Iwo Jima Essay, Research Paper

The Battle for Iwo Jima

The battle for control of the island of Iwo Jima, one of the bloodiest battles in both Marine and American history, began February 19th, 1945 as part of the island-hopping campaign of the Pacific theater. Ultimately, 26,000 Marines would be wounded or slain – exceeding Union losses at the battle of Gettysburg. Beginning in the summer of 1944, long range American B-29’s had been pounding the Japanese islands. However, because of the great distances from U.S. bomber bases in the Marianas, fighter escort was impossible, leaving American bombers vulnerable to Japanese fighter attacks. Roughly 650 miles from Tokyo, the Pacific command set its sights on the 8 square mile island of Iwo Jima as an ideal base for fighter escorts, as well as a refuge for crippled bombers returning from strikes.

Anticipating the strong attraction of Iwo Jima and its three airfields to the Americans, the Japanese constructed elaborate defenses of the island that they would defend with suicidal ferocity. 21,000 Imperial Japanese troops under the command of General Kuribayashi fought in a series of underground bunkers consisting of 1,500 rooms, connected by 16 miles of tunnels. His superiors instructed him that a high enough casualty rate among the invaders might persuade the United States not to engage in an invasion of the Japanese home islands. Kuribayashi’s plans called for no Japanese survivors.

110,000 Marines, embarked on over 800 ships, took part in the invasion, the largest amphibious assault in the Pacific theater up to that point. One in three Marines would be killed or wounded. The invasion by the 4th and 5th Marine Divisions was preceded by a sustained aerial bombardment by the Air Force, the greatest preliminary “pounding” of any island in the war. Unfortunately, the bombardment did little damage to the underground bunkers, virtually all of which survived intact for the amphibious landing. The Marines landed on beaches overlooked by the 550-foot tall Mt. Suribachi at the southern tip of the island, from which Japanese soldiers rained down automatic weapons fire, rockets and anti-landing craft fire. The casualty rate among the first waves of attackers was murderous as they were caught in the sights of well-positioned enemy machine gunners.

The fighting on Iwo Jima was characterized by the step-by-step elimination of tenacious Japanese defenders deeply entrenched underground and rarely seen by American Marines. Flame-throwers and grenades were staples in flushing the defenders from their subterranean strongholds. The level of gallantry displayed by the Marines is among the most conspicuous in the history of warfare. Fighting foot-by-foot against heavily armed defenders, the Marines found themselves unable to dig fox-holes in the volcanic ash that made up much of the island, exposing them to the withering machine-gun fire of the enemy. Nevertheless, the courage of the Marines was endless, and the island was eventually taken. Admiral Chester Nimitz remarked of the Marines on Iwo Jima, “Uncommon valor was a common virtue.”

The raising of the American flag by five Marines and a Navy corpsman on top of Mt. Suribachi was ordered by a Marine sergeant to boost the morale of the men, as it could be seen from a great distance. Furthermore, the extinct volcano represented the most difficult obstacle of the battle, and its being taken was symbolically important to the men. Photographer Joe Rosenthal captured the image, propelling the flag-raisers to instant hero status in the United States. The picture of the flag-raising, the most reproduced photograph of all time, was used as the model for the Marine Corps monument designed by Felix de Weldon, and quickly became a nationally recognized symbol of the courage of American troops abroad. Only three of the six flag-raisers survived the battle. Ironically, the flag-raising on Mt. Suribachi took place weeks before the battle ended on March 25th. In 36 days of combat, American forces sustained over 6,000 killed in action, and almost 20,000 presumed dead, wounded or missing. The Japanese suffered over 20,000 dead, with only 1,000 being taken prisoner.

Iwo Jima proved itself an indispensable asset to the Pacific command. Before the end of the war, thousands of fighters took off from its runways, and this ’stepping stone’ served as a staging ground for countless Allied advances.