Iwo Jima from the Japanese Infantryman's Perspective

to follow 19th of February 1945 482 amphibious tractors carrying thousands of U.S Marines motored their way towards the small Pacific island of Iwo Jima Navy warships loved high explosive shells overhead while carrier aircraft made their final attack runs before the Americans hit the beaches on iwashima itself concealed Japanese Defenders watched the incoming Armada from their fortified bunkers with growing unease that usefully held their fire when the first Marines began pouring out of their landing craft radio man saruji akikuza could not believe how many were there it reminded me of a crowd of Baseball fans waiting for the stadium to open I saw their numbers swell from several hundred to a few thousand each New Wave piled on top of the last one his comrades across the island watched as the landing beaches continue to fill with enemy troops waiting for the signal to attack after nearly 35 minutes The Garrison Commander Lieutenant General tadamichi Curry bayashi decided that now was the time to unleash his hidden Firepower in bunkers across the island bugle suddenly rang out in a cheery sounding tune signaling the beginning of one of the bloodiest battles of the Pacific Theater only those who survived the coming Slaughter would remember the song's Dark lyrics come out come out Kill Them All Japanese artillery mortars and machine guns erupted all at once manned by young men with a fanatic desire to defend their Homeland ensignaturo omagari heard the Bugles and sent his men to their defensive positions with a message Iwo Jima will be our tomb 95 percent of the nearly 22 000 men defending the island would perish in the following months but the few who lived have provided their unique perspective on one of the most tragic episodes of the second World War this is the story of the average Japanese soldier on Iwo Jima prior to late 1944 because the Japanese Navy and Air Forces controlled the area around iwoijima it was seen as a remote and boring place to be assigned private kichi Abe arrived on the island in April of 1944 and remembered life on iwezema wasn't bad in the beginning it was a pleasant peaceful place the biggest Hazard was the lack of fresh drinking water which induced sickness among the soldiers and some menorrotada was sent to Iwo the same month to recover from an illness from his last posting only to be told by a Japanese doctor to only drink boiled water most who served in the Imperial military believes that being sent to Iwo Jima was akin to missing out on the entire War however this changed beginning with the U.S invasion of the Marianas Islands in June of 1944. on the 15th of June a major air raid on Iwo Jima shops many men to their senses as they realized the wall was quickly approaching them this attack was the beginning of a long bombing Campaign which would seemingly never end as American aircraft appeared over the island to consistently harass and attack the Japanese airfields on the 30th of July 1944 radio man akikuza landed on iweizima and had set foot on the beach when the sand around him jumped like water on a hot plate American fighters had flown underneath Japanese radar and launched a surprise attack strafing the new arrivals seeking cover from the marauding fighters akikuza ran into a field of Tall Grass before stumbling upon a friendly bunker shaken by his near-death experience he asked the century where he could find his unit the century shoved akakuza and shouted get the hell out of here as the radio man walked away a simple thought crossed his mind welcome to Iwo Jima with the invasion seen as imminent the men threw themselves into defensive preparations which were enforced by strict and Draconian discipline Ensign omagari was treated to this new reality when he landed at the main airfield on the 15th of August 1944. tired from their long flight his men shuffled across the runway before they were confronted by a lieutenant who demanded to know why they were not moving with purpose he lined them up and told them this is a war zone people dying here since you don't seem to understand that I will teach you a lesson the lieutenant then went down the line and punched every man in the face in the following months The Defenders worked themselves to the point of collapse digging tunnels and preparing firing positions while being carefully monitored by their harsh superiors the situation on Iwo Jima grew desperate during the winter of 1944 and early 45. American submarines began to intercept Japanese convoys to the island which severely hampered Supply men started dropping from exhaustion and some even died as a result of poor rations and the constant lack of water yet General Curry bayashi persistently urged his officers to speed up their defensive preparations determined to turn iwoijima into a fortress by the time the inevitable Invasion arrived when some of his subordinates questions his defense in-depth strategy karibayashi had them removed of command and sent back to Japan he prioritized the shipment of construction materials to beef up the Island's defenses and although this made Iwo Jima perhaps the most fortified Garrison in the Japanese empire his men grew increasingly dehydrated and malnourished on the 16th of February 1945 the American Invasion Fleet arrived offshore and began a three-day bombardment of the island because of Corey bayashi's preparations the vast majority of his men were shielded by The Barrage in their underground bunkers and tunnels this did not stop radio man akikuza from complaining to his comrades after the first day the American ships were sitting ducks why didn't our planes come out to attack them He was unaware that Japan's Air Force had been practically wiped out at this stage of the war the 22 000 men on the island waited out the hail of Steel and Napalm as they prepared themselves for what was to come a month later General Curry bayashi had issued Oaths of combat to every Soldier outlining his expectations for the battle perhaps the most important was the fifth oath we must not die until we have each taken 10 enemy lives when the battle began on the morning of D-Day 19th of February the Japanese were ready and well-versed in their defensive strategy the beaches had been carefully pre-sighted for artillery which caused extensive casualties among the Marines while machine gun fire devastated the first waves which managed to advance inland on Mount suribachi the highest point on the island Japanese anti-tank Gunners under the command of Lieutenant ganichi Hattori engaged American Sherman tanks at point-blank range sometimes waiting until the enemy armor Drew within 20 yards at that short distance even the obsolete 47 millimeter anti-tank gun could easily penetrate the Sherman's armor by the end of the first day the Japanese knew they had bloodied The Americans from suribachi The Defenders could see the beaches strewn with wrecked vehicles and burning landing craft furthermore Anson omagari's station intercepted an unencoded radio message from The Invasion Fleet requesting more Hospital ships however the Marines had cut off Mount suribachi and captured most of Iwo jima's Southern Airfield in the first 24 hours