinking of this campaign as the "Epic" battle.

 

I may be biased; but, unless you had a bayonet lug on your war fighting implement, or your secondary weapon was a KA-BAR it wasn't epic, It may have been inconvienient or irksome.