iwo jima small volcanic island mr. suribachi was the dominant feature this was part of japan proper...
TRANSCRIPT
Iwo Jima • Small volcanic island
• Mr. Suribachi was the dominant feature
• This was part of Japan proper
• Located half way between the Marianas bomber bases and the Japanese mainland
• Time between invasion of Philippines and when invasion of Okinawa was planned
• Japanese switched from trying to stop them at the beach to attacking as the Americans moved inland
• Estimated it would take 4 days – It took 36 days
• Japanese waited until the beaches were full and then opened fire
• Some of the fiercest fighting of the war• 1st time American casualties exceeded
Japanese• Very significant for upcoming decisions
• March – Crossing Rhine
• After Operation Market Garden failed, it took the Allies 6 months to cross the Rhine River
• Okinawa in April 1945
• A battle of very personal interest for me
• My father, Arlie Louie Hunt II was a Marine with the 6th Marine division on Okinawa
• 463 Square miles (Iwo Jima is 8 square miles)
• 400 miles south of Japan proper
• Largest invasion of the Pacific War
• Nimitz’s and McArthur’s forces join up
• 1,300 ships carrying 183,000 troops (larger than D-Day and a lot farther from a friendly base)
• They would be facing 117,000 Japanese troops
• They landed on April 1st 1945
• They met no resistance and so they called it Love Day
• The Marines quickly secured the Northern half of the island
• To the South the Army forces ran into heavy fighting and the Marines were sent to take over the fighting
• The Japanese plan, like on Iwo Jima, was to not try and win the battle but to inflict so many losses on the Americans that they would be slowed
• The goal was for every soldier to kill 10 Americans and for every pilot to take out one ship
• Kamikaze – means divine wind
• The idea was for a Japanese pilot to dive his plane into an American ship, killing himself but hopefully destroying a whole American ship
• The Japanese realized their conventional forces couldn’t stop the American fleet, so they turned to desperate measures
• It took less skill to fly a plane into a target than actually bomb it
• Kamikaze attacks began during the invasion of the Philippines
• Okinawa was the high point of Kamikaze attacks
• The Japanese sent 1,500 at the American fleet
• The Americans defended their fleet with fighter planes and anti-aircraft guns
• The Americans had 368 ships damaged or sunk due to the Kamikaze attacks off of Okinawa
• The Navy suffered the highest loss of life in its history during the battle for Okinawa
• The Navy alone suffered 10,000 casualties
• 82 day long battle
• Japanese lost 100,000 casualties
• Allies lost 50,000 casualties
• Additionally the Marines and Army suffered very high levels of combat fatigue
• The Okinawans lost approximately 150,000 civilians (about 1/3rd of their population
• Only at Stalingrad were civilian casualties higher than at Okinawa