The very dead battle of Iwo Jima and the story of legendary war photography

On March 26, 1945, they are completely occupied by the strategic island of Ivo Jima in the Pacific. The armed conflict between the United States of America and Japan that led to the American occupation of the island, was the most deadly battle in the Pacific, during World War II and one of the most savage and bloody moments in history and lasted from February 19, 1945 to March 26 of the same year. The battle on the small volcanic island of Iwo Jima might never have been heard if a photograph hadn’t given her immortality… The Americans counted 6,800 dead and the Japanese 21,844. Of the approximately 22,000 defenders of the island only 214 were captured. Everyone else fell brave in battle. The decision to invade Iwo Jima The island of Ivo Jima, which means “Shife Island”, due to the divine deposits on this small volcanic island of the Pacific Ocean, with an area of 21 square kilometres, is located 1,200 km away from Tokyo and this made it particularly critical for both Japanese and Americans. With the exception of the hill – 169 meters tall – Suribachi the rest of the island is flat. The United States had to take over Iwo Jima if they wanted to defeat Japan. It was also an island of great strategic importance and would serve Americans as a valuable air base for fighter escort planes. On the other hand, for the Japanese, maintaining Iwo Jima was necessary to prevent the Allies from breaking into the last line of defense that protected Japan from attack. In the year in February 1945, the U.S. Marine Corps, with the support of U.S. Navy warships and Air Force units, invaded the Japanese island of Ivo Jima. The goal was total occupation of the island including its three air bases because through them they could organize the campaign for the occupation of Japan. The U.S. planned an attack on the island that they believed would last just a few days, but it seemed that they underestimated the stubbornness and courage of the Japanese resulting in falling out. The Japanese had secretly launched a new defensive tactic, exploiting the island’s mountain landscape and jungles to create camouflaged artillery positions. A campaign for over a month followed in order to expel the defense forces from their fortifications in a battle proved by the most bloody in the Pacific war. Americans and Japanese were determined to make a hard effort to secure control of Iwo Jima and no one would surrender the weapons. The Americans bombed the island for two months before the landing. The Japanese refused until the end to surrender by rebelling. After months of bombing, the American Marines arrived on the island. They quickly realized that taking Iwo Jima would not be an easy case. The terrain did not allow the tanks to move and the bombing had drilled holes everywhere, in which the Japanese shooters were hiding. The Americans’ march to the interior of the island was slowly progressing. Every day they measured casualties, lost hundreds of Marines to Japanese attacks from underground tunnels. Japanese General Kuribayashi knew very well that it was impossible to defeat the Americans, since they had neither supplies nor ability to call for reinforcements. The 22,000 Japanese soldiers were stranded but determined to fight. The American attack began at dawn on February 19, 1945, with a ruthless bombing of Iwo Jima by air and sea. At 8:59 this morning the landing of 30,000 Marines under the Japanese fire, coming from Suribachi Mountain began. The Americans were unable to cover because of the level of ground. By the end of the day, another 40,000 Marines were added to the battlefield. Just four days after the landing, on February 23 the American Marines occupied Suribachi Mountain, which had been cut off from the rest of the island. Although they believed they would encounter strong resistance from the Japanese, they reached its peak without particular difficulty and nailed the American flag to the ground. The screenshot was immortalized by Associated Press photographer Joe Rosenthal, in a photo left in history and won the Pulitzer Prize in 1945. The photograph became the symbol of the history of Iwo Jima Island but the battle was not over. Bad languages say the soldiers repeated the scene many times until Rosenthal achieved the “right frame”, i.e. a photo with strong emotions. The Japanese continued to fight bravely for another month, causing great losses to the Americans. The hostilities stopped a month later, on March 26, 1945. Of the 22,000 Japanese defenders of Ivo Jima, 20,703 fell to the battlefield, including their commander Lieutenant General Kuribayashi, while 216 were captured. The Americans counted 5,598 dead, 494 missing and 19,189 injured. Ivo Jima remained under American rule until 1968, when she returned to Japan. In 2006 Clint Eastwood directs two films for the Battle of Iwo Jima. These are the films “The Flags of Our Ancestors” and “Letters from Iwo Jima”. The first depicts the battle from the American perspective, while the second shows it from the Japanese perspective.