Battle of Iwo Jima (1945)

91

U.S. Navy Department (March 11, 1945)

CINCPOA Communiqué No. 295

The 3rd and 4th Marine Division drove through enemy lines to capture most of the east coast of Iwo Island on March 11 (East Longitude Date). The remainder of the enemy’s garrison was compressed to a small area at the northern end of the island by the troops of the 5th Marine Division. A small pocket of enemy resistance was bypassed by the 4th Marine Division and was still holding out at 1800 on March 11. At that time the 5th Division was gaining slowly in the north against heavy resistance. The attack was supported by heavy artillery and naval gunfire.

Army fighters bombed Chichi Jima in the Bonin Islands scoring hits on airfield and harbor installations. Targets were strafed on Haha Jima.

Liberators of the Strategic Air Force, Pacific Ocean Areas, bombed the airfield on Chichi Jima on March 10.

Large fires were started among enemy defenses in the Palaus by fighters and torpedo planes of the 4th Marine Aircraft Wing on March 10. Marine aircraft on the same date struck targets on Yap in the Western Carolines.

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U.S. Navy Department (March 12, 1945)

CINCPOA Communiqué No. 296

The 5th Marine Division continued its advance on Iwo Island on March 12 (East Longitude Date) and further reduced the area held by the enemy on the northern end of the island. Remnants of the enemy garrison in this sector continued to offer stiff resistance. Mopping up operations were in progress in the 3rd and 4th Divisions zones of action, but one enemy pocket continued to hold out at 1800 on March 12. Naval gunfire and Army fighters supported the troops in the fighting on the northern end of the island.

Army fighters bombed and strafed targets on Chichi Jima in the Bonins through intense antiaircraft fire on the same date.

Liberators of the 11th Army Air Force bombed installations at Suri­bachi on Paramushiru and Kataoka on Shumushu in the Northern Kurils on March 11. Columns of smoke rising to 15,000 feet were observed after the attacks.

Army Thunderbolts strafed and bombed installations on Maug Island in the Marianas on the same date.

Two buildings were destroyed and fires were started on Babelthuap in the Palaus by Corsair fighters of the 4th Marine Aircraft Wing on March 11.

Neutralizing attacks on enemy-held bases in the Marshalls were continued by Marine aircraft on the same date.

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93

The Pittsburgh Press (March 12, 1945)

Final battle rages along Iwo coast

Collapse of Jap resistance imminent

GUAM (UP) – Complete conquest of Iwo appeared at hand today.

Weary Marines were driving the last Jap defenders into the sea in a final battle along the north coast.

Pacific Fleet headquarters was expected to announce the collapse of organized resistance momentarily as the bloodiest campaign of the Pacific war entered its fourth week on Japan’s front doorstep.

Whittles pocket

A communiqué this morning said the 5th Marine Division had whittled down the enemy’s last sizeable pocket to half a square mile along the north coast by 6 p.m. yesterday in heavy fighting. The Marines were making slow but steady progress with support of heavy artillery and the big guns of warships offshore.

The 3rd and 4th Divisions crashed through the last Jap lines in Eastern Iwo over the weekend and captured most of the rock-ledged east coast, the communiqué said. One small enemy pocket was bypassed for later annihilation.

Advance slow

The advance along the north coast was a slow and tedious business. The last few thousand Jap survivors of a garrison originally totaling 20,000 crack troops were fighting to the death from pillboxes, blockhouses and caves.

Army fighters bombed Chichi airfield and harbor installations and strafed targets on Haha in the Bonin Islands, just north of Iwo. Army Liberators also bombed Chichi airfield.

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U.S. Navy Department (March 13, 1945)

CINCPOA Communiqué No. 297

No appreciable change was made in the front lines in Iwo Island on March 13 (East Longitude Date). The enemy occupying the northern end of the island continued to resist our attacks with small arms, machine gun and mortar fire. While mopping-up operations continued in the 3rd and 4th Division sectors, our forces made unopposed landings on Kama and Kangoku Rocks west of the island. An enemy pocket in the 4th Division sector was reduced in size but part of it still held out at 1800 on March 13. During the day 115 caves were sealed up.

Army fighters bombed airfield and harbor installations on Chichi Jima in the Bonins on March 13.

Seventh Army Air Force Liberators operating under the Strategic Air Force, Pacific Ocean Areas, bombed air installations on the same island on March 11 and 12.

Fighters and torpedo planes of the 4th Marine Aircraft Wing de­stroyed four buildings, set four other ablaze and destroyed or set afire three ammunition and fuel dumps on Babelthuap in the Palaus on March 13.

Marine Corsair fighters destroyed one aircraft on the water and damaged a pier at Yap on the same date.

95

The Pittsburgh Press (March 13, 1945)

Fight for Iwo moving near mop-up stage

1,000 Japs remain in shrinking pocket

GUAM (UP) – The 23-day battle of Iwo neared the mop-up stage today.

Marines of the 5th Marine Division were gradually crushing the last organized resistance in a shrinking pocket along the north coast of the tiny island only 750 miles south of Tokyo.

Probably fewer than 1,000 of the original garrison of 20,000 remained in the pocket, but they were fighting to the death against Marines armed with flamethrowers, tanks and guns. Their backs to the sea, they faced only death or capture – and few prisoners were being taken.

The campaign along the northeast and east coasts was already in the mop-up phase. The 3rd and 4th Marine Divisions were rounding up scattered enemy snipers in the rock-ribbed area. Only a single enemy pocket of resistance remained by 6 p.m. yesterday.

Army fighters bombed and strafed targets on Chichi in the Bonin Islands north of Iwo Jima in the face of intense anti-aircraft fire yesterday.

Liberators of the 11th Army Air Force bombed installations at Suribachi on Paramushiru and Kataoka on Shumushu in the Northern Kuril Islands north of Japan Sunday.

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Editorial: Next step in the Pacific

With the Marines now mopping up Iwo Jima enemy remnants in the bloodiest battle of the war, and Gen. MacArthur successfully invading the large southern Philippine island of Mindanao, a new phase in the Pacific war is about to begin. Hence the top flight strategy conferences in Washington and Chungking.

The President, fresh from his meeting with Prime Minister Churchill, has talked with all of our ranking officials in the Far East except Gen. MacArthur – including Adm. Nimitz, and Gen. Wedemeyer and Ambassador Hurley from China. Adm. Lord Louis Mountbatten, Allied commander in Southeast Asia, went to Chungking to confer with Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek and American officers.

Our chiefs of staff are putting the finishing touches on plans for the big push in the Pacific. It is not supposed that the Jap home islands can be taken quickly after Germany’s collapse. On the contrary, several months after European victory will be required to shift troops and materials in the Far East. But the plans must be made now and part of the process started if we are to be ready when the time comes.

In the meantime, thanks to the Iwo Jima and Philippine victories, we are in position for much more effective softening-up action against the enemy. From Iwo our medium bombers can strike Tokyo and our fighting planes can escort the Superfortress raids. From Gen. MacArthur’s Philippine fields our planes can blast the China coast, only 700 miles away. Equally important they can blanket the South China Sea, Japan’s main supply line.

Whether the next strike will be against the Dutch East Indies, Formosa or islands nearer Japan, or the China coast, the enemy command will not know until the blow falls. We now have sufficient sea and air control and bases to pick any of those spots for attack.

Our high command, however, is anxious for the American public to understand one thing. Although Japan has lost the initiative, she still has a strong defensive position. Adm. Nimitz points out that the enemy’s defensive advantages include: Geographical position and shorter supply lines than ours, ability to produce planes almost as fast as we destroy them, a fanatical fighting spirit, and a strong army of which 90 percent has not been reached by our island warfare.

