One of the deadliest battles and one of the largest amphibious operations in the history of mankind. It was fought on the island of Iwo Jima, Japan in February and March 1945 between American and Japanese forces and was part of the military operations that took place in the Pacific theater during World War II.
Iwo Jima means "Island of Sulfur" in Japanese, because of the sulfur deposits found on this small volcanic island. Its area is 21 square kilometers, the size of our Antikythera. It belongs to the Ogasawara island cluster and is 650 nautical miles south of Tokyo. Its main morphological feature is Mount Suribachi, 166 metres high.
In early 1945 the Americans had the upper hand in operations on the Pacific Front. Having captured the Marshall and Marianas Islands, they were able to launch attacks on the Japanese mainland with their B-29 strategic bombers. The Japanese forces had suffered significant losses, both in their navy and air force.
Following these developments, the Japanese staff decided to hold the Ogasawara Islands at all costs.[/B] Any loss of them would facilitate American air raids, dissipate war production and cause a drop in the morale of the people.
In particular, Iwo Jima had early warning radar and two airstrips. The Americans coveted the island because they needed it as a beachhead for their upcoming operation at Okinawa, but also because the Japanese planes stationed there were harassing the B-29s. The idea to take Iwo Jima belonged to Admiral Chester Nimitz, while General Douglas MacArthur disagreed, seeking to take Formosa (present-day Taiwan).
The American battleship USS New York bombs Iwo Jima IslandThe Japanese assigned the defense of the island to Lieutenant General Tadamichi Kuribayashi, with orders to hold the island until it fell. He transported 22,000 men and heavy artillery to Iwo Jima. The defense of the island would rely on an extensive network of caves and underground tunnels to protect his men from the extensive fire he expected from the Americans.
Kuribayashi's plan consisted of the Americans landing undisturbed on the coast of Iwo Jima and not returning fire from his men so that their positions would not be exposed. When the Americans came within 500 yards of the coast, the artillery would take action, while the soldiers would defend their positions to the death.
When the American staff decided to adopt Nimitz's proposal to attack Iwo Jima, it allocated five times as many troops for the operation, i.e. 110,000 men. General Holland Smith, the so-called father of modern amphibious warfare, was put in charge of the 5th Amphibious Army Corps, which consisted of three Marine divisions (3rd, 4th and 5th).
The American offensive began at 2 a.m. on 19 February 1945, with a relentless bombardment of Iwo Jima from air and sea. At 8:59 a.m. the landing of 30,000 Marines under Japanese fire, coming from Mount Suribachi, began. The Americans were in a disadvantageous position as they were unable to take cover because of the flat terrain, which consisted of volcanic sand. By the end of the day, another 40,000 Marines were thrown into the battlefield.
On the morning of the fourth day, Mount Suribachi was cut off from the rest of the island and the Marines set out to take it. Although they thought they would meet strong resistance from the Japanese, they reached the top without much difficulty. There they raised the American flag on a piece of pipe and stuck it in the ground. The Americans took heart, the Japanese realized that the end was near.
The moment was captured by Associated Press photographer Joe Rosenthal in a photo that has gone down in history. Word on the street is that the soldiers repeated the scene several times until Rosenthal got a photo with strong emotions.
Despite the loss of Suribachi and their plummeting morale, the Japanese fought valiantly to a standstill for another month, inflicting heavy casualties on the Americans. Hostilities ceased on the morning of March 26, 1945, when only a handful of the defenders remained on the battlefield.
And in truth, of the 22,000 Japanese defenders of Iwo Jima, 20,703 fell on the battlefield, including their commander, Lieutenant General Kuribayashi, and 216 were captured. The Americans also suffered heavy losses: 5,598 dead, 494 missing and 19,189 wounded. This was the only battle of World War II in which Allied forces suffered more casualties (dead and wounded) than the Japanese.
The capture of Iwo Jima marked another step in the American advance toward the Japanese mainland and the end of operations on the Pacific Front. However, many military analysts, in light of the heavy losses to the Americans, questioned the necessity of taking the island. Iwo Jima remained under American rule until 1968, when it was returned to Japan.
Source: sansimera.gr
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