The Importance Of The Battle Of Iwo Jima

Iwo Jima was known for one of the most bloody battles in not just the Marine but American history too. The battle began on February 19, 1945 as part of the campaign of the Pacific theatre, and lasted for thirty-six days. Around twenty six-thousand Marines were wounded, which caused Union losses during the battle at Gettysburg. Near the beginning of summer of 1944, American B-29 bombers were ruining the islands. “Iwo Jima proved itself an indispensable asset to the Pacific command.” “Thousands of fighters took off from its runways, and this ‘stepping stone’ served as a staging ground for countless Allied advances.”

"Victory was never in doubt. Its cost was. What was in doubt was whether there would be any of us left to dedicate our cemetery at the end, or whether the last Marine would die knocking out the last Japanese gunner," Major General Graves Erskine, dedicating his 3rd Marine Division cemetery at Iwo Jima just after the battle.(Alexander 207)

It was a battle between the Americans and Japanese that happened on the 4th of June in 1942. To the Americans their nemesis, the Japanese looked brave and vicious. There have been very few battles to match this one including the battles of Trafalgar, Salamis, and Armada, other than those few battles this was the most decisive naval warfare in history (Ballard, 1999). Because the Japanese had so many more forces, they were expected to win (Wildenberg,2006). Midway was selected by Yamamoto because he wanted a larger area to protect Japan, he figured it would be better for them because it is closer to Japan not America. He also knew that America would try to protect it with their aircrafts so they were prepared (Krasner, 2014). Although, Admiral Nimitz of the United States Navy said that the battle is what made everything achievable

The 10th Army commanded by General Simon Bolivar Buckner, Jr. sent four divisions, 7th, 27th, 77th, and the 96th along with two Marine Divisions the 1st and the 6th. The majority of the Division had previous fighting experience in previous pacific battles that I believe

The war in Europe was finished and America was still fighting Japan in the Pacific. The American people’s will to continue the war effort was falling and the government had to think of a way to end the war. They needed to take some of the Pacific to be able to get close enough to Japan to finish the war. They started by taking islands but ran into heavy Japanese resistance; soldier’s that were almost all willing to die for their emperor. That included fake surrendering, making and then hiding in elaborate cave systems, and killing other Japanese who were trying to surrender. This weighed heavily on the soldiers and made fighting incredibly hard. Even when they had an island there were Japanese who had hidden and still tried to kill the

The battles of Iwo Jima and Okinawa were two of the most important American operations in the Pacific Theatre against the Empire of Japan during World War Two. The goal of the two operations was to secure strategically important islands close to Japan to use for bombing campaigns. The battles for Iwo Jima(February-March 1945) and Okinawa f(April-June 1945) killed hundreds of thousands of soldiers and civilians and helped to win the war for the United States.

In the 1930s the United Stated and Japan had a turbulent relationship as the result of Japan trying to expand into China and take their territory as well as take over their economy by force resulting in a variety of horrible events done to the Chinese. To reprimand Japan for their aggression towards China and to try to force them to end their aggression the United States put in place a system of economic sanctions and trade embargoes to cut off essential goods. Instead, this only made the Japanese more determined and after months of discussion no peaceful conclusion could be reached. This in turn led to the events on an island 2,000 miles from the U.S. mainland and 4,000 miles from Japan. The name of this island is Pearl Harbor, which was

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.).

Before their attack on Midway Island, the Japanese had to take over Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands in early May of 1942. Yamamoto planned the Battle of the Coral Sea with hopes of gaining new islands in the Pacific Ocean that would aid the Japanese during its attack on Midway

The US entered World War II on December 8, 1941, the day after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The surprise attack on the American Naval base occurred in the morning of December 7th 1941. The Pacific naval fleet was docked in Pearl Harbor when the first Japanese aircraft swooped down from over head and started bombing American ships. Both sailors and marines began to take battle stations or general quarters on the ships to ward off the Japanese attack but to no prevail. The Japanese emerged triumphantly from the assault on the US at Pearl Harbor by destroying most of the American fleet. After this attack the Japanese were almost unopposed in their conquest of conquering south East Asia. Japan achieved a long series of military successes. In December 1941, Guam and Wake

Define the Battle (who, when, where) On June 4, 1942, only six months after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, the United States defeated Japan throughout a 4 day battle (until June 7) in one of the most decisive naval battles of World War II. This battle’s location was primarily the island of Midway Atoll, which is roughly 1,300 miles northwest of Oahu, Hawaii. Recognitions in part to major advances in code breaking, the United States was able to preempt and counter Japan’s planned ambush of its few remaining aircraft carriers, inflicting permanent damage on the Japanese Navy.

In the initial planning there were many debates on who would command the assault on Guadalcanal. General Douglas MacArthur was the Commander of the Southwest Pacific Forces and was originally thought of to command the assault. However the Navy expressed numerous concerns that MacArthur would possibly leave their carriers exposed and the result placed Admiral Chester Nimitz

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

Japan intended the attack as a preventive action to keep the U.S. Pacific Fleet from interfering with its planned military actions in Southeast Asia against overseas territories of the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and the United States. Over the course of seven hours there were coordinated Japanese attacks on the U.S.-held Philippines, Guam and Wake Island and on the British Empire in Malaya, Singapore, and Hong Kong.

12.Japan bombs Pearl Harbor December 7 1941 Japan sought to take over Malaya and other areas and feared the US would interfere. In an attempt to subdue America’s naval forces, Japan launched a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7th, 1941. The attack led to over 2,000 American’s deaths.