The Battle of Iwo Jima

The Japanese had been steadily losing ground in the Pacific for months. Their island possessions were being overtaken or cut off by the Americans, and their war strategists and planners knew they could not win this war against the United States.

Japanese shipping was being disrupted by American submarines, and resources were running low. Men had been killed by the thousands in previous battles, and the loss of life was taking its toll on their military and the population at large. Unable to win and refusing to surrender, Japan’s military leaders changed their strategy to make the Pacific War a war of attrition. They hoped to make the fighting so costly for the Allies that they would sue for peace instead of demanding unconditional surrender from Japan. Meanwhile, the Americans were committed to keeping the pressure on Japan by taking several key islands in rapid succession. The determination on both sides set the stage for the bloodiest battle in U.S. Marine Corps history, the battle for Iwo Jima.

Iwo Jima, which means “Sulfur Island,” was not a large island, only about eight square miles in all. Although the Japanese had constructed three airfields there, the aircraft based at Iwo did little more than harass the American bombers that flew nearby on their way to Japan. Yet this island had been in Japanese possession for centuries and was just 700 miles from the Japanese home islands. To the Americans, this would be a valuable target as a potential fighter escort base for the Marianas-based bombers and would penetrate Japan’s inner defense zone, striking a blow to Japanese morale.

The proposal for the invasion of Iwo Jima was the first step in a plan that was to involve taking Okinawa a week later, and soon afterwards, an attack on the Home Islands themselves. Iwo Jima would protect the American flank during the Okinawa seizure, which would then be used to stage the invasion of Japan. The Allies realized that it would take a significant blow to the Japanese spirit to cause them to surrender. They hoped that a rapid succession of losses—particularly of islands that had belonged to Japan for hundreds of years—would accomplish just that. Operation DETACHMENT, the campaign for Iwo Jima, was approved.

Unfortunately for the Americans, Japanese planners were aware of the strategic potential of the little island. Lieutenant General Tadamichi Kuribayashi of the Imperial Japanese Army was sent to command the defense at Iwo Jima. Under his leadership, construction began immediately to fortify the island and turn it into a deadly maze-like complex of tunnels, bunkers, storehouses, pillboxes, and caves. They would not just be on the island, they would be in the island, forcing the Americans to drag them out of their defensive positions, sometimes even one by one. These miles of underground tunnels also hid the bulk of the Japanese forces from American reconnaissance. Intelligence reports about Iwo Jima severely underestimated the defenders’ numbers.

To make short work of Iwo Jima, the Americans assigned hundreds of thousands of men for the invasion force. The Fourth and Fifth Marine Divisions would land first, with the Third Marine Division held in reserve. The 147^th Army Infantry Regiment was to land on the island as well to aid the Marine Divisions, and the Navy’s 5^th Fleet with personnel from the Army Air Corps would support the landings overall. Thousands of Navy Seabees and Transportation Battalion crewmen would be ready to attend the landings and perform whatever duties required to ensure the invasion had the infrastructure it needed. Over 80,000 men were dedicated to the operation, and the battle for Iwo Jima would involve the largest commitment of Marines for a single operation during World War II.

The American forces landed at almost exactly the appointed hour, 0900 on 19 February 1945. Their very first obstacle was the island itself. The volcanic ash covering the island was soft and loose, and men who set foot on the beaches sank up to their ankles in the sand. Vehicles floundered, unable to gain traction. The beaches were steeper than initially expected, and this caused violent surf that battered the landing craft. These piled up on the beaches as crews desperately tried to unload men and cargo without capsizing or getting stuck in the sand. Those who did make it ashore found the beaches surprisingly quiet, until they began to make their way inland.

The Japanese had taken shelter in the underground tunnels throughout the preinvasion bombardment and made their way topside once the shelling subsided. They assumed their positions in the sniper nests, pillboxes, and artillery positions and waited until waves of Marines had amassed on the beaches, then opened fire. The Japanese rained bullets and artillery shells down upon the Americans struggling through the sand and up the slopes of the beaches. It was a departure from the strategy the Japanese had used throughout the rest of the war, and it caught the Americans by surprise, with devastating results.

