Iwo Jima

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• Iwo Jima
• Small volcanic island
• Mr. Suribachi was the dominant feature
• This was part of Japan proper
• Located half way between the Marianas bomber
  bases and the Japanese mainland
• Time between invasion of Philippines and when
  invasion of Okinawa was planned

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• Japanese switched from trying to stop them at the
  beach to attacking as the Americans moved inland
• Estimated it would take 4 days It took 36 days
• Japanese waited until the beaches were full and
  then opened fire
• Some of the fiercest fighting of the war
• 1st time American casualties exceeded Japanese
• Very significant for upcoming decisions

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• March Crossing Rhine
• After Operation Market Garden failed, it took the
  Allies 6 months to cross the Rhine River

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• Okinawa in April 1945
• A battle of very personal interest for me
• My father, Arlie Louie Hunt II was a Marine with
  the 6th Marine division on Okinawa

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• 463 Square miles (Iwo Jima is 8 square miles)
• 400 miles south of Japan proper
• Largest invasion of the Pacific War
• Nimitzs and McArthurs forces join up
• 1,300 ships carrying 183,000 troops (larger than
  D-Day and a lot farther from a friendly base)
• They would be facing 117,000 Japanese troops

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• They landed on April 1st 1945
• They met no resistance and so they called it Love
  Day
• The Marines quickly secured the Northern half of
  the island
• To the South the Army forces ran into heavy
  fighting and the Marines were sent to take over
  the fighting

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• The Japanese plan, like on Iwo Jima, was to not
  try and win the battle but to inflict so many
  losses on the Americans that they would be slowed
• The goal was for every soldier to kill 10
  Americans and for every pilot to take out one ship

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• Kamikaze means divine wind
• The idea was for a Japanese pilot to dive his
  plane into an American ship, killing himself but
  hopefully destroying a whole American ship
• The Japanese realized their conventional forces
  couldnt stop the American fleet, so they turned
  to desperate measures
• It took less skill to fly a plane into a target
  than actually bomb it

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• Kamikaze attacks began during the invasion of the
  Philippines
• Okinawa was the high point of Kamikaze attacks
• The Japanese sent 1,500 at the American fleet
• The Americans defended their fleet with fighter
  planes and anti-aircraft guns

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• The Americans had 368 ships damaged or sunk due
  to the Kamikaze attacks off of Okinawa
• The Navy suffered the highest loss of life in its
  history during the battle for Okinawa
• The Navy alone suffered 10,000 casualties

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• 82 day long battle
• Japanese lost 100,000 casualties
• Allies lost 50,000 casualties
• Additionally the Marines and Army suffered very
  high levels of combat fatigue
• The Okinawans lost approximately 150,000
  civilians (about 1/3rd of their population
• Only at Stalingrad were civilian casualties
  higher than at Okinawa