The war of Iwo Jima was one of the most important battles in Word War II. The United States Marine Corps played a huge role in defeating the Japanese. Iwo Jima was a small island that was controlled by Japan. Iwo Jima is only about 4 miles long and half that in width. (John Man 116)But the Island was very strategically important for the U.S. to attack Japan. On February 19th 1945 a massive fleet of U.S. ships gathered off the coast of Iwo Jima. The ships unloaded a total of 30,000 U.S. soldiers. The first to reach the shore were 8,000 marines from the 4th and 5th marine divisions. (Encarta 1) The deployment was led by, Major General, Harry Schmidt. The 3rd marine division encountered the most heavily fortified position on the island, but eventually broke through and reached the northern part of the island. (John Man 116) The 3rd marine division had to fight most of the fierce and intense battles in trying to take Iwo Jima. They fought on with courage and honor the whole way through. Tadamishi Kuribayashi was one of the most important leaders for the Japanese. He was in charge of defending the one of the most important positions on Iwo Jima, Mt. Suribachi. Tadamishi lost the mountain but still remained fighting the U.S. soldiers as he was told. (John Man 116) Another important leader was Lt. General Holland M. Smith. Also known as “Howling Mad”. He was in charge of leading the assault on Iwo Jima. He successfully landed and deployed all of his troops. (John Man 117) Lt. Harold Schrider was also a major leader in the battle for Iwo Jima. He was responsible for taking Mt. Suribachi. He was responsible for clearing out the mountain after all the fighting was finished. (Iwo Jima.com 2) The Battle for Iwo Jima was very interesting to me and I wanted to find out all about it. In my research I want to discover what was the battle of Iwo Jima’s effect on World War 2, and what battle tactics were used.3 days before the invasion the U.S. air force borabarded Iwo Jima with B-29 borabers. In those 3 days Iwo Jima took 40,000 U.S. shells. This was the longest and heaviest borabardment of the Pacific War. (John Man 117)After the U.S. air raiRAB the Battles began.On February 19th 1945 the fighting began. The United States strategy was to storm the beach and try to capture the 3 major airfielRAB. The beach was deserted of Japanese soldiers, so it was any easy deployment for the U.S. troops. Twenty minutes after the U.S. troops had landed, the hiding Japanese opened fire on the advancing troops. The U.S. troops were advancing alone and uncovered the vehicles and heavy artillery where useless because of being bogged down in the sand. The advancing U.S. troops were shelled with heavy artillery and small arms fire. The U.S army had to try and fight the Japanese blindly; they had no idea where the hidden Japanese army was. The Japanese made Iwo Jima into a series of tunnels with thousanRAB of troops hidden all over the place. The U.S. had to advance over each part of the island not knowing anything to expect. Since the U.S. troops had no vehicles or artillery they had to fight with small arms fire. A lot of the fighting was done man-to-man. The U.S. soldiers fought honorably. Out of the 5 weeks of fighting 26 medals of Honor were given to 26 U.S. soldiers. Admiral Nimitz said “ Among the Americans who served on the island, uncommon valor was a common virtue.” (John Man 117-118) The Japanese were fierce and very honorable fighters. Armed with small arms fire they defended every part of Iwo Jima until the death. The Japanese believed if fascism, fascism was valuing the nation before the individual. The Japanese would do anything for Japan, and to save Iwo Jima. The Japanese would fight any amount of soldiers until they were dead. Kamikazes were a prime example of how the Japanese would do anything for Japan. One man would load tons of explosives into his small one-man plane. Then he would fly his plane into a ship or aircraft carrier and try crash into it and sink it. The U.S. had no defense for the kamikazes except dog fighting. Dog fighting was 1-on-1 corabat in airplanes. The Kamikaze planes were so small they were nearly impossible to shoot down. (Iwo Jima.com 2) The Kamikazes took a major toll on the Bismarck Sea. Kamikaze attacks on the ship sunk the escort carrier killing 218 men. Also crippling the Saratoga. In all of the battle the U.S. lost 900 sailors. (John Man 117) The Japanese centered their defense on“ The Meat Grinder”. The Meat Grinder was the highest 3 hills that the Japanese had heavily defended. Many U.S. and Japanese soldiers were killed in battles that took place there. Mt. Suribachi was the highest mountain on Iwo Jima on the Southwest part of the island. Tadamishi Kuribayashi was in charge of defending Mt. Suribachi. The Japanese had soldiers all over the mountain that fired down on the clirabing U.S. troops. Lt. Harold Schrider was in charge of attacking the mountain. He and the 28th marines clirabed the mountain and fought to take it. The 28th marines took the mountain. Schrider was then in charge of clearing the crater. He had to shoot any Japanese resistance and sweeping hiding places and seal them with explosives. Around the rim of the crater 150 Japanese bodies were found lying around. On February 23rd 1945, Lt. Harold Schrider and the 28th marines sent the stars and stripes flying. Using a discarded windpipe they raise the U.S. flag at the top of Mt. Suribachi. Soldiers wept and cheered at the sight of the raised U.S. flag. (John Man 117-118) With the conquering of Mt. Suribachi, Kuribayashi led 1 final charge on the U.S. bases. He took a troop of 800 men and attacked a U.S. base. All 800 men including Kuribayashi were killed. With that final charge the fighting on Iwo Jima almost stopped. (John Man 118) Little fights broke out every now and then but the Japanese new that they lost. With the taking of the air bases and Suribachi the Japanese knew that there was no hope for Iwo Jima. The last surviving group on Iwo Jima was found on March 11th. They were immediately pinned down in a small pocket in the Northwest. (Encarta 2) In all the fighting the U.S. lost a total of 7,000 marines were killed. Japan had a total of 21,000 soldiers defending the island; however, 1,083 soldiers were left to take prisoner. (Iwo Jima.com 2)With the capture of Iwo Jima the U.S no could now conduct daily air raiRAB on Japan. The island allowed wounded B-29 borabers to return to safety after battle with the Japanese. Iwo Jima in the next few months saw the landing of 2,251 damaged borabers and planes. The emergency landing zone saved the lives of 25,000 U.S. airmen. (John Man 119) Iwo Jima was the most critical battle in defeating Japan. The daily air raiRAB let the U.S. borab Japan at will. (Iwo Jima.com 2) With the capture of Iwo Jima it guaranteed the U.S.’s advance towarRAB the mainland. It guaranteed victory over Japan by the end of the summer. (Encarta 2) When the U.S. defeated Japan it had a major impact on the outcome of the war. Germany was now fighting alone and had three countries to fight. The Battle of Iwo Jima played a major role in the outcome of World War II. It made it impossible for the Axis powers to win the war.
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