Probably the bloodiest battle ever fought by the United States Marine Corps, took place on a tiny little island in the Western Pacific in February and March of 1945. The fight was over an island, which up until World War II, most Americans knew nothing about. The island, a very small island – but a very strategic island militarily, was not much larger than eight square miles, sticking above the surface of the Pacific Ocean. The Japanese Imperial Army intended to defend this seemingly insignificant rock at all costs, and like wise the Americans were prepared to capture it no matter the price.
22,000 Japanese soldiers were dug in, literally. For months they had constructed a web of underground tunnels throughout the entire island, which they would use very effectively in defend their positions against the American invaders. Colonel Thomas M. Fields, would later declare “the Japanese were not on Iwo Jima. They were in it!"
Prior to the invasion the American military amassed a huge fighting force of over 70,000 men, 800 naval ships, and many, many squadrons of B-29 bomber and fighter airplanes. Early on in the month of February the 7th Air Force bombarded the island for seven days, 24 hours a day. The Navy ships surrounding the entire island then fired on it for six additional days, with the Naval ship's largest guns.
At the end of the sixth day of shelling the island, on February 19, 1945, the Marines invaded. 30,000 thousand Marines of the 4th and 5th Divisions stormed the island beaches. 40,000 more Marines from the 3rd Division would follow in the next days to follow. Over 2,000 Marines and Navy Corpsman would die before the first day was over, countless others would be wounded. Over 6,000 American men would die before the battle came to an end several weeks later. This battle was the only U.S. Marine battle where the American casualties exceeded the enemies casualties, but Japanese combat deaths numbered more than three times as many as the American. The Marine Corps causality number for the entire battle exceeded 26,000 dead and wounded. All but a very small handful of the 22,000 Japanese defenders were killed in action.
When the battle was over on March 26, 1945 the United States Marine Corps had successfully secured total control over the entire island. It was the first time in over 5,000 years since an invading enemy force had successfully invaded Japanese territory.
Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz described the fighting Marines best when he described them with these words “Uncommon valor was a common virtue." That statement became the legacy of the entire United States Marine Corps.
The tremendous loss of life in this battle, on both sides, convinced President Truman to start preparing to drop an atomic bomb on mainland Japan to bring the war to an end. That decision became the legacy of the Battle of Iwo Jima.
The land invasion began 67 years ago today.
Semper Fi
1 comment:
In the first video with the ships doing the burial at sea that really grabbed me I didn't know why at first so I went back and noticed that the ramps where red, not colored red but red from the blood of the dead sailors who were being buried. I can't imagine the sorrow of the men on that detail.
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