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Death toll
Although Iwo Jima wasn’t a
disastrous victory for the USA, it
was still a bloody engagement. 6,821
Marines were killed with a further
18,000 wounded. The Japanese
fared even worse and lost almost
the entire garrison of the island.
BATTLEOFIWOJIMA
IWO JIMA 19 FEBRUARY – 26 MARCH 1945
Written by Jack Griffiths
Kuribayashi’s strategy
The Japanese knew the Americans were
coming, but with an island so small, a
dogged defence of Iwo Jima was the only
strategic option. Snipers were dotted all
over the island and the home advantage
allowed the Imperial Army to conceal and
entrench themselves.
While Hitler was preparing his futile
final offences of the war in Europe, the
US Army had assaults of its own to
undertake in East Asia. Located 1,220
kilometres south of Tokyo was the
remote volcanic island of Iwo Jima, just 21 square
kilometres in size. On it were two airfields essential
to American plans for the War in the Pacific. B-29
Superfortresses had been incredibly effective in their
bombing of areas under Japanese occupation, and
the capture of Iwo Jima would allow fighter escorts
to accompany the bombing runs, making them an
even more formidable threat. The Japanese Imperial
Army knew of the importance of the island and had
fortified Iwo Jima with a network of subterranean
tunnels and 642 pillboxes. This didn’t deter the US
forces, and battle commenced on 19 February after
72 days of intense bombing on the island.
At 8.59am, the 4th and 5th US Marine Divisions
stormed the black-sand beaches to find the artillery
barrage had not done its job. Attacks came thick
and fast from machine-gun and mortar nests
embedded into the island’s thick rock. The beaches
soon became a mess of twisted metal and burning
vehicles, and the Marines launched themselves into
shallow foxholes to avoid the crossfire. 2,500 died in
what would become the bloodiest day in the history
of the US Marine corps, but the tide soon turned
when the west coast of the island was reached by
nightfall. Combat raged on the volcanic island for
days as the Japanese tunnel system became the
Marines’ nemesis. The Americans only took a few
hundred metres of ground every day, and whenever
a fortified position was taken, the Japanese soldiers
usedtheundergroundcavernstoattackfrom
anotherangle.Thenavywasalsokeptonitstoesby
kamikaze attacks, which were so devastating that
on 21 February, USS Bismarck was sunk, killing 318.
Thesoutherntipoftheislandwasdominatedby
MountSuribachiandtheinvadersmanagedtoclaim
it on 23 February. The American flag was raised
on the summit in what would become an iconic
imageofthewar.Asthedayprogressed,the4thand
5thDivisionswereboostedbytheentryofthe3rd
Division into the fray. Now, the total number of US
Marines who had been engaged in battle numbered
70,000 as the defenders became hideously
outnumbered. After weeks of ferocious fighting,
by the night of 25 March, only 300 Japanese
soldiersremained.Withnootheralternative,ledby
Kuribayashi, they resorted to a banzai charge. The
valiant yet suicidal attack was completely wiped out
and the fight for Iwo Jima was over.
The bloody Operation Detachment came to an
official end the next day but fighters had already
been making sorties from 11 March. One in three US
Marines were killed or wounded but the death toll
paled in comparison to the Japanese, who lost over
20,000 men. 27 Medal of Honors were awarded,
and the Battle of Okinawa loomed into view, getting
under way just four days later. The ferocity of
the defence of Iwo Jima surprised the American
generals and would later help influence the decision
touseatomicweaponryonHiroshimaandNagasaki.
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