The conclusion is obvious. Any letdown on the American home front would be disastrous. The biggest battles are ahead of us. The Army, Navy and Marine victories to date have put us in position for heavier blows, but those blows depend on more production, more blood banks, more supplies of all kinds.

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U.S. Navy Department (March 14, 1945)

CINCPOA Communiqué No. 298

Advances of 200 to 400 yards were made by the 5th Marine Division on the northern end of Iwo Island on March 14 (East Longitude Date). From prepared positions the enemy continued to resist the pressure of our attacks and at nightfall the battle was continuing in this sector and in a small pocket in the 4th Marine Division zone of action.

Because of the complex system of caves in which enemy casualties have been trapped and sealed and because of the difficult conditions on Iwo Island an exact count of enemy losses is not possible. Counted burials plus very careful estimates as to numbers sealed in caves gives 20,000 as a very close approximation of enemy killed at end of March 14. That number is less than the detailed estimates made by commanders of frontline troops.

Our forces in the front lines have found “booby traps” set on the bodies of our dead.

The United States Flag was formally raised over Iwo Island at 0930 on March 14 although some resistance continues.

Planes of Navy, Army and Marine Corps are now operating from the island.

Iwo-based Army fighters made bombing and strafing attacks on airfield installations on Chichi Jima in the Bonins on March 14.

On March 13, Army Liberators of the Strategic Air Force, Pacific Ocean Areas, bombed Chichi Jima airfield.

Army Liberators of the 11th Air Force bombed airfield facilities at Kurabu Saki on southern Paramushiru in the Kurils on the same date. The enemy sent up meager anti-aircraft fire.

Corsair and Hellcat fighters of the 4th Marine Aircraft Wing destroyed a bridge, damaged two piers and set fuel dumps and motor facilities afire in the Palaus on March 14.

Mopping-up operations in the Marianas and Palaus continued. During March 4 through March 10, 48 of the enemy were killed on Saipan, Tinian and Guam and 13 prisoners were taken on Saipan, Guam and Peleliu.

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The Pittsburgh Press (March 14, 1945)

Marines mop up on northern Iwo

GUAM (UP) – Three Marine divisions were mopping up Jap remnants on Iwo today. The end of the campaign was at hand.

Other units landed unopposed on Kama and Kangko rocks west of Iwo to knock out emplacements from which the Japs had been shelling U.S. positions throughout the 24-day battle.

Only two major enemy pockets remained on Iwo, and both were gradually being whittled down.

The biggest pocket at Kitano Point, northern tip of Iwo, was under assault by the 5th Marine Division. The 4th Division was hammering away at the other pocket near Higashi on the east side of the island.

The Marines were burying alive any Jap who refused to come out of the fortified caves and surrender. Creeping up to the cave entrances, the Marines hurled in demolition charges that collapsed the walls.

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alwilliams

Maj. Williams: Price of Iwo Jima

By Maj. Al Williams

Iwo Jima is an island a little more than four miles long, two miles wide at its widest point, and roughly the shape of South America. Its terrain is generally sand dunes, with no elevation over 554 feet.

American naval task forces swamped the Jap airpower on Iwo in a matter of hours. Complete dominance of the air over this fiercely contested patch of sand was ours. Yet our Marine losses have been far out of proportion to those of any previous engagement, and Marine Gen. Holland Smith says this struggle is the fiercest and toughest in the history of the Corps.

American naval task forces carriers, battleships, cruisers, destroyers and supply vessels are free to steam all around this tiny island without interference from the enemy. Yet the hand-to-hand fight continues and the cleanup job is still being done by infantrymen (Marines), aided and covered by air and naval forces as occasions permit and indicate.

The word “why” grows bigger day by day. Why must such a grim job be done by ground forces? Is it not apparent that this Iwo Jima situation shows a gap in either the machinery or tactics, or both, of modern warfare?

