Battle of Iwo Jima
February 1945: U.S. Corpsmen carry a wounded Marine on a stretcher to an evacuation boat on the beach at Iwo Jima while other Marines huddle in a foxhole during the invasion.
The U.S. invasion fleet can be seen offshore.
Iwo Jima is an eight-square mile spec of a volcanic island in the Pacific Ocean, about 760 miles – only four hours flying time – to Tokyo. Japan fortified Iwo Jima with miles of underground tunnels, caves, pill boxes and over 20,000 troops. The United States wanted the island for use as air base to launch fighter plans and to serve as an emergency landing strip for damaged bombers returned from their bombing run on Japan.
The battle for Iwo Jima started on February 19, 1945 with naval bombardment to “soften” the Japanese positions on the island. Because of the hardened fortifications, the bombardment did not have the desired results – The Japanese were fully capable of mounting an effective defense.
The more than 21,000 Japanese defenders, under the command of Lieutenant General Kuribayashi Tadamichi fought ferociously. During the intense battles, Japanese kamikaze counterattacks sank the American light carrier Bismark Sea and other American ships were damaged. On the island, the Japanese fired upon Americans from the underground garrisons, caves, and “pill boxes”, fortified positions of steel and concrete. The Marines had to fight and “dig them out” one position at a time, using grenades, flame throwers, and rifle fire.
The taking of Mount Suribachi on the south end of the island on February 23 did not end the fighting. In fact, the island was not declared secure for American forces until March 16, 1945.
(Photo source – AP Photo/Joe Rosenthal)
(Colourised by Royston Leonard from the UK)
