- 147 - Pacific War Podcast - Invasion of the Palau Islands 9 - September 18 - , 1944

Last time we spoke about the invasion of Morotai. After capturing the Marianas and Sansapor, the Allies planned to invade the Palaus and Halmahera. The Japanese stationed the 14th Division at Palau and the 32nd Division at Halmahera. General Ishii, with 11,000 troops, defended Halmahera's nine airfields, while Major Kawashima led 500 Formosans on Morotai. Meanwhile Colonel Nakagawa commanded the forces at Peleliu with extensive defenses, emphasizing attrition tactics. The Allies planned Operation Stalemate for Peleliu and Angaur, with General Geiger's corps set to land on September 15. Aerial reconnaissance and submarine missions informed their strategy. At Morotai, Operation Tradewind was executed by General Krueger’s 31st Division. Supported by air and naval bombardment, Allied troops swiftly secured key areas, encountering minimal Japanese resistance. These operations were part of broader Allied strategies involving coordinated air support and subsequent invasions in the region. This episode is the Invasion of the Palau Islands Welcome to the Pacific War Podcast Week by Week, I am your dutiful host Craig Watson. But, before we start I want to also remind you this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Perhaps you want to learn more about world war two? Kings and Generals have an assortment of episodes on world war two and much more  so go give them a look over on Youtube. So please subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry for some more history related content, over on my channel, the Pacific War Channel you can find a few videos all the way from the Opium Wars of the 1800’s until the end of the Pacific War in 1945.  In last weeks episode we talked about the plans and preparations for the invasion of Palau. General Rupertus’ 1st Marine Division was assigned to assault Peleliu while General Mueller’s 81st Division would conduct a dual-pronged landing on Angaur. Meanwhile, Admiral Hoover’s land-based aircraft, General Kenney’s Allied Air Forces, and Admiral Mitscher’s carrier-based aircraft carried out an extensive neutralization program against Japanese airfields within range of Palau. When fighter planes of three fast carrier groups started sweeping over the Palaus on September 6, they found that the efforts of the Southwest Pacific's land-based bombers had succeeded in eliminating many ground targets. Nevertheless, fighters and bombers of the three groups started full-scale attacks on all the principal islands in the Palaus the next day. There was no air opposition, nor had there been any on the 6th. On the 8th, because observable targets were scarce, the weight of attack was reduced, and the carriers began preparing to move to Philippine waters. During their three days at the Palaus, the carrier-based planes flew about 1470 sorties, causing extensive damage to ammunition and supply dumps, barracks, warehouses, and a number of miscellaneous buildings. The groups claimed destruction of only four enemy aircraft, while losing eight of their own. Admiral Fort’s slower-moving tractor groups, responsible for transporting both divisions to the islands, departed Guadalcanal with their respective screening forces on the morning of September 4. Four days later, fast transports and LSDs also set out to rendezvous with them in the early hours of September 15 after an uneventful voyage. In the interim, Admiral Davison’s carrier group launched a final sweep over the Palaus on September 10. The next day, Rear Admiral Jesse Oldendorf’s Western Fire Support Group and Rear Admiral Ralph Ofstie’s escort carriers arrived to begin the naval gunfire bombardment. Over the following three days, approximately 2,200 tons of naval projectiles were successfully fired on Peleliu. While Japanese positions pinpointed by the fire support ships were generally destroye