Isn’t there some other way to completely reduce an enemy position of such diminutive size other than men running forward, crouching, firing small arms, ducking into holes in the ground, hurling grenades, and using all the ground weapons of ground warfare?

As the score stands, this bloody fight on Iwo Jima mistakenly may be interpreted as a direct challenge to airpower. Haven’t we any new tricks? No “firsts” for us, instead of imitations of strategy and tactics invented by others? Does it definitely mark a critical limitation of airpower? Isn’t this just the sort of spot airpower should be able to render completely uninhabitable?

Of course, we don’t know all that actually is being done. But in the wake of the news that we have lost between 5,000 and 6,000 gallant Marines comes the question, “Can’t we find any other way – and where is airpower?”

Two miles by four miles – an island. The enemy force is composed of land forces only, and no adequate cover. Are we using all the available carrier planes for the continuous bombing of this sand spit? Have we dozens of barges or scows laden with trench mortars and small howitzers sending rolling barrages across these sand dunes?

If bombs and machine gun fire can’t do the trick, isn’t there any other expedient – any other than having our boys march and crawl to finish each Jap after the century-old fashion of pikemen?

What about gasoline and phosphorous combinations? Materials mean nothing to us. Lives mean everything.

Surely there must be ingenious American minds that can find some way to drench that dirty little sand island with some kind of inflammable liquid dropped from the air and burn the thing to a crisp.

As the Iwo Jima score stands today, it is a square challenge to airpower – or to the ingenuity of those who possess it.

100

U.S. Navy Department (March 15, 1945)

CINCPOA Communiqué No. 299

The 5th Marine Division on March 15 (East Longitude Date) continued to reduce further the area held by the enemy at the northern tip of Iwo Island. Our forces encountered intense small arms and mortar fire in that sector throughout the day. Mopping-up operations were continued in the 3rd and 4th Marine Division zones of action. Planes of the VII Army Fighter Command bombed airfields and other installations on Chichi Jima in the Bonins on the same date.

On March 14, Liberators of the 7th Army Air Force, operating under the Strategic Air Force, bombed Chichi Jima airfield.

Navy search Privateers of Fleet Air Wing Two bombed Wake Island through meager anti-aircraft fire on March 14.

On the same date, Corsair fighters of the 4th Marine Aircraft Wing continued neutralizing attacks on enemy-held bases in the Marshalls.

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CINCPOA Press Release No. 34

For Immediate Release
March 15, 1945

IWO JIMA, Volcano Islands (March 14, delayed) – With the rattle of musketry to the north, where the remnants of the Japanese garrison force were being exterminated by Marines, faintly audible, the United States government today officially took possession of this desolate but strategic island on the road to Tokyo.

It did so in a proclamation issued by FADM Chester W. Nimitz, Commander in Chief of the Pacific Fleet and Pacific Ocean Areas and military governor of the Volcano Islands. After the proclamation had been read, the American flag was officially raised over the island.

The ceremony, held in the shadow of Suribachi, extinct volcano at the southern tip of Iwo, and attended by high-ranking officers of the Marine Corps, Navy and Army, was marked by simplicity.

Deep-throated roars of nearby Marine field pieces drowned the voice of Marine Col D. A. Stafford, of Spokane, Washington, V Amphibious Corps personnel officer, as he read the words suspending all powers of government of the Japanese Empire on the island.

The Stars and Stripes were run up on a staff atop a strongly reinforced Japanese bunker with an anti-aircraft gun emplacement above it. The military notables formed in rank on one side of the staff. On the other, an honor guard composed of eight military policemen from each of the three divisions that participated in the seizure of the island, was drawn up.

