Battle of Iwo Jima

Battle of Iwo Jima - WW2 Battles

Iwo Jima Landing		Battle od Iwo Jima		Iwo Jima bombardment
Iwo Jima Battle		Iwo Jima Task Force		USS Nevada fires on Iwo Jima

On February 19, 1945 about 30,000 United States Marines of the 3rd, 4th and 5th Marine Divisions, under V Amphibious Corps, landed on Iwo Jima and a battle for the island commenced. The landing was called Operation Detachment.
Following the US victory, a group of US Marines reached the top of Mount Suribachi on February 23, 1945 and raised the US flag using an old water pipe for a flagpost. They were persuaded to re-enact the event shortly afterwards by AP photographer Joe Rosenthal. Of the six men pictured (Michael Strank, Rene Gagnon, Ira Hayes, Franklin Sousley, John Bradley, and Harlon Block) only three (Hayes, Gagnon, and Bradley) survived the battle. The photo later won a Pulitzer Prize and is the subject of the USMC War Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery. Their story is told by Bradley's son James in Flags of Our Fathers.
The battle ended on March 16, 1945 but small pockets of Japanese resistance persisted.

"Among the men who fought on Iwo Jima, uncommon valor was a common virtue" -- Admiral Chester W. Nimitz

Iwo Jima Commanders

Commanders for the operation, code named Detachment, were assigned as follows:
--Admiral Raymond A. Spruance was the operation's overall commander.
--Joint Expeditionary Force commander was Vice Admiral Richmond Kelly Turner. Second in command of the Joint Expeditionary Force was Rear Admiral Harry W. Hill.
--Lieutenant General Holland M. "Howlin' Mad" Smith was assigned as the commanding general of the expeditionary troops.
--The 5th Amphibious Corps was commanded by Major General Harry Schmidt. Under his command fell the 3rd Marine Division commander, Major General Graves B. Erskine; the 4th Marine Division commander, Major General Clifton B. Cates; and the 5th Marine Division commander, Major General Keller E. Rockey.

Iwo Jima Operation WW2

Iwo Jima, a member of the Volcano Island group, lies about a hundred nautical miles southwest of the mid-point of the direct air route between Saipan, in the Mariana Islands, and Tokyo. It is about seven-hundred miles from the Japanese islands of Kyushu and Shikoku, as well as the southern half of Honshu. Based on Iwo Jima, P-51 fighters and B-24 bombers could conduct useful combat missions over a large fraction of Japan, while the larger B-29 bombers could reach targets throughout the country. Iwo Jima is also the only island in the region with sufficient flat land for the airfields required to support a meaningful quantity of such aircraft.

In American hands, Iwo Jima could contribute significantly to an air campaign against Japan, and make possible emergency landings by damaged or malfunctioning bombers. In Japanese posession, it facilitated fighter interception of B-29s en route from the Marianas to Japan, thus forcing the bombers to fly a longer route for their own safety. In addition, it supported counter-raids on the Americans' Marianas airfields. General Henry H. Arnold, the U.S. Army Air Forces' commander, was an early advocate of capturing Iwo Jima and, by the beginning of October 1944, the island was targeted for invasion early in the following year.

This useful, geologically active (its name means "Sulfur Island" in Japanese) speck of land is just under five nautical miles long, measured along a north-northeasterly axis, and about two-and-a-half nautical miles broad in its northern part, with a total area of some eight square miles. Its most prominent terrain feature is the volcanic cone of Mount Suribachi (labeled "Hot Rocks" in the Iwo Jima operation plan), rising some 550 feet above the sea at the southern end. At Suribachi's base, Iwo Jima is about 800 yards across, and is relatively flat and smooth for a few miles to the northward. Weather permitting, the beaches on both shores in this vicinity can be used by beaching craft and amphibious vehicles, though the shoreline and inland area is covered with loose volcanic ash -- too soft and yielding for convenient human and vehicular traffic. The island's northern area is rocky and rugged, with a shoreline unsuitable for landings and an interior of hills, ravines and other broken ground. Iwo Jima's surface rock, both in the north and at Mount Suribachi, is soft enough to facilitate tunneling.

