 |
Remembering Iwo Jima And Its Importance To Strategic Airpower
(March 11, 2010) |
|
|
Cyril O'Brian takes notes during a visit to the Heritage Museum
March 1, 2010, at Andersen Air Force Base Guam. Mr. O'Brian was a
combat correspondent on Iwo Jima and Guam during World War II and is
touring the area during the 65th anniversary of Iwo Jima. U.S. Air
Force photo by Staff Sgt. Jamie Lessard |
|
ANDERSEN AIR FORCE BASE, Guam (3/8/2010 - AFNS) -- More than 120 retirees,
veterans and their families visited Andersen Air Force Base as part of their
trip to Iwo Jima March 1 through 4 in remembrance of the 65th anniversary of the
battle there.
The visitors learned about the base's history and received briefings on the
aircraft deployed here that are part of U.S. Pacific Command's continuous bomber
presence and theatre security package.
These veterans of Iwo Jima also visited Naval Base Guam and other historic sites
on Guam prior to travelling to Iwo Jima March 3.
On Feb. 19, 1945, 30,000 Marines splashed ashore on the small volcanic island of
Iwo Jima in the Central Pacific as part of Operation Detachment. After four days
of fighting, a patrol reached the peak of Mount Suribachi, where it |
|
planted a U.S. flag in an iconic scene captured by photographers. |
|
However, these images hardly reflected the end of the battle. Iwo Jima would not
be secure until March 26. Almost all of the 21,000 Japanese defenders elected to
die rather than surrender. Rooting them out cost more than 6,800 American dead
and 20,000 wounded, making this the costliest battle in the history of the U.S.
Marine Corps.
Located slightly northwest of the midpoint between Tokyo and Saipan, Iwo Jima's
airfields in Japanese hands constituted a serious annoyance to the newly
launched long range bombardment of Japan by the 20th Air Force from the Mariana
Islands in late 1944 and early 1945.Japanese interceptors from Iwo Jima and
Pagan Island forced the B-29 Superfortresses to make long detours on their way
to the Japanese islands as well as on their return trip to Saipan Island and the
other recently won bomber bases in the Northern Mariana Islands. Superfortresses enroute to Japan routinely flew a dogleg-course around the
island increasing the already extended distances they were forced to cover.
Despite the dogleg, there were no hiding the giant aircraft formations of very
heavy bombers from radar surveillance and Iwo Jima gave the home Japanese
islands time to prepare for the bomber stream. In addition, the island served as a staging point for Japanese bombers and
fighter-bombers, which flew down from their home islands to attack various B-29
bases between October 1944 and January 1945.
Despite the fact that the 11th and 30th Bomber groups flew 48 separate missions
against Iwo Jima from August to October 1944, Lt. Gen. Tadamichi Kuribayashi,
commander of the Japanese Iwo Jima garrison, had enough resources to build a
formidable defense complex. By the time of Operation Detachment, the island's
strength had quadrupled and its defense fortifications had been completely
reworked.
Meanwhile, aircraft staging through Iwo Jima began to harass the mounting B-29
fleet in the Mariana Islands. Army Air Forces Pacific Ocean Area took this
threat to the B-29s seriously.
The small Japanese raids on the Mariana Islands were costly to the B-29 force.
From two operational airfields on Iwo Jima, Ki-45 Nicks, A6M Zeros, and other
sundry small and medium bombers staged operations to annoy the U.S. bomber
force, especially on Saipan.
For example, in strikes from Nov. 2, 1944, to Jan. 2, 1945, Japanese aircraft
destroyed 11 B-29s and damaged another 47 seriously on Isley Field, Saipan.
Though losing as many as half the approximately 80 aircraft that staged the
raids, the Japanese had hit upon a valuable tactic; destroy the bombers before
they arrived over Japan. |
Staff Sgt. Anthony Belesi, a crew chief, cuts open
dry K-rations huddled under a canopy blanket beneath the wing of his
7th Air Force P-51 fighter on Iwo Jima. Mechanics remained on the
flight line 14 hours from dawn to dark with no shelter. USAF file
photo |
|
The Joint Chiefs of Staff decided Iwo Jima must be captured and a U.S. air base
built there. This would eliminate Japanese bombing raids and the early warning
interceptions, provide fighter escorts throughout the most dangerous portion of
the long B-29 missions, and enable greater payloads at longer ranges.
