My Rough Draft about Battle For Iwo Jima

What do you think about it? I will go through and fix errors, and change stuff later.

Hate to beg, but could you make me a short little outline for it? That is one thing I suck bad at making.

During the summer and early fall of 1944, American engineers were busy building huge airfields and supply installations on the Marianas Islands of Saipan, Guam, and Tinian. As the construction work was getting close to completion, vast amounts of supplies, gasoline, and bombs began to arrive in Navy cargo ships. Soon after, squadrons of new B-29 Superfortress bombers began to fly into the fields.

On November 24, 1944, the B-29 squadrons made their first attack on Tokyo. Japan reacted fast by shooting at the planes with antiaircraft guns and fighter planes concentrated against the B-29s. Many damaged planes and their crews went down in the ocean as they tried to make the long trip back to the Marianas.

There is an island called Iwo Jima halfway between the mainland of Japan and the Marianas. The Japanese sent fighter planes to the one and only airfield there. They imediately began construction of two more airfields. Japanese bombers then made a number of damaging raids against the Marianas. American bombers, carrier planes, and surface ships struck back hard.

In late 1944, the American Joint Chiefs of Staff ordered Admiral Nimitz to seize the island of Iwo Jima. The capture of the island would give crippled B-29s somewhere to land after bombing raids.

There was many enemy pillboxes, gun emplacements, and blackhouses visible from the aerial photographs, but there was a network of underground trenches and tunnels that they weren't aware of until the battle started. The Marines could not possibly be ready for the fighting that was getting ready to take place. They would have few places for cover and the enemy was underground, or up high on Mt. Suribachi.

Initial carrier raids against Iwo Jima began in June 1944. Iwo Jima would suffer the longest, hardest shelling of any Pacific island during the war. The 7th Air Force, working out of the Marianas, supplied the B-24 heavy bombers for the campaign. Also, the Marines requested 10 days of pre-invasion naval bombardment. Navy planners authorized only three days of naval bombardment. Unfavorable weather conditions would further hamper the effects of naval bombardment. Despite this, Turner decided to keep the invasion date as planned, and the Marines prepared for the February 19, 1945(D-day).

On February 19, 1945 more then 450 ships were off the coast of the 8 square mile island. Shortly after 9 a.m., Marines of the 4th and 5th divisions hit the beaches. Initially, they found very little enemy resistence. Men and machines struggled to move up the volcanic sand on the beach. Once the naval artillery gunfire ended to allow the Marines to move up the beach, the Japanese emerged from the underground tunnels to give the invading Marines hell. The 4th Marine Division pushed forward against heavy opposition to take the Quarry, a Japanese strong point. The 5th Marine Division's 28th Marines had the mission of isolating Mt. Suribachi. Both tasks were accomplished that day. On February 20 the 28th Marines secured the southern end of the island and advanced to take the top of Mt. Suribachi. By the end of the second day, 1/3 of the island and Airfield Number 1 was controlled by the Marines. By February 23, the 28th Marines would reach the summit of Mt. Suribachi and raise the U.S. flag. The 3rd Marine Division joined the fighting on the fifth day of the battle. These Marines immediately began the mission of securing the center of the island. The Japanese leaders knew with the capture of the airfields and Mt. Suribachi that the Marine advance on the island could not be stopped, but they would make the Marines fight for every inch of land they won. Lieutenant General Tadamishi Kuribayashi concentrated his energies and his forces in the central and northern sections of the island. The Marines worked together to drive the enemy from the high ground. Their goal was to capture the area that appropriately became known as the Meat Grinder. The 3rd Marine Division encountered the most heavily fortified portion of the island in their move to take Airfield Number 2. By nightfall on March 9, 1945 the 3rd Marine Division reached the island's northeastern beach, cutting the enemy defenses in half. The 5th Marine Division pushed up the western coast of Iwo Jima from the central airfield to the island's northern tip. Moving to seize and hold the eastern portion of the island, the 4th Marine Division encountered a banzai attack from the final members of the Japanese Navy serving on Iwo. This attack resulted in the death of nearly 700 Japanese soldiers and ended the centralized resistance of enemy forces in the 4th division's sector. The 4th division would join forces with the 3rd and 5th on the coast on March 10. A proud moment for those who worked so hard to gain control of the island was when the first emergency landing was made by a B-29 bomber on March 4. Repairs were made, refueling was completed and the aircraft was off to complete its mission. By March 11enemy resistance was no longer centralized. Individual pockets of resistance were taken one by one. On March 26, the island was declared secure. The U.S. Army's 147th Infantry regiment assumed ground control of the island on April 4.

The 36 day battle resulted in 6,800 dead Americans. Of the 22,000 Japanese soldiers defending the island, only 1,083 survived. Twenty-seven Medals of Honor were awarded to Marines and sailors. This was more than there was awarded for any other single operation during World War II.