Battle of Iwo Jima

The **Battle of Iwo Jima** was the American capture of the Japanese island of Iwo Jima during the Pacific Campaign of World War II. The United States needed to capture Iwo Jima to be able to defeat Japan. Many films were made about it, for example _Flags of our Fathers_ and _Letters from Iwo Jima_, both directed by Clint Eastwood.

It lasted from 19 February to 26 March 1945. It was a major battle in which the United States Armed Forces captured the island of Iwo Jima from the Empire of Japan.

The Americans wanted to capture the island, including its three airfields, and use this area for attacks on the Japanese main islands. This five-week battle had violent fighting.

After suffering such heavy losses, people questioned why the US went into the battle. The island was not useful for the Navy or Air Force.

The Imperial Japanese Army had thick defenses and underground tunnels for cover. The Americans had ships that could fire on the island and total control of the air.
The invasion was the first American attack on Japanese home territory.

The Japanese general, Tadamichi Kuribayashi, and his soldiers refused to surrender. He and his officers said they would fight until they died.

There were 22,000 Japanese soldiers on Iwo Jima at the beginning of the battle, and only 216 were taken prisoner at the end.

About 3,000 Japanese soldiers kept fighting for weeks.

With no retreat and no possibility of reinforcements, the Japanese had dug in and prepared to fight until they died. To take control of the island, the Americans would have to destroy the entire Japanese force stationed on the island.

The battle was made famous by Joe Rosenthal's photograph of the raising of the US flag on top of the  Mount Suribachi.

This photo became an important image of this battle, the war in the Pacific, and the Marine Corps.

## Background

After the Americans captured the Marshall Islands in January 1944, the Japanese military leaders thought about their situation.

It looked like the Americans would go toward the Mariana Islands and the Carolines. The Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) and the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) set up a line of defences.

In March 1945, the Japanese 31st Army, commanded by General Hideyoshi Obata, was ordered to defend this line.

The commander of the Japanese group on Chichi Jima was placed in command of Army and Navy units in the Volcano Islands. The Americans had started bombing Japan every day after they captured the Marianas. The Japanese were using Iwo Jima to transmit radio reports of American bomber activity.

After the U.S. captured bases in the Marshalls in February 1944, Japanese Army and Navy troops were sent to Iwo Jima. Iwo Jima had more than 5,000 men.

The loss of the Marianas during the summer of 1944 made the Japanese worried about the Volcano Islands. They knew that the Americans could launch air attacks on Japan if the islands were captured. However, it was hard for Japan to defend the Volcano Islands because the Imperial Japanese Navy had lost almost all of its ships.

Japan could not build new airplanes until March or April 1945. Even then, these planes could not fly to Iwo Jima from Japan. Japan did not have enough pilots and other aircrew.

Iwo Jima was important for two reasons: it was an air base for Japanese fighter planes, and it was a safe place for Japanese ships. In addition, it was used by the Japanese for air attacks on the Mariana Islands.

Capturing Iwo Jima would deny the air base from the Japanese and provide a place from which to launch the invasion of Japan.

When the US decided to invade Iwo Jima, experts thought it would be captured in one week, but hundreds of tons of Allied bombs had not harmed the entrenched Japanese defenders.

### Japanese preparations

By June 1944, Lieutenant General Tadamichi Kuribayashi was ordered to defend Iwo Jima. He knew that Japan could not win the battle, but he hoped to inflict enough casualties to dissuade the Allies from invading Japan.

Kuribayashi created strong defences with heavy weapons such as heavy machine guns and artillery. Extensive tunnels were dug, and land mines were placed all over the island.

## Amphibious landing

Starting on 15 June 1944, the US Navy and the US Army Air Forces began to attack the island. Naval artillery shellings and air bombings were done for nine months. Each heavy warship fired for approximately six hours.

The efforts failed to achieve the desired effects because of the Japanese defenses. The American bombings continued until 19 February 1945, the day that the Marines landed on the island.

About 450 American ships were near Iwo Jima. The battle involved about 60,000 US Marines.

At 08:59, 30,000 Marines began landing on the island. The Japanese held their fire for some time and men and material began to fill the beaches. Then, the Japanese opened fire, and many in the first group of Marines were killed by the machine guns.

Japanese heavy artillery was protected by steel doors that closed to protect the guns between shots, which made it difficult for American units to destroy the artillery. The Japanese soldiers hid in the tunnel system.

With tanks, naval artillery, and air bombing on Mount Suribachi, the Marines got past the beaches. About 40,000 more Marines landed later.

The fighting on Iwo Jima was very violent. The Marines’ advance was stopped by defensive positions and artillery. The Marines used flamethrowers and grenades to kill Japanese troops in the tunnels.

Eight Sherman M4A3R3 medium tanks with a flamethrower destroyed Japanese defences. The Japanese ran out of water, food, and supplies. The Japanese made more nighttime attacks. Most Japanese soldiers fought to the death.

## Raising the flag

"Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima" is a photograph taken on 23 February 1945 by Joe Rosenthal. It shows five Marines and a US Navy corpsman raising the US flag on Mount Suribachi. The photograph was popular. It won a Pulitzer Prize for Photography.

The Japanese troops stayed in the tunnels and were all killed.

## Northern Iwo Jima

The Japanese still held positions on the north end. Kuribayashi had eight infantry battalions, a tank regiment, two artillery battalions, and three heavy mortar battalions. He also had about 5,000 gunners and naval infantry.

The Marines' tanks were destroyed by Japanese fire and mines. Many Americans were killed or damaged.

The Marines attacked in the darkness with no bombing before the attack. Many Japanese soldiers were killed while still sleeping.

