The Battle of Iwo Jima was one of the deadliest battles of World War II and even in American history itself. Joe Rosenthal captured the grueling battle inside one image and this image will forever be stamped into American history for decades to come. The image shows the hardship the Americans went through during the battle, the courage and tenacity was of the marines, the great sacrifices, and even the American pride and victory. The picture’s significance shows how this battle was the bloodiest in Marine history. The battle took the lives of about 6,000 marines, which accounted for approximately one third of the total number of marines who died in all of World War II. The image shows the victory of the United States, which ultimately led to …show more content…
Iwo Jima gave the United States a strategic air base within striking distance of Japan. The United States really had no way of accessing the Pacific around Japan. Iwo Jima would give the Americans an attack line in the Pacific area and later will become one of the most significant Pacific bomber bases for the United States. During the time of the conflicts with the Japanese and other Pacific countries, about Boeing B-29 Superfortress, a propeller-driven heavy bomber, were stationed there at some point in time. The B-29 was the most advanced multi-engine aircraft of its age and a technical feat in its own right. The United States wanted the volcanic islands of Japan to be able to control the mainland of Japan and with Japan’s navy being weakened due to multiple situations, such as a lack of oil. The United States say this as a sign of weakness and began to attack the volcanic islands south of Japan. These attacks took out the Japanese navy fronts stationed in the islands and put the Japanese navy in a standstill in terms of being effective in the war efforts. The United States gained control of the Mariana Islands and Guam. The B-29s that were stationed in the Mariana Islands would help aid the American forces when they decided to try to conquer Iwo Jima on February 19, 1945. Before landing, the United States Navy did an excellent job of adding suppress fire towards Iwo Jima which would cause the Japanese Army to fall back slightly. Just enough for the American Marines to come in and rush the island of Iwo Jima. Meeting little resistance, the American troops could storm the beaches of Iwo Jima and delayed the Japanese troops attack for a bit as the Japanese were waiting for the Americans to attack. Which allowed American troops to gather more troops on the beaches than they thought. 6,000 marines dead and over 18,000 Japanese troops were dead just days after the landing of Iwo
But yet they still failed. “First, the Japanese missed their prime targets:the aircraft carriers Lexington and Enterprise (both of which were at sea), and Saratoga. Second, the Japanese failed to destroy the huge oil storage facilities, without which the Pacific Fleet would have been forced to retire to the West Coast.” Many historians argue if they should have attacked us. It was only a matter of time before the U.S was going to be sent into World war II it was a great reason to start early.
The pilots of these planes were well trained after years of training and countless victories under their belts. So while yes, more planes could be built, they wouldn't have the same caliber of the elite flyers from before. Effectively it ended Japanese offensive power in the Pacific. The war turned from Japan on the offense to Japan on the defense.
48,000 soldiers died during the month long battle of Iwo Jima. The battle of Iwo Jima was a pivotal battle between America and Japan. The battle is also where the Navajo marines got their recognition.. This battle was also very crucial because Japan would have a really big island conquered and we would have lost 26,000 Americans for nothing.
The Japanese took over several islands in the Pacific to include Guam, Wake Island, New Britain, Gilbert Islands, Malaya, and Singapore to name a few. These actions put the United
What makes the Iwo Jima image remain so historical, powerful, and iconic. It shows six Marines, that had a mission to do and they are completing it without any of them searching for recognition. It stands as a reminder that nothing is impossible, if one has the will to face the improbable. It is truly the epitome of teamwork. It shows sacrifices and hard work soldiers/marines endure to help defend our country.
On account of many American lives taken from the surprise attack by the Japanese, the U.S. decided to take its revenge by slowing attacking and making its way to Japan’s Mainland.
As a turning point in our history the battle of Iwo Jima started off with the battle of Pearl Harbor so therefore it was much hatred between Japan and America. As a result, years later Iwo Jima came along. In the movie, “Flags of our Fathers”, showed me that the Americans was attacking the Japanese from afar, but as they thought they had a victory, they got closer & closer and Japanese fired back on the Americans killing more than 6,000 U.S Naval Corpsmen & U.S Marines.
Although the attack was intended to calm down the Pacific Fleet, it gave the Americans the feeling that they wanted to go to war with them. In response to the attack, the U.S. came back with antiaircraft guns, ships, and submarines. The war took place for two hours. At the end of the war, Japan ended up losing 29 planes and 64 men. On the other hand, the United States lost 188 planes, 21 ships, 2,390 servicemen.
Japanese Imperial Navy only had a rough estimate of 21,000 men. Japan was outnumbered by many, many soldiers. Japan lost around 20,000 of their men, which was almost their whole army (Andrews). Americans had around 5,900 people killed and 17,400 wounded (Cowley). This was the only battle in which the United States Marine Corps had more casualties than Japan (10).
This was the start of the long invasion of Iwo Jima. The Battle of Iwo Jima was fought between the Japanese army and the United States Marine Corps (USMC). The battle, known to the USMC as "Operation Detachment", started on February 19, 1945 and lasted until March 26, 1945 when the last Japanese soldiers were captured or killed. Japan knew that the importance of defending Iwo Jima as its loss would facilitate American air raids against Japanese Home Islands. However Imperial Japanese Navy had already lost almost all of its power and could not prevent U.S. from landing.
First, The Japanese and the Americans both had good defensive tactics (World Book Online). The Japanese and Americans both were good on the defensive side of the battle field. Secondly, The Japanese had hospitals and camps inside the underground fortified caves of Iwo Jima (Smith, Larry). So the Japanese had hospitals and camps in the underground caves of Iwo Jima. Lastly, despite the difficulties,” the marines wiped out all the defending forces after a month of fighting on the island of Iwo Jima”.
The deadly bombing on Japan saved the lives of many in America, prevented them from attacking the U.S like the one on Pearl Harbor, and it brought a sense of peace to the U.S. It is significant to the understanding of WWII because the events of the atomic bombs were the end of
Japanese fleet commander Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto made plans to lead the Japanese Navy and attack the 2 islands that make up Midway Atoll. He thought that the U.S. could not win a battle based so close to its broken Pearl Harbor. Admiral Yamamoto was expecting to ambush America, but America surprised them with the ambush. American Navy successfully sank the Japanese Akagi, Kaga, Soryu, and Hiryu aircraft carriers, with 322 planes and over 5,000 soldiers on them. Japan also lost the heavy cruiser
One of the most iconic photographs of history, “Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima” was taken by Joe Rosenthal on February 23, 1945. This photograph is set in the backdrop of World War II: the deadliest military conflict in history. The United States of America declared war on Japan after the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor. Part of the United States’ plan to defeat Japan in the Pacific was a strategy known as leapfrogging, or island hopping, where heavily fortified Japanese positions were bypassed in order to concentrate on more important islands. Iwo Jima was one of the islands targeted.
“Letters from Iwo Jima” is considered a historically accurate representation of the conflict in Iwo Jima. However, it misrepresents some facts that could affect our understanding on The Battle of Iwo Jima. Firstly, one aspect of The Battle of Iwo Jima that the film accurately depicted was Kuribayashi’s strategy. The Japanese defence of Jima would have been defence-in-depth, a military tactic that included