William Eugene Smith - WW II. The Pacific Campaign. February 1945. The Battle of Iwo Jima (Japanese island). US Marine demolition team blasting out a cave on Hill 382.

Original

William Eugene Smith - WW II. The Pacific Campaign. February 1945. The Battle of Iwo Jima (Japanese island). US Marine demolition team blasting out a cave on Hill 382.

The historical name of the island is Ivo (modern pronunciation is Io), the hieroglyph "to" (island) is added to it, and "that" has an alternative pronunciation and it sounds like "jima". Japanese officers, when they arrived on the island to strengthen it before the American attack, called it "Iwo Jima". Thus, the island went down in history under this name. The evacuated inhabitants of the island vigorously opposed this and, in the end (already in 2007), the island returned to its pre-war pronunciation. The most interesting thing is that in Japanese the name of the island, both "Ioto" and "Iwo Jima", are spelled the same - 硫黄島, only the pronunciation has changed. The Japanese, what to take from them.

The Battle of Iwo Jima began on February 16 and ended on March 26, 1945. To put it mildly, it was hell within one island, with an area of ​​23.16 km². The island was of strategic importance for both the Japanese and the Americans, whose planes simply could not reach Japan without this island. The Japanese dug in on the island to the maximum, and the American soldiers fully felt the pain of the battle. They even had no place to dig in, since the soil there is volcanic and constantly crumbled. But, although the Japanese turned the island into a defensive bunker, the Americans had a five-fold superiority in manpower and eventually crushed the Japanese.

Before the last battle, realizing the hopelessness of his position, Japanese Lieutenant General Kuribayashi gave his troops the last order:

I appeal to all still living officers and soldiers. The decisive hour of the battle has come. I order all surviving officers and soldiers to make their last attack on the enemy tonight. Every single one! At midnight, perform at the same time and fight the enemy to the end. Your lives are given to the emperor. Don't think about yourself. I will be ahead of you.

As a result, the United States won this difficult battle, losing almost 7,000 people (the Japanese counted more than 20,000 bodies). But although the battle was over, the Japanese soldiers then tormented the Americans with guerrilla attacks for a long time. The last defenders of the island, Kufuku Yamakaze and Rinsoku Matsuda, surrendered in 1951.

In 1985, veterans of both armies gathered on the island for a "Reunion of Honor," a memorial service and a memorial. It says in both languages:

On the 40th anniversary of the Battle of Iwo Jima, American and Japanese veterans met again on these sands, this time in peace and friendship. We honor the memory of our comrades, living and dead, who fought here with courage and honor, and we pray together that our sacrifices on Iwo Jima will always be remembered and never repeated.

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