The Pittsburgh Press (March 4, 1945)
Yanks hem in Japs on Iwo
Marines push foe back to sea
GUAM (UP) – U.S. Marines pushed the bitterly-resisting Jap defenders of Iwo Island back toward the sea Saturday as the 3rd and 5th Divisions advanced 200 to 400 yards through intense enemy fire, Fleet Adm. Chester W. Nimitz announced today.
The American troops were now within 500 yards of the northern tip of the island.
The Marines drove the Japs into a long narrow arc-like sector – an area so small that carrier aircraft were unable to strike effectively at the decimated enemy garrison.
U.S. ships now are unloading on both eastern and western coasts of the tiny embattled island. only 750 miles from Tokyo. Land-based aircraft are using the southern airfield to evacuate wounded men.
The 5th Division on the left flank and the 3rd Division in the center of the front line hacked out bloody gains through the main Jap defenses. But the 4th Division on the right flank made slow progress against heavy resistance.
Although within 500 yards of splitting the enemy forces, the Marines were still meeting fierce opposition. Marine artillery supported the American drive all along the line.
Between one-half and three-fourths of the 20,000 Jap troops on the island when the Marines landed were estimated to have been killed or severely wounded. For the remainder death was not far away.
Front dispatches disclosed that enemy planes were dropping water to the trapped and thirst-crazed Jap troops.
A 700-yard Marine advance Friday, one of the longest of the campaign, was made after a terrific barrage by artillery, naval guns and carrier aircraft. Now the Marines are nearing the craggy northeast coast and when they reach it, they will have split Lt. Gen. Tadamichi Kuribayashi’s fanatical garrison.
The American Leathernecks held all three airfields on the island after occupation of the Motoyama Airfield No. 3, an 800-yard fighter strip still in construction.