I read somewhere that there may be 13 episodes. I'm hoping so, although I believe highly unlikely. Not sure if 10 episodes can do the Pcific Theater justice, and thats just the land battles - Guadalcanal, Bouganville, Tarawa, Peleliu, Saipan, Tinian, Guam, Iwo Jima, Okinawa. I almost feel like Guadalcanal should cover 2 episodes. As for the Marianas, I'm thinking they'll probably only cover one of those islands.

I don't think that all those battles will be shown. Since they're basing the series off of Helmet for My Pillow, With the Old Breed, and John Basilone's life, only 1st Marine Division battle will most likely be shown, I would think. Band of Brothers' episodes were essentially like this:
01. Training
02. Normandy
03. Normandy
04. Holland
05. Holland
06. Battle of the Bulge
07. Battle of the Bulge
08. Germany
09. Germany
10. End of War

Looking at what I think might be in The Pacific, I made a basic list of what I think it will be:
01. Training
02. Guadalcanal
03. Guadalcanal
04. Cape Gloucester
05. Cape Gloucester
06. Peliliu
07. Peliliu
08. Basilone on Iwo/Okinawa
09. Okinawa
10. End of War

Of course, I could be wrong.

1- Guadalcanal
2-
3-
4- Gloucester
5- Peleliu Landing

pretty close...

I wouldnt be suprised if there was an episode devoted to Australia, specifically to Melbourne or at least to non combat time after the first major battles, because they spent months in Australia refitting & recovering before going back to the war.

My father was a sgt with the 1st div US Marines. He married my mother (an Australian woman) that he met here in Melbourne. They married in 1942. He was certainly not alone. My parents returned to to live here after the war.

I think some 5,000 - 7,000 women went over to the US after the war as war brides.

In the book the "Old Breed" it states the volume of mail from Australia to the Marines travelling through the pacific was greater than the volume of mail received from the US for at least 1 year after they had left Australian soil.

There's a good section in Robert leckie's book on hos time in Melbourne. He got into a few scrapes and had one or two 'liaisons', and obviously had fiond memories of the place (and the people were very fond of the Marines). An episode set in Australia could easily be done!

1- Guadalcanal
2-
3-
4- Gloucester
5- Peleliu Landing
6- Peleliu Airfield
7- Peleliu Hills
8- Iwo Jima
9- Okinawa
10- Home

will update 2 and 3 soon. don't think i remember seeing anything on Australia sorry.

Thanks schmoopy, I'll make note of that episode list on the homepage shortly.

By the way, I don't think there is an entire episode devoted to "Australia" because they already have Australian units participating in some of the episodes. Of course, I could be wrong!

That why they need 13 episodes. Then they can devote one to the Aussies - preferably troops in combat. 3 episodes devoted to Peleliu? I would think two would be sufficient. And, none of the three main characters served on Tarawa or any one of the three Marianas islands? It almost doesn't seem right to do a series on the Pacific War without Tarawa and either Saipan or Guam. But, thats why I'm working behind a desk pushing paper.

1- Guadalcanal/Leckie
2- Guadalcanal/Basilone
3- Melbourne!
4- Gloucester/Pavuvu/Banika
5- Peleliu Landing
6- Peleliu Airfield
7- Peleliu Hills
8- Iwo Jima
9- Okinawa
10- Home

That stuff sounds great. However, I wish they would have a training episode, and they should cut Peliliu down to two, and add another Okinawa. Sledge was on Okinawa far longer than he was on Peliliu. Other than that, it looks like we are in for a really great series. I do have a question though. Is the Iwo episode supposed to focus on Iwo the entire time, or will it start on Iwo, then move to Okinawa? If that's the case then I really have no complaints other than no training episode.

If you read the history of this there was no real training. The time that the marines were supposed to spend in NZ was drastically cut short, a fact that has been blamed for much of the disorganisation which led to improvisation of battle tactics on Guadalcanal. Therefore a 'training' episode would in fact be fiction.

I think Ultimate's talking more about stateside training, e.g. boot camp, etc.

Yes, that's exactly what I meant. By the way, you can call me Christopher. The screenname is something I made up long ago, so I just continue to use it. Reading "Ultimate" sounds awkward to me.

I would like to see a training episode as well. I always find the training part to be very interesting although I know some people dont.

Since Sledge didn't join the Marines until after Guadalcanal there might be an episode with a little bit about his training

Here's how I see it:

The episode(s) focusing on Guadalcanal will show a little of EB Sledge in training. At the very least i think we can expect to see him before the war, which would make sense because we'll see him after the war. I really would be fine with Gloucester being one episode while showing a bit of Australia and Pavuvu. I would really like to see them cut down Peleliu to two episodes and Okinawa into two. Okinawa is a battle that deserves to be covered extensively especially when the Okinawa episode (I assume) will also show Sledge after the war. That way it won't seem like Okinawa was rushed. Other than that from what I've seen and heard this series will be great and will do great justice to the men who fought in the Pacific.

I think they will shorten the Iwo Jima battle a bit since Basilone lost his life on the first day of the landing February 19, 1945. Hopefully, they will show the landing on Okinawa during that episode.

True and they may also show a little about Okinawa in April because the battle picked up for Sledge in May. I'm guessing they will do something like that, at least show the landing on Okinawa. That way it won't feel completely rushed.

I agree with wanting to see more of Okinawa and with Iwo not taking a full episode.

As the series focus is not the 5th Marines, the only reason we’ll even see Iwo at all is because we’ll be following John Basilone into combat again. As mentioned, it might be difficult to devote an entire episode to this as Basilone died just beyond Red Beach II. (Unless this episode also covers at length his return to the states, War Bond Tour, request to return to combat, etc…And even then…)

As mentioned in previous posts, Sledge spent more time on Okinawa than he did on Peleliu, so I’m not sure just one episode on this subject will suffice. The entire second half of With the Old Breed takes place on Okinawa, a populated Japanese prefecture and one of the largest and deadliest battles for US forces in the Pacific. (For the US, a bigger prize at a bigger price than Iwo, though a slightly less deadly engagement for the 1st Marine Division than Peleliu.) I’d like to see two episodes devoted to it if only because it’s never covered dramatically.