_Members of the 4th Marine Division receive a last-minute briefing
before D-day._]
Lieutenant Colonels Weller and William W. “Bucky” Buchanan, both
artillery officers, had devised a modified form of the “rolling
barrage” for use by the bombarding gunships against beachfront targets
just before H-Hour. This concentration of naval gunfire would advance
progressively as the troops landed, always remaining 400 yards to their
front. Air spotters would help regulate the pace. Such an innovation
appealed to the three division commanders, each having served in France
during World War I. In those days, a good rolling barrage was often the
only way to break a stalemate.
The shelling was terrific. Admiral Hill would later boast that “there
were no proper targets for shore bombardment remaining on Dog-Day
morning.” This proved to be an overstatement, yet no one could deny the
unprecedented intensity of firepower Hill delivered against the areas
surrounding the landing beaches. As General Kuribayashi would ruefully
admit in an assessment report to Imperial General Headquarters, “we
need to reconsider the power of bombardment from ships; the violence of
the enemy’s bombardments is far beyond description.”
The amphibious task force appeared from over the horizon, the rails
of the troopships crowded with combat-equipped Marines watching the
spectacular fireworks. The Guadalcanal veterans among them realized a
grim satisfaction watching American battleships leisurely pounding the
island from just offshore. The war had come full cycle from the dark
days of October 1942 when the 1st Marine Division and the Cactus Air
Force endured similar shelling from Japanese battleships.
The Marines and sailors were anxious to get their first glimpse of the
objective. Correspondent John P. Marquand, the Pulitzer Prize-winning
writer, recorded his own first impressions of Iwo: “Its silhouette was
like a sea monster, with the little dead volcano for the head, and
the beach area for the neck, and all the rest of it, with its scrubby
brown cliffs for the body.” Lieutenant David N. Susskind, USNR, wrote
down his initial thoughts from the bridge of the troopship _Mellette_:
“Iwo Jima was a rude, ugly sight.... Only a geologist could look at it
and not be repelled.” As described in a subsequent letter home by Navy
Lieutenant Michael F. Keleher, a surgeon in the 25th Marines:
The naval bombardment had already begun and I could see the
orange-yellow flashes as the battleships, cruisers, and
destroyers blasted away at the island broadside. Yes, there was
Iwo--surprisingly close, just like the pictures and models we had
been studying for six weeks. The volcano was to our left, then the
long, flat black beaches where we were going to land, and the rough
rocky plateau to our right.
The commanders of the 4th and 5th Marine Divisions, Major Generals
Clifton B. Cates and Keller E. Rockey, respectively, studied the island
through binoculars from their respective ships. Each division would
land two reinforced regiments abreast. From left to right, the beaches
were designated Green, Red, Yellow, and Blue. The 5th Division would
land the 28th Marines on the left flank, over Green Beach, the 27th
Marines over Red. The 4th Division would land the 23d Marines over
Yellow Beach and the 25th Marines over Blue Beach on the right flank.
General Schmidt reviewed the latest intelligence reports with growing
uneasiness and requested a reassignment of reserve forces with General
Smith. The 3d Marine Division’s 21st Marines would replace the 26th
Marines as corps reserve, thus releasing the latter regiment to the 5th
Division.
Schmidt’s landing plan envisioned the 28th Marines cutting the island
in half, then turning to capture Suribachi, while the 25th Marines
would scale the Rock Quarry and then serve as the hinge for the entire
corps to swing around to the north. The 23d Marines and 27th Marines
would capture the first airfield and pivot north within their assigned
zones.
General Cates was already concerned about the right flank. Blue Beach
Two lay directly under the observation and fire of suspected Japanese
positions in the Rock Quarry, whose steep cliffs overshadowed the
right flank like Suribachi dominated the left. The 4th Marine Division
figured that the 25th Marines would have the hardest objective to take
on D-day. Said Cates, “If I knew the name of the man on the extreme
right of the right-hand squad I’d recommend him for a medal before we
go in.”
The choreography of the landing continued to develop. Iwo Jima would
represent the pinnacle of forcible amphibious assault against a heavily
fortified shore, a complex art mastered painstakingly by the Fifth
Fleet over many campaigns. Seventh Air Force Martin B-24 Liberator
bombers flew in from the Marianas to strike the smoking island.
Rocket ships moved in to saturate nearshore targets. Then it was time
for the fighter and attack squadrons from Mitscher’s Task Force 58
to contribute. The Navy pilots showed their skills at bombing and
strafing, but the troops naturally cheered the most at the appearance
of F4U Corsairs flown by Marine Fighter Squadrons 124 and 213 led
by Lieutenant Colonel William A. Millington from the fleet carrier
_Essex_. Colonel Vernon E. Megee, in his shipboard capacity as air
officer for General Smith’s Expeditionary Troops staff, had urged
Millington to put on a special show for the troops in the assault
waves. “Drag your bellies on the beach,” he told Millington. The Marine
fighters made an impressive approach parallel to the island, then
virtually did Megee’s bidding, streaking low over the beaches, strafing
furiously. The geography of the Pacific War since Bougainville had kept
many of the ground Marines separated from their own air support, which
had been operating in areas other than where they had been fighting,
most notably the Central Pacific. “It was the first time a lot of them
had ever seen a Marine fighter plane,” said Megee. The troops were not
disappointed.
[Illustration: _Laden with battle-ready V Amphibious Corps Marines,
LSMs (landing ship, medium) head for Iwo’s beaches. Landing craft of
this type were capable of carrying five Sherman tanks. In the left
background lies smoke-covered Mount Suribachi._
Department of Defense Photo (USMC) 109598
]
The planes had barely disappeared when naval gunfire resumed, carpeting
the beach areas with a building crescendo of high-explosive shells.
The ship-to-shore movement was well underway, an easy 30-minute run
for the tracked landing vehicles (LVTs). This time there were enough
LVTs to do the job: 68 LVT(A)4 armored amtracs mounting snub-nosed
75mm cannon leading the way, followed by 380 troop-laden LVT 4s and
LVT 2s. The waves crossed the line of departure on time and chugged
confidently towards the smoking beaches, all the while under the
climactic bombardment from the ships. Here there was no coral reef, no
killer neap tides to be concerned with. The Navy and Marine frogmen had
reported the approaches free of mines or tetrahedrons. There was no
premature cessation of fire. The “rolling barrage” plan took effect.
Hardly a vehicle was lost to the desultory enemy fire.
The massive assault waves hit the beach within two minutes of H-hour.
A Japanese observer watching the drama unfold from a cave on the
slopes of Suribachi reported, “At nine o’clock in the morning several
hundred landing craft with amphibious tanks in the lead rushed ashore
like an enormous tidal wave.” Lieutenant Colonel Robert H. Williams,
executive officer of the 28th Marines, recalled that “the landing was a
magnificent sight to see--two divisions landing abreast; you could see
the whole show from the deck of a ship.” To this point, so far, so good.
The first obstacle came not from the Japanese but the beach and the
parallel terraces. Iwo Jima was an emerging volcano; its steep beaches
dropped off sharply, producing a narrow but violent surf zone. The
soft black sand immobilized all wheeled vehicles and caused some of the
tracked amphibians to belly down. The boat waves that closely followed
the LVTs had more trouble. Ramps would drop, a truck or jeep would
attempt to drive out, only to get stuck. In short order a succession
of plunging waves hit the stalled craft before they could completely
unload, filling their sterns with water and sand, broaching them
broadside. The beach quickly resembled a salvage yard.
[Illustration: LANDING PLAN