By late 1944, the Japanese had completed two airfields and had begun a third. They were vigorously fortifying the island, preparing an interlocking network of tunnels, trenches and deep caverns. Covered gun positions were carved into Suribachi's slopes and the northern area and, where the native rock was inadequate for such works, reinforced concrete blockhouses were erected. Artillery, mortars and machine guns dominated all potential landing beaches. More than twenty-thousand troops manned these formidable defenses. With good reason, Japanese Army Lieutenant General Tadamichi Kuribayshi, Iwo Jima's commander, considered that his well-protected and highly-motivated men could defeat an invasion attempt by superior ground forces, even when the latter were supported by seemingly overwhelming air and sea power.

Iwo Jima - Background of the Battle

In the opening days of 1945, Japan faced the prospect of invasion by the Allied Forces. Daily bomber raids from the Marianas hit the mainland in an operation called Scavenger. Fighters and Kamikaze at Iwo Jima provided a measure of defense. Eventually the Allies would have to take Iwo Jima, part of the Japanese homeland for over 600 years. The Japanese were ready. The island was garrisoned by 22,000 soldiers and fortified in a network of underground bunkers.

The defense of Iwo Jima was to exact such a price on Allied Forces as to discourage invasion of the mainland. Each defender was expected to die in defense of the homeland, taking 10 enemy soldiers in the process.

The Allies, led by the United States of America, wanted Iwo Jima not only to neutralize threats to its bombers and shipping, but to use its airfields for fighter escort and emergency bomber landings. On February 16, 1945, they commenced a three-day air and gun assault on the island with unprecedented ferocity, but little effect on the sheltered garrison of Japanese troops.

Invasion of Iwo Jima

At 2 AM on the morning of February 19, battleship guns signaled the commencement of D-Day. Soon 100 bombers attacked the island, followed by another volley from the naval guns. At 8:30, Marines disembarked toward the shores of Iwo Jima. Their objective -- Suribachi Mountain, at the south of the island, which guarded the beaches.

The Marines faced heavy fire from Suribachi and inhospitable terrain, rough volcanic ash which allowed neither secure footing or the digging of a foxhole. They were sitting ducks. Still, by that evening, the mountain had been surrounded and 30,000 Marines had landed. About 40,000 more would follow.

The climb up Suribachi was fought by the yard. Gunfire was ineffective against the Japanese, but flame throwers and grenades cleared the bunkers. Finally, on February 23, the summit had been reached. The erection of the US flag that day proved an inspiration not only to the combatants but to a grateful nation for years to come.

The Battle of Iwo Jima Continues

Feb. 20, one day after the landing, the 28th Marines secured the southern end of Iwo and moved to take the summit of Suribachi. By day's end, one third of the island and Motoyama Airfield No. 1 was controlled by the Marines. By Feb. 23, the 28th Marines would reach the top of Mount Suribachi and raise the U.S. flag.

The 3rd Marine Division joined the fighting on the fifth day of the battle. These Marines immediately began the mission of securing the center sector of the island. Each division fought hard to gain ground against a determined Japanese defender. The Japanese leaders knew with the fall of Suribachi and the capture of the airfields that the Marine advance on the island could not be stopped; however, they would make the Marines fight for every inch of land they won.
Lieutenant General Tadamishi Kuribayashi, commander of the ground forces on Iwo Jima, concentrated his energies and his forces in the central and northern sections of the island. Miles of interlocking caves, concrete blockhouses and pillboxes proved to be one of the most impenetrable defenses encountered by the Marines in the Pacific.
The Marines worked together to drive the enemy from the high ground. Their goal was to capture the area that appropriately became known as the "Meat Grinder." This section of the island included three distinct terrain features, which were the highest point on the northern portion of the island, Hill 382; an elevation known as "Turkey Knob," which had been reinforced with concrete and was home to a large enemy communications center, and the "Amphitheater," a southeastern extension of Hill 382.
The 3rd Marine Division encountered the most heavily fortified portion of the island in their move to take Airfield No. 2. As with most of the fighting on Iwo Jima, frontal assault was the method used to gain each inch of ground. By nightfall on March 9, the 3rd division reached the island's northeastern beach, cutting the enemy defenses in two.
On the left of the 3rd Marine Division, the 5th Marine Division pushed up the western coast of Iwo Jima from the central airfield to the island's northern tip. Moving to seize and hold the eastern portion of the island, the 4th Marine Division encountered a "mini banzai" attack from the final members of the Japanese Navy serving on Iwo. This attack resulted in the death of nearly 700 enemy and ended the centralized resistance of enemy forces in the 4th division's sector. The 4th division would join forces with the 3rd and 5th on the coast on March 10.
A proud moment for those who worked so hard to gain control of the island was when the first emergency landing was made by a B-29 bomber on March 4. Repairs were made, refueling was completed and the aircraft was off to complete its mission.
Operations entered the final phases March 11; enemy resistance was no longer centralized. Individual pockets of resistance were taken one by one.
Finally on March 26, following a banzai attack against troops and air corps personnel near the beaches, the island was declared secure. The U.S. Army's 147th Infantry regiment assumed ground control of the island on April 4, relieving the largest body of Marines committed in combat