Iwo Jima in American hands would also provide a welcome emergency field for
crippled B-29s returning from Tokyo. In October 1944 the Joint Chiefs directed
Fleet Adm. C. W. Nimitz, to seize and develop Iwo Jima within the ensuing three
months. This launched Operation Detachment.
The U.S. sent more Marines to Iwo Jima than to any other battle. In 40 days,
110,000 Marines in 880 ships sailed from Hawaii to Iwo Jima. Including the
sailors from the Navy, the entire force for Iwo Jima was nearly 250,000.
The pre-landing bombardment had little effect as hardly any of the Japanese
underground fortresses were touched. Twenty-one thousand defenders of Japanese
soil, burrowed in the volcanic rock of Iwo Jima, anxiously awaited the
Americans.
On Feb. 19, 1945, U.S. Marines stormed ashore.
Under General Kuribayashi's direction, Japanese engineers had planted irregular
rows of antitank mines and anti-boat mines along all possible exits from both
beaches to hinder the |
|
Marines' advance. The Japanese supplemented these weapons by rigging
enormous makeshift explosives from 500-pound aerial bombs, depth
charges and torpedo heads, each triggered by an accompanying
pressure mine. |
| |
Worse, Iwo Jima's loose soil retained enough metallic characteristics to render
the standard mine detectors unreliable. Marines were reduced to using their own
engineers on their hands and knees out in front of the tanks, probing for mines
with bayonets and wooden sticks. Over the days and weeks that followed Iwo Jima became the deadliest battle of
World War II for the Marines. It was the first time in nearly 2000 years that an
invading army had landed on Japanese soil. More U.S. Marines earned the Medal of
Honor on Iwo Jima than in any other battle in U.S. history. In 36 days of
fighting, there were 25,851 casualties. Of these, 6,825 Americans were killed.
All but 1,000 of the 22,000 Japanese died in the battle.
Iwo Jima became a symbol of the hardship of war at its bloodiest, of the hope of
victory for the American cause, and of the character and the purpose of the
United States Marines.
The victory had huge strategic significance for the war effort as by the end of
the war, more than 2,400 B-29 bombers made emergency landings on Iwo Jima. On March 4, 1945, through the overcast sky appeared a silver bomber, the largest
aircraft anyone had ever seen. It was the Boeing B-29 Dinah Might, crippled in a
raid over Tokyo, seeking an emergency landing on the island's scruffy main
airstrip. |
 |
| "Dinah Might," the first crippled B-29
Superfortress to make an emergency landing on Iwo Jima during the
fighting, is surrounded by Marines and Seabees on March 4, 1945.
Department of Defense Photo |
| |
As the Americans in the vicinity held their breaths, the big bomber swooped in
from the south, landed heavily, clipped a field telephone pole with a wing, and
shuddered to a stop less than 50 feet from the end of the strip. Mechanics made
field repairs within 30 minutes, then the 65-ton B-29 lumbered aloft through a
hail of enemy fire and headed back to its base in Tinian Island. The Marines
cheered. Nearly every day until the end of World War II, crippled bombers landed on Iwo
Jima's airfields. The importance of the island hit its peak on June 7, 1945,
when 102 B-29s landed on Iwo Jima and then again when 186 bombers landed on the
island on July 24, 1945.
By war's end, a total of 2,451 B-29s made forced landings on the island. This
figure represented an estimated 26,961 flight crewmen, many of whom would have
perished at sea without the availability of Iwo Jima as a safe landing strip.
One B-29 pilot said, "Whenever I land on this island, I thank God for the men
who fought for it."
The island wasn't important to just bombers though, as early as April 7, a force
of 80 P-51 Mustangs of VII Fighter Command took off from Iwo Jima to escort
B-29s striking the Nakajima aircraft engine plant in Tokyo.
Between March and August 1945, the nearly 300 P-51s stationed on Iwo Jima flew
1,700 sorties. On the first mission, P-51 fighters shot down 21 enemy aircraft
while losing only one of their own.
The bomber crews witnessed America's revenge against Japanese fighters as they
witnessed the difference that an escort of Mustangs could make. After completing
their escort mission when opponent aircraft had been swept from the skies, the
P-51s focused on destroying Japanese fighters on the ground. By July 1945 the
P-51s had destroyed more planes on the ground than in the air.
Descriptions of the battle of Iwo Jima are provided by the 36th Wing Historian,
Dr. Andreas Fischer. | |
Article by USAF Capt. Timothy Lundberg
36th Wing Public Affairs
Copyright 2010
Reprinted from
Air Force News Service
Comment on this article |
|
