Battle of Iwo Jima
Category: Other
Updated: 29 Nov 2018
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Created byJohnny Rivera
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Events
Beginning of
Battle of Iwo Jima: (2/19)
At 2 A.M. the guns of battleship
signaled the commencement of D-Day.
Soon the island was attacked by 100 bombers and bombs from carrier based planes.(2/19): At 8:59 A.M. 30,000 U.S.
Marines of 3rd, 4th, and 5th
marine division landed on
Iwo Jima and about 40,000 more followed.(2/19)
Adm. R.A. Spruance was the commander
of the overall operation and
Joint Expeditionary Force
Commander was Vice Adm. R.K. Turner.
The first aim of the U.S. Marines was to
capture Mt. Suribachi because the Japanese
were able to fire on any marines from this position.
Mt. Suribachi was also used by the U.S. support
unit and Seabees that had high
casualties in the early part of battle(2/20)
U.S. Marines started advancing south of
Mt. Suribachi and north of airfield.
Satchel charges and flame throwers
took out the entrenched Japanese
soldiers from the mountain.
Cruisers and destroyers were used
to closely bombard the Japanese defenses.
Ravines were set fire with gasoline
to force out Japanese.(2/21)
U.S. Marines continued its a
dvancement towards the south
and north part of the island.
Japanese started Kamikaze attacks
over U.S. invading ships.
The carrier Saratoga and Bismark Sea
was damaged and sunk.(2/22)
Finally the U.S. Marines surrounded
Mt. Suribachi and started moving
towards the face of the mountain.(2/23)
After bitter fighting, first units of U.S.
Marines were at the top of the mountain.
At 10.20 A.M. patrol headed by Lt. Harold Schreir
raised a small flag on top of the mountain.
Later, Landing Ship Tank of U.S. bought the
larger flag and raised it over the mountain.
The famous photograph, raising the flag was
taken by the photographer Joe Rosenthal.
U.S. Marines advanced towards the second airfield,
which was located in the center of Iwo Jima.(2/24)
After 76 minutes of naval bombardment,
the 4th and 5th marine division of
U.S. started attacking Japanese with the
help of tanks.
The Japanese were able to stop tanks
by using mines and anti-tank guns
The 5th division gained 500 yards
at the end of the day.(2/25)
At 9.30 A.M. the third marine division started
its attack. The Japanese line was the
strongest point for Japanese defenses.
U.S. bought flame throwing tanks to
burn the defenders of Japan in their pillboxes.
Because of high casualties, the movement
of U.S. marines was very slow.(2/27)
Second airfield and Hills Peter was
taken by U.S. third marine division.(2/28)
Finally the third airfield was occupied
by U.S. Marines.
But, the hills around the airfield
were still occupied by the Japanese.(3/6)
To support U.S. marines in the air,
the first P-51 started arriving on the island.
Task Force58 was relieved to prepare
for Okinawa on 4/1.(3/8)
The Japanese attempted a counter attack
over marine regiments 23rd and 24th.
The attack was stopped by the U.S. marine
artillery.
650 Japanese men were lost in this attack.(3/15)
Japanese resistance continued in the island.
Japanese started penetrating in the U.S.
lines to attack headquarters and cut off
communication.(3/20)
147th Infantry regiment of U.S. army
arrived for garrison duty.(3/25)
Final resistance of Japanese was secured
at Kitano point.
That night, under Japanese commander
Gen. Kurbayashi , 200 Japanese infiltrated U.S. LinesEnd of Battle
(2/26)
250 Japanese men laid dead near the U.S. lines.
At 8.00 A.M. the island was declared secure and
capture part of the battle was declared complete.(2/19)
By the end of the day, 30,000 troops
started moving in land.
Mt. Suribachi was cut off and
isolated and some part of first airfield was also
captured.Periods
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