Among the military and naval leaders who planned and executed the in­vasion were: VADM Richmond Kelly Turner, USN, Commander, Amphibious Forces, Pacific; RADM Harry Hill, USN, of Oakland, California, deputy commander of the attack force; LtGen Holland M. Smith, Commanding General of the Fleet Marine Force of the Pacific; MajGen Harry F. Schmidt, V Amphibious Corps Commander; MajGen Graves B. Erskine, of La Jolla, California, 3rd Marine Division commander, and his chief of staff, Col Robert E. Hogaboom, of Vicksburg, Mississippi; MajGen Clifton B. Cates, 4th Marine Division Commander, and his chief of stag, Col M. J. Batchelder; and MajGen Keller Rockey, 5th Marine Division Commander, and his chief of staff, Col Ray A. Robinson. The Army was represented at the ceremony by MajGen James E. Chaney.

While Marine PFC John E. Glynn (309599), 21, of 2319 Humanity Street, New Orleans, Louisiana, veteran of Guadalcanal, sounded “Colors,” Old Glory was sent fluttering in the breeze to the top of the flagstaff by Marine PFC Thomas J. Casale (411750), 20, of (no street address) Herkimer, New York, and Albert B. Bush (437298), 24, of 16712 Woodbury Avenue, Cleveland, Ohio. Marine Sgt Anthony C. Yusi (285607), 25, of 68 Grove Street, Port Chester, New York, was in charge of the color detail.

The bugler and the color detail were chosen from the V Amphibious Corps Military Police Company. Their commanding officer, 1Lt Nathan R. Smith, of Whitehaven, Pennsylvania, said the men had been selected for general efficiency and military bearing. Both Yusi and Bush took part in the seizure of Saipan and Tinian in the Marianas. Moreover, Yusi was serving aboard the USS WASP (CV-7) when she was sunk by the Japs September 15, 1943.

The proclamation was the first issued by FADM Nimitz as military governor of the Volcano Islands. It was addressed, in Japanese as well as English, to the people of the islands. It read:

I, Chester William Nimitz, Fleet Admiral, United States Navy, Com­mander in Chief of the United States Pacific Fleet and Pacific Ocean Areas, do hereby proclaim as follows:

United States Forces under my command have occupied this and other of the Volcano Islands.

All powers of government of the Japanese Empire in the islands so oc­cupied are hereby suspended.

All powers of government are vested in me as Military Governor and will be exercised by subordinate commanders under my direction.

All persons will obey promptly all orders given under my authority. Of­fenses against the Forces of Occupation will be severely punished.

Given under my hand at Iwo Jima this fourteenth day of March, 1945.

The ceremony took place as the battle for Iwo Jima entered its 24th day. The stubborn Japanese defenders had been driven northward to the end of the island.

The enemy was still defending his caves and bunkers to the death.

As the official flag was raised, the one that had flown over Suribachi since the fifth day of the battle was lowered. The Stars and Strips had been planted on the volcano by the Marines who wrested it from the Japs.

The place selected for the official flag is just off the beach in the southwestern section of the island. Selection of the site was prompted by con­venience and the height of the ground.

Several hundred dirty, bearded and weary Marines working and bivouacked in the vicinity gathered to witness the brief ceremony, which required less than 10 minutes. They, as well as the participants, came smartly to attention and saluted while the bugler was sounding colors.

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The Pittsburgh Press (March 15, 1945)

Tears fill Marine general’s eyes at official flag-raising on Iwo

Banner signifies victory on island
By William McGaffin

BULLETIN

GUAM – U.S. Marines have lost under 4,000 dead in the 25-day campaign on Iwo, Vice Adm. Richmond Kelly Turner indicated today.

“Their [Marine] death casualties are less than one-fifth of those of the defenders,” Adm. Turner said.

Jap deaths on Iwo officially were announced as 20,000, indicating American fatalities were under 4,000.

V AMPHIBIOUS CORPS HQ, Iwo Jima (March 14, delayed) – High up on Mt. Suribachi where the Stars and Stripes were raised on February 23, after capture of the 500-foot volcano, the flag came down today.

Instead, another flag went up – the official Stars and Stripes, signifying that Iwo Jima was ours after 23 days of the hardest fighting in Marine Corps history.

