_Armored amtracs of Company A, 1st Armored Amphibious Battalion, carry
the assault wave of the 4th Marines, 6th Marine Division, onto Red
Beach. The LVTs mount 75mm howitzers and .50-caliber machine guns, and
were used effectively later in the campaign when the_ Thirty-second
Army _attempted amphibious landings on Tenth Army flanks in April._]
The morning continued to offer pleasant surprises to the invaders.
They found no mines along the beaches, discovered the main bridge over
the Bishi River still intact and--wonder of wonders--both airfields
relatively undefended. The 6th Marine Division seized Yontan Airfield
by 1300; the 7th Infantry Division had no problems securing nearby
Kadena.
The rapid clearance of the immediate beaches by the assault units left
plenty of room for follow-on forces, and the division commanders did
not hesitate to accelerate the landing of tanks, artillery battalions,
and reserves. The mammoth build-up proceeded with only a few glitches.
Four artillery pieces went down when their DUKWs foundered along
the reef. Several Sherman tanks grounded on the reef. And the 3d
Battalion, 1st Marines, reached the transfer line by 1800 but had to
spend an uncomfortable night in its boats when sufficient LVTs could
not be mustered at that hour for the final leg. These were minor
inconveniences. Incredibly, by day’s end, the Tenth Army had 60,000
troops ashore, occupying an expanded beachhead eight miles long and two
miles deep. This was the real measure of effectiveness of the Fifth
Fleet’s proven amphibious proficiency.
The huge landing was not entirely bloodless. Snipers wounded Major John
H. Gustafson, commanding the 3d Battalion, 5th Marines, late in the
afternoon. Other men went down to enemy mortar and machine gun fire.
But the losses of the entire Tenth Army, including the hard-luck 2d
Marine Division, amounted to 28 killed, 104 wounded, and 27 missing on
L-Day. This represented barely 10 percent of the casualties sustained
by the V Amphibious Corps the first day on Iwo Jima.
[Illustration: _Assault troops of the 1st Battalion, 7th Marines,
clamber over a seawall after landing on Blue Beach 2 on 1 April 1945,
against no opposition at the beachhead._
Department of Defense Photo (USMC) 117020
]
Nor did the momentum of the assault slow appreciably after the Tenth
Army broke out of the beachhead. The 7th Infantry Division reached the
East Coast on the second day. On the third day, the 1st Marine Division
seized the Katchin Peninsula, effectively cutting the island in two.
By that date, IIIAC elements had reached objectives thought originally
to require 11 days in the taking. Lieutenant Colonel Victor H. Krulak,
operations officer for the 6th Marine Division, recalls General
Shepherd telling him, “Go ahead! Plow ahead as fast as you can. We’ve
got these fellows on the run.” “Well, hell,” said Krulak, “we didn’t
have them on the run. They weren’t there.”
[Illustration: