-originally written in 2017
We’ve all heard, seen in person, or in photos of that marvelous statue in D.C. about the Marines who raised the American Flag on Mt Suribachi, the one high place on the island of Iwo Jima, during World War Two. The statue was taken from one of the most famous photos taken in that war, by Joe Rosenthal. That famous photo appeared in every American newspaper and magazine during that horrible war. That war was the last one the U.S. ever won. That photo was of the Marines’ conquering that mountain, but it was not the end of that conflict on Iwo Jima. The battle of Iwo Jima lasted over a month The Japanese suffered 22,000 deaths, and Americans suffered 26,000 casualties. Surrender was unknown to Japan, and the honorable way was to die, and never to surrender. Why do I write this? Because, few living today, know anything about Iwo Jima, which means sulfur island. A friend of mine loaned me a book titled, “Flags of Our Fathers,” by James Bradley. The author is the son of one of the five flag raisers. The book tells about the five, and is a pretty good read, but the part which was illuminating to me, was the facts about this one square mile island.
Iwo was important, because when the B-29’s bombed Japan, they had a 2500 mile trip to and from Tokyo, and by capturing Iwo, B-29’s often damaged, could land, be fueled and serviced, repaired, and Iwo was headquarters of the famous P-51 fighter planes, which could then accompany the B-29’s on their missions. Iwo Jima was the most fortified island or place on the entire earth, and none have equaled it since. I won’t give details about the Jap treatment of prisoners, except to point out that Japanese prisoners had a 1.1% survival rate, and German prisoners had a 37% survival rate. It may have been higher than 37%, except the Allies kept bombing the German rail lines, which carried food and supplies to the concentration camps, and this caused a lot of prisoner starvation.
American intelligence had aerial photos of Iwo, which showed literally hundreds of pill boxes and fortifications dug deep into hills, anti tank barriers, and even before the invasion, everyone knew it was going to be a tough battle. Estimates were that Iwo probably had 13,000 on it, but in reality, there were 22,000. There were only two miles of ‘beach’ on which it was possible to land, and the Japs knew that’s where US soldiers would come ashore. Their artillery was aimed at that beach. Actually, I use the term ‘beach,’ but it was coarse volcanic beach sand, and every single tank, Jeep, and armored vehicle which attempted to get ashore, instantly bogged down, and became useless. Japanese General Kuribayashi knew his trade, and knew he would lose the island eventually, that he and his troops would all die, but he wanted to keep the island in his hands as long as possible.
Quarry experts, mining engineers and fortress units, had arrived on Iwo many months before, and had constructed, by the fall of 1944, a venerable city of 22,000, which was functioning below the surface, and two additional tunnels had been added above and below the original ones. Tunnels were large enough for troops to go through them without ducking, and the general would direct his defense from a bomb proof command center 75 feet below the surface. 1500 underground rooms had been constructed, many with electricity, and most had plaster walls. Rooms were 30-50 feet deep, and had stairways and passages, so soldiers could move virtually anywhere, underground, on the island.
From the book, “Underground billets, meeting rooms, communications centers, and even hospitals, complete with surgical equipment and operating tables, were constructed, and one hospital could treat 400 men on beds carved out of rock walls. Blockhouses on the surface, were built of thick concrete with steel reinforcing rods. Roofs were six feet thick and walls three feet thick. The blockhouses had tiny slits in the walls, only exposing the muzzles of slender machine guns. Tanks waited behind six foot thick retaining walls, and anti tank guns pointing at the beaches were hidden in rocky outcroppings. Snipers were ready in cave entrances and tunnel openings, and piles of hand grenades were handy. Anti-personnel mines were stockpiled for shallow burial on the 2 mile wide landing beach, and heavier mines would destroy invading tanks. Rocket launchers and mortar tubes were hidden under concrete covers, and anti-aircraft guns were pointed, not at the sky, but at the beach.”
The Air Force had used B-29’s and B-24’s to pummel the island continuously for 72 consecutive days, which was the longest bombing in the entire World War Two. It was thought that the 5800 tons of bombs in 2700 sorties would soften up Iwo for the invaders. 5,000 bomb craters were visible from the air as a result of the bombing, and the bombs only made the Japs grow more defensive and build more installations. Battleships had preceded the invasion by several days and fired 2600 pound shells, the size of an automobile, to try to smash enemy blockhouses.
“D-Day,” or invasion day was October 19, 1945. The book describes it, and it wasn’t a pleasant day. “It was all so quiet at first. Twenty minutes after troops got ashore, all hell broke loose. But the real firestorm erupted from Suribachi mortars, heavy artillery shells, and machine gun rounds ripped into stunned Americans. Two thousand Japanese soldiers were gunning them down with everything from rifles to coastal defense guns. There was no protection. Mortars and bullets were tearing in from all over the island. Boys frantically clawed at the soft ash, trying to dig holes, but the ash filled in each swipe of the hand or shovel. Heavy rounds sent Jeeps and armored tractors spinning into the air in fragments. Some Marines hit by those rounds were not just killed; their bodies ceased to exist.” Few battles in history, in any war, were as long lasting and expensive in lives, equipment, planes, guns, and artillery of all kinds, as was the Battle of Iwo Jima.
“Through the summer of 1945, Iwo Jima continued to serve the purpose for which it had been wrested from the Japanese: to provide air cover and an emergency landing strip for the B-29 bombers flying from their base in Tinian.” It also was a base for P-51 fighters to accompany the B-29’s on their way to Tokyo. 2400 distressed B-29’s and 27,000 crewmen would make emergency, lifesaving landings on Iwo Jima before the war’s end.
“In the dim predawn light of August 6, 1945, the pilot of one of these bombers, on his first mission to the Japanese homeland, puffed on his favorite Bond Street tobacco through a Kaywoodie briar pipe, as Iwo loomed into view. At 5:55 AM he made a spontaneous loop around Mt. Suribachi. Looking down from the cockpit of the plane he had named after his mother, the pilot ruminated that the horrendous battle had been worth its costs. He dipped his wings in salute, and at 6:07, Paul Tibbets and his plane The Enola Gay, and two other B-29’s, headed toward Hiroshima with “Little Boy,” which, along with a second, dropped over Nagasaki, would end that war.”
America had 362,000 casualties in that war. Next time you go to Washington D.C. or even think about that war, remember the heroes of Iwo Jima, which helped to make us free.
Don Stott – don@coloradogold.com