Battle Of Iwo Jima

War. One of the most Terrifying things a Country has to go through. Though it is true that it can sometimes bring freedom...most soldiers who survive never return home the same as when they had left. Many of the Soldiers who fought at the battle of Iwo Jima lost their lives on the island. In fact, one soldier said that out of the Seven of the Easy Company soldiers that went in only he, Captain Dave Severance, made it out alive. What was the purpose of this battle?

The battle of Iwo Jima was fought between the United States and the Empire of Japan. The invasion of the U.S, otherwise known as "Operation Detachment", happened because of the U.S. wanting to take over the airfield in Iwo Jima. With this airfield the Japanese provided a base for escort planes on their raids with the B29s. Iwo Jima's location was crucial to the United States because it was between Tokyo and the American bomber bases in the Marianas. This was yet another reason why they sparked the battle of Iwo Jima.

The Commander of Iwo Jima was General Kuribayashi. He was known throughout Japan as "a genius". His strategy was unique because the Japanese fought the entire battle from underneath the ground. They dug 1,500 rooms through rock which were connected through 16 miles of tunnels. The Japanese also did not plan on surviving. In fact, they found that if they died during battle, it was an honor towards Japan. Trained in the extremely demanding samurai tradition, the Japanese were expected to fight to the last man. And their commander was expected to kill himself, rather than be captured. Kuribayashi had told his troops, that each man had to kill at least ten Americans before he went down himself. And at the beginning of the battle, his men were actually killing way more than was expected of them. They opened up on the invaders from their hiding spots. On the beach, or out on the rocks. The marines were lucky if they found even a little cover. And the enemy seemed to be everywhere. They hardly had the time to protect themselves. Once they even raised their machine gun they were already a second too late. The gunfire was going in every direction. The General really didn't expect to live. He even left a note to his wife telling her that she should not expect his survival.

Iwo Jima took the longest attack when it came to aerial attacks of the war. In fact, one Admiral even had this to say, "No other island received as much preliminary pounding as did Iwo Jima." And even though the Americans fought long and hard over Iwo Jima, it had little effect. Hardly any of the Japanese underground fortresses were destroyed. 21,000 Japanese soldiers were underground prepared for battle against American soldiers if they should come. The Americans sent more Marines to Iwo Jima than to any other battle. They sent over 110,000 Marines in 880 ships. Actually, It was the largest armada invasion up to that time in the Pacific War.

When the American soldiers decided to go for a land attack, it would prove to be one of the most memorable and infamous attacks in U.S. War history. On February 19, 1945 the battle known as D-Day came into action. After about an hour of guns being fired left and right, Iwo Jima was left smoking as if the entire island was on fire. The battle was not over yet, as 110 bombers sailed through the sky to drop bombs on the island once again. After the planes were finished and gone, the guns were pulled out once more and the battle on land started up again.

Around 8:30 AM, the order, "Land the Landing Force," was sent out and in came the first Marines to the shores of the Island. Once they reached the shores the Marines were troubled. There was a major problem. Because of it being such a small island, the volcanic ash was everywhere. This made it impossible to dig trenches successfully and therefore the marines were targets for the Japanese guns. The landing beaches were utter chaos, as the Japanese fired from hidden locations and the great vantage points on Mt. Suribachi, the volcano that made up the island. Because of the preparations of the Japanese it was almost impossible to be out of range of their guns, and this made for a tough 36 days for the marines. The firing of the guns was so heavy that it made it almost impossible for them to land men in a clean manner. The soldiers were definitely in a daze. 100,000 men fought this battle for thirty-six days. From Mount Suribachi Japanese gunners had a clear shot at every inch of the landing beach. They had plenty of blockhouses and pillboxes, full of weapons. Making them more than ready to shoot down the attacking American