Остров Пелелиу: История, Битвы и Память

Peleliu (or Beliliou) is an island in the island nation of Palau. Peleliu, along with two small islands to its northeast, forms one of the sixteen states of Palau. The island is notable as the location of the Battle of Peleliu in World War II.

Beliliou was traditionally divided into five villages. Teliu is located on the southwest coast bordered on the north by Ngerkeiukl on the west coast, Ngesias in the central portion of the island, and Ngerdelolk on the east coast. Ngerchol occupies the northern part of the island on the west side of Bloody Nose Ridge. Most of the surface remains of the traditional villages have been obliterated. However, the locations of the villages and the locations of features within the villages, including odesongel, are known and preserved in the oral tradition. These traditional features are important symbols giving identity to families, clans and regions. In November and December 1710 these three islands were again visited and explored by the Spanish missionary expedition commanded by Sargento Mayor Francisco Padilla on board of the patache Santísima Trinidad. Two years later they were explored in detail by the expedition of Spanish naval officer Bernardo de Egoy. Following its defeat in the Spanish–American War, Spain sold Palau (including Peleliu) to Germany in 1899. Control passed to Japan in 1914. During World War II, the Battle of Peleliu was a major battle between units of the United States Marine Corps and United States Army against the Imperial Japanese Army in 1944. The battle for the island was particularly brutal because by this time the Japanese military had evolved island defense tactics with strong fortifications in the island's caves and rock formations within the Umurbrogol Mountains (Bloody Nose Ridge), which enabled a defense in depth which maximized casualties on the attacking force. On both sides involved in the fighting there were high losses with more than 2,000 Americans and 10,000 Japanese killed, but, remarkably, there were no casualties among the local civilians because they were evacuated from the fighting to other islands of Palau. The ruins of many of the military installations of the era, such as the airstrip, are still intact, and shipwrecks from the battle remain visible underwater just off the coast. There are war memorials on the island to both the American and the Japanese dead. Peleliu and Angaur were the only islands in the Palau archipelago to be occupied by the Americans during the war. The capital of Koror remained in Japanese hands to the end of the war. Peleliu was formally placed under the control of the United States under United Nations auspices in 1947 as part of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands. In 1947, two and a half years after Japanese surrender, there were over 30 Japanese still hiding in caves, believing the war was not over. The Americans sent a senior Japanese military official into the caves to convince them to surrender and the last Japanese survivor, Keiji Nagai, died in 2019. Palau became independent in 1978, and Peleliu was organized as a state within the new republic. In August 2014, Peleliu hosted the "leader's retreat" at the 45th Pacific Islands Forum, featuring representatives from the forum's 15 member states.

The state of Peleliu has an elected chief executive with a 3 year term length, known as the governor. The state also has a legislature elected every three years. The state population elects one of the members of the House of Delegates of Palau. Obak is the title of the traditional high chief from the state.

Peleliu Airfield, created by the Japanese in World War II, has the longest and widest runway in Palau , but has been used only by small chartered aircraft after Palau's domestic flights were discontinued in late 2005. A regular boat service connects the island twice a week to Koror and Angaur. Travel time by boat from Koror is over an hour. The small harbor in the far north of the island is shallow and suitable only for yachts with shallow draft. The main road lies on the west side of Bloody Nose Ridge and extends from Kloulklubed to the landing strip. Secondary roads extend to all parts of the island. The landing strip was built during the Japanese era and originally consisted of a 6600 foot runway oriented SW to NE with a smaller perpendicular runway intersecting the main run way about 2200 feet from the SW. Additional taxiways connected the runways to airport facilities located to the north of the runways. The landing strips are unimproved, but still serve for the daily flight from the Airai airport by a single engine plane. A third landing strip was built on Ngedbus Island, just north of Beliliou, during the Japanese administration. It was abandoned after the Battle of Peleliu and today is overgrown with a coconut plantation. The entire island has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the Peleliu Battlefield, and has been designated a U. S. National Historic Landmark.

The Ministry of Education operates public schools. Peleliu Elementary School opened in 1946, and had its second building open in 1966, with the first still in use. Palau High School in Koror is the country's only public high school, so children from this community go there.