Department of Defense Photo (USMC) 94913
The skies over the landing beaches of Peleliu are blackened with smoke rising from the ground as the result of the combined naval and aerial prelanding bombardment, as amphibian tractors rush shoreward carrying the assault waves.
At dusk, Hunt’s Company K held the Point, but by then the Marines had been reduced to platoon strength, with no adjacent units in contact. Only the sketchy radio communications got through to bring in supporting fires and desperately needed re-supply. One LVT got into the beach just before dark, with grenades, mortar shells, and water. It evacuated casualties as it departed. The ammunition made the difference in that night’s furious struggle against Japanese determined to recapture the Point.
Marines and corpsmen scramble ashore and seek any cover they can to escape the incoming murderous enemy mortar and artillery fire. Behind them, smoking and abandoned, are amphibian tractors which were hit as they approached the beach.
The next afternoon, Lieutenant Colonel Raymond G. Davis’ 1/1 moved its Company B to establish contact with Hunt, to help hang onto the bitterly contested positions. Hunt’s company also regained the survivors of the platoon which had been pinned at the beach fight throughout D-Day. Of equal importance, the company regained artillery and naval gunfire communications, which proved critical during the second night. That night, the Japanese organized another and heavier—two companies—counterattack directed at the Marines at the Point. It was narrowly defeated. By mid-morning, D plus 2, Hunt’s survivors, together with Company B, 1/1, owned the Point, and could look out upon some 500 Japanese who had died defending or trying to re-take it.
To the right of Puller’s struggling 3d Battalion, his 2d Battalion, Lieutenant Colonel Russell E. Honsowetz commanding, met artillery and mortar opposition in landing, as well as machine-gun fire from still effective beach defenders. The same was true for 5th Marines’ two assault battalions, Lieutenant Colonel Robert W. Boyd’s 1/5 and Lieutenant Colonel Austin C. Shofner’s 3/5, which fought through the beach defenses and toward the edge of the clearing looking east over the airfield area.
Caption and photograph by Phillip D. Orr