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Iwo Jima Essay

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The fight was far from over, though. Of the six men captured in the famous photograph, only three would survive the next month of fighting. The slow advance toward the north end of the island, where Kuribayashi and most of his troops had created a strongpoint, was arduous and bloody. Bunkers thought to be "cleared" would suddenly become active again as they were reoccupied by Japanese troops moving up through the tunnel network. It came down to the work of flamethrowers, including a flamethrowing adaptation of the Sherman tank dubbed the "Zippo," and grenades to clear out and collapse the bunkers, one by one. As the marines closed in, Japanese tactics became increasingly desperate. Toward the end several silent, nighttime wave attacks were …show more content…
Slowly, the remaining Japanese surrendered—the longest holdouts did not give themselves up until several years after the war ended—but the vast majority of the garrison had fought to the death: 20,000 Japanese died in defense of Iwo Jima. American casualties were staggeringly high as well: nearly 7,000 killed and more than 18,000 wounded. In terms of overall casualties, the invading marines had lost more men than did the defenders. This high toll caused many to question the worth of taking the island. Using Iwo Jima as a fighter base, the original rationale for taking the island, proved unnecessary. Other islands continued to serve as warning stations for bomber attacks until the end of the war. But the island did provide an important sanctuary for returning American bombers in desperate straits—over 2,000 B-29s would make emergency landings there over the next five months. Perhaps most importantly, the struggle for Iwo Jima was a huge boost to the American war effort. The "Mount Suribachi" photo was immediately turned into a war bonds poster and the surviving men from the photo were brought home for publicity tours. Naval Secretary James Forrestal perhaps put it best upon seeing the first flag go up: "the raising of that flag on Suribachi means a Marine Corps for the next five hundred

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