250 ENDGAME AND AFTERMATH 1944–1955
JAN 1944 JUL JAN 1945 JUL1
2
3
4TIMELINEIWO JIMA OVERRUN
Over five bloody weeks in February
and March 1945, US Marines spread
across Iwo Jima, moving out from
their beachheads to capture the island
in four stages.Beachhead
on Feb 19Airstrip1 OPENING MOVES
MARCH 1944–FEBRUARY 18, 1945
In 1944, General Tadamichi Kuribayashi, in charge
of the 21,000 Japanese soldiers on Iwo Jima, began
transforming the island into a fortress. He created
a massive network of bunkers and hidden gun
emplacements, digging 1,500 rooms in the island’s
rock and linking them with 11 miles (18 km) of
tunnels. Sheltering underground, the Japanese
garrison was largely unaffected by the intense
bombing of the island by US naval and air forces
that had been launched to soften up the defenses.KEY◁ Density of defenses
A US map from early
1945 plots all the
observed Japanese gun
emplacements and
defensive installations
(red) on Iwo Jima.Jun 1944 Mount Suribachi is protected by more
than 200 gun emplacements and 21 blockhouses.
Feb 23, 1945 The US flag is raised on Mount
Suribachi, the highest point on Iwo Jima.CAPTURE OF MOUNT SURIBACHI AND THE
AIRFIELDS FEBRUARY 20–24, 1945
The Marines edged forward, capturing the first of Iwo
Jima’s two functioning airfields on February 20 and the
second three days later. That same day a small group of
Marines reached the summit of Mount Suribachi, the
554-ft (169-m) peak in the south of the island—an event
recorded in what was one of the most iconic photographs
to emerge from World War II (see p.247).3
Airfield 2Airfield 1Airfield 34th Marine
Division3rd Marine
Division
5th Marine
DivisionT a c h i i w a
PointHill
362Hill 382T
o
b
ii
shi PointM
t.(^) Su
rib
ach
i
A m p h i t h e a t e r
Turkey
Knob
I
W
O
J
I
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A P A C I F I C
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2 THE INITIAL LANDINGS FEBRUARY 19, 1945
On February 19, 30,000 men from the 3rd, 4th, and 5th US
Marine Divisions landed on the beaches of southeast Iwo
Jima. The Japanese opened fire on the Americans, who
were exposed because they could not dig foxholes in the
soft volcanic ash of the beach. By the time the Marines
reached the west coast of the island, almost 2,000 of their
men had been killed or wounded.
US Marine divisions US landings
Airfield
Airfield (under construction)
US advance
Feb 20–24, 1945
Main lines of defense
Secondary line of defense
Artillery positions
Feb 19–Mar 14, 1945
Sherman tanks equipped
with flamethrowers,
known as “Ronsons” or
“Zippos,” help to clear
Japanese positions.
Mar 7, 1945 The 3rd
Marine Division
captures Hill 362.
Feb 7–18, 1945
Japanese soldiers
fire on US divers
surveying the beach.
Feb 23, 1945 US Marines
capture Airfield 1;
Mar 4, 1945 The first US
B-29s land on the island.
Feb 23, 1945 US Marines capture
Airfield 2; a force of 300 Japanese
soldiers launches a failed
counterattack two days later.
US TERRITORIAL GAINS, 1945
by Feb 24
by Mar 9
by Mar 1
by Mar 14
US_250-251_Iwo_Jima.indd 250 19/03/19 5:40 PM