The Battle At Iwo Jima, But Instead, Looking At First Person Accounts And Eyewitnesses

The U.S. Navy and the U.S. Army Air Forces started naval bombardments against the island. About seventy-thousand U.S. Marines and eighteen-thousand Japanese soldiers were in the battle. When the Navy opened up on Iwo Jima it caused D-Day to happen on which Allied forces invaded northern France. 19 American B-24 bombers based in Guam, Mariana Islands attacked Iwo Jima on January 29th. 28 American P-51 Mustang and 12 P-61 Black Widow aircraft landed on

The Japanese had it made. They had all they needed in their caves. You would of thought that the Japanese would have paid a bunch of money to fortify the island but they really did not. The had many of the Empire's most gifted mining engineers to dig tunnels throughout the volcanic mountains. It took them no time to have miles of tunnels running through the mountains. These tunnels made it easy for the Japanese to move from one position to the other. But life was not to great in the caves because the United States Seventh Air Force bombers dropped bombs on them daily in hope to soften them up before the massive invasion. Another helpful aspect to the Japanese was the sand on the beaches. The sand wasn't like in paradise. It was black and loose making running across the beachhead very difficult. The only flaw to the island that did not help the Japanese was the surf. The surf was too rough to plant anti boat mines. "The entire island is flat except for the promontory of Mount Suribachi, and extinct volcano, which is 556 feet high in the southern portion of the island."(Siefring 117)

At approximately 8 o’clock in the morning on the 7th of Dec 1941, the United States of America faced for the first time in history, an attack on US soil. The Empire of Japan had strategically planned and executed a swift blow to the state of Hawaii, located in the mid-Pacific Ocean. Hawaii was our first line of defense from any westerly attack of an Asian country. By the end of the almost 2 hour ordeal, our Naval and Air Corps assets’ were brutally crippled preventing the ability of the US to conduct an immediate retaliation. In this study we will cover many of the events that led up to that moment in time, the actual attack and show the result that were to follow.

In the essay “The Scar,” the author Kildare Dobbs reports the parallel stories of Emiko; a young Japanese girl and Captain Robert Lewis; a U.S. army Captain harrowing events of Aug 6/1945 in Hiroshima, a day that forever changed their lives. Emiko, a 15 year old “fragile and vivacious” Japanese girl lived an hour’s train ride away from Hiroshima, in a town called Otake with her parents, her two sisters and brother. At that time, her youngest sister was extremely sick with heart troubles, her 13 year old brother was with the Imperial Army and her father was an antique dealer. Emiko and her 13 year old sister Hideko traveled by train daily to Hiroshima to their women’s college. Captain Robert Lewis was the co-pilot of the Enola Gay, a U.S.

The taking of the island of Iwo Jima was one of the most difficult and costly campaigns for the U.S. during World War II. After the battle was over, the decision to take the island was heavily scrutinized by the public, military officials, and members of the press. Many people felt that the island’s advantages were not worth the blood that was shed taking it. There are a select few historians who believe that this campaign was not intended to be a strategic advantage against Japan but that it was a competition between the different branches of the armed forces. Historian Robert Burrell feels that this island was used as a testing ground for the various branches of the armed forces and as a test for new war tactics. Although the taking of the

he Battle of Iwo Jima was one of the bloodiest and fiercest battles of the Second World War in which the US Armed Forces captured the Iwo Jima Island from the Japanese. More than 6800 American servicemen lost their lives in the battle and thus the battle has come to known as the deadliest battle in Marine Corps history. Iwo Jima was an island strategically positioned and highly fortified as its three airfields were used to stage attacks on the US at the Pacific War. It was therefore Americas target to capture the island and use it to stage attacks on Japans mainland and use the airfields as emergency landing strips for the US Navy planes damaged during war. According to The Washington Post a small group gathered on Thursday February 18th

In February of 1944, the U.S. launched Operation Detachment, an effort to seize control of an important island close to Japan. Iwo Jima could provide a launching point for bombers flying to the Japanese Home Islands and help to defeat the Japanese.

What happened during this battle? The Japanese really practiced and prepared carefully for their attack on Pearl Harbor.

Iwo Jima remains the Marine Corps’s deadliest campaign. February 19, 1945 was the day of the initial assault on Iwo Jima. That morning nearly eight hundred vessels, ranging from battleships, cruisers, and destroyers to

The American forces plan consisted of a “divide and conquer” methodology. The U.S. focused on landing its assault force expediently and quickly and securing Mt. Suribachi and dominant high ground of the island. The Americans expected victory in less than a week. Their forces consisted of the 3rd, 4th and 5th Marine Divisions. The 4th and 5th Marine Divisions were to land on the eastern beaches the 4th on the right and the 5th on the left. The 3rd Marines would either land on the eastern beaches or assume a defensive role, which ever was called (Planning for the Battle of Iwo Jima, n.d.).

Japanese forces are closing in on American soldiers. There was word that reinforcements are on the way for the Americans on the island. The rumor was started by the Navy and Marine corps to keep the soldiers fighting, which was a dumb idea because the troops on the island were greatly outnumbered 151 to 3000. The American soldiers fought the Japanese for over 150 days, the reinforcements never came and the americans were captured. This rumor went down as one of the biggest lies in american history.

In the beginning of war, Japanese victory in Pacific terrified West Cost Americans. Partial victory for Americans appeared when Japanese capital Tokyo was bombed. It was less of a material loss but huge in terms of psychological attack. It was followed by the Battle of Coral Sea in May 1942 and after that the decisive Battle of Midway Island took place. U.S. aircraft carriers destroyed three out of four Japanese carriers that sabotaged their further plans of invasion and they adopted a defensive strategy.

Brown led the Army’s 7th Division of three regiments of infantry, four battalions of artillery, the 13th Combat Engineer Battalion, and the attachment of the 50th Combat Engineer Battalion.1 Nearly a year before the battle took place, June 3rd, 1942, the Japanese seized Attu with only natives living there. The Japanese reestablished a base on Attu on October 29, 1942 under the leadership of Lieutenant Colonel Hiroshi Yanekawa.1 The Japanese set up strong defensive positions with antiaircraft and numerous caches of arms, ammunition and food spread across different locations on the island. U.S. forces did not have such advantage and had a difficult time with logistics due to the unforgiving elements. The islands beaches consisted of muskeg which created very difficult circumstances for U.S. vehicles that the engineers were crucial in resolving. Although the harsh climate and terrain caused many problems for both sides, it was more impactful against the Japanese due to the long period of acclimation they endured.2

The island was 350 miles away from their homeland ,Kyushu, making it a easy flight.The command of this invasion force was divided between MG John R. Hodge and MajGen Roy S. Geiger. Before the invasion they had dusted the area by land bombing before invading their mainland.The Japanese was led by GEN Mitsuru Ushijima with the number of 130,00 men. Japan lost a vast number of man due to the fact they couldn’t contend with newly trained troops. They were willing to fight to the bitter end instead of calling defeat. It brung honor to their family name to die with “pride” instead of coming home defeated. Some even committed suicide.

Both of the American groups continue making ground at a slow pace. The only way to gain any ground is to slowly take it yard by yard. When they are fighting in the hills air support becomes virtually useless because of all the caves and pillboxes. This means everything they do must only rely on ground support. Finally Northern Okinawa (Motobu peninsula) falls to the Americans on April 20th. This marks the end of the largest battle of Okinawa in the North.