IWO JIMA

IWO JIMA (16 February–17 March 1945). The capture of the Japanese island of Iwo Jima in World War II by three U.S. Marine divisions supported by more than 800 warships and landing craft has been described as the classic amphibious assault of World War II. One of the Volcano Islands 750 miles south of Tokyo, Iwo Jima could give Japan two hours' warning of U.S. B-29 raids from the Mariana Islands and provided a fighter base for the harassment of U.S. bombers. To reverse this situation and afford a haven for crippled American aircraft, the Joint Chiefs of Staff directed that Iwo Jima be seized.

The eight-square-mile island is dominated at one end by Mount Suribachi (556 feet). The island's defenses—the most elaborate, dense, and best integrated in the Pacific—included three airfields; more than 730 major installations with 120 guns larger than 75 mm; 220 large mortars, howitzers, and rocket launchers; and 10 miles of underground tunnels linking hundreds of bunkers and blockhouses. One of Japan's most able generals, Lieutenant General Tadamichi Kuribayashi, with 21,000 troops, defended Iwo Jima. The overall commander of the marines was Lieutenant General H. M. Smith, supported by Admiral R. K. Turner. The 82,000-man landing force (Third, Fourth, and Fifth Marine Divisions) was under the command of Lieutenant General H. Schmidt.

Following three days of bombardment from six battleships and five cruisers, the marines landed on 19 February under cover of the heaviest prelanding bombardment of the war—more than 6,000 tons of shells and bombs pounded the island before noon. Because of the massive preparation, beach casualties were moderate. However, capture of the remainder of the island required the most bitter battle of the Pacific, in which—amid black volcanic sands, grotesque crags, and steaming sulfur pits—gains were counted in yards. Heavy casualties were inflicted by both sides. Seizure of Mount Suribachi (23 February) by the Twenty-eighth Marine Division gave attackers the dominant terrain, from which a ten-day struggle ensued to overrun the fire-swept airfields and capture ridges, buttes, and deep caves in which Kuribayashi made his last desperate stand. Although Iwo Jima was officially declared secured on 17 March, resistance was not extinguished until nine days later.

The battle cost the United States 4,590 lives and wounded 24,096; more than 20,000 Japanese were killed and 1,083 captured. By the end of the war, 2,251 B-29 aircraft carrying 24,761 airmen had made safe emergency landings on Iwo Jima.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bartley, W. S. Iwo Jima: Amphibious Epic. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Marine Corps, 1954.

Isely, Jeter A., and Philip A. Crowl. The U.S. Marines and Amphibious War, Its Theory, and Its Practice in the Pacific. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1951.

Marling, Karal A. Iwo Jima: Monuments, Memories, and the American Hero. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1991.

Newcomb, Richard F. Iwo Jima. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1965.

Robert Debs Heinl Jr. / a. r.

See also Task Force 58 ; Underwater Demolition Teams ; World War II, Air War against Japan ; World War II, Navy in .

Iwo Jima, the best-known battle of the Pacific war, a classic example of amphibious warfare, and a vital objective to give more air bases for aircraft taking part in the US strategic air offensive against Japan.

Iwo Jima (sulphur island), 8 km. (5 mi.) long, is one of the Volcano Islands, a volcanic pear-shaped piece of land 1,045 km. (650 mi.) south-east of Tokyo. It contained three airstrips and was a vital link in Japan's inner ring of defences. At the southern end lay Mt Suribachi, a 150 m. (500 ft.) extinct volcano, and volcanic ash at the northern end made foxholes too hot to live in. The whole place stank of sulphur and the terrain, full of rocky ridges, caves, and deep ravines, was a honeycomb of concrete and steel. ‘It is probable that no other given area in the history of modern war has been so skillfully fotified by nature and by man’ (  J. Isley and P. Crowl, US Marines and Amphibious War, Princeton, 1951, p. 486).

On 19 February 1945 the 4th and 5th Marine Divisions of 5th Amphibious Corps, with 3rd Marine Division in reserve, landed on the island after a preliminary naval bombardment and 72 days of continuous air strikes which had, however, only encouraged the defenders to build ever-deeper bunkers. Altogether 60,000 marines, commanded by Maj-General Harry Schmidt, were committed to an operation which eventually absorbed 800 warships, 110,000 men ashore, and another 220,000 afloat.

