Joseph H. Alexander
Closing In: Marines in the Seizure of Iwo Jima
Published by Good Press, 2019
EAN 4057664620361
Table of Contents
Closing In : Marines in the Seizure of Iwo Jima
Closing In: Marines in the Seizure of Iwo Jima
The Assault Commanders at Iwo Jima
Rosenthal’s Photograph of Iwo Jima Flag-Raising Quickly Became One of the War’s Most Famous
The Japanese 320mm Spigot Mortar
Marine Corps Air Support During Iwo Jima
Iwo’s Fire Brigades: The Rocket Detachments
Amphibious Logistical Support at Iwo Jima
Iwo Jima’s Costs, Gains, and Legacies
Above and Beyond the Call of Duty
Assault Divisions’ Command Structures
Closing In:
Marines in the
Seizure of Iwo Jima
Marines in
World War II
Commemorative Series
By Colonel Joseph H. Alexander
U.S. Marine Corps (Ret)
Marines of Company E, 2d Battalion, 28th Marines, lower the first flag raised over Mount Suribachi, while other men raise a second flag which became the subject of Associated Press photographer Joe Rosenthal’s world-famous photograph. Department of Defense Photo (USMC) 112718.
A Marine flamethrower operator moves forward to assault a Japanese pillbox on Motoyama Airfield. Department of Defense Photo (USMC) 111006.
Closing In:
Marines in the Seizure of Iwo Jima
by Colonel Joseph H. Alexander, USMC (Ret)
Sunday, 4 March 1945, marked the end of the second week of the U.S. invasion of Iwo Jima. By this point the assault elements of the 3d, 4th, and 5th Marine Divisions were exhausted, their combat efficiency reduced to dangerously low levels. The thrilling sight of the American flag being raised by the 28th Marines on Mount Suribachi had occurred 10 days earlier, a lifetime on “Sulphur Island.” The landing forces of the V Amphibious Corps (VAC) had already sustained 13,000 casualties, including 3,000 dead. The “front lines” were a jagged serration across Iwo’s fat northern half, still in the middle of the main Japanese defenses. Ahead the going seemed all uphill against a well-disciplined, rarely visible enemy.
In the center of the island, the 3d Marine Division units had been up most of the night repelling a small but determined Japanese counterattack which had found the seam between the 21st and 9th Marines. Vicious close combat had cost both sides heavy casualties. The counterattack spoiled the division’s preparations for a morning advance. Both regiments made marginal gains against very stiff opposition.
To the east the 4th Marine Division had finally captured Hill 382, ending its long exposure in “The Amphitheater,” but combat efficiency had fallen to 50 percent. It would drop another five points by nightfall. On this day the 24th Marines, supported by flame tanks, advanced a total of 100 yards, pausing to detonate more than a ton of explosives against enemy cave positions in that sector. The 23d and 25th Marines entered the most difficult terrain yet encountered, broken ground that limited visibility to only a few feet.
Along the western flank, the 5th Marine Division had just seized Nishi Ridge and Hill 362-B the previous day, suffering more than 500 casualties. It too had been up most of the night engaging a sizeable force of infiltrators. The Sunday morning attacks lacked coordination, reflecting the division’s collective exhaustion. Most rifle companies were at half-strength. The net gain for the day, the division reported, was “practically nil.”
THE
PACIFIC OFFENSIVE
But the battle was beginning to take its toll on the Japanese garrison as well. General Tadamichi Kuribayashi knew his 109th Division had inflicted heavy casualties on the attacking Marines, yet his own losses had been comparable. The American capture of the key hills in the main defense sector the day before deprived him of his invaluable artillery observation sites. His brilliant chief of artillery, Colonel Chosaku Kaido, lay dying. On this date Kuribayashi moved his own command post from the central highlands to a large cave on the northwest coast. The usual blandishments from Imperial General Headquarters in Tokyo reached him by radio that afternoon, but Kuribayashi was in no mood for heroic rhetoric. “Send me air and naval support and I will hold the island,” he signalled. “Without them I cannot hold.”