Sahil M's List: HIST-Iwo Jima TP.

• For the 70,000 Americans, Iwo Jima   was the step to the Japanese heartland and to the end of an awful   war. For the 22,000 Japanese defenders, Iwo Jima was the defense of   their very hearths and homes as it was part of the Tokyo Imperial   Prefecture (county). It was assaulted by the 3rd, 4th and 5th Marine   Divisions of the Fifth Marine Amphibious Corps, which included supporting   sea and air units.
   
    Iwo Jima was the only Marine battle   where the American casualties, 26,000, exceeded the Japanese -- most   of the 22,000 defending the island. The 6,800 American servicemen   killed doubled the deaths of the Twin-Towers of 9/11.
  
• • For the Americans Iwo was a step away from Japan. For the Japanese it was the last line of defense. Assaulted by the 3rd, 4th, and 5th Marine Divisions. Iwo was the only Marine battle in history where the number of American casualties (26,000) was larger than the Japanese where most of the 22,000 defenders perished.
• The Japanese defense was headed by General   Tadamichi Kuribayashi, resourceful, resolute, much admired by his   men and respected by the Americans. LtCol Justice M. Chambers (Medal   of Honor) commanding 3rd Bn, 25th Marines, 4th Marine Division, recalled   how General Kuribayashi ordered each soldier to kill ten Marines --   "for a while he was beating their quotas."
• • Japanese defense lead by General Tadamichi Kuribayashi an resourceful and respect General for both the American and Japanese sides. Lieutenant Colonel Justice M. Chambers (Medal of Honor) commander of the 3rd battalion, 25th Marines, 4th Marine Division said that General Kuribayashi ordered his men to kill 10 Marine before they died.
• Four miles long, shaped like a pork chop, covering eight square miles,   Iwo had no front lines, no rear, every inch a battleground.
• • Since the Japanese were underground in their fortifications, every inch of Iwo was a battle ground with no front lines, flanks, or rear. 
• There   were complex, subterranean levels, some two stories down. From these   the defenders could approach the enemy on the surface virtually anywhere   through warrens, spider holes, caves, and crevices.
• • The Japanese defenders were in a series of emplacements some almost two stories down. From positions like these, the Japanese could come at the Marines from anywhere through warrens, spider holes, caves, and crevices.

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• D-Day February 19, 1945 

  Shortly before 2am on Feb. 19, 1945, the Navy's big guns opened up on Iwo Jima again, signaling the beginning of D-Day. After an hour of punishment, the fire was lifted, leaving Iwo smoking as if the entire island were on fire.
• • The landings started February 19, 1945. Navy shelled the entire island in preparation for the Marine landings. 
• At 8:30am, the order, "Land the Landing Force," sent the first wave of Marines towards the deadly shores. Once ashore, the Marines were bedeviled by the loose volcanic ash. Unable to dig foxholes, they were sitting ducks for the hidden Japanese gunners.
• • Wave 1 of Marines landed at 8:30 A.M. Under heavy fire by Japanese. Due to the nature of the Volcanic Ash that covered the island. Marines were unable to dig into the island
• The battle was unique in its setting. One hundred   thousand men fighting on a tiny island one-third the size of Manhattan.   For 36 days Iwo Jima was one of the most populated 7.5 miles on   earth.
• • One hundred thousand men fighting on an island less than 8 miles.
• Mt. Suribachi, the 550-foot volcanic cone at the islands southern tip, dominates both possible landing beaches. From here, Japanese gunners zeroed in on every inch of the landing beach. Blockhouses and pillboxes flanked the landing areas. Within, more heavy weapons stood ready to blast the attacking Marines. Machine guns criss-crossed the beaches with deadly interlocking fire. Rockets, anti-boat and anti-tank guns were also trained on the beaches. 

  Every Marine, everywhere on the island was always in range of Japanese guns.
• • Mt. Suribachi was the highest point at 550 feet. From here the Japanese could see everything around them. Thus, they could effectively shell the Marines. Blockhouses and Pillboxes could fire at the landing areas. In addition Machine gun, rockets, boat and anit-tank weapons were in place against the Marines. No where on the entire 8 square miles of Iwo was a Marine safe. 
• The defending Japanese fought from below ground. The US Marines on Iwo rarely saw a Japanese soldier.
• • Japanese used their protected caves and tunnels to avoid facing the Marines in open combat.
• • Most effective methods of rooting out the Japanese were, flamethrowers, napalm, and hand grenades.
• Liquid gas, napalm and hand grenades were more useful against the underground Japanese.

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• Japanese soldiers turned the volcanic island into a trap, fighting from a maze of tunnels and steel bunkers beneath Mt. Suribachi. The Battle of Iwo Jima lasted 36 days and resulted in heavy casualties before the Marines secured the island.
• • Iwo, was hell for the Marines. Japanese fighting from reinforced bunkers and tunnels. Total battle lasted 36 days and numerous casualties were taken on both sides.

• Incredibly, this ferocious bombardment had little effect. Hardly any of the Japanese underground fortresses were touched. Twenty-one thousand defenders of Japanese soil, burrowed in the volcanic rock of Iwo Jima, anxiously awaited the American invaders.
• • The three day bombardment had little effect on the entrenched Japanese. The 21,000 Japanese were ready for the Marines.
• he US sent more Marines to Iwo than to any other battle, 110,000 Marines in 880 Ships. The convoy o
• 880 US Ships sailed from Hawaii to Iwo in 40 days.
• • The Marine landing force was 110,00 in 880 ships. It took 40 days for the ships to travel from Hawaii to Iwo

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• • The main points of the Japanese Strategy. 1) Japanese attacked the Marines from underground emplacements. 1500 rooms in the rock across 16 miles of tunnels. 2) The Japanese were to defend Iwo till the last man. 3) Each Japanese soldier was to kill 10 Marines before they themselves died.
• No foreign army in Japan's 5000 year history had successfully trod on Japanese soil. To the US, Iwo Jima's importance lay in its location, midway between Japan and American bomber bases in the Marianas. Since the summer of 1944, the Japanese home islands had been reeling from strikes by the new, long range B-29's. The US, however, had no protective fighters with enough range to escort the big superfortresses. many bombers fell prey to Japanese fighter-interceptor attacks. Iwo, with its three airfields, was ideally located as a fighter-escort station. It was also an ideal sanctuary for crippled bombers returning from Japan.
• • Iwo was Japanese home soil. No foreign army had trod on Japanese soil in 5,000 years. The Americans wanted it to act as a landing base for damaged American Bombers (B-29's). With no protective escorts for the bombers, Iwo with its location between the Marianas and Japan. Iwo had three airfields which made it an ideal candidate for such a base.
• General Kuribayashi had been told "if America's casualties are high enough, Washington will think twice before launching an another invasion against Japanese territory." The Japanese strategy of "no Japanese survivors"
• • General Kuribayashi was told if the Americans suffer enough casualties trying to take Japanese soil they would retreat and not launch another attack.

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