There were tears in the eyes of Lt. Gen. Holland Smith, commander of the Marine group, as a bugler blew the Colors and Old Glory went up on an abandoned Jap pillbox.

‘Worst battle yet’

“This is the worst battle we’ve had yet,” Gen. Smith said. Obviously, he was thinking of his boys who had fallen on this foreign shore.

The doughty 63-year-old general himself came within a few inches of stopping a Jap bullet yesterday while watching an intense firefight on the north end of the island.

His voice echoed with emotion when he said today:

It is a victory that was not accomplished by any one service but by a brotherhood of all services, formed in the holocaust of battle… Let us bow our heads in commemoration of their gallantry… Well done.

Sounds Attention

The ceremony began when John E. Glenn of New Orleans, a 21-year-old sandy-mustached bugler, sounded Attention.

As the group stood at attention the corps personnel officer, Col. D. A. Stafford of Spokane, Washington, read the proclamation from Fleet Adm. Chester W. Nimitz “to the people of the Volcano Islands.”

U.S. forces under my command have occupied this and others of the Volcano Islands. All the powers of the government of the Japanese Empire in the islands so occupied are hereby suspended. All the powers of government are vested in me as military governor and will be exercised by subordinate commanders under my direction.

All persons will obey promptly all orders given under my authority. Offenses against the forces of occupation will be severely punished.

After the proclamation, printed in both English and Japanese, was read, the bugler sounded the Colors and Pvt. Thomas J. Casale of Herkimer, New York, sent the flag up the pole.

After the colors were hoisted, the bugler sounded “Carry On” and the men broke up to walk back along the dusty road to their various tasks.

Although Iwo is ours, enemy resistance has not ended. In the extreme northern end, there are small Jap pockets, including a strongpoint on a 900-yard ridge running south from Kitano Point. It probably will take several days before the island finally is declared “secured.”

A United Press dispatch from Guam quoted Pacific Fleet headquarters as estimating the number of Jap dead on Iwo at 20,000 through Wednesday.

There has been no announcement of U.S. casualties since March 3, when 2,050 Americans were listed as dead. An NBC broadcast from Guam said unofficial information indicated U.S. losses would be “very high.” An NBC commentator in Washington predicted they would total 17,000, including 3,000 dead.

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U.S. Navy Department (March 16, 1945)

CINCPOA Communiqué No. 300

The battle of Iwo Island has been won. The United States Marines by their individual and collective courage have conquered a base which is as necessary to us in our continuing forward movement toward final victory as it was vital to the enemy in staving off ultimate defeat. The enemy was fully aware of the crushing attacks on his homeland which would be made possible by our capture of this island only 660 nautical miles distant, so he prepared what he thought was an impregnable defense. With certain knowledge of the cost of an objective which had to be taken, the Fleet Marine Force supported the ships of the Pacific Fleet and by Army and Navy aircraft fought the battle and won. By their victory the 3rd, 4th and 5th Marine Divisions and other units of the V Amphibious Corps have made an accounting to their country which only history will be able to value fully. Among the Americans who served on Iwo Island, uncommon valor was a common virtue.

Organized resistance on Iwo Island ceased at 1800 on March 16 (East Longitude Date) when elements of the 3rd and 5th Marine Divisions drove through the enemy lines breaking them up and reached Kitano Point at the northern end of the island.

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CINCPOA Communiqué No. 301

The Marines on Iwo are continuing to mop up remnants of the enemy garrison. The central Iwo airfield was placed in operation on March 16 (East Longitude Date).

Army aircraft of the VII Fighter Command bombed and strafed targets on Chichi Jima in the Bonins on the same date.

On March 15, Army Liberators of the 7th Air Force operating under the Strategic Air Force, Pacific Ocean Areas, bombed airfield installations on Chichi Jima.

