Matthew Durden May 26, 2011 Period: 3

The island of Iwo Jima, Japanese for Sulfur Island, was an extremely important air base during WWII. Located 660 miles south of Tokyo, the eight square mile island was in the perfect position for an air strip. The Japanese could intercept incoming American bombers, and crippled American bombers returning from Japan could make emergency landings on the island. Obviously, the US wasnt comfortable with Japan holding this island, especially after the Japanese were cutting off American B-29 bombers on their way to the Japanese homeland, so the US decided that the capture of Iwo Jima was a necessity. Before Iwo Jima would be invaded, it suffered the longest sustained aerial offensive of the war, which began in October of 1944. The US bombed Iwo Jima for months straight. The Japanese forces, taking cover in their underground caves and tunnels, were nearly untouched, however. On February 19, 1945, approximately 70,000 American soldiers took the beaches of Iwo Jima, but because the Japanese were hiding in caves, this was done with little opposition. When the Americans began to advance, however, they suffered severe losses; nevertheless, there were 70,000 US Marines on the island and only 18,000 Japanese soldiers on the island. Over the course of the 36-day battle, nearly 7,000 Marines were killed, and an additional 20,000 were injured. Although the Marines suffered great losses, virtually every Japanese soldier was killed, except for the 216 Japanese POWs taken. The 36-day battle was hard fought by US Marines and diligently defended by the Japanese. In fact, the battle of Iwo Jima has been described as throwing human flesh against reinforced concrete. Even though the Marines fought hard and outnumbered the Japanese, they faced great opposition through the entire battle. The Japanese knew they would not win, and so they put all of their strength into their last battle. The Japanese soldiers orders were literally to

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kill 10 US Marines before they died themselves. They were also not permitted to surrender, and if they did, they would be shot by their own commanding officer. The Japanese commander of Iwo Jima, General Kuribayashi, was the man responsible for giving the horrendous orders. Although they were extremely brutal and harsh, they have gone down in history as military marvels because of their effectiveness. The US greatly outnumbered Japan on the island and the Marines still had great difficulty taking it. Along with giving the orders to kill 10 US Marines before dying, General Kuribayashi devised a plan that did not involve any fighting above ground at all. He had about 1,500 caves and tunnels dug into the rocky island from which the Japanese would fight the battle. Because of this, the Marines rarely saw a living Japanese soldier. On the other hand, however, the Japanese soldiers had perfect views of the Marines the entire time. The Marines had to resort to using flamethrowers and grenades in order to take out the Japanese soldiers. It was this that forced the US to take the tiny island inch by inch over a course of 36 days. On February 23, 1945 (five days after the beginning of the battle), the American flag was raised atop of Mt. Suribachi. The photo of the famous flag rising, taken by Associated Press photographer Joe Rosenthal, was quickly wired around the world and reproduced in thousands of newspapers. The picture gave citizens hope and demonstrated the strength of the United States. Admiral Chester W. Nimitz has commented that, "among the men who fought on Iwo Jima, uncommon valor was a common virtue. Twenty-seven Medals of Honor were awarded to soldiers for action on Iwo Jima, more than any other battle in US history. The picture was even used as a model for the Marine Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery. Iwo Jima was officially declared secure on March 16, 1945.

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Bibliography

Morison, Samuel E. "Battle for Iwo Jima, 1945." Naval History and Heritage Command. U.S. Navy, 16 Jan. 2008. Web. 25 May 2011.

"Iwo Jima." Iwo Jima. Ed. John H. Bradley. Iwo Jima, Inc., 2009. Web. 25 May 2011.