Submitted by Eric K Chandler.
REFERENCE: Mr Gregory Alderete ’s REPLY to My Letter:
First of all, Somalia Veteran Alderete, thank you for your service and…welcome home my friend…I’m glad you made it back, when far too many others did not.
I am a veteran as well…I retired from the US Army as a Chief Warrant Officer in 1987. Early on in my career, I spent 11 months in Vietnam, initially as a Computer Repairman in Camrannh Bay and Long Binh. In my last 6 months I was a Combat Artist for the 1st Signal Brigade traveling all over Vietnam, including 3 days at the 101st Airborne’s Fire Base Bastogne.
I do appreciate your reply to and the information you provided me and other readers about Iwo Jima. Much of what you said is understandable, but I believe this is so only because you missed some key reasons WHY Iwo was so important to the US and its allies.
Most of what follows is taken from the National WWII History Museum’s website, along with several hours of online research by me to ensure I had the facts….
“Lying within the Japanese inner defensive zone, Iwo Jima sits at almost equal distance between Tokyo and the American bombers based in the Marianas (around 2,000 miles round-trip). Code-named Operation Detachment, the landing aimed to achieve several objectives:
1. remove the enemy garrison providing early warning of inbound B-29 strikes;
2. eliminate Japanese nuisance air raids over the Marianas;
3. establish an emergency airfield for aircrews;
4. protect the American right flank for the invasion of Okinawa;
5. and provide a location for fighter aircraft escorting bombing missions over the home islands.”
As you can see this small island held significant strategic importance for several reasons. Let us look at each Objective in detail to see IF, as you suggested, Iwo Jima had been bypassed and NOT been taken by US Marines….
OBJECTIVE 1: Even with: continuous bombing by B-24 Liberator Heavy Bombers for 16 days; bomb, rocket, and napalm attacks by US Carrier Aircraft before-and-after the US Marine landings; as well as 3 days shelling by US battleships, Heavy & Light Cruisers, Destroyers, and Multi-Rocket-Launching smaller ships. Because the Japanese garrison of over 21,000 was ensconced in caves, 11 miles of underground tunnels and rooms in an 18-square-mile island; along with heavy, concrete bunkers, there were negligible Japanese casualties…..so, this OBJECTIVE COULD NOT HAVE BEEN MET IF IWO HAD BEEN BYPASSED. If it had been bypassed, the Japanese on Iwo would have continued to be an Early Warning Station for mainland Japan.
OBJECTIVE 2: This MIGHT HAVE BEEN MET THROUGH BYPASSING Iwo Jima, but….ONLY IF the US Air Force could provide near-continuous US attacks on the three airfields of Iwo: Motoyama #’s 1 and 2 which were active, whereas #3 was still under construction. But committing their B-24’s to months of prolonged bombing of a single target would have been most-unusual and counter-productive to meeting other requirements…..they were needed elsewhere.
OBJECTIVE 3: WOULD HAVE NOT HAVE BEEN MET THROUGH BYPASSING IWO. Two-thousand-four-hundred (i.e., 2,400) B-29 Super-fortress bombers used Iwo Jima as an emergency airfield. Japan is about 1000 miles from the Mariana Islands, one way. So, a single strike meant that any aircraft had to fly 2,000 miles, to get back to their base. Whereas, a B-29 in trouble had only 500 miles to fly to get to Iwo from Japan. In fact, all B-29s that landed on Iwo were for Emergency reasons. Each bomber had a crew of 11, so that means 26,400 crewmen made it back to American protection on Iwo Jima. That does not include the countless other aircrew lives that made it to Iwo. Without the three airbases on this island those 26,400, or more, would have likely died.
OBJECTIVE 4: WOULD HAVE NOT HAVE BEEN MET THROUGH BYPASSING IWO. If Iwo Jima had been bypassed and only 500 miles away, Japanese Kamikaze/Divine /Wind/Suicide aircraft could have been flown from Japan to the Motoyama airfields on Iwo. With 20,000-plus soldiers at his disposal, Lieutenant General Tadamichi Kuribayashi could have had his men maintain these airfields, sufficient to allow Kamikaze bombers to have been used to inflict even-more devastating losses to the US Navy in ships and lives. If this had occurred, there would have been additional suicide aircraft attacking the US Fleet at Okinawa from its open, Right Flank, only 800 miles away, which is well-within the range of Japanese Army bombers. This could have prolonged or perhaps even aborted the US attack on Okinawa. It needs to be understood that this ALMOST occurred because of the US Navy losses off Okinawa from just ONE direction….JAPAN. As it was, the US Navy, alone, suffered 4,907 deaths and 4,824 wounded. The US also lost 36 ships that were sunk and 368 that were damaged.
