Posted on 03/10/2005 7:10:45 AM PST by rcocean
Our awe at the bravery of the Marines and their Japanese adversaries should not cause us to overlook the stupidity that forced them into this unnecessary meat grinder. Selective memories of World War II, which record only inspiring deeds and block out all waste and folly, create an impossible standard of perfection against which to judge contemporary conflicts.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
Perhaps.
But should we have asked the 20,000 families of those who sustained casualties, we'd have a different answer.
Still, this issue is about cost effectiveness of the mission and its necessity.
How kind of you...thank you. If your uncle is living, please give him my warmest regards.
Yes.
There was NO place to hide. Once it was determined fighter strength was too overwhelming, we should have re-grouped, reassessed enemy strength, then either blasted the Japs to Kingdom Come, OR skipped it.
Iwo wasn't essential -- it was a convenience.
We could have been more selective and looked for softer targets with safer terrain.
"I can see us needing one or the other, but not both."
Great point.
The Jap pilots by that time were no match for the USAF, and true they just weren't effective.
"In fact, damaged aircraft were landing on Iwo even before the fighting stopped!"
Jap aircraft I presume? "Damaged"? Of course -- the Jap Air Force was getting torn to shreds at that juncture.
Iwo would have been NO help after we isolated the Island from further re-supply anyway.
Dittos to Mac.
What seems unecessary to YOU now seemed necessary then to the people in charge. It is easy to make decisions years later with no pressure and no lives and country hanging in the balance."
You're certainly entitled to your opinion, but I disagree with your assessment.
As posted earlier, war planners do project "acceptable losses."
And it certainly is debatable whether Iwo Jima was "necessary" at that juncture of our Island-Hopping" strategy.
Hey, our war planners, Generals and Admirals were great, but not perfect.
I read somewhere once, and I'm now not sure where, that we knew the battle for Iwo Jima was going to be a major blood letting, and we even considered using poison gas on the Japanese defenders. The only reason gas wasn't used was because we thought we coudn't keep the world from finding out about it.
I've never thought that the sacrifice of 6,000 Marines on Iwo Jima that allowed a few dozen B-29 crews to survive the war was a good trade. The lose of those fine young Marines from our gene pool can really be seen in the American youth of today.
Also, in a classic example of shooting the messenger, you berate the columnist and not the author: Marine Capt. Robert S. Burrell.
One more point, MacArthur was also a critic of how Iwo Jima and Okinawa were attacked.
I didn't read the article because I won't go to the LAT, but that is also why I withheld comment on the article.
I don't think that there is anything wrong with hindsight. Critically examing each battle and each war can provide invaluable info that can save lives. Sometimes decisions are made in the heat of the battle that must be made and we regret them, but that doesn't mean that we have the luxury of taking them back once we get more info.
Iwo Jima was fought doing the best we could with what we knew at the time and no one can ask for more than that.
My speculation here is that knowing the LAT as we do, most are assuming -- as I did -- that it was merely a hit piece on our military by someone who isn't worthy of shining our guys boots.
As we've said several times (since reply nbr 2), it was several thousand aircraft that landed (to refuel, repair, or to prevent crash-landing in the water) - Each 10 crewmen onboard.
Were all 24,000 airmen saved? Yes.
Might SOME of those 24,000 not died (been somehow rescued at sea after crash-landing at night) had Iwo not been taken?
Maybe. How many?
Well, ole Strategist only a few would have died unnecessiarily.
My opinion is better than his, in my opinion, and I say that we know absolutely for certain that NOT ONE AIRMEN who landed at Iwo was killed by Japanese fire by landing - so, in my opinion, every one of them was saved by the 6,000 Marines who died.
I am no military expert or tactician, but suppose they had withdrawn as the casualties began to mount. . . .
Wouldn't there have been more casualties as we retreated and yet more when we renewed the attack on now more heavily fortified Japanese positions? Would it have been a trade off in losses without gaining any territory?
Just asking.
And then, after all of this, the Air Force wanted to build the Air Force Memorial on a hill overlooking the Marine Corps Memorial in Arlington, VA.
Absolutely, positively no problem. Not intended as a flame in any respect. Cheers to you too!
Well, since we won, it was not 'overwhelming' was it?
Sorry, but the costs of a defeat at Iwo, would have been far higher then the costs of the win.
Once a decision is made to fight, it is almost always better to go full throttle, then to turn and run, as you suggest.
God Bless all those Marines. Those Marines are a large part of the reason that I sleep soundly and safely at night, in a free coutry called America.
I'm not maintaining Iwo Jima's airfields weren't a strategic "help" -- just that not proportionally worthy of the cost by a longshot.
I've learned a great deal from Boot's book The Savage Wars of Peace: Small Wars and the Rise of American Power. He seems to me to respect and appreciate both America's military and, in the main, the righteousness of their missions. Why do you consider him a whiner?
It seems to me that articles like this provide an important rejoinder to the real whiners and blame Bush types. They whine about supposed incompetence, mistakes, and hubris in the prosecution of the Iraq war. The examination of past mistakes in he history of war reveals how absurd, stupid and ignorant such claims are. Compared to past conflicts in which thousands of lives were lost in days or weeks from military blunders, Iraq has been astoundingly successful and it's management awesomely adroit.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.