The US Navy gave the marines a rolling barrage (see artillery, 2) and this helped them advance 320 m. (350 yd.) inland without severe casualties. As at Peleliu, the garrison of 22,000 Japanese army and naval troops, commanded by Lt-General Kuribayashi Tadamichi, made little attempt to prevent the marines from landing. Instead, part of Kuribayashi's forces attacked them once they were ashore, with concentrated flanking fire that proved deadly, but most of the defenders remained under cover inland.

The first airstrip near the landing beaches was taken on the second day and Mt Suribachi and the second airstrip on the fifth, but the hardest fighting, to break through Kuribayashi's two remaining fortified lines, was still to come. One fortified feature, Hill 382, caused so many casualties that it became known as ‘The Meat Grinder’ and on one day alone five Congressional Medals of Honor (see decorations) were awarded to men of 5th Division. The Japanese fought with astonishing bravery and made their last stand in a rocky canyon which became known as ‘Bloody Gorge’. It was only 650 m. (700 yd.) in length but it took ten long days to eradicate its occupants. Capturing Iwo Jima had been expected to take 14 days. It took 36, by which time over a third of the marine force—5,931 killed, 17,372 wounded—had become casualties.

Iwo Jima , officially Iwo To , volcanic island, c.8 sq mi (21 sq km), W Pacific, largest and most important of the Volcano Islands . Mt. Suribachi, 546 ft (166 m) high, on the south side of the island, is an extinct volcano. The main industries were formerly sulfur mining and sugar refining, but since World War II the island has been a military base. During the war Iwo Jima was the site of a Japanese air base, and it was taken (Feb.-Mar., 1945) by the United States at great cost to U.S. and Japanese forces. A photograph of U.S. marines raising the flag over Mt. Suribachi, which they called Meatgrinder Hill, is one of the most famous images of the war. Iwo Jima was occupied by the U.S. until 1968, when it was returned to Japan. Historically known to its residents as Iwo To, the island was called Iwo Jima by the Japanese navy officers who fortified it during World War II; both names mean Sulphur Island. The island was officially renamed Iwo To in 2007.

Iwo Jima a small volcanic island, the largest of the Volcano Islands in the western Pacific. During the Second World War it was the heavily fortified site of a Japanese airbase, and its attack and capture in 1944–5 was one of the severest US campaigns. It was returned to Japan in 1968.

The photograph of the American Marines raising the flag at Iwo Jima on 23 February 1945 became one of the most famous images of the Pacific War; the event is commemorated by the Marines' Memorial near Arlington.

Iwo Jima (formerly Sulphur Island) Largest of the Japanese Volcano Islands in the w Pacific Ocean. During World War II, it was captured (1945) by US forces at great human cost. A photograph of the US flag being planted on its highest peak, Mount Suribachi, became a US symbol of the Pacific conflict and the basis for a sculpture in Arlington National Cemetery, Washington, D.C. Iwo Jima was returned to Japan in 1968. Industries: sugar refining and sulphur mining. Area: 21sq km (8sq mi).

Iwo Jima (Iō‐Jima), Japan An island, captured by American troops in 1945 and returned to Japan in 1968. The name means ‘Sulphur Island’ from iō ‘sulphur’ and shima.

Iwo Jima •beamer, blasphemer, Colima, creamer, dreamer, emphysema, femur, Iwo Jima, Kagoshima, lemur, Lima, oedema (US edema), ottava rima, Pima, reamer, redeemer, schema, schemer, screamer, seamer, Selima, steamer, streamer, terza rima, Tsushima •daydreamer •dimmer, glimmer, limber, limner, shimmer, simmer, skimmer, slimmer, strimmer, swimmer, trimmer, zimmer •enigma, sigma, stigma •Wilma, Wilmer •charisma • Gordimer • polymer •ulema • anima • enema •cinema, minima •maxima • Bessemer • eczema •dulcimer • Hiroshima •Fatima, Latimer •optima • Mortimer • anathema •climber, Jemima, mimer, old-timer, part-timer, primer, rhymer, timer •Oppenheimer • two-timer •bomber, comma, momma, prommer •dogma • dolma