Northern Iwo Jima

Despite the loss of Mount Suribachi on the south end of the island, the Japanese still held strong positions on the north end. The rocky terrain vastly favored defense, even more so than Mount Suribachi. Coupled with this, the fortifications constructed by Kuribayashi were more impressive than at the Southern end of the island. Remaining under the command of Kuribayashi was the equivalent of eight infantry battalions, a tank regiment, two artillery, and three heavy mortar battalions. Also he had about 5,000 gunners and naval infantry. The most arduous task left to the Marines was the overtaking of the Motoyama Plateau with its distinctive hill 382 and Turkey knob and the area in between referred to as the Amphitheater. This formed the basis of what came to be known as the "meatgrinder". While this was being achieved on the right flank, the left was clearing out hill 362 with just as much difficulty. The overall objective at this point was to take control of airfield no. 2 in the center of the island. However, every "penetration seemed to become a disaster" as "units were raked from the flanks, chewed up – sometimes wiped out. Tanks were destroyed by interlocking fire or were hoisted into the air on the spouting fireballs of buried mines". As a result the fighting bogged down with Americans casualties piling up. Even capturing these points was not a solution to the problem since a previously secured position could be attacked from the rear by the use of the tunnels and hidden pillboxes. As such, it was said that "they could take these heights at will, and then regret it".

The Marines nevertheless found ways to prevail under the circumstances. It was observed that during bombardments, the Japanese would hide their guns and themselves in the caves only to reappear when the troops would advance and lay devastating fire on them. Consequently, General Erskine ordered the Ninth Marines to attack under the cover of darkness with no preliminary barrage. This came to be a resounding success with many soldiers taken out while still sleeping. This was a key moment in the capture of hill 362. It held such importance that the Japanese organized a counterattack the following night. Although Kuribayashi had forbidden the suicide charges familiar with other battles in the Pacific, the commander of the area decided on a banzai charge with the optimistic goal of recapturing mount Suribachi. Captain Samaji Inouye and his 1000 men charged the American position inflicting 347 casualties (90 deaths). The Marines counted 784 dead Japanese soldiers the next day. There was also a Kamikaze air attack (the only one of the battle) on the ships anchored at sea on February 21 which resulted in the sinking of the escort carrier Bismark Sea, severe damage to Saratoga and slight damage to the escort carrier Lunga Point, an LST and a transport.

Although the island was officially declared secure at 6pm on March 16, 25 days after the landings, the 5th Marine Division still faced Kuribayashi's stronghold in a gorge 700 yards (640 m) at the north-western end of the island. On March 21, the Marines destroyed the command post in the gorge with four tons of explosives and on March 24, Marines sealed the remaining caves at the northern tip of the island. However, on the night of March 25, a 300-man Japanese force launched a final counterattack in the vicinity of Airfield Number 2. Army pilots, Seabees and Marines of the 5th Pioneer Battalion and 28th Marines fought the Japanese force for up to 90 minutes but suffered heavy casualties (53 were killed, and another 120 were wounded).[citation needed] Two Marines from the 36th Depot Company, an all-African-American unit, received the Bronze Star. 1st Lieutenant Harry Martin of the 5th Pioneer Battalion was the last Marine to be awarded the Medal of Honor during the battle.

Although still a matter of speculation because of conflicting accounts from surviving Japanese veterans, it has been said that Kuribayashi led this final assault,[2] which unlike the loud banzai charge of previous battles, was characterised as a silent attack. If ever proven true, Kuribayashi would have been the highest ranking Japanese officer to have personally led an attack during World War II. Additionally, this would also be Kuribayashi's final act of departure from the normal practice of the commanding Japanese officers committing seppuku behind the lines while the rest perished in the banzai charge, as happened during the battles of Saipan and Okinawa.

Securing the Iwo Jima

With the landing area secure, more Marines and heavy equipment were landed and the invasion proceeded north to capture the airfields and the remainder of the island. Iwo Jima was declared secure on March 26. As commanded, the Japanese defended the homeland to the death. Of over 20,000 defenders, only 1,000 were taken prisoner

Iwo Jima Campaign results

The 36-day assault resulted in more than 26,000 American casualties, including 6,800 dead. Of the 20,000 Japanese defenders, only 1,083 survived. The Marines' efforts, however, provided a vital link in the U.S. chain of bomber bases. By war's end, 2,400 B-29 bombers carrying 27,000 crewmen made unscheduled landings on the island.

Historians described U.S. forces' attack against the Japanese defense as "throwing human flesh against reinforced concrete." In the end, Iwo Jima was won not only by the fighting spirit of the Marines, but by the meticulous planning and support provided by the Navy and Army through supply efforts, medical care, and air and naval gunfire.

Twenty-seven Medals of Honor were awarded to Marines and sailors, many posthumously, more than were awarded for any other single operation during the war.

Iwo Jima - Two flag raisings

At 8 a.m., on Feb. 23, a patrol of 40 men from 3rd Platoon, E Company, 2nd Battalion, 28th Marines, led by 1st Lieutenant Harold G. Schrier, assembled at the base of Mount Suribachi. The platoon's mission was to take the crater at Suribachi's peak and raise the U.S. flag.
The platoon slowly climbed the steep trails to the summit, but encountered no enemy fire. As they reached the top, the patrol members took positions around the crater watching for pockets of enemy resistance as other members of the patrol looked for something on which to raise the flag.
At 10:20 a.m., the flag was hoisted on a steel pipe above the island. This symbol of victory sent a wave of strength to the battle-weary fighting men below, and struck a further mental blow against the island's defenders.
Marine Corps photographer Sergeant Lou Lowery captured this first flag raising on film just as the enemy hurled a grenade in his direction. Dodging the grenade, Lowery hurled his body over the edge of the crater and tumbled 50 feet. His camera lens was shattered, but he and his film were safe.

Three hours later another patrol was dispatched to raise another, larger flag. The battle for Iwo Jima is encapsulated by this historic flag raising atop Suribachi, which was captured on film by Associated Press photographer Joe Rosenthal. His photo, seen around the world as a symbol of American values, would earn him many awards including the 1945 Pulitzer Prize.
Over the years, the flag raising has come to symbolize the spirit of the Corps to all Marines. On Nov. 19, 1954, a bronze monument of the flag raising, sculpted by Felix de Weldon and located near Arlington National Cemetery, was dedicated to all Marines who have given their lives in defense of their country.
Then Vice President Richard M. Nixon said, "This statue symbolizes the hopes and dreams of America, and the real purpose of our foreign policy. We realize that to retain freedom for ourselves, we must be concerned when people in other parts of the world may lose theirs. There is no greater challenge to statesmanship than to find a way that such sacrifices as this statue represents are not necessary in the future, and to build the kind of world in which people can be free, in which nations can be independent, and in which people can live together in peace and friendship."

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Following the American seizure of bases in the Marshalls in the battles of Kwajalein and Eniwetok in February 1944 both Army and Navy reinforcements were sent to Iwo Jima. Five hundred men from the naval base at Yokosuka and an additional 500 from Chichi Jima reached Iwo Jima during March and April 1944. At the same time, with the arrival of reinforcements from Chichi Jima and the home islands, the Army garrison on Iwo Jima had reached a strength of over 5,000 men, equipped with 13 artillery pieces, 200 light and heavy machine guns, and 4,552 rifles. In addition there were numerous 120 mm coastal artillery guns, twelve heavy anti-aircraft guns, and thirty 25 mm dual-mount anti-aircraft guns.

The loss of the Marianas during the northern summer of 1944 greatly increased the importance of the Ogasawaras for the Japanese, who were well aware that the loss of these islands would facilitate American air raids against the home islands, disrupting war manufacturing and severely damaging civilian morale.[2]

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Final Japanese plans for the defense of the Ogasawaras were overshadowed by the fact that the Imperial Japanese Navy had already lost most of its strength and could no longer prevent American landings. Moreover, aircraft losses throughout 1944 had been so heavy that, even if war production were not affected by American air attacks, combined Japanese air strength was not expected to increase to 3,000 aircraft until March or April 1945. Even then, these planes could not be used from bases in the home islands against Iwo Jima because their range did not exceed 900 km (559 miles); besides, all available aircraft had to be hoarded for possible use on Taiwan and adjacent islands near land bases.

Iwo Jima -
Strategic importance

Given the number of casualties, the necessity and long-term significance of the island's capture to the outcome of the war was a contentious issue from the beginning, and remains disputed. As early as April 1945 retired Chief of Naval Operations, William V. Pratt, asked in Newsweek magazine about the
“ expenditure of manpower to acquire a small, God-forsaken island, useless to the Army as a staging base and useless to the Navy as a fleet base ... [one] wonders if the same sort of airbase could not have been reached by acquiring other strategic localities at lower cost. ”
Dinah Might surrounded by Marines and Seabees after emergency landing on Iwo Jima

The Japanese on Iwo Jima had radar and were thus able to notify their comrades at home of incoming B-29 Superfortresses flying from the Mariana Islands. Fighter aircraft based on Iwo Jima sometimes attacked these planes, which were especially vulnerable on their way to Japan because they were heavily laden with bombs and fuel. Although the island was used as an air-sea rescue base after its seizure, the traditional justification for Iwo Jima's strategic importance to the United States' war effort has been that it provided a landing and refueling site for American bombers on missions to and from Japan. As early as March 4, 1945, while fighting was still taking place, the B-29 bomber Dinah Might of the USAAF 9th Bomb Group reported it was low on fuel near the island and requested an emergency landing. Despite enemy fire, the airplane landed on the Allied-controlled section of the island, without incident, and was serviced, refueled and departed. In all, 2,251 B-29 Superfortress landings on Iwo Jima were recorded during the war. Moskin records that 1,191 fighter escorts and 3,081 strike sorties were flown from Iwo Jima against Japan.

None of these calculations played much if any of a role in the original decision to invade, however, which was almost entirely based on the Army Air Force's belief that the island would be a useful base for long-range fighter escorts. These escorts proved both impractical and unnecessary, and only ten such missions were ever flown from Iwo Jima. Other justifications are also debatable. Although some Japanese interceptors were based on Iwo Jima, their impact on the American bombing effort was marginal; in the three months before the invasion only 11 B-29s were lost as a result. The Superfortresses found it unnecessary to make any major detour around the island. The capture of Iwo Jima did not affect the Japanese early-warning radar system, which continued to receive information on incoming B-29s from the island of Rota (which was never attacked).

Some downed B-29 crewmen were saved by air-sea rescue aircraft and vessels operating from the island, but Iwo Jima was only one of many islands that could have been used for such a purpose. As for the importance of the island as a landing and refueling site for bombers, Marine Captain Robert Burrell, then a history instructor at the United States Naval Academy, suggested that only a small proportion of the 2,251 landings were for genuine emergencies, the great majority possibly being for minor technical checkups, training, or refueling. According to Burrell,
“ this justification became prominent only after the Marines seized the island and incurred high casualties. The tragic cost of Operation Iwo Jima pressured veterans, journalists, and commanders to fixate on the most visible rationalization for the battle. The sight of the enormous, costly, and technologically sophisticated B-29 landing on the island's small airfield most clearly linked Iwo Jima to the strategic bombing campaign. As the myths about the flag raisings on Mount Suribachi reached legendary proportions, so did the emergency landing theory in order to justify the need to raise that flag. ”

Nevertheless, in promoting his expanded exploration of the issue, The Ghosts of Iwo Jima, Burrell's publishers also claim that the very losses formed the basis for a "reverence for the Marine Corps" that not only embodied the "American national spirit" but ensured the "institutional survival" of the Marine Corps.