It was the carnage at Iwo Jima that convinced Truman that America had to use the bomb. The Japanese were so fanatic that the toll in lives required to capture the Japanese mainland would have exceeded all American deaths in both the Europe and the Pacific theatres, combined.
It is always hard for me to read these because I well up with tears.
I just watched a show last night called something like Battlefield Rats, something rats visiting Iwo Jima (Iwo To now).
But my point is regarding battle statistics. In this post citing 219 surrendered Japanese. This appears incomplete. According to the show, over eight hundred Japanese were captured AFTER the island was declared secured. This before island secured and after island secured statisical disparities applly to other figures as well. On many islands the casualties and dead during “mop up” rival securing the island figues.
And on a totally different point, these whatever rats went about disturbing the sites. While remains of the dead, mostly Japanese were recovered prior, something about ransacking the area like clumsy oafs (although declaring they were not taking any artifacts) was disturbing.
I have been told that military records were destroyed in a fire in a St. Louis facility. I have also been told that my great uncle was sitting not all that far away when the flag was planted, and earned a Purple Heart. I have been told that because of the fire his records were destroyed. Of course this man has long since returned home so I do not have him here to asked about his experiences.
My Dad and Granddad were at Iwo, but neither would ever talk about it, even after I came home from Vietnam. I saw a lot of action and lost close to one hundred friends, but the numbers from Iwo are almost unbelievable, considering the small size of the island. 22,000 Japanese inflicted 26,000 casualties on the US, if the article is correct. And I thought the NVA were tough.