but men were expected to keep going

My guess is that the 1st Tank Battalion was relieved not because the men were “badly depleted and debilitated” – the official reason given – but because the machines were. Machines wore out or needed overhauling and maintenance, but men were expected to keep going. Tanks, amtracs, trucks, aircraft, and ships were considered valuable and difficult to replace way out in the Pacific. They were maintained carefully and not exposed needlessly to wear or destruction. Men, infantrymen in particular, were simple expected to keep going beyond the limits of human endurance until they got killed or wounded or dropped from exhaustion.


With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa by E.B. Sledge. Presidio Press. 1981. p. 137