Fighters and torpedo planes of the 4th Marine Aircraft Wing destroyed bridges and damaged piers and other installations in the Palaus on March 15. On the following day barges were destroyed and fires were started on and around Babelthuap and Arakabesan in the same group.

Radio, airfield and harbor installations on Yap in the Western Carolines were bombed by Marine aircraft on March 15 and 16.

Neutralizing raids on enemy held bases in the Marshalls were carried out by planes of Fleet Air Wing Two and the 4th MarAirWing on March 15.

105

The Pittsburgh Press (March 16, 1945)

Handful of Japs left on Iwo

GUAM (UP) – Marines of the 5th Division today squeezed the last fanatically-resisting Japs on Iwo into a pocket less than a quarter mile square on the north coast.

Only a handful of the enemy remained, but they were well organized and were fighting to the death with mortars and small arms from a maze of heavy defenses. Their backs were against a precipitous cliff and the sea.

Jap fire was still taking a toll of Marines Front dispatches indicated that American dead in the campaign would total fewer than 4,000 against more than 20,000 enemy troops killed.

Lt. Gen. Holland M. Smith, commander of fleet Marine forces, told United Press writer Lisle Shoemaker aboard the invasion flagship off Iwo that the Marine motto of Semper Fidelis – always faithful – never before had been challenged or tried as it was in the attack on that island.

106

U.S. Navy Department (March 17, 1945)

CINCPOA Communiqué No. 302

The Marines on Iwo continued mopping-up operations on March 17 (East Longitude Date). About noon a group of 150 of the enemy were observed attempting to organize in the northern part of the Island. They were dispersed by mortar fire. A few enemy troops attempted to “booby trap” installations in our rear areas.

Surface units of the Pacific Fleet bombarded Matsuwa Island in the Kurils on March 16. Our gunfire caused a large explosion and several large fires. Shore-based batteries of the enemy answered our fire but caused no damage to our ships.

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CINCPOA Press Release No. 39

For Immediate Release
March 17, 1945

For twenty‑six days on Iwo Island, the United States Marines fought under conditions which have had no parallel in the war against Japan. Our troops have now defeated the enemy despite every natural advantage of his defenses.

This accomplishment was made against concentrated fortifications which approached, as closely as it is possible to do so, impregnability against attack by mobile forces employing every useful weapon available in modern warfare.

From the opening day, when at H‑hour the pre‑invasion bombardment successfully beat down the island defenses long enough for the troops to gain a foothold which they were never to lose, our forces met and solved problems which could have been insuperable for men less resolute in mind, heart and purpose.

Volcanic ash which immobilized even tracked vehicles and made them motionless targets; artillery long since registered on every possible landing place; interlocking and mutually supporting pillboxes and strongpoints; underground labyrinths extending a total of many miles and the result of many years of military planning and construction; defenses whose depth was limited only by the coastlines of the island; a garrison which was made up of units of the enemy forces especially trained to utilize the defensive advantages of this island; a terrain that was characterized by a high volcanic cone, cliffs, deep gulleys, several commanding hills and a series of terraces rising from the beach to the prominences and plateaus which had to be taken these were the problems of Iwo Island.

That it was taken was the direct result of the fortitude of our officers and men who, by 14 March, had killed more than 21,000 of the enemy.

In achieving this victory, the forces involved lost 4,189 officers and men killed, according to reports from the frontline units at 1700 on 16 March.

The wounded, a very considerable number of whom suffered slight wounds or combat fatigue and have already been returned to action in the Iwo operation, numbered 15,308. Missing in action are 441 officers and men.

The majority of our seriously wounded have been evacuated from the island by hospital ship and by evacuation aircraft. Complete medical facilities are operating to provide the best possible care for those wounded on Iwo Island.

108

The Pittsburgh Press (March 17, 1945)

U.S. casualties in Iwo battle total 19,938

But victory speeds defeat of Japan

GUAM (UP) – The conquest of Iwo in the bloodiest battle of the Pacific was hailed officially today as having brought the war against Japan much closer to the end.

