V Corps phase:[3] Marines: 5,931 dead and missing 17,272 wounded Navy: 881 dead and missing 1,917 wounded 1 escort carrier sunk Army: 9 dead and missing 28 wounded
V Corps phase:[5] 17,845–18,375 KIA/MIA 216 prisoners
Mop-up phase:[6] 867 prisoners remainder killed, died, or dispersed[a]
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The Battle of Iwo Jima (19 February – 26 March 1945) was a major battle in which the United States Marine Corps (USMC) and United States Navy (USN) landed on and eventually captured the island of Iwo Jima from the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) during World War II. The American invasion, designated Operation Detachment, had the purpose of capturing the island with its two airfields: South Field and Central Field.
The Japanese Army positions on the island were heavily fortified, with a dense network of bunkers, hidden artillery positions, and 18 km (11 mi) of tunnels.[b] The American ground forces were supported by extensive naval artillery and had complete air supremacy provided by U.S. Navy and Marine Corps aviators throughout the battle.[8] The five-week battle saw some of the fiercest and bloodiest fighting of the Pacific War.
The Japanese combat deaths numbered three times the number of American deaths, but unique among Pacific War Marine battles, the American total casualties (dead and wounded) exceeded those of the Japanese.[9] Of the 21,000 Japanese soldiers on Iwo Jima at the beginning of the battle, only 216 were taken prisoner, some of whom were captured only because they had been knocked unconscious or otherwise disabled.[c] Most of the remainder were killed in action, but it has been estimated that as many as 3,000 continued to resist within the various cave systems for many days afterwards until they eventually succumbed to their injuries or surrendered weeks later.[5][6]
The action was controversial, with retired Chief of Naval Operations William V. Pratt stating that the island was useless to the Army as a staging base and useless to the Navy as a fleet base.[10] The Japanese continued to have early-warning radar from Rota island, which was never invaded.[11] Experiences with previous Pacific island battles suggested that the island would be well-defended and thus casualties would be significant.
Joe Rosenthal's Associated Press photograph of the raising of the U.S. flag at the top of the 169 m (554 ft) Mount Suribachi by six U.S. Marines became a famous image of the battle and the American war effort in the Pacific.[12]
^Morison 1960, p. 68.
^Garand and Strowbridge, "History of U.S. Marine Corps Operations in World War II" vol. IV, "Western Pacific Operations" (1971) p. 458, note 26. Retrieved 2/5/2024. Also see Senshi Sosho vol. 13, "Army Operations in the Central Pacific (pt. 2): Peleliu, Angaur, and Iwo Jima." p. 415 (Japanese)
^Bartley, "Iwo Jima: Amphibious Epic" (1954) pp. 220-1. Retrieved 2/5/2024
^Robertson, Neimeyer & Nash 2019, p. 39.
^ abCite error: The named reference Burrell83 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ abToland 2003, p. 669.
^Garand & Strobridge 1971, pp. 455–456.
^Carriers Hit Tokyo!. Universal Newsreel. 19 March 1945. Archived from the original on 3 November 2012. Retrieved 22 February 2012.
^O'Brien, Cyril J. "Iwo Jima Retrospective". Archived from the original on 7 June 2007. Retrieved 21 June 2007.
^Cite error: The named reference Newsweek_Pratt_19450402 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Cite error: The named reference Rota was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Landsberg, Mitchell (1995). "Fifty Years Later, Iwo Jima Photographer Fights His Own Battle". Associated Press. Archived from the original on 5 September 2007. Retrieved 11 September 2007.
Landsberg, Mitchell (1995). "Photographer FiGhts Life-Long Battle Over Famous Flag- Raising Photo". The Seattle Times. Retrieved 6 October 2022.
Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).
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