Pete Ellis: An Amphibious Warfare Prophet, 1880-1923

by Dirk Anthony Ballendorf, Merrill L. Bartlett

This biography of the controversial iconoclast Pete Ellis recounts his impact on the history of the Marine Corps.

Genres: Military Fiction, World War I, History

200 pages, Hardcover

First published December 1, 1996

Reviews

[William Troy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an interesting story about a Marine Officer who was instrumental in pointing the USMC to the amphibious warfare mission that they so aptly adopted and outstandingly executed in WWII. Pete Ellis was a functional alcoholic some would say high functioning. He was commissioned in December 1901 and died under suspicious circumstances in May 1923. Earl Hancock "Pete" Ellis enlisted in the Marines in September 1900. It was not uncommon for the Marine Corps to commission officers from the ranks of excellent Non-commissioned Officers. Ellis was a corporal when he was selected for commissioning. As an officer he served in the Philippines and on shipboard duty usually receiving excellent ratings for his performance of duties. His duties increased and he served on an influential study commission for the future Base Force mission of the USMC. He attended the Naval War College. World War I was his first real break, working as the Adjutant of the 4th Marine Brigade in the US Army 2nd Infantry Division. He reached the rank of Lieutenant Colonel reverting back to the grade of Major after the war. He served under MG John LeJeune and BG Wendell Neville who would be influential in Ellis's future career. After the war Ellis served in HQMC in Washington DC working as an intelligence officer. His job involved research and writing about the current and future missions of the Marine Corps. His alcoholism grew and on numerous occasions he was hospitalized because of it. His leaders appeared to overlook this flaw. Ellis predicted that the Navy and Marine Corps would fight the Japanese in the future and Ellis began to write and study amphibious warfare. He foresaw that the Marine would have to land and conquer and occupy enemy held islands as advanced bases for the Navy. As it turned out for the US Army Air Forces also! In May 1921 Ellis signed out on leave from HQMC and departed on a surreptitious mission to the Central Pacific to observe and gather intelligence on the islands under the control of the Japanese to identify if the Japanese were building defenses on the islands. There was a lot of cloak and dagger to the mission as the USMC and US Navy denied any such mission after Ellis's death. His cover was as a businessman from the Hughes Trading Company interested in investments and copra. None of his correspondence, journals or intelligence information Ellis gather reached the USMC. Ellis died on the island of Palau on May 12, 1923. Many suspected that the Japanese had killed him because of his spying but it is more likely that his alcoholism is the final culprit. The Japanese Navy did return, somewhat suspiciously, the copy of the Navy F2 Code Book that Ellis took with him on his trip.
The interesting part of the book is the description of how the USMC and Navy operated during this period. How it selected officers, the Marine Commandant, assigned officers and administered the Corps. The internal politics of the senior leaders is particularly interesting. This is the third of the Leatherneck Classics on the Naval Institute. I recommend it to all interested in the Marine Corps.

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is both biographical and historical as it records the life of Pete Ellis, now known as the Father of Amphibious Warfare. It's truly unfortunate that Ellis's alcoholism may have cost him his life, as he could have risen even higher and accomplished even more in his lifetime than he did. It's still an amazing story of how an ambitious young man with only a high school education could enter the USMC as an enlisted man, get a commission, and die as a lieutenant colonel.

Now 100 years after his death, there are still unanswered questions about how he died. Some think his alcoholism killed him; others think the Japanese killed him somehow, either through poisoning or outright murder, as they did not like him prowling around the Pacific islands and clearly did not want him anywhere around as they were already making preparations for WW2.

As a Marine, I enjoyed the book, but didn't think it was well written.

[Patrick · Rating 2 out of 5]

An OK book on one of the oddest Marine officers of the 20th century. During the early years of the 20th century, Pete Ellis helped come up with many of the doctrinal ideas that the Marine Corps used to develop its amphibious warfare capability. Then, in World War I, he served as a planner with the 4th Marine Brigade of the American Expeditionary Force, winning a Navy Cross and a Croix de Guerre for his efforts. Finally, after the war, he accepted an assignment as a spy on one of the most ineptly planned and exceuted espionage missions in American history, as he attempted to document the preparation of Japanese islands defenses in the Pacific. He died while on that mission in 1924, and legend has it that the Japanese killed him, though no evidence exists to validate that conclusion. Ellis is one of the most colorful characters in Marine Corps history, and his lifestyle of alcoholism and hilarious drunken escapades would have earned him a dishonorable discharge today. But his contributions to Marine Corps amphibious doctrine and Marine history in World War I are significant, and so this biography is worth reading.

Well reserched, adequately written.

[Grahambo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well researched and supported study of a man who truly was an enigma; an alcoholic visionary who changed the Corps forever but died under bizarre circumstances in peacetime. Well done.