The Island of Iwo Jima, is a very small island: only 4 2/3 miles long and 2 1/2 miles wide. At its southern end, it is dominated by the 550-foot high Mount Suribachi, an extinct volcano. 5th Marine Division landing at Iwo Jima on February 19, 1945. Mount Suribachi dominates the beach. In 1944 there were five villages on the island. The importance of this island to both the Japanese and the Americans lay in the two airfields that had been built on this island by the Japanese, with a third under construction. From Iwo Jima, Japanese fighters could intercept the B-29's bombing Japan, and there bombers and fighter-bombers could bomb the American bomber bases in the Marianas. The island, if captured by U.S. forces, would provide it with a fighter base and emergency landing strips for crippled bombers. The Japanese commander at Iwo Jima was Lieutenant-General Tadamichi Kuribayashi. The General was fully aware of the island's importance and had made a vow to dedicate himself and his men and their entire strength to the defence of the islands. Kuribayashi's men worked hard and by the summer of 1944 had driven tunnels through the plateau, built gun and machine gun emplacements, and laid minefields. Bombardment The Americans began early with the bombardment of Iwo Jima. On June 15th, 1944, carrier planes struck at the island hard. The attacks continued for the rest of the year. The aerial attacks and bombardments reached its climax when bombers based in Saipan bombarded Iwo Jima for 74 days continuously. Before the land attack, a three-day naval bombardment was carried out by six battleships and their supporting fleet elements. The land invasion began on February 19th, 1945, when leading wave of L.V.T.s hit the beaches to the north-east of Mt. Suribachi. The assault troops were men of the 4th Marine Division, under Major-General Clifton B. Cates, and the 5th Marine Division, under Major-General Keller E. Rockey. Both Divisions were part of Major-General Harry Schmidt's Vth Amphib. Corps. The 3rd Marine Division, under Major-General Graves B. Erskine was in corps reserve. In overall command was Lieutenant-General Holland M. Smith. Before the attack, American troops had practised landings on a similar stretch of beach and reconnaissance had also given them good idea of the strength of the Japanese defences. But what the Americans did not know was that the Japanese had built what was probably the most complex defence system in the Pacific. Although only eight square miles in area, Iwo Jima had 800 pillboxes and three miles of tunnels. Japan's 109th Division was entrusted with the defence of Iwo Jima. It had 13,586 men and by February 1st, had a further 7,347 Navy troops on the island. Guns were carefully sited to cover the beaches and a series of inland defence lines and fortifications. There were 361 guns of over 75-mm calibre, 300 A.A. guns, 130 howitzers, 20,000 light guns and machine-guns, 12 heavy-mortars, 70 rocket launchers, 40 47-mm anti-tank guns, 20 37-mm anti-tank guns, and 22 tanks. General Kuribayashi had decided to fight a static battle inshore from the beaches, but the Navy had insisted that possible landing beaches should be covered by bunkers. The Japanese tanks were no match for the American Sherman tanks and thus were positioned hull down in the gullies that scored the island. And gun positions were linked with the chain of tunnels. Massive air and naval bombardment before the American landings on Iwo Jima had forced the Japanese defenders into their bunkers. When the Marines landed, some officers suggested that it might be an easy operation. It was hard to imagine that any of the defenders could have survived the bombardment, whose finale had included 1,950 rounds of 16-inch shells, 1,500 of 14-inches, 400 of 12-inch, 1,700 of 8-inch, 2,000 of 6-inch, and 31,000 of 5-inch. It was the heaviest pre-landing bombardment of the Pacific war. In addition to this, Navy aircraft dropped bombs and napalm on the Japanese. The weapons of the Japanese were destroyed but the men themselves were safe deep underground in their shelters and tunnels. The Marines landed, and as soon as they crossed the first 200 yards of the beach, the Japanese struck them with savage cross-fire from hidden machine guns. At the same time, the American Marines were being bombarded by heavy mortars located in defensive pits. The U.S. Marine Corps did not realize this at the time that they had embarked on the most costly operation of its entire history. On the morning of D-day, elements of the 5th Marine Division managed to drive across the island. When the advance halted for the night at 1800 the Marines were far short of their objectives, but had managed to isolate Mount Suribachi. The Japanese were fighting hard and it was not until D+3 that Mount Suribachi was firmly surrounded. The following day, the 28th Marines with the 2nd and 3rd Battalions forward and the 1st in reserve gained 200 