US and Japanese Strategy in the Battle of Iwo Jima Essay

On March 25, a “300-man” Japanese force launched a final attack that imposed more than 100 casualties on U.S. Iwo Jima was declared conquered by Chester Nimitz on March 14, 1945. He said, “all powers of government of the Japanese Empire in these islands are hereby suspended.” Although Chester declared it, he also declared it too early, and therefore it didn’t put a stop to the fighting on the island. It’s said that Kuribayashi actually lead the attack himself.

Conditions were perfect, sunshine with a little cloud cover the Americans were expecting strong opposition as soon as they touched down on the beaches but there was little opposition to meet them. Weather considerations were minimum, heavy rain was the only key factor in the battle which made the ground muddy and troop movement and resupply at times could become difficult. Okinawa is 60 miles long and 18 miles wide. The terrain in northern Okinawa is extremely mountainous with elevations of 1,000 feet or more usually with steep cliffs associated with them. With such uneven terrain troop movement in the north was very difficult. With poor road conditions vehicle movement was not much better. The southern part of Okinawa where the main part of the fighting took place had a number of different terrain obstacles. Rolling hills, with the majority of this half under cultivation and contained three fourths of the population of the island. The terrain gave the Japanese Army a slight advantage with natural caves and burial tombs that they turned into underground positions. There are more roads in the south due to the increased population but still not suitable for military vehicles.

The U.S believed that the island would be able to be taken in a few weeks time due to the fact that it looked very un-fortified from aerial photos. This, however, was a grave mistake. The Japanese General, Tadamichi Kuribayashi, had built the underground tunnels for the effect of making the island look vulnerable. Knowing that defeat was unavoidable, the General had created the entrenchments to inflict as many casualties as possible on the U.S before they captured the island, and to discourage the U.S from attacking Japan.

Iwo Jima is an island in the Bonin chain, situated about 575 miles from Japan. It’s prominent feature is Mount Suribachi, a volcanic mountain on the southern tip of the island. Iwo Jima did not have a civilian population but was well protected by roughly 23,000 Japanese soldiers in caves, foxholes, and pillboxes (pillboxes were concrete boxes with small holes for shooting enemies). Before the land invasion, Iwo Jima endured a heavy bombardment by ships and planes, which, however, did very little to destroy the Japanese resistance.

Slowly but surely the American soldiers made progress and secured some of the airfields because by the beginning of March, two thirds of the island was captured by American soldiers because they had a strong Marine base and were able to push the Japanese back.

Although Allied troops encountered many Japanese kamikaze planes which destroyed some warships, the Allied Air Force successfully supported their troops on the ground. While the Sixth Army landed more troops on the beach, the I Corps protected them and advanced eastward, and the XIV Corps moved south toward Manila. Because of central Luzon’s geographical features—mostly open plains—the XIV Corps was able to quickly advance toward Manila. Around this time, another amphibious landing of the Eighth Army occurred to the south of Manila. From there, the 11th Airborne Division also advanced on Manila. While the XIV Corps was advancing southward, the I Corps switched to defending their left flank. Meanwhile, General Yamashita had his strongest forces deployed in north Luzon and around the Clark Air Base. However, the Japanese were disorganized because of lack of communications and were not prepared for many US attacks. On their southward journey, when the XIV Corps reached Clark Air Base, they battled for control until it was captured on January 29, which also gave the US more supplies found within the base. Following this, the XIV Corps pushed towards Manila and started the attack on January 31 from the north and south of the city. On February 4th the 11th Airborne Division advanced into the city, but met strong Japanese defences. They pushed through and finished capturing the defences on February 11th, and

Who knew that such a small island could lead to the loss of so many? Approximately 70,000 Americans against 22,000 Japanese, the outcome was already known. The Battle of Iwo Jima was expected to last about 5 days according to “American intelligence”. It quickly escalated from February 16 until March 26 when the island was successfully captured by the Americans and victory was presented in the raising of the American flag. Every inch of Iwo Jima was known as a battleground and was also the only Marine battle where American casualties exceeded those of the Japanese. Although, a significant difference in soldiers was present, the Japanese put up a hard battle. (Cyril J. O’Brien, Military.com)

Even though he had some buildings built to satisfy his command his primary focus was on the construction of an elaborate system of tunnels underground that connected every part of the island. The General learned that if he mixed the natural volcanic ash on the island with concrete it mad an almost indestructible barrier. All together General Kuribayashi built over eleven miles of tunnels which housed a number of rooms to accommodate all of his needs. On the south side of the island he constructed an airfield for the Japanese fighter planes to use. When America did attack all of the buildings were destroyed just as General Kuribayashi predicted.

The Americans began to tire from the constant deaths and destruction to their bombers and began to see this little island even more vital to their success in this battle . There were two other reasons as well that the island would be of such strategic importance and why they needed to gain full control of Iwo Jima. The first being the Japanese having radar capabilities there that would allow them to predict attacks as much as two hours in advance. In addition to this and the most important reason for the Americans, were the airstrips that the island was equipped with. The airstrips would permit the United States much safer and more direct access to their bombing targets as well as allow them a well-located location to refuel and rest. The airfields were of key strategic importance also because of their size and location. The Japanese had put together three airfields along the central plateau of Iwo Jima, two of the airfields were built in the form of an X and were approximately 5,225 and 4,425 feet and the third was just a single strip and would never become operational. As you can see without these airstrips and the success in securing Iwo Jima, the United States would have a much more difficult time achieving their goals in the Pacific.

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

Typical of Japanese naval planning during the Second World War, Yamamoto's battle plan was quite complex.[15] Additionally, his designs were predicated on optimistic intelligence information suggesting USS Enterprise and USS Hornet, forming Task Force 16, were the only carriers available to the U.S. Pacific Fleet at the time. USS Lexington had been sunk and USS Yorktown severely damaged (and believed by the Japanese to have been sunk) at the Battle of the Coral Sea just a month earlier. The Japanese were also aware that USS Saratoga was undergoing repairs on the West Coast after taking torpedo damage from a submarine.

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.

The United States slowly but surely pushed back the Japanese and expanded into Japanese territories. The Marines played a major role in the expansion into the Japanese territories. The US submarines and aircraft carriers advanced into Japan water and were protected by ships and airplanes. The barrage of troops landed on an island after island. Each island posed a new challenge of Japanese troops that defended with determination to the point of suicide. Once a new island had enough land taken and supplies could reach the docked troops and ships, they moved on progressing further and further, closer and closer to Japan. The American military would move on to another island that might be hundreds of miles from where they are. They would pass right on by islands that Japan held to avoid loss of troops. That is if Japan had any defense on the islands. Some of these islands would be inhabited by so few enemy forces, it would be a waste to stop and take an island out. This went on right until the end of the war in Spring, 1945. The last island was Okinawa. The island was just under 400 miles from Japan, the

What I find interesting is that the Japanese knew they were totally and completely outmanned, outgunned and out matched. Although they wanted to lure the third fleet away temporarily, what did they expect to do once the third fleet returned? One would assume they were hoping to eliminate the landing force as a delay tactic until the US could form another one?