although omagari was delighted in knowing the Americans were suffering heavy casualties the enemy was still advancing on the second day Lieutenant hattori's men were treated to a nasty surprise when Sherman flamethrower tanks attacked his positions the fighting was extremely close quarters as the Americans slowly overcame Japanese defensive positions one by one after firing Flaming Jelly Into the Bunker ports deep inside the communications bunker through his radio headset saruji akikuza could hear the Tank's approach and unleash a helling firestorm unto the men he was transmitting to the flamethrower tanks were awful I heard our troops screaming The Sounds combined to form a buzzing sound like radio static once armor-piercing ammunition ran out later in the battle the commander of the 26th tank regiment Lieutenant Colonel Nietzsche devised a strategy to destroy the dreaded Sherman flamethrower tanks each night groups of four and five-man Tank Killer teams would sneak out across the front line to find an area where their officers guest Marine tanks would be operating the tank Killers would light in Ambush until Shermans arrived and then either hell explosives at the enemy tanks or detonate themselves next to them few men returned from these missions and many even deserted Ensign omagari volunteered to be a tank killer to find out why these missions were causing dedicated Japanese soldiers to Desert omagari described the grisly process of hiding oneself among rows of decomposing bodies once they reached the Ambush area the dead were no longer seen as human beings but as objects even the dead were called to fight they did not move for fear of alerting the Americans to their presence but no tanks ever came close enough for them to launch their ambush after 24 hours of lying in the filth omagari and the team snuck away in the dead of night to return to their bunker he now understood why so many men would rather desert than take part in these Grim missions by the end of the third day Lieutenant hattori's anti-tank Gunners had exhausted their ammunition with the Americans nearly at the summit of sirobachi Hattori drew his sword and led a doomed Banzai charge with his remaining men where they were cut down by Machine Gun fire of the 303 soldiers under hattori's command only six would survive the battle the following day the 23rd of February the Marines raised the American flag over Mount zorobachi news which spread quickly through the Japanese ranks radio man akakuza never witnessed what would become one of the most iconic moments of the second world war but later said the attitude of the Defenders remained resolute the Marines may have raised their flag but we still held most of the island the fighting now shifted to the north where the bloodiest phase of the battle began the Japanese infantryman found life to be increasingly unbearable in their underground bunkers the constant shelling often blocked ventilation openings and prevented hot air from escaping causing many to suffer from heat stroke when the artillery fire made it too dangerous to bury the dead outside corpses were thrown into morgue pits within the Subterranean system which further fouled the air the water situation quickly became critical as bunkers began to run low on their stockpiles forcing men to seek out some of Iwo jima's rare freshwater sources one night a comrade of omagari miraculously stumbled upon a small but untouched well in no man's land between the Japanese and American front lines they began to frequent the well which temporarily quenched their first however the Marines caught on and one night laid an ambush which few Japanese soldiers survived they then tossed phosphorus grenades into the well to foul the water still omagari and others would continue to sneak down to drink the rancid tasting but still drinkable water finally the Americans tossed rotten corpses into the well and not even omagari and his dehydrated crazed comrades could bring themselves to drink the remains of their countrymen despite their appalling circumstances the Japanese continued to resist with a fanatical determination once again the initial American advances were met with heavy casualties but Marine Firepower always proved to be too much for the Defenders Japanese strong points such as Hill 382 Hill 362c and the turkey knob were gradually overcome which led to some of Curry bayashi's subordinates to rebel against him on the evening of the 8th of March two of these rebellious commanders ordered an unauthorized Banzai charge against the American front lines Japanese soldiers who took part in the attack gathered in their caves and tunnels for a farewell toast with the last of their water the attack was a disaster and 80 percent of those who took part were killed The Men Who had followed Curry bayashi's orders and stayed put found their outposts increasingly isolated as the Marines began to trap the remaining Japanese units in pockets with no hope of resupply and Communications growing more and more unreliable the Japanese began to scavenge the battlefield at night looking for weapons and ammunition they would return with whatever they could carry omagari's bunker soon had a small arsenal of American M1 rifles and Thompson submachine guns however food and water remained the most valuable commodities a seaman named akoshi grimly remembered we lost our Humanity when we found a dead man we didn't feel sorry for him we checked his pockets some men broke in the face of such suffering akikuza watched as one of his comrades slowly lost his grip on reality he asked the other soldiers are my parents here yet they said they were coming to visit me today we should all go home it was around this time that muffled gunshots began to Echo throughout the underground tunnels the sounds of men taking their own lives Japanese resistance began to wane by the second week of March as the Garrison ran critically low on supplies aside from food and water the lack of ammunition greatly reduced the fighting effectiveness of the remaining pockets of Japanese troops on the morning of the 26th of March the largest surviving group of 300 Japanese soldiers on iwoijima launched a surprise Banzai charge on the Central American Airfield the attackers caused heavy casualties on the enemy but almost all were killed General Curry bayati is rumored to have personally led the attack but this has never been confirmed after the final Banzai charge Was Defeated organized resistance came to an end a Japanese bunkers across the island no more radio messages or Runners arrived to bring orders as the remaining men realized they were now totally cut off from the main chain of command although the U.S military declared Iwo Jima secure there were more than 2 500 Japanese starved and thirsty soldiers still holding out in isolated strong points these holdouts then faced A New Nightmare as they tried to survive on the island while being hunted by the American occupation forces foreign

Channel: The Intel Report

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Keywords: iwo jima, ww2, pacific campaign, kamikaze, us navy, documentary, history, japan

Id: rV7y8EzeNJE

Length: 15min 31sec (931 seconds)

Published: Fri Oct 21 2022