KMart
Gold $$ Contributor
On the morning of February 19, 1945, the invasion of Iwo Jima started. The first troops to land was the 28 Regiment of the 5th MarDiv. By the end of the day, 50,000 Marines of the 4th and 5th Division will have landed.
An attempt to land the 3rd MarDiv was made the following day, but was held up by rough seas. They finally came ashore on Feb 21. That put the total invasion force at about 70,000 Marines.
The goal was to capture an airfield. The airfield would be used to launch and recover aircraft used in the bombardment of the Japanese mainland.
There was about 22,000 Japanese troops on the island that was well prepared for the invasion. Iwo Jima covered only 8 square miles. The preparatory bombardment did little good because the Japanese were dug into 11 miles of tunnels that were almost connected from one end of the island to the other.
The battle lasted 37 days when the island was declared secure. There was high casualties on both sides. Only about 800 Japanese were captured or surrendered. On the American side, there was approximately 6000 KIA.
An Add On
By comparison, at Normandy, the US landed 57,500 troops on shore according to the internet.
An attempt to land the 3rd MarDiv was made the following day, but was held up by rough seas. They finally came ashore on Feb 21. That put the total invasion force at about 70,000 Marines.
The goal was to capture an airfield. The airfield would be used to launch and recover aircraft used in the bombardment of the Japanese mainland.
There was about 22,000 Japanese troops on the island that was well prepared for the invasion. Iwo Jima covered only 8 square miles. The preparatory bombardment did little good because the Japanese were dug into 11 miles of tunnels that were almost connected from one end of the island to the other.
The battle lasted 37 days when the island was declared secure. There was high casualties on both sides. Only about 800 Japanese were captured or surrendered. On the American side, there was approximately 6000 KIA.
An Add On
By comparison, at Normandy, the US landed 57,500 troops on shore according to the internet.
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