On the evening of 8 March, Captain Samaji Inouye and his 1,000 men attacked the Americans causing 347 casualties (90 deaths). The Marines counted 784 dead Japanese soldiers the next day.

There was also a kamikaze air attack on the ships anchored at sea on 21 February. This sunk the escort carrier  and severely damaged the . There was minor damage to the escort carrier , an LST, and a transport.

On 16 March, Kuribayashi's soldiers were still alive on the northwestern end of the island. On 21 March, the Marines blew up the Japanese with four tons of explosives. On 24 March, the Marines sealed up the caves.

A 300-man Japanese force attacked Airfield No. 2. There was a 90-minute fight in which the Marines suffered heavy casualties (53 killed, 120 wounded). The island was finally captured at 09:00 on 26 March.

## Weapons

In the Pacific the United States used M2 flamethrowers.  to kill the Japanese in caves. Marines also had flamethrowers on tanks and used them during battle. They were less useful because of Iwo Jima's rough land. Many other infantry weapons were used, including the infamous M1 Garand.

## Aftermath

Of the 22,060 Japanese soldiers on the island, 18,844 died from fighting or by suicide. Only 216 were captured during the battle. After Iwo Jima, 3,000 hid in the tunnels.

The 36-day battle for Iwo Jima resulted in more than 26,000 American casualties, including 6,800 dead. By comparison, the 82-day battle for Okinawa resulted in casualties of over 62,000, of whom over 12,000 were killed or missing. Iwo Jima was also the only US Marine battle in which the Americans suffered more casualties than the Japanese.

Because they had all been removed, there were no civilian casualties at Iwo Jima, unlike at Saipan and Okinawa.

## Strategic importance

Given the number of casualties, the importance of the island's capture is controversial.

Iwo Jima was not used by the US Army Air Corps to drop the atomic bombs on Japan. Tinian was the Island both bombers left to bomb Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which were 12 hours out and back.

The argument for capturing Iwo Jima was that it provided a landing and refueling airfield for fighter escorts, but only ten missions were ever flown from Iwo Jima.

Japanese fighter aircraft based on Iwo Jima sometimes attacked the US forces. Only 11 B-29s were lost.

The Japanese on Iwo Jima had radar and could notify Japanese forces at home of B-29 Superfortresses flying from the Mariana Islands.

However, the capture of Iwo Jima did not affect the Japanese radar system.

## Legacy

The US Navy has several ships of the name .

On 19 February 1985, the 40th anniversary of the landings, an event called the Reunion of Honor was held. The veterans of both sides who fought in the Battle of Iwo Jima attended the event. A memorial was built. Representatives of both countries shook hands.

The importance of the battle to Marines today can be seen. Marines go to the island and to the summit of Suribachi.

The Japanese government continues to search for the bodies of Japanese military troops who were killed during the battle.

## Medal of Honor awards

The Medal of Honor is the highest military decoration awarded by the United States government. It is given to a member of the United States armed forces who show bravery and risks his life in a battle. The medal is often awarded after death. It has been given only 3,464 times.

During this one-month-long battle, 27 U.S. military personnel were given the Medal of Honor for their actions, 14 of them after death.

## Movies and documentaries

- _To the Shores of Iwo Jima_, a 1945 American documentary produced by the United States Navy, Marine Corps and the Coast Guard.
- _Glamour Gal_, a 1945 film about Marine artillery.
- _Sands of Iwo Jima_, a 1949 American film starring John Wayne.
- _The Outsider_, a 1961 film starring Tony Curtis as the conflicted flag raiser Ira Hayes.
- _Flags of Our Fathers_ and _Letters from Iwo Jima_ are two 2006 films directed by Clint Eastwood. _Flags of Our Fathers_ is filmed from the American perspective and is based on the book by James Bradley and Ron Powers (_Flags of Our Fathers_). _Letters from Iwo Jima_ (originally titled _Red Sun, Black Sand_) is filmed from the Japanese perspective.
- Part 8 of the 2010 HBO miniseries _The Pacific_, produced by Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg, includes part of the battle of Iwo Jima from the point of view of a Marine who died there.
- Episode 23 from the 1973 Thames Television Documentary _The World at War_.
- Battle Rats: Iwo Jima (2009) (TV).
- The movie "The League of Grateful Sons" by Vision Forum concerns the Battle of Iwo Jima

## References

- Burrell, Robert S. "Breaking the Cycle of Iwo Jima Mythology: A Strategic Study of Operation Detachment," _Journal of Military History_ Volume 68, Number 4, October 2004, pp. 1143–1186 and rebuttal in Project MUSE
- Linenthal, Edward T. "Shaping a Heroic Presence: Iwo Jima in American Memory," _Reviews in American History_ Vol. 21, No. 1 (March 1993), pp. 8–12 in JSTOR
- Kindersley, Dorling; World War II: The Definitive Visual History; DK publishing; 2009

### Online

- – Site contains 250 photographs.
- – 3-D Stereo Photograph of Iwo Jima Flag-raising.
- – A tone-mapped High Dynamic Range Image of Iwo Jima.

## Infobox (military conflict)

- **conflict**: Battle of Iwo Jima
- **partof**: the Pacific War
- **image**: 37mm Gun fires against cave positions at Iwo Jima.jpg
- **caption**: A U.S.  gun fires against Japanese cave positions in the north face of Mount Suribachi
- **date**: February 19 – March 26, 1945
- **place**: Iwo Jima, Japan
- **result**: United States victory
- **commander1**: Holland Smith
Marc Mitscher
- **commander2**: Tadamichi Kuribayashi
- **strength1**: 70,000
- **strength2**: 18,061–18,591
- **casualties1**: 12,822 killed/missing
19,217 wounded
- **casualties2**: 17,845–18,375 killed/missing
216 captured