Pacific Fleet headquarters said casualties in the 26-day battle totaled 19,938 – 766 a day, or one every two minutes – among three Marine divisions, normally about 45,000 men.

The toll comprised 4,189 dead, 15,308 wounded and 441 missing in action against an estimated 21,000 Japs killed.

Still more Marines and Japs may die yet. The last organized enemy resistance was smashed at 6 p.m. yesterday, but scattered, disorganized Japs still remained to snipe and kill from caves.

Speeds end of war

All officers admitted the cost was high, but Adm. Chester W. Nimitz said the conquest of the eight-square-mile island 750 miles south of Tokyo brought the war “much closer to its inevitable end.”

Adm. Nimitz said in a communiqué:

The United States Marines by their individual and collective courage have conquered a base which is as necessary to us in our continuing forward movement toward final victory as it was vital to the enemy in staving off ultimate defeat.

By their victory the 3rd, 4th and 5th Marine Divisions and other units of the V Amphibious Corps have made an accounting to their country which only history will be able to value fully.

Lt. Gen. Holland M. “Howling Mad” Smith, commanding general of Fleet Marine forces, warned that “you can’t set the cost of lives that you will pay for an island.”

Gen. Smith said:

The United States and the United Nations overall tactical plan called for the seizure and occupation of Iwo Jima. Its capture was necessary to continued. vigorous prosecution of the offensive against the Japanese.

Iwo’s second airfield, on the central plateau, was placed in operation yesterday. The southern airfield was already in operation.

To aid B-29 raids

Both airfields will be used to refuel Superfortresses and perhaps for fighters to escort the giant raiders on their forays against the Jap homeland. A third, uncompleted airfield also was captured, but there was no immediate word whether this, too, would be made ready for operation.

Marines killed in the battle of Iwo totaled 1,000 more than the 3,100 who died in the 25-day battle to secure Saipan’s 71 square miles in the Marianas last summer. Total casualties in the Saipan campaign were 16,525, 3,413 fewer than on Iwo.

The average daily casualties on Iwo – 766 – were exceeded only on Tarawa, where some 980 were killed, wounded or counted missing for each of the three days of that short-lived but costly campaign.

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U.S. Navy Department (March 18, 1945)

CINCPOA Communiqué No. 303

On March 18 (East Longitude Date), a strong force of carrier aircraft of the Pacific Fleet attacked enemy aircraft bases and installations on the Island of Kyushu.

The Marines on Iwo mopped up isolated remnants of the former enemy garrison in the rugged terrain of the northern part of the island on March 18. Marine uniforms were again found on enemy soldiers, one of whom stopped one of our ambulances, shot and wounded the driver and escaped. Snipers continued to be active. Army fighters bombed and strafed barges and radio and radar facilities on Chichi Jima in the Bonins on the same date.

Army Liberators of the Strategic Air Force bombed the airfield on Chichi Jima on March 16 and 17.

Without opposition, Liberators of the 11th Army Air Force bombed Shimushiru in the Kurils on March 17. Fighters, dive bombers and torpedo planes of the 4th Marine Aircraft Wing bombed radio towers, airstrip and other targets on Yap in the Western Carolines on March 18.

On March 17 and 18, Marine aircraft attacked buildings, bridges and other facilities on Babelthuap in the Palaus. One plane was lost in the attacks.

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CINCPAC Press Release No. 743

For Immediate Release
March 18, 1945

LtGen Holland M. Smith, USMC, returns from Iwo

Reiterating that the battle for Iwo Jima was “the toughest and hardest fight in Marine Corps history,” LtGen Holland M. Smith, USMC, Commanding General of Fleet Marine Force, Pacific, has returned to his Pearl Harbor headquarters with members of his staff.

The bloody conquest of Japan’s Gibraltar of the Pacific further evidenced that the fighting will “get tougher” as we close in on the Nipponese empire, Gen Smith said.