At 9:00 a.m., the first waves of the 4th and 5th Marine Divisions hit the black volcanic sand of Iwo Jima, a tiny island whose airfields the U.S. needed for the planned invasion of Japan. Japanese defenders under General Tadamichi Kuribayashi, dug into an elaborate network of tunnels and bunkers, held their fire until the beaches were packed, then unleashed devastating artillery and machine-gun fire. The 36-day battle that followed cost roughly 6,800 American and over 20,000 Japanese lives.
Iwo Jima was barely eight square miles of sulfurous volcanic rock, but its two airfields made it strategically vital as a staging point for the bombing of the Japanese home islands and an emergency landing strip for crippled B-29 bombers. General Tadamichi Kuribayashi, commanding roughly 21,000 Japanese troops, abandoned the usual doctrine of contesting the beaches directly. Instead he ordered 11 miles of tunnels and caves carved into the island's volcanic rock, creating a fortress that let his men absorb the naval and aerial bombardment and then inflict maximum casualties on the invaders.
When the Marines waded ashore, the volcanic ash swallowed their boots and vehicles, slowing everything to a crawl. For the first hour, an eerie quiet held. Then Kuribayashi's gunners opened up from Mount Suribachi and the high ground beyond, turning the beach into a slaughterhouse of burning landing craft and pinned-down infantry.
Five days later, on February 23, five Marines and a Navy corpsman raised a flag atop Suribachi, a moment photographed by Joe Rosenthal that became the most reproduced image of the war. Kuribayashi himself was never found; he is believed to have died in a final assault near the end of the battle, having fought almost exactly as he promised: to the last man.
Key people: Tadamichi Kuribayashi, Holland Smith