General Kuribayashi knew that the Americans would eventually conquer Iwo Jima, but he intended to make sure the cost of taking the island was as high as it could be. He forbade the typical suicide, or banzai, charges that were so commonplace in Japanese strategy. Instead, he issued the “Courageous Battle Vows” to his troops. In it, he told them that their battle station was to be their gravesite, and they were to fight to the death wherever they were. If each of them killed ten Americans before they themselves perished, Kuribayashi told them, it would bring glorious victory to their Emperor. The result was a fierce determination among the Japanese defenders to fight to their last breath, even after weeks of fighting when they had not eaten or drank for days. Such a departure from the aggressive offensive Japanese strategy resulted in unprecedented American casualties at Iwo Jima, which became the only battle of the Pacific War in which American casualties outnumbered those of the Japanese.

Fighting across the island was ferocious. American casualties on D-Day alone were over 2,400 men. The Japanese had constructed their defenses well, using the treacherous terrain to their advantage in creating deadly mazes out of gorges and ravines. Marines had to disable enemy pillboxes one by one and with incredible difficulty. Historians later described the battle for Iwo Jima as “throwing human flesh against reinforced concrete.” Some strongholds were so heavily defended and brutal that the troops gave them nicknames like “The Meat Grinder” and “Bloody Gorge.” The defenders had deadly accuracy, and the battle for Iwo Jima effectively ended the myth that the Japanese were nearsighted and poor marksmen. But for all this, both sides knew it was only a matter of time before the defense gave way and the island would fall to the Americans. The first sign of this came just five days into the battle, on 23 February, in a scene that was destined to become the most iconic image of the Pacific War, and even of World War II.

On 23 February, Lt. Harold G. Schrier led a patrol up the side of Mt. Suribachi. His orders were to take the mountain and plant a U.S. flag at the summit. The small flag was attached to a length of pipe and raised around 1020 that day. The scene was photographed by Sergeant Lou Lowery, a Marine Corps photographer from Leatherneck magazine, and was met by rousing cheers and celebration. Charles W. Lindberg, one of the men who raised this first flag, recalled

Later that day, another patrol was ordered to raise another, larger flag, “large enough that the men at the other end of the island will see it.” Six men—Pfc Rene A. Gagnon, Sgt Michael Strank, Cpl. Harlon H. Block, Pfc Franklin R. Sousley, Pharmacist’s Mate John H. Bradley, and Pfc Ira I. Hayes---raised this flag on another section of pipe. Associated Press photographer Joe Rosenthal captured the moment on camera while Marine Sgt. Bill Genaust filmed next to him. The camera film from both flag raisings were sent home for development, but Rosenthal’s reached the U.S. first, and the image sparked a fire in the hearts of the American people. This photograph was used in the Seventh War Bond Drive, postage stamps, and even earned the 1945 Pulitzer Prize for Photography. It eventually became the basis for the Marine Corps War Memorial in Arlington, Virginia.

The battle was far from over, but the flag raising on Iwo Jima inspired the American troops. The fighting continued for over five weeks, but the invaders slowly conquered the island and its airfields. On 4 March, a B-29 from the 313^th Bomb Wing on Tinian ran low on fuel over Iwo Jima. The bomber, named “Dinah Might,” made an emergency landing on Motoyama Airfield #1, which had just recently been captured from the Japanese. This was another sign to the weary troops that their sacrifices had not been in vain and would have lasting effects on the rest of the war.

The Battle of Iwo Jima lasted from 19 February to 26 March 1945. The Japanese mounted one last desperate banzai charge on the night of 25 March, hoping to strike a final blow for the Emperor. The attack killed or wounded over 100 Americans, but when morning came, the island was officially declared secured. Over 21,000 Japanese were killed in the defense of Iwo Jima, with 216 taken prisoner. Of the 70,000 men on Iwo Jima, there were more than 6,000 dead and another 18,000 casualties. This brutal battle paved the way for the invasion of Okinawa, which would have similarly bloody results. These two invasions demonstrated the determination and ferocity of the new Japanese strategy, and caused American strategists to rethink their plans to invade the Japanese home islands, codenamed Operation DOWNFALL. In the end, the casualty predictions of DOWNFALL played a large part in President Truman’s decision to use the atomic bombs in an attempt to end the war.

The courage and sacrifice of the men at Iwo Jima is remembered to this day. Their efforts and dedication to their country helped to bring about the end of the Pacific War. In describing the men at Iwo Jima, Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz said,