Yards measure U.S. gains on Iwo
Marines straighten lines across island
GUAM (UP) – U.S. Marines straightened their lines across Iwo’s central plateau in no-quarter battles today preparatory to a general assault toward the mountainous north coast.
A Tokyo broadcast heard by the Australian Information Department listening post said the Americans “at last are showing signs of victory on Iwo.”
Gains were measured in feet and yards at high cost. A front dispatch said the Marines were coming up against such heavy defenses as two-story cement blockhouses sunk so deep that they protrude only a couple of feet above the ground.
“There are no apparent exits to these mammoth vaults,” United Press writer Lisle Shoemaker reported from Iwo. “There may be underground tunnels, but it would not be surprising if the Japs had sealed themselves in for a death stand.”
The 3rd Marine Division alone has counted 800 pillboxes of all sizes and shapes in its zone of operations at the center of the American line. Mr. Shoemaker said Iwo was the most heavily defended spot “per square inch” ever assaulted in warfare,
“Even the most optimistic won’t surmise that this assault may be concluded in under 10 days,” Mr. Shoemaker said.
Make ‘limited gains’
Adm. Chester W. Nimitz announced in a communique that the Marines made “limited gains” in an attack yesterday after repulsing several small-scale enemy attempts to infiltrate the American lines the previous night.
Marine artillery, naval guns and carrier aircraft supported the attack. Best gains, though still measured only in yards, were made by 3rd Division veterans of Guam and Saipan on the central plateau and by the 4th Division on the east flank.
The 5th Division on the west flank made little progress.
Unloading speeded
Enemy artillery and mortar fire continued heavy throughout yesterday, some falling on rear areas and on the beaches. The newly-captured central plateau airfield was under particularly severe fire.
Beach conditions further improved, speeding the unloading of supplies.
Army Liberators bombed enemy positions on Iwo yesterday. The four-engined bombers went at 3,500 feet and even lower for pinpoint destruction on enemy installations with 6,500-pound bombs.