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The combined result of these factors would be sheer carnage for the U.S. A rock terrace made it extremely difficult for the Marines’ LVT(A) amphibious personnel carriers to get off the beach. The nature of the volcanic sand on the beach was such that it was nearly impossible for troops to run, or to dig. Every soldier was expected fight for as long as possible until being killed. Kuribayashi had no use for futile and wasteful banzai charges or premature seppuku (ritual suicide). Kuribayashi’s strategy was to wait until the beaches were heavily congested with the initial assault waves, then open up with an extremely heavy artillery barrage, and then fight to the last man for every square foot of the island-inflicting the maximum number of casualties in doing so. A quote attributed to General Kuribayashi before the war was this: “The United States is last country in the world we should fight.” Nevertheless, he did his duty to the utmost. He used the naval guard force to man some beachfront defenses, but most of the troops and artillery were well inland, and initially hidden from view. General Kuribayashi (who would prove to be one of the best Japanese army commanders the Americans ever faced) recognized that attempting to defeat any landing at water’s edge would almost certainly fail due to the effects of U.S. The larger artillery pieces were well camouflaged from the air and the sea, and protected by fortifications that were virtually invulnerable to anything except a direct hit. The island was honeycombed with pillboxes with mutually supporting fields of fire, often connected by interior tunnels. The Japanese made very effective use of the island’s natural caves and tunnels, expanding them into an island-wide network. (Neither commander would survive the battle.) Defensive equipment included about 300 anti-aircraft guns, 33 naval guns of 4.7- and 6-inch size, 438 artillery pieces, 69 anti-tank guns, and 23 tanks. landings in February 1945 there were about 21,000 Japanese troops on the island, most of them of the 109th Division of the Imperial Japanese Army under the command of General Tadamichi Kuribayashi, and about 2,000 Imperial Japanese Navy naval guard force troops under the command of Rear Admiral Toshinosuke Ichimaru. The invasion of Iwo Jima would be named Operation Detachment.Īlthough about 1,500 Japanese troops were lost on the way to Iwo Jima due to their ships being sunk by U.S. This resulted in delay, enabling the Japanese to continue fortifying the island.
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The Joint Staff planners agreed with this assessment, and the island was designated for capture on a “not to interfere” basis with other operations (at the time, the invasion of the Philippines). Another rationale was to keep the Japanese from using Iwo Jima to attack the B-29 bases in the Marianas. “Hap” Arnold, recommended that Iwo Jima be taken for use as a base for fighters to escort the B-29 bombers to Japan and as an emergency divert field for damaged B-29s returning from missions over Japan. On 14 July 1944, Commanding General of the U.S. Although Chichijima had a better harbor (Iwo Jima only had a small man-made boat basin), the more rugged terrain of Chichijima was less suitable for rapid runway building. Bush was shot down and rescued on 2 September 1944). The entire island is crisscrossed with caves, tunnels, and volcanic fissures, which the Japanese adapted for a very effective defense.Ībout 160 miles to the northeast of Iwo Jima are the somewhat larger islands of Hahajima and Chichijima (where future President George H. The island is roughly triangular in shape (like a pork chop) and deceptively flat, with the 554-foot Mount Suribachi at the southwestern apex being the most prominent feature.
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Iwo Jima is a small volcanic island (eight square miles) located roughly midway between Saipan and Tokyo and, in 1945, was on the path of B-29 Superfortress missions flying from bases in the Marianas Islands to targets in Japan, which gave the island its strategic significance.