OBJECTIVE 5: WOULD HAVE NOT HAVE BEEN MET THROUGH BYPASSING IWO. In June 1944, B-29s started to attack Japan from Chinese airbases, around 3,000 miles round-trip. These bombers had first come from India, and they received their bombs, fuel, and bullets from India over the “Hump”….the Himalaya mountains. Prior to attacking Japan, their mission was to hit Japanese military targets only within China. Mustangs arrived in China in early 1944, but were unable to provide support for the B-29s after they started making bombing runs over Japan because their operational range was restricted to about 1,400 miles, even with fuel-drop-tanks. Because the B-29 attacks from China were found ineffective due to re-supply issues, other B-29 units had started to bomb Japan from the Mariana Islands using a 2,000-mile round trip for each mission. Once again, this was too far for any fighter support. Whereas, with Iwo Jima in US hands, P-51 round-trips were reduced to 1,000-miles, well within their range using fuel drop tanks. They could then attack targets of any sort on the Japanese mainland, as well as provide cover for the B-29s.
As you can see, Iwo, even as the most costly battle in Marine History, was a necessity so as to shorten the time and distance for all of the allied-nation’s forces to succeed in defeating Japan.
And, on 4 MAR 1945, while Japanese troops still contested the island, a B-29 Super fortress (nicknamed “Dinah Might”) was the FIRST to use Iwo Jima for an emergency landing.
My Dad, who was at the 5th Marine Division Hospital, located at the South end of Airfield #1, saw this aircraft land and told me that one of the crewmen climbed up on the tail; sat down on its top; and, with a huge grin on his face, waved both arms in celebration.
Here’s the full story:
“The “Dinah Might” was running low on fuel. Part of the US Army Air Forces’ 313th Bomb Wing stationed at Tinian, the plane was returning from a raid over Japan and in the vicinity of the island of Iwo Jima. The pilot, First Lieutenant Fred Malo, had three options. He could ditch the plane and crew into the ocean, or have the crew bail out by the nearby island and make for the shoreline. His third option was landing at the recently captured Motoyama Airfield #1 near the base of Mount Suribachi on Iwo Jima. The small eight-square-mile island housed the Japanese-built airfield, along with a second completed field in the island’s center and a third under construction. With US Marines still engaged in deadly combat with Japanese forces, Malo chose the third option and landed at Airfield #1. Hitting a field telephone pole while on final approach, the plane safely reached terra firma. As enemy troops fired at the shiny bomber hoping to score a hit, the crew quickly repaired a faulty fuel valve. After some 30 minutes, the Super-fortress lumbered back into the air and continued home. As Marines cheered the plane’s departure, what they did not know is that Dinah Might’s was the first of many such emergency landings.”
Now, take a look at the battle for Peleliu if you wish to find a true waste of life, on both sides.
Excellent and accurate analysis, Chief!
Historians today would likely challenge the conventional justification for the invasion of Iwo Jima, emphasizing the human cost and questioning the necessity of such carnage.
The official narrative presents Iwo Jima as an essential conquest, a linchpin in the Pacific War, but at what cost? The island, a mere eight square miles of volcanic rock, became the site of unimaginable slaughter. Over 6,800 American Marines died, along with nearly 19,000 Japanese defenders, many choosing suicide over surrender. Did securing an emergency landing strip justify such loss? The argument that it saved 26,400 airmen is compelling, yet it must be weighed against the tens of thousands of lives lost to secure it. Would bypassing Iwo Jima, as was done with other Japanese strongholds, have cost more? Or would a prolonged blockade and strategic bombing have rendered it useless without the bloodshed?
The U.S. military feared that leaving Iwo in Japanese hands would enable kamikaze strikes, but the same logic could have justified taking dozens of other islands. The deeper reality is that by 1945, Japan was already crippled—its navy decimated, its cities firebombed, its people starving. Was the brutal campaign on Iwo Jima, like so many others, driven by strategic necessity or by a war machine unwilling to pause, unwilling to consider alternatives? In the grand story of war, the victors justify their means. But for the thousands of young men who died clawing across that black sand, justification came too late.
In addition
The atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were not acts of military necessity but deliberate atrocities against civilian populations. By August 1945, Japan was militarily crushed—its navy sunk, its air force decimated, its cities already in ruins from relentless firebombing. The claim that the bombs were needed to force surrender ignores the reality: Japan was actively seeking peace, with only the status of the emperor as a point of negotiation. The United States knew this and still chose annihilation.
Hiroshima and Nagasaki were not military targets; they were cities filled with civilians—men, women, and children who were burned alive in an instant. Those who survived faced unspeakable suffering: radiation poisoning, cancers, birth defects for generations. The argument that these bombings saved American lives by avoiding an invasion is a hollow justification for mass murder. The Soviet declaration of war on Japan on August 8, 1945, was already a decisive factor in forcing Japan’s surrender. Yet the United States, eager to establish postwar dominance and send a message to the Soviet Union, dropped a second bomb on Nagasaki even before Japan had time to process Hiroshima’s devastation.
This was not about ending the war—it was about showcasing American power. It was a war crime, an inhumane experiment inflicted on a defeated enemy. The U.S. could have pursued peace, could have demonstrated its new weapon without mass slaughter, but instead, it chose to kill indiscriminately. Hiroshima and Nagasaki remain eternal reminders of what happens when power is wielded without conscience.
The discussion needs to continue indeed, what was right, what was wrong, but hindsight is always different than real time decisions. The very idea of invading Japan, as was done to end the war in Europe, would have been horrendous in terms of deaths, and that was the perceived only alternative. Yes, some of our military commanders, Nimitz for instance, were going to try to nix that invasion because they knew just how costly it would be. Certainly Japan would could have been forced to surrender with another year of devastating bombings—and likely a Soviet invasion of the northern islands—not to mention the swift Soviet conquest of Manchuria, China and Korea. The problem was keeping the American people in support of the war. This was politics. Bare in mind, the concept of mass civilian murder was conceived of by the British in the lead up to WWII—they developed four-engined bombers specifically to bomb German cities—at night. And, when regular high-explosive bombs didn’t achieve enough devastation, they designed the concept of fire bombing—they studied it as a science before implementing it in February of 1942. Fire bombing cities to create mass casualties continued from that time forward, and was shifted to Japan in the last year of the war. What I am saying is: the moral decision to deliberately kill civilians in large numbers was made by the allied countries long before the orders were given to drop the ‘atomic’ bombs on cities. To most of the decision makers at the time, ‘The Bomb’ was just an improved and more efficient way to create mass casualties.
From about the 1st grade thru even college I was NOT very-much interested in reading about war history…..unless it was in a subject I was fascinated with…….like WW II, especially the Pacific Theater….mainly because my Dad was with the 5th Marine Division on Iwo Jima.
Until, in 1974. when I was in Baumholder, Germany as a US Army Specialist-6 (E6) Systems Analyst/Computer Programmer for the 8th Division Data Processing Installation, in support of the 708th Maintenance Battalion Supply & Maintenance Systems.
While there I was working towards getting a BS in Computer Science, and I needed a History course. So….Spring Semester, 1974, the University of Maryland was offering a course entitled “WWI, a Living History”……which “tickled” my historically oriented fancy.
Here was the scheme….read, learn, and discuss about a particular period and places concerning WWI during the week, and then……on the weekend, get on a bus (FRI-SUN) and GO TO THE VERY PLACES you had just covered in the preceding week !!! I was absolutely overwhelmed with the “connection” achieved to REAL HISTORY thru this experience!!
48+ years later, and another visit to the battle fields of WWI in1980-82 thru an assignment to Supreme HQ Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE), I have become an Amateur WWI historian with over 650 books (i.e., nearly all of which I HAVE READ !) as well as a myriad of weapons, uniforms, accoutrements , and other WWI materials I have acquired, I have become an expert on the years 1870 – 1920 and beyond, which is OVER & ABOVE the main conflagration time frame of 1914-18…the period normally associated with the Great War/World War I.
Because of my extensive knowledge and experiences on actual battlefields of WWI I have given several lectures on WWI to High school students in the local area as an addendum to their WWI lecture series.
And, as any military historian knows….WW II and all that has followed, including the so-called Cold War and the conflicts in Africa, Asia (including Vietnam) and the Middle East, and now the Russian/Ukrainian War are nothing more than the result of the abysmal machinations of the so-called “winners” of World War I.
FYI….my father was slated to go with the 5th Marine Division to invade the Japanese Mainland, Kyushu’s Southwestern beaches as part of OPERATION OLYMPIC. Had that happened, I would likely NOT be writing this reply.
Here is what was expected IF the US and its allies HAD ATTACKED THE JAPANESE HOME ISLANDS….
OPERATION DOWNFALL, The Planned Invasion of Japan had TWO phases.
The FIRST PHASE, OPERATION OLYMPIC, was a massive amphibious assault scheduled for 1 NOV 1945, to seize part of the Japanese home island of KYUSHU for use as a staging base for the SECOND PHASE, OPERATION CORONET, intended as the decisive landing NEAR TOKYO, scheduled for 1 MAR 1946.
JAPANESE INTELLIGENCE PROVIDED a VERY-ACCURATE PREDICTION of:
• WHERE,
• WHEN, and
• in WHAT STRENGTH the U.S. planned to invade,
And THEY MADE DEFENSIVE PLANS ACCORDINGLY.
The planned invasion force for OLYMPIC included almost 3,000 ships, carrying over 700,000 U.S. Army and Marines, under the command of Admiral Raymond Spruance, Commander U.S. FIFTH Fleet. At the same time, Admiral William Halsey’s THIRD Fleet would have been striking targets on HONSHU and SHIKOKU To Isolate KYUSHU FROM THE REST OF JAPAN.
BUT IT WOULD ALREADY HAVE BEEN TOO LATE, as the Japanese ACTUALLY DID REINFORCE KYUSHU WITH OVER 900,000 TROOPS AND A MASSIVE NUMBER OF CIVILIAN “VOLUNTEERS” Who Were Expected to Fight and DIE TO THE LAST along with the soldiers.
Although U.S. Intelligence provided increasingly high estimates of the number of Japanese troops and aircraft involved, THESE ESTIMATES WERE STILL LOWER THAN WHAT THE JAPANESE WERE ACTUALLY DOING.
The Japanese Strategy Was to Inflict the MAXIMUM NUMBER OF CASUALTIES on the AMERICAN FORCE, REGARDLESS of the COST to the JAPANESE (MILITARY and CIVILIAN) With the Intent to BREAK THE RESOLVE OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE to CONTINUE to SUPPORT the ALLIED OBJECTIVE of “UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER.”
The JAPANESE HOPE was that A MASSIVE DEATH TOLL Would Lead to A NEGOTIATED END TO THE WAR, one that did not involve foreign occupation of Japan, something that had never happened in over 2,000 years of Japanese history.
The Japanese Defense Plan, KETSUGO, called for the Ultimate Effort to Defeat the U.S. Amphibious Invasion Force Just As It Approached THE Beachhead At KYUSHU, with the TROOP TRANSPORTS as the HIGHEST PRIORITY TARGETS just WHEN THEY WERE MOST VULNERABLE.
EVERY AIRCRAFT that could fly would be Committed to KAMIKAZE SUICIDE ATTACKS, Along With a Surprisingly Large Number of SUICIDE BOATS, MIDGET SUBMARINES, MANNED SUICIDE TORPEDOES, and SUICIDE FROGMEN While the Invasion Force was Trying to Come Ashore, where it would be met with Very Extensive and Carefully Prepared Defensive Positions, Specifically Sited and Constructed to Withstand Heavy Naval & Aerial Bombardment.
SOUND FAMILIAR ?
There were MANY Casualty Estimates prepared for OPERATION DOWNFALL. It is impossible to say with any degree of accuracy how the battle would have turned out, other than that the COST to BOTH SIDES WOULD ALMOST CERTAINLY HAVE BEEN STAGGERING.
IF the KAMIKAZE AIRCRAFT ALONE had ACHIEVED the SAME HIT-PER-SORTIE-RATIO as at OKINAWA, the result would have been as high as almost:
• 100 ships sunk,
• 1,000 damaged, and
• 12,000 Sailors killed.
Subs, mines, suicide boats, frogmen, and the Japanese “home field advantage”─ALL Would Have Only ADDED TO THE TOLL.
Well aware of HOW THE JAPANESE HAD FOUGHT TO THE DEATH AT EVERY ISLAND IN THE PACIFIC, but especially SAIPAN, PELELIU, IWO JIMA, AND OKINAWA, Fleet Admirals Leahy, King, Nimitz, and Admiral Spruance All Argued AGAINST an INVASION; they understood what was going to happen.
For example, the Japanese had been hiding and hoarding aircraft and aviation fuel for the final defense of Japan. Their plan called for throwing as many kamikazes against the amphibious ships in the first three hours as were thrown against U.S. Navy forces in three months off Okinawa.
Instead of what would have been the bloodiest battle in U.S. naval history, hundreds of thousands of U.S. servicemen actually were going to be “home for Christmas” in Operation Magic Carpet.
If you are interested in seeing what kind of casualty figures were considered, please read the extensive material at this link:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Downfall#Estimated_casualties
Fascinating.
The U.S. military in World War II embodied courage, sacrifice, and unwavering dedication. From the beaches of Normandy to the Pacific islands, they fought tyranny and defended freedom. These men and women endured immense hardships, liberated millions, and reshaped history. Their bravery and selflessness remain a testament to the greatest generation’s enduring legacy.