yards of the mountain's lower slopes. The following day, 40 planes attacked Japanese postions and the ground forces reached the steeper section of the mountain. On the 23rd, a large Marine patrol reached the rim of the mountain's crater and overcame last Japanese resistance on the mountain. This patrol, under Lieutenant Harold G. Shrier, hoisted a small (58x28 inch) Stars and Stripes flag. Flag Raising on Mount Suribachi Shortly afterwards it was decided by Shrier that a larger flag should be hoisted instead of the small one. The picture of the six men struggling to drive the pole into the volcanic soil, taken by Associated Press photographer Joe Rosenthal, has become a classic of the Second World War. On March 1st, the 28th Marines were moved to the northern sector, to join battalions of the 23rd, 24th, and 25th Marines of the 4th Marine Division, and the 26th and 27th Marines of the 5th Division, which had been given the task of clearing Airfield No.1 and driving northwards. The battle was hard and savage in which daily gains were measured in hundreds of yards. On February 21st, the 21st Marines of the 3rd Marine Division were ordered ashore to help. On the morning of the 24th, after a 76-minute naval bombardment, an air strike, and massive fire from Marine artillery, the tanks of the 4th and 5th Marine Divisions moved on. One thrust was launched on the western side, and the other along the eastern side, of the airfield. Mines and anti-tank guns stopped the tanks moving to the western side, but the tanks moving through to the eastern side got through and began to take Japanese gun emplacements and fortifications at close range fire. The 5th Marine Division had gained 500 yards by the end of the day. On the same day, the 3rd Marine Division thrusted towards the center of Iwo Jima's northern plateau, captured it and then pushed down to the sea. On the 25th at 0930 hours the division launched its attack. It was a slow and costly operation, as the attack met the main Japanese line of defences. After three days of continuous attacks, in which the Marines had used flame-throwing tanks to destroy the Japanese shell-proof bunkers, the Marines finally broke through the line. On the 28th the Marines secured the ruins of Motoyama village. The Marines now held all three airfields, the objectives of the landings, but there was more fighting to come. On the last day of the month, the Marines attacked two Japanese held hills: Hills 382 and 362A. Each of these hills contained tunnels and bunkers. Hill 382 had strong anti-tank guns and other artillery. Tanks were sited in the small gullies. To the south of the hill there was a massive rock known as Turkey Knob, with a natural bowl known as the Amphitheater. The fighting for both these hills was so brutal and savage that this fighting became known as the Meatgrinder. By 10th March, after savage and tough fighting, both Hills were in American hands and the Japanese defending Turkey Knob and the Amphitheater had been destroyed. The attack on Hill 362A complex on March 2nd saw the use of different and new Marine tactics. They attacked the Japanese at night. These surprised the enemy and by the 8th of March Hill 363A was in Marines hands. Despite the loss of their key positions, the Japanese troops fought on with their customary aggressiveness. On the 8th they launched an attack on the junction between the 23rd and 24th Marines. The Japanese were caught in the open and without artillery support, their attack failed. 650 Japanese were counted dead. With this defeat the Japanese defences began to crumble and the mopping up stage began, although individual strong points were in no mood to surrender. The last Japanese pocket was destroyed at Kitano Point on March 25th. But that night 250 Japanese troops emerged from their destroyed positions and led in person by General Kuribayashi, tore into the area occupied by the sleeping men of the 5th Pioneer Battalion. A defensive line was set up by the Army's VII Fighter Command and the Marines 8th Field Depot and by dawn the next day at least 223 Japanese including General Kuribayashi, lay dead. The battle of Iwo Jima, one of the most savage battles ever fought in the Pacific, was finally over. It had cost the Marines 5,931 dead and 17,372 wounded. Of the 21,000 Japanese defending Iwo Jima, only 216 were taken prisoner. By the end of the war, Iwo Jima's airfields had saved the lives of 24,761 American pilots and aircrews. Bibliography Keegan, John. The Second World War. Penguin Books, 1989, U.S.A. Bauer, Eddy. The History Of World War 2. Orbis Publishing, 2000, London, England. Back to Table of Contents -- World War Two Newsletter February 2003 Back to World War Two Newsletter List of Issues Back to MagWeb Magazine List © Copyright 2003 by Shahram Khan. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other articles from military history related magazines are available at http://www.magweb.com