The Battle of Iwo Jima - History in Focus

A bonus episode focussing on World War Two’s Battle of Iwo Jima in 1945. It has been remembered as one of the most brutal and infamous of all. This is not without reason. On the tiny Pacific Island 21,000 Japanese soldiers fought tooth and nail to the bitter end against the might of the United States and their US Marines. Iwo offered a crucial staging post for future invasion of mainland Japan. These points were not lost on the japanese. General Kuribayashi Tadamichi combined the island's natural geography with everything required to make the US Marines pay for every inch of the black sand with blood. In thirty-six days of fighting on the island, nearly 7,000 U.S. Marines were killed. Another 20,000 were wounded. Marines captured 216 Japanese soldiers; the rest were killed in action. "Among the men who fought on Iwo Jima, uncommon valor was a common virtue" —Admiral Chester W. Nimitz