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With the Old Breed, at Peleliu and Okinawa by E. B. Sledge Summary & Study Guide
With the Old Breed, at Peleliu and Okinawa Study Guide consists of approx. 53 pages of summaries and analysis on With the Old Breed, at Peleliu and Okinawa by E. B. Sledge.
This study guide includes the following sections: Plot Summary, Chapter Summaries & Analysis, Characters, Objects/Places, Themes, Style, Quotes, and Topics for Discussion.
This study guide includes the following sections: Plot Summary, Chapter Summaries & Analysis, Characters, Objects/Places, Themes, Style, Quotes, and Topics for Discussion.
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First published October 19, 2010
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
August 28, 2026
Eugene Bondurant Sledge's "With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa" is a World War II memoir, first published in 1981. The memoir is based on notes Sledge kept tucked away in a Bible he carried with him during battles he fought at Peleliu and Okinawa.
Sledge began writing the memoir in 1944, "immediately after Peleliu while we were in rest camp" and continued working on it "as soon as I returned to civilian life" in 1946. Known as "Sledgehammer" by his comrades, Sledge experienced combat during Peleliu and Okinawa as a 60 mm mortarman while part of K Company, 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines, 1st Marine Division.
Sledge's scholarly expertise and precision of thought and language, gained from nearly thirty years as a teacher and biologist, reminds me of Ernst Junger. It explains much of the force of his diary. His narrative is saturated with clinical observations of his surroundings — and philosophical musings about the absurdity of it all. Victor Davis Hanson quotes Sledge: “There ... Okinawans had tilled their soil with ancient and crude farming methods; but the war had come, bringing with it the latest and most refined technology for killing. It seemed so insane, and I realized that the war was like some sort of disease afflicting man.”
The awfulness of war cannot be contested. My war was not waged against fanatics, just Cubans, but the nature of the Japanese resistance meant that America’s Depression-era draftees were usually forced to kill not capture the enemy. It was bewildering. Sledge was perplexed by Japan's surrender: “We thought the Japanese would never surrender. Many refused to believe it. Sitting in stunned silence, we remembered our dead. So many dead. So many maimed. So many bright futures consigned to the ashes of the past.”
Controversy still rages over the morality of dropping the two atomic bombs that ended the war before the American invasion of Japan. Truman’s decision was largely based on the nightmare that Marines like E. B. Sledge had just endured on Peleliu and Okinawa. Surely the carnage of the Okinawa battle, the casualties rivaled 12 years of Vietnam-could have been avoided. Japanese militarism prolonged the war.
Sledge defines combat succinctly: "War is brutish, inglorious, and a terrible waste. Combat leaves an inedible mark on those who are forced to endure it. The only redeeming factors were my comrades’ incredible bravery and their devotion to each other. Marine Corps training taught us to kill efficiently and to try to survive. But it also taught us loyalty to each other — and love. That esprit de corps sustained us."
Sledge began writing the memoir in 1944, "immediately after Peleliu while we were in rest camp" and continued working on it "as soon as I returned to civilian life" in 1946. Known as "Sledgehammer" by his comrades, Sledge experienced combat during Peleliu and Okinawa as a 60 mm mortarman while part of K Company, 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines, 1st Marine Division.
Sledge's scholarly expertise and precision of thought and language, gained from nearly thirty years as a teacher and biologist, reminds me of Ernst Junger. It explains much of the force of his diary. His narrative is saturated with clinical observations of his surroundings — and philosophical musings about the absurdity of it all. Victor Davis Hanson quotes Sledge: “There ... Okinawans had tilled their soil with ancient and crude farming methods; but the war had come, bringing with it the latest and most refined technology for killing. It seemed so insane, and I realized that the war was like some sort of disease afflicting man.”
The awfulness of war cannot be contested. My war was not waged against fanatics, just Cubans, but the nature of the Japanese resistance meant that America’s Depression-era draftees were usually forced to kill not capture the enemy. It was bewildering. Sledge was perplexed by Japan's surrender: “We thought the Japanese would never surrender. Many refused to believe it. Sitting in stunned silence, we remembered our dead. So many dead. So many maimed. So many bright futures consigned to the ashes of the past.”
Controversy still rages over the morality of dropping the two atomic bombs that ended the war before the American invasion of Japan. Truman’s decision was largely based on the nightmare that Marines like E. B. Sledge had just endured on Peleliu and Okinawa. Surely the carnage of the Okinawa battle, the casualties rivaled 12 years of Vietnam-could have been avoided. Japanese militarism prolonged the war.
Sledge defines combat succinctly: "War is brutish, inglorious, and a terrible waste. Combat leaves an inedible mark on those who are forced to endure it. The only redeeming factors were my comrades’ incredible bravery and their devotion to each other. Marine Corps training taught us to kill efficiently and to try to survive. But it also taught us loyalty to each other — and love. That esprit de corps sustained us."
October 2, 2021
Really brings home how awful this war and war in general is. You see the physical pain and the mental pain.
February 22, 2015
Loved it!
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews