Battle of Iwo Jima

Background

Iwo Jima is a small island of volcanic rock and ash, about eight square miles, roughly halfway between the American bomber bases in the Mariana Islands and Tokyo. In 1945 the Japanese used its airfields to warn of and attack the B-29 bombers raiding Japan. The Americans wanted it as a base for fighter escorts and as an emergency landing field for damaged bombers. General Tadamichi Kuribayashi, who took command in 1944, decided not to fight on the beaches, where naval guns would destroy his men, and not to waste them in mass charges. Instead his roughly 21,000 troops dug a system of tunnels, caves and concrete bunkers across the island and waited underground, with orders to kill as many Americans as possible before they died.

The Battle

After three days of naval bombardment, which the Marines thought too short, the 4th and 5th Marine Divisions landed on the south-east beaches on 19 February 1945, with the 3rd Division following later. The men sank into loose black ash that made digging foxholes and moving vehicles hard. The Japanese held their fire until the beaches were crowded, then opened up with artillery, mortars and machine guns from positions all over the island. By nightfall some 30,000 Marines were ashore, and about 2,400 had been killed or wounded. The 28th Marines cut across the narrow neck of the island and took Mount Suribachi, the volcano at the southern tip, on 23 February. Associated Press photographer Joe Rosenthal photographed the raising of a second, larger flag on the summit that day, and his picture became one of the most famous images of the war. The fighting in the north was worse. The Marines had to take ridges, gorges and hills such as Hill 382, the Amphitheater and Turkey Knob, in an area they named the Meat Grinder, by attacking one bunker at a time. The island was declared secure on 16 March, but fighting went on in the north, and a final attack by several hundred Japanese on 26 March hit Army and Marine camps near the airfields.

Weapons

The Marines fought with the M1 Garand, the M1918 BAR and the M1919 Browning Machine Gun, supported by tanks, artillery and naval guns. The weapons that cleared the bunkers were the M2 Flamethrower, the Satchel Charge and the Mk 2 Fragmentation Grenade, and flame-throwing tanks were used as well. The Japanese defended with the Type 99 Rifle, the Type 96 Light Machine Gun, the Type 89 Grenade Discharger, the Type 97 Hand Grenade, heavy mortars, rockets and artillery hidden in caves.

Aftermath

Nearly all the Japanese garrison died; only a few hundred were taken prisoner. American casualties were about 26,000, including nearly 7,000 dead, making Iwo Jima the only major Marine battle of the Pacific in which total American casualties outnumbered the Japanese. Twenty-seven Medals of Honor were awarded. Admiral Nimitz said of the men who fought there that "uncommon valor was a common virtue." More than 2,000 B-29 landings were made on the island's airfields before the end of World War II, and the US Marine Corps War Memorial in Arlington, Virginia, is modeled on Rosenthal's photograph.