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| This sketch shows the floor plan of the largest and most elaborate tunnel system discovered by Marines on Peleliu. It was prepared by Japanese naval construction troops and was so elaborate the Americans thought it might be a phosphate mine. |
Posted on 02/13/2005 10:36:31 AM PST by Willie Green
Sixty years can't dim the memory -- not if the memory is of a hell on earth known as Iwo Jima.
An 8-square-mile dot in the middle of the vast Pacific, Iwo Jima -- literally, Sulfur Island -- tested the mettle of three Marine divisions (70,000 men) hurled against the island's 22,000 heavily dug-in Japanese defenders in the final months of World War II.
The fight for the island, which got under way in earnest on Feb. 19, 1945, represented not so much a turning point in the Pacific war as confirmation of the violent, last-ditch nature of Japanese opposition.
By killing and wounding so many Americans, Iwo Jima -- and a few months later, Okinawa -- led policy makers later in 1945 to an inescapable conclusion about the planned invasion of Japan in the spring of 1946: better to drop the bomb and unleash the nuclear genie than permit the slaughter and maiming of countless millions, including an estimated 1 million American dead and wounded.
The U.S. offensive in World War II, drawing an ever-tighter bead on the Japanese mainland, exploded in unsurpassed bloodletting on Iwo Jima. As novelist John P. Marquand, covering the invasion for Life magazine, said at the time: "About the dead, whether Japanese or American, there was one thing in common. They died with the greatest possible violence. Nowhere in the Pacific have I seen such badly mangled bodies."
(Excerpt) Read more at pittsburghlive.com ...
Good read.
Ever read, "Flags of Our fathers?"
No, I'm afraid I haven't.
7,000 Americans died in the effort to capture a tiny island. It sort of puts our losses in Iraq into perspective.
Thanks for posting this article. It's an excellent read. My Dad was a Marine and on a troop ship to the Japan invasion when the bomb was dropped on Hiroshima in August. I did't realize that Iwo led to the decision to use the bomb to end the war. Without the sacrifices of the Marines at Iwo, I doubt my Dad would have come home, and I probably wouldn't be here today.
had math professor at ASU that was in that battle. lights went out one day and he was gone. next day he didn't say a word nor did the class.
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| This sketch shows the floor plan of the largest and most elaborate tunnel system discovered by Marines on Peleliu. It was prepared by Japanese naval construction troops and was so elaborate the Americans thought it might be a phosphate mine. |
Thanks so much for the posting of the map of the amazing tunnels. My son went to the 60th anniversary of the battle in Sept and was able to explore the many caves.
Are you familiar with the battle for Peleliu?
Same here. No A-bombs, no me. My dad flew Army Air Force fighters ahead of bombers in N. Africa, Italy and the Pacific. Went right up that chain. I can remember him saying Eniwetok. A couple of his friends were helping remodel our house in 1958, I was 10, and they finished up talking over beers about Iwo Jima. I heard them say the high command determined from Iwo Jima they'd have to fight to the end of Japan before they would surrender, so they dropped the bomb twice and it was over. He said there was no doubt he would not have survived a lengthy, conventional attack on Japan.
He also said Okinawa was great after it was cleared. The Navy took it over and they had the best food.
At one guy's urging, my mom got out all my dad's commendations and explained them to us and after that the war was never mentioned in my house again. I don't think he liked that last part. Good man, he died in March at 89.
I went to high school in South Texas, under a principal who was a Marine and fought at Iwo Jima. He was, IMO at the time, the toughest man who ever lived.
The only time I ever screwed up around him, he actually picked me up by my shirt collar with one hand and chewed me out royally. After that I was a model student.
I believe 'Manila John' Basilone was lost on Iwo... just one of 6000. If we had the atomic bomb at that time, Iwo and Okinawa would have been excellent targets. Such a loss of life!
I'm not sure why. It was very significant.
We saw a tv show about Iwo. It mentioned that when they finally got a foothold and the tanks came in, they just rolled over any bodies that were in the way. Crushed them to nothing. It could be one of those in the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
read later
Thank you for this. I've saved it to read more carefully later when I'm awake.
Get the book, read the book, great book. "Flags of Our Fathers".
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