Historic news reel footage shows the United States Navy and United States Marines conducting the preparatory bombing and subsequent amphibious landing on the Japanese held island of Iwo Jima during the Second World War.

Prior the amphibious landing at Iwo Jima, three days of all planned all out preparatory naval gunfire were planned. This days-long fire-mission covered the entirety of the Japanese held island, but was not enough to weaken or seriously degrade entrenched Japanese positions on the island. Maj. Gen. Harry Schmidt, commander of the Marine landing force, initially requested for 10-days of total bombardment by the U.S. Navy prior to the landing of his Marines, however Rear Adm. William H. P. Blandy, commander of the Amphibious Support Force (Task Force 52) believed that it wouldn't leave his ships with enough ammunition to support ground operations once they were ashore.

This caused some tension between the two commanders, who eventually agreed to three days of preparatory bombardment before the Marines would go ashore. Unfortunately the three days of Naval gunfire were heavily limited by the weather on day two of the operation, and on the final day it became clear just how entrenched the Japanese forces are when one of the ships was struck by counter-artillery fire from Japanese positions dug in on the island itself.

In total, 6,102 Marines, 712 Sailors, and 41 Soldiers would be killed during the Battle for Iwo Jima. Another 19,709 men would be wounded on the American's side. For their part, the Japanese forces suffered between 17,845 and 18,375 troops killed in action or missing with another 216 Japanese Soldiers being taken as prisoners of war by American forces.

About the Author

Josh Brooks

Josh is an American writer and former USMC machine gunner with eight years of experience in ground combat arms throughout the GWOT. He is currently based in Texas and specializes in combat footage analysis and digital marketing.Follow Josh at OfficialJoshBrooks.com