IWO JIMA
Was it really necessary to take Iwo Jima by force? Could it not, like certain other Japanese held strongholds in the Pacific, have been bypassed, cut off, and left 'to wither on the vine'? The answer is an emphatic no, and for several good reasons, mainly dictated by Allied air strategy. The heavy B-29 bomber losses over Japan emphasised the need for fighter escorts, and since the 2 800 mile round trip from US air bases in the Marianas to Japan and back was beyond the range of the fighters, a nearer staging point had to be captured. By capturing Iwo Jima, the Americans would be one step nearer Japan's home islands and would remove a menace to US bombers attacking Japanese cities.
Iwo Jima first appeared as an island in the Pacific when, over 100 years ago, an underwater volcano spewed out ash and mud. The eight square miles of barren ash and soft, freshly-formed rock might have remained in obscurity but for the strategic significance of this speck of land in the battle for the Pacific in World War Two. It proved vital to the Americans in their campaign of rolling back the Japanese recently-conquered Pacific empire, and a staging post to attack the enemy homeland. The grim battle for the tiny island lasted over a month and at the end human losses were horrific.
With its proximity to Tokyo (660 nautical miles) Iwo Jima would make an excellent base for Allied bombers. And, since the island was Japanese territory, its conquest would deliver a severe psychological blow, as well as depriving them of a significant strategic outpost.
The military importance of the island to both the Japanese and the Americans lay in the two airfields that had been built by the Japanese and the third under Japanese construction. From these air bases Japanese aircraft could intercept the B-29's bombing Japan, and operate against the bomber bases on the Marianas. The island would provide the US with a fighter base and emergency landing strips for returning crippled bombers. So, by-passing and isolating Iwo Jima would not be enough: it would have to be taken. Preliminary planning for the invasion of Iwo Jima began as early as September 1943, and was finalised after the Marianas had been secured.
The US Marines had played a decisive part in the drive across the Pacific, particularly the advance in the central Pacific. In their first attack, in November 1943, the Corps suffered heavy losses in the confused and bloody assault on Tarawa. Yet, they learned a lot from the assault and in later and larger operations in the Marshalls and Marianas the benefits of earlier experience were clearly revealed. Now, at the beginning of 1945, with Japan pushed back almost to her national boundaries, the Marines were preparing for their toughest assignment yet; the assault on Iwo Jima.
The Japanese were only too aware of Iwo Jima's importance and began speedy reinforcements towards the end of 1944. A garrison of twenty three thousand men under the command of Lieutenant General Kuribayashi, a courageous and dedicated soldier, described by Tokyo Radio as “one of strong fighting spirit” was sent to the island with orders to hold out as long as possible. American air and naval superiority, by this stage had ruled out further reinforcing.
Iwo Jima is dominated in the south by the 550 foot high Mount Suribachi, an extinct volcano. In the north there is a plateau of ridges and gorges. Kuribayashi issued a series of commands to the defenders. One of these was; "Above all, we shall dedicate ourselves and our entire strength to the defence of the island”. Kuribayashi's men worked hard, and by the summer of 1944 had driven tunnels through the plateau, laid minefields, and built gun and machine-gun emplacements.
Kuribayashi had elected to fight a static battle inshore from the beaches. The Japanese tanks were no match for the American Sherman's, and so were positioned hull down in gullies. The artillery gun sites were dug so that the weapon slits were just visible at ground level, and the positions were linked with tunnels. The building of pillboxes began in October 1944 and five months later 360 were complete. A superb network of deep, interconnected caves, which were almost impervious to naval bombardment, was built. All this on an island of eight square miles.
Admiral Nimitz entrusted overall control of the Iwo Jima operation to Admiral Spruance's Fifth Fleet which, with its fast carrier and battleship units supported by a mobile fleet train, was the most powerful naval body in the world. Its role was to give distant cover against enemy air or naval attack and to participate in the bombardment of the island. Rear Admiral Turner, probably the most experienced leader of amphibious operations in World War Two, was given command of the landings. The assault troops, eighty four thousand in all, were to come mainly from 4th and 5th Marine Divisions, with 3rd Marine Division in floating reserve.
Major General Erskine's 3rd Division