Title: Brotherhood of Heroes: The Marines at Peleliu, 1944 -- The Bloodiest Battle of the Pacific War Purchase Item Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster List Price: $26.00 Our Price: $42.36
Customer Reviews:
Brotherhood of Heroes: The Marines at Peleliu, 1944 -- The Bloodiest Battle of the Pacific War by Simon & Schuster Fact or Fiction
I felt that this book is poorly written. I was expecting some insight and great interviews with some surviving marines. The author interviews over twenty surviving marines. There is some of that but there isn't enough presented to make a book. The telling of the battle of Peleliu is interesting and is one of the better points of this book. What is disappointing is the author's use of sources and made up dialogue. There are a couple of pages early on in the book that describe Captain Haldane and Lt. Jone's personal feelings and thoughts. The author never interviewed either of these individuals but he would have you believe he did, at least the way the book is written. He relies too heavily on E.B. Sledge's great book, "With the Old Breed" and uses that source to fill a part of his book. Too much of dialogue, personal actions and feelings are made up in this book. Much of Sledge's book isn't even quoted verbatim but is paraphased and made to seem like actual research the author did. Since the author uses Sledge's book so much, I would recommend reading that instead. Another great book about the battle for Peleliu on a personal level is, "Marine at War", by Russell Davis.
Brotherhood of Heroes: The Marines at Peleliu, 1944 -- The Bloodiest Battle of the Pacific War by Simon & Schuster GI's View of a Horrific Battle
"Brotherhood of Heroes" tells the story of the men of K/3/5 of the First Marine Division in the Bloody battle of Peleliu in the South Pacific from September 15 and October 15, 1944. Peleliu was an island which was invaded to protect the flank of Gen. MacArthur's forces which were then invading the Philippines. Historians continue to debate whether the invasion was helpful to the Allied cause or whether the island would have better been bypassed. Author Bill Sloan has done a commendable job in researching the memories of the survivors to bring the unit to life decades after so many died on this God-forsaken coral. The details of the battle are horrific. The intense heat, Japanese cave-by-cave defense, the grime and death are all transmitted through the pages of this book. In form it is similar to other books dealing with the European Theatre. This work tells little of the big story but does an excellent job of giving the reader a GI's view of a horrendous battle.
Brotherhood of Heroes: The Marines at Peleliu, 1944 -- The Bloodiest Battle of the Pacific War by Simon & Schuster There were also US Army, sailors and Japanese in that island
Nicely written book, emotive praise of 1st Marine Division. Pity that in singing the -undoubtedly real- exploits of the Marines, it correspondingly downplays the efforts of the 81st US Infantry Div., an Army unit that did its part of the job -not only in mopping up operations as implied in the book-, and that took its fair share of casualties. In fact the Eighty-First is not even mentioned in the Index! Not to mention the Japanese... who could not be relieved and did not have the benefits of huge airpower and naval support. Dustjacket masks the truth (nice way to put it) when mentioning that 11.000 Japanese were entrenched against only 9.000 marines... If you count on the American side only frontline combat troops in the first waves (excluding supporting troops, naval artillery and airmen), and in the Jap side you include ever ysingle man in the two islands, including every cook and orderly, as if they were actuyally fighting the landing beaches, you can reach that deceptive figure. In fact an overall four-to- one american superiority would be closer to the truth. And that would not not detract at all from the heroism of those marines in White 1. It is not necessary to pretend numerical inferiority, and to ignore the Army's contribution, to narrate and remember the Marines' heroism at Peleliu. All in all, a good heroes' tale, but not a good narrative of the battle, and no attempt at all to show the other side of the hill.
Brotherhood of Heroes: The Marines at Peleliu, 1944 -- The Bloodiest Battle of the Pacific War by Simon & Schuster Good Read
Bill Sloan gives a very good account of the battle at Peleliu. This is not your typical historical account. Bill Sloan tells it through the people who were there. Not the General and Colonels, but the grunts who actually did the fighting. The hard part was he got me to care about the people he was writing about and I felt like I knew them. I also felt sad when some were killed in the fighting. If you liked Flags of Our Fathers you will like this book.
Brotherhood of Heroes: The Marines at Peleliu, 1944 -- The Bloodiest Battle of the Pacific War by Simon & Schuster Brotherhood of Heroes
Excellent book! Personalizes the men who fought in that campaign and the interviews were quite revealing about the men who fought and died there.
Brotherhood of Heroes: The Marines at Peleliu, 1944 -- The Bloodiest Battle of the Pacific War by Simon & Schuster Product Description
Documents the experiences of the First Marine Division at Peleliu between September 15 and October 15, 1944, a battle during which U.S. Pacific forces suffered their highest number of casualties, in an account based on interviews with veteran survivors. 50,000 first printing.