G2mil
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On February 19, 1945, some 70,000 U.S. Marines landed on the Japanese fortified island of Iwo Jima. This battle was one of our empire’s greatest victories, or so we are told. It was a minor tactical victory, but a strategic defeat. The US military devoted tremendous resources to seize this insignificant island where it suffered more casualties than the Japanese. More Japanese were killed, but seriously wounded marines were burdensome since they needed food, housing, and medical care. Two US Navy aircraft carriers were lost and three elite Marine Corps divisions mauled in a massive ambush by a collection of second-rate Japanese security units.
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One of Robert S. Burrell’s articles about the Iwo Jima myth. https://www.historynet.com/worth-the-cost-justificaton-of-iwo-jima-invasion.htm
Official US Marine Corps History of Iwo Jima. https://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USMC/USMC-M-IwoJima/index.html
Details about the dangerous very long-range missions P-51s flew from Iwo Jima. http://www.506thfightergroup.org/iwotojapan.asp?ID=1
The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of this site. This site does not give financial, investment or medical advice.
So true, it was a disaster and the US knew the jap general who designed these massive fortifications. He was a horseman at the US Olympics in 1938? Almost all jap generals were trained in the US. McArthur just as Britains Montgomery was highly overrated. In the thirties MacArthur visited Batavia in NEI and had to be bailed out because he and his wife spent to much money and didnt bring enough with them. Btw the east side of Iwo Jimo was sparsely defended.