The foundations of our world

Steven Spielberg’s counterpart to the ETO-oriented miniseries, The Band of Brothers, is due out in 2010. The series is called The Pacific and is based “primarily on two memoirs of U.S. Marines: With the Old Breed by Eugene Sledge and Helmet for My Pillow by Robert Leckie.” From the looks of the trailer, after the Read More, the film’s production values are very high.  The War in the Pacific was the formative experience of my parent’s generation and was fought literally in their front yard.  The battles on Leyte and Luzon will not be covered by the miniseries, yet they were, by any measure, the graveyard of the Imperial Japanese Army. Over 286,000 IJA men died in the Philippine campaigns, not counting the deaths from the greatest naval engagement in history, the Battle of Leyte Gulf. The total Japanese casualties for Iwo Jima, Tarawa, Peleliu and Okinawa were 144,000.

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The Australian losses at Kokoda and the casualties at Stalingrad are included for comparison. It’s easy to forget that ancient history and story of men who are now almost lost to us; the dim echoes heard only in the occasional recollections that still flash awake on visits. And that perhaps is as it should be. Their job is done and they must leave us orphaned now, beyond their help and alone with our destiny.

Allied KIA Japanese/Axis engaged Japanese/axis KIA
Bataan (1942) 10,000 75,000 7,500
Leyte 3,500 50,000 49,000
Luzon 8,500 250,000 205,000
Visayas 1,905 32,000 14,000
Mindanao 820 43,000 18,000
14,725 375,000 286,000
Battle of Leyte Gulf 1,500 ? 10,000
Iwo Jima 6,000 18,500 18,300
Tarawa 1,000 5,000 4,854
Okinawa 12,513 120,000 110,000
Peleliu 1,794 10,900 10,695
21,307 154,400 143,849
Kokoda 625 13,500 6,500
Stalingrad 479,000 1,000,000 750,000

Source: Wikipedia

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