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Bombing
Bombing of Iwo Jima started for 74 days straight. -
Period: to
IWO JIMA
The timeline for IWO JIMA -
Japanese Artillery
Japanese Artillery opened fire on 12 LCI gunboats -
First landing on Iwo Jima Beach
30,000 troops landed on Iwo Jima at 8:59am, The Japanese didnt fire till everyone was on the beach. WHen they did, they suffered heavy casualties. -
USS Bismark Sea
USS Bismark was sanked on this day. This was the last US battleship sanked in WW2 318 crewmen died. -
THE FLAG
Mount. Suribachi was completely cut off from the island. 6 soldiers reached the top and raised the flag later that day.The soldiers wereIra Hayes, Franklin Sousley , Michael Strank , John Bradley, Rene Gagnon and Harlon Block -
Past the beaches
After days of fighting, thanks to the flamethrowers and tanks, the bunkers got tooken out. Bunkers put up a challenge cause they werwe strategically dugged, they managed to get past the beaches. -
Reinforcements
Around March first, 30,000 more Marines had landed. About 40,000 followed them -
Close airsupport
Close air support was initially provided by fighters from escort carriers off the coast. This shifted over to the 15th Fighter Group, flying P-51 Mustangs -
The Hill
This was a key moment in the capture of hill 362. It held such importance that the Japanese organized a counterattack the following night. Although Kuribayashi had forbidden the suicide charges familiar with other battles in the Pacific, the commander of the area decided on a banzai charge with the optimistic goal of recapturing mount Suribachi. Captain Samaji Inouye and his 1,000 men charged the American position inflicting 347 casualties with 90 dead. The Marines counted 784 dead Japaneses -
Declared
The island was declare cleared at 6:00pm. But there was a stronghold, so the 5th marine division attacked it -
Stronghold
The marines destroyed the stronghold with 4 tons of explosive -
Final Attack
n the night of March 25, a 300-man Japanese force launched a final counterattack in Airfield No. 2. Army pilots, Seabees and Marines of the 5th Pioneer Battalion and 28th Marines fought the Japanese force for up to 90 minutes but suffered heavy casualties 53 were killed, and another 120 were wound. -
The end
The end of the long battle. 6,288 marines dead,19217 injured. 18375 japanese dead, 216 wounded. This was the only battle against the japanese where the American causualties exceeds the Japanese. There was so little captured becasue a lot of them would do the senpukku ritual
