'Once the butchering began on the beach, it was time to withdraw and re-group.'
Great idea! The casualties would have been way lower on the front end of a rout.
'As the Marines waded in through Iwo, they were hit from all different directions.'
From the sea as well? The assault waves made it ashore, once there the Japanese opened up. By nightfall 30000 Marines were ashore and Mt Suribachi was isolated. 2400 casualties 600 dead on the first day but no longer on the beach. Five days later, the 3rd MarDiv came ashore bringing the total to 82000 men. When do you pull the plug? First day when you have to evac 30000 men? Or after the 5th when you would have 80000+ thousand? This is the worst type of monday morning QBing. You have no answer just an insistence it was a bad decision.
Gen Smith predicted 15000 casualties when the bombardment couldn't be extended.
The Joint Staff got bad intel and painted themselves in a corner. Or rather an expendable force in a corner.
So what of a contingency plan? That's right, there was none. Hell, I don't know what kind of resources were available to help relieve the pressure of the first wave of Marines taking the pounding.
"Gen Smith predicted 15000 casualties when the bombardment couldn't be extended."
And WHY couldn't the bombardment be extended?