Friday

The Fight for Iwo Jima

Listen to "The Fight for Iwo Jima"

The Battle for Iwo Jima, "sulfur island" of the Pacific, was a battle between the elite US marines and the stout-hearted Japanese defenders. The Japanese, after years of preparation, had created an extensive tunnel network that prevented them from being hurt by the naval bombardment.

Consequently, when the Fifth Amphibious Corps (VAC) landed, they had to fight 22,000 well-entrenched Japanese, complete with banzai charges and other intimidating tactics. In the end, the US death toll was 10% and the Japanese death toll was 99% (with the other 1% being captured).

For more information:
Military History Magazine (February 2003): Marine Private's Iwo Jima Memories
The Pacific War Companion by Daniel Marston

2 Comments:

Blogger John said...

Congratulations on the newspaper article! I bet you are a hometown celebrity now. Keep up the good work and I look forward to the next episode.

11:37 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

This is very interesting site... » »

2:56 AM  

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