_Tracked landing vehicles (LVTs), jam-packed with 4th Marine Division
troops, approach the Line of Departure at H-hour on D-day. In the
center rear can be seen the control vessels which attempted to maintain
order in the landing._]
This was simply the beginning. While the assault forces tried to
overcome the infantry weapons of the local defenders, they were
naturally blind to an almost imperceptible stirring taking place
among the rocks and crevices of the interior highlands. With grim
anticipation, General Kuribayashi’s gunners began unmasking the big
guns--the heavy artillery, giant mortars, rockets, and anti-tank
weapons held under tightest discipline for this precise moment.
Kuribayashi had patiently waited until the beaches were clogged with
troops and material. Gun crews knew the range and deflection to each
landing beach by heart; all weapons had been preregistered on these
targets long ago. At Kuribayashi’s signal, these hundreds of weapons
began to open fire. It was shortly after 1000.
[Illustration: _H-hour at Iwo Jima, 19 February 1945._
Department of Defense Photo (USN) NH65311
]
The ensuing bombardment was as deadly and terrifying as any of
the Marines had ever experienced. There was hardly any cover.
Japanese artillery and mortar rounds blanketed every corner of
the 3,000-yard-wide beach. Large-caliber coast defense guns and
dual-purpose antiaircraft guns firing horizontally added a deadly
scissors of direct fire from the high ground on both flanks. Marines
stumbling over the terraces to escape the rain of projectiles
encountered the same disciplined machine-gun fire and mine fields which
had slowed the initial advance. Casualties mounted appallingly.
[Illustration: