The Marine force that assaulted Iwo Jima was the largest and most powerful organization of its kind ever assembled. Never before or since would a major command of three Marine divisions fight together. The units assembled for the campaign were some of the finest in the world, skilled in their trade of assault against a defended shore from the sea.
Grouped under the Vth Amphibious Corps, the 3rd, 4th and 5th Marine divisions were the key units for Operation DETACHMENT. The 3rd and 4th divisions were experienced outfits with proud records of tough combat against the Japanese. And the 5th, though it had not seen combat before Iwo, was filled with veterans of earlier Pacific campaigns. Supporting the assault forces were Sailors, Soldiers and Airmen in units of all types.
In three years of combat before Iwo, the Marine Corps had expanded to a size unimaginable to a pre-war Marine. The majority of Marines who set boondockers on Iwo's black sand were products of that expansion. They wanted one thing–finish the job against Japan, then go home.
Before the battle, each division honed its collective and individual combat skills. Marine re-qualified with their weapons, humped across rugged ground, practiced critical battle drills, and rehearsed until they were sick of it. When the order came to "Land the landing force," they were ready. They had to be because Iwo was the most heavily fortified island ever assaulted in World War II.
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(above) A Marine flame tank burns an enemy position while infantry
Marines stand by to take up the assault. Iwo Jima–1945 USMC Photo |
Many people talk about Marines being heroes, seemingly larger than life. But every Marine on Iwo was a man with a family, with hopes and dreams. They wanted to survive, and look out for their buddy. But they were Marines first, and they knew the deal: Marines do not fail. And they didn't. Day after day, they went forward against incredible odds.
Companies were reduced to little more than platoon strength. Key leaders at all levels died and had to be replaced. Privates led squads, Sergeants led platoons, and sometimes their companies. Trying to pull together shattered units under heavy fire and go on, officers were killed at a rate even higher than normal. Marines in the line outfits, those that survived, began to feel like fugitives from the law of averages. But every day, they put on their helmets, locked and loaded, and moved out.
Why did they do it? There's a simple answer–because they were Marines, and Marines don't quit until the mission is accomplished.
TASK ORGANIZATION FOR OPERATION DETACHMENT
PRESIDENTIAL UNIT CITATION
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(above) 1st Platoon, Company H, 3rd Battalion, 26th Marines, 5th Marine Division
Camp Tarawa, Hawaii–December 1944 courtesy Tom Williams
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"As afternoon came on, Marines of the Twenty-third had managed, somehow, to push their lines to the base of the airfield, while the Twenty-third kept pace to the north. But "somehow" is a vague word and can be explained only in countless acts of individual bravery working within the collective will of the whole unit. Months–years–of training lay behind this unflinching action.
It explains why a company could watch its captain and sometimes most of its officers fall and yet stick together as an effective fighting unit. It explains why corpsmen, without litters, with half their supplies wrecked, with many of their own men wounded and killed, could go on treating casualties, crawling to them in the face of fire and then, using ponchos as stretchers, get them to the beach and into a boat.… These are but a few random examples of the "uncommon valor" which became, in the words of Admiral Nimitz, a "common virtue" on Iwo Jima."
The Fourth Marine Division in World War II
Carl W. Proehl
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