WW2 US Marines: Devil Dogs

Warfare

History Hit

History

4.5 • 943 Ratings

🗓️ 20 January 2023

⏱️ 28 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Founded in 1775, the United States Marines Corps (colloquially known as the US Marines) have a long standing history, and a reputation that precedes them. An elite group made up of personnel from across the United States, they played a vital role in the Pacific during the Second World War, and were tasked with taking on the Imperial Japanese army. But how did a group of Marines earn the nickname 'devil dogs', and who's responsible for telling this harrowing story?

In this episode James is joined by award winning historian and author Saul David, to take us through the Devil Dog's journey. From Guadalcanal in 1942 to the shores of Japan in 1945 - what happened to this group of men, and who lived to tell the tale of Okinawa?

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Imagine you in a nice comfy seat with your hands behind your head taking in the views instead of taking on the road, maybe even a nap.
0:13.0	That's the bliss of getting where you need to go without worrying about driving.
0:18.0	Book your train journey via avantiawestcoast.co. Ovanti West Coast.
0:25.0	Feel good travel. They were known as the Devil Docs, the men of King Company, Third Battalion, Fifth U.S. Marines, ordinary men from very different backgrounds and drawn from cities, towns, and villages from across America.
0:51.0	But they were tasked with a very extraordinary mission.
0:54.0	To take on the victorious Imperial Japanese Army,
0:58.0	comprised of some of the most effective, utterly ruthless soldiers in the world
1:02.0	and to defeat them. No easy task. To tell us more
1:06.3	I've invited award-winning historian Sol David back onto the podcast. Sol is an old friend of
1:12.1	warfare by now and is the author of a new book aptly named Devil Dogs.
1:17.0	By drawing on eye-opening first-hand accounts, he takes us on a journey, their journey, from Guadalcanal in 1942 to Okinawa and
1:26.6	the shores of Japan in 1945.
1:30.3	Enjoy. Very good James and it's nice to be back. Well we had to get you back on because you're prolific at the moment.
1:46.5	SBS then you book on Okinawa and now Devil Dogs which focuses in on the King's Company, Third Battalion, Fifth Marine, who were part of the
1:56.2	legendary First Marine Division. Now, if I'm right, the First Marines carried out the majority
2:02.4	they're fighting in the Pacific. So did you come across
2:05.8	this history of the Devil Dogs when you were researching your last book on Okinawa or how did this focus on Devil Dogs come about?
2:13.7	I came across them as a unit that is the first Marine division fighting on Okinawa
2:19.7	and of course that's the end game they didn't know it at the time.
2:23.0	It becomes the, you know, the final cataclysmic battle
2:27.1	that leads to the dropping of nuclear weapons.
2:29.2	But the question is, how did these guys get there?
	...

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