Asian Armageddon, 1944–45 by Peter Harmsen

Author:Peter Harmsen [Harmsen, Peter]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781612006284
Publisher: Casemate
Published: 2021-09-14T16:00:00+00:00

There were no coconuts on Iwo Jima. In fact, there was very little on the Japanese-controlled island apart from volcanic ash, making it unusually inhospitable even in a region where natural conditions often made human habitation next to impossible. What Iwo Jima did have was proximity to Japan, located 800 miles south of Tokyo, and it had flat terrain suitable for airstrips. The presence of Japanese aircraft on the island meant that American bombers heading for Japan from the Marianas had to undertake a significant detour instead of going straight for their targets. That was not the only reason why Iwo Jima would prove valuable in US hands. While its eight square miles made it too small as a base for strategic bombers, it could accommodate fighter escorts for the bombing mission, just as it would enable emergency landings by bombers too damaged or otherwise unable to make it back to the Marianas.41

General Kuribayashi Tadamichi, the general commanding the defenses on Iwo Jima, had deep knowledge of the enemy he was facing. Having served as military attaché in Washington DC, he had spent years in the United States, like Admiral Yamamoto Isoroku, who had masterminded the attack on Pearl Harbor. Similar to the admiral, he also had no illusions about the enormous power of the adversary. It was “the last country in the world that Japan may fight,” he had written to his wife.42

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