Quote Originally Posted by Ken White View Post
(among others). Having served under MacArthur's command in Korea, I am not an apologist for him.

A lot of journalists seem to get confused when they turn to history...

That said, we don't really know for sure what transpired because even the real Historians and the records do not agree. However, as I said: ""Peleliu was unnecessary but it was an objective for both MacArthur and Nimitz...Nimitz (in whose area the Island was located)...If there's a bad guy, it was probably Rupertus, the 1st MarDiv commander...Peleliu was not a good fight or a good place for one. Yet, the folks that fought there did their best under bad circumstances. Wars are often like that.""
No probably about Rupertus...he botched a number of things leading up to the invasion as well as the eventual conduct of the fight. I've done a fair amount of research into Operation Stalemate and its various permutations, and there's not a lot of credit to be found once you leave the assistant division commander level of the First Marine Division. I've seen nothing outside of the Macarthur apologists that suggests that he wanted the operation canceled, and if he did it would have been so he could regain control of the First Marine Division.