Click2Flicks - Flags Of Our Fathers: The Story Behind the Movie, Chapter 7, Japan's Iwo Jima's Defenses

<body link="0000ff" alink="ff0000" vlink="000000" bgcolor=000033> <table width="100%" bgcolor=000033> <tr> <td align=center valign=top> <table width=90% bgcolor=ffffff> <tr> <td align=center valign=top> <tr> <td> <div align=center><p><b><font face="arial, helvetica" size=5 color=000000><b><i>FLAGS OF OUR FATHERS</i></p> <p><font size="4">CHAPTER 7 - JAPAN’S IWO JIMA DEFENSES</b></font></p> </div>  <center> <table width="90%"> <tr> <td align="left" valign="top"> <div align="justify"> <p><font face="arial, helvetica" color="000000" size="3">By <a href="http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USMC/USMC-M-IwoJima/maps/USMC-M-IwoJima-I.jpg" target="_blank"><b>February of 1945</b></a>, Japan still controlled many Pacific islands. Those which had been lost followed a typical battle plan. As Allied troops came ashore, the defenders would shoot to kill before the enemy reached the beach. The defense of Iwo Jima, however, would be different. No one would fire a shot until the island’s black sands were clogged with men and equipment.</p> <p><a target="_blank" href="images/Kuribayashi.jpg"><b>Lt. General Tadamichi Kuribayashi</b></a> commanded <a href="http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USMC/USMC-M-IwoJima/USMC-M-IwoJima-VI.html" target="_blank"><b>nearly 22,000 troops</b></a> on Iwo Jima in February of 1945. Part of Japan itself, the island represented “sacred soil” to its defenders. Their job was to make the island impregnable. Their mission was to prevent Allied forces from capturing this stepping stone to Japan’s home islands - or die trying.</p> <p>The <a href="http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USN/ships/SS/SS-190_Spearfish.html" target="_blank"><b><i>USS Spearfish</i></b></a> (SS 190), a <a target="_blank" href="images/navy_sub.jpg"><b>Navy submarine</b></a>, had paid a surreptitious visit to the island in the late fall of 1944. Through the sub’s periscope, ship’s personnel observed a great deal of Japanese activity on Iwo. Their photographs, including this <a href="http://memory.loc.gov/pnp/pan/6a33000/6a33500/6a33596r.jpg" target="_blank"><b>panoramic view</b></a> of Suribachi’s base, helped invaders plan their mission.</p> <p>To <a target="_blank" href="images/defend.jpg"><b>defend</b></a> Japanese soil, <a target="_blank" href="images/Kuribayashi2.jpg"><b>Kuribayashi</b></a> ordered his men to construct miles of underground tunnels and to build concealed pillboxes and bunkers. Defenders were thus completely hidden from view.</p> <p>To protect their airfields, the Japanese installed <a target="_blank" href="images/127mm%20dual-mount.jpg"><b>127mm dual-mount</b></a> antiaircraft guns. One such gun, covering the island’s eastern beaches, was <a target="_blank" href="images/knocked_out.jpg"><b>knocked out</b></a> by U.S. forces before the invasion.</p> <p>The defenders also made ready with <a target="_blank" href="images/320mm%20mortars.jpg"><b>320mm (spigot) mortars</b></a>. (For a description of them, scroll down 60% on <a href="http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USMC/USMC-M-IwoJima/USMC-M-IwoJima-1.html" target="_blank"><b>this link</b></a>.)</p> <p>Japanese-planted mine fields would create great difficulties for the invaders, <a target="_blank" href="images/disabling_tanks.jpg"><b>disabling tanks</b></a> and killing men. Marines would have to <a target="_blank" href="images/clear_area.jpg"><b>clear the area</b></a> before any support vehicles could move forward. White tape would have to designate lanes of safe travel.</p> <p>From their positions <a target="_blank" href="images/atop%20Suribachi.jpg"><b>atop Suribachi</b></a>, the Japanese had a clear view of the landing beaches and the southern section of Iwo Jima. Their wooden <a target="_blank" href="images/rocket_launchers.jpg"><b>rocket launchers</b></a> would come in handy to ward off an attack.</p> <p>Iwo’s defenders were protecting sacred soil. They held the honor of Japan in their hands. Every man picked for the job was prepared to fight to the death. They may have believed, as <a href="http://www.calvin.edu/academic/cas/gpa/japan.htm" target="_blank"><b>von Urach did</b></a>, that:</p> <blockquote><font face="Times New Roman"><b><i>One can only understand the enormous power that the emperor cult gives the Japanese people once one has seen it in action in Japanese life. The materialistic peoples of America and England cannot understand this form of state religion. They do not comprehend it. They cannot understand the enormous strength the emperor cult gives the Japanese people. This strength is spiritual, and can outweigh superior fleets of battleships and armaments budgets.</i></b></font></blockquote> <p align="justify"><font face="arial, helvetica">Or ... maybe not.</p> </div> <center> <p align="center"><font size="2"><a href="flags_fathers_ch6.htm">GO TO LAST CHAPTER</a>   <a href="flags_fathers_ch1.htm">BACK TO FIRST CHAPTER</a>   <a href="flags_fathers_ch8.htm">GO TO NEXT CHAPTER</p><br> </a> </td> </tr> </table>  </td> </tr> </table>  </td> </tr> </table> </body>