Figure 1.--

"I do not fight to win. That is impossible. I fight go make the Americans pay such a priced that tghey will thinkj twice before invadin Japan. Every Marine we kill here is one who cannot invade the Homeland. We are not defending Iwo Jima. We are defending Japan with our deaths."

-- Lieutenant General Tadamichi Kuribayashi, letter to his wife delivered after his death..

The Japanese anticipated the potential value of Iwo Jima even before the Americans seized the Marianas and began building air strips for the new B-29s. Japanese strategists saw that the American were bypassing many island garrisons, but knew Iwo would not be one of them . The Japanese began to heavily garrison and fortify the island. Lieutenant General Tadamichi Kuribayashi was assigned to defend the island (June 1944). He spent time in America as a military b attache (1920s). He trained with American troops. Unlike most of his colleagues, he understood from an early point what Japan faced. He was the antithesis of poorly educated firebrands like Col. Ikiki. He was a competent, thoughtful commander. He later wrote to his wife that the United States was "the last country in the world Japan should fight. Its industrial potential is huge and fabulous, and the people are energetic and versatile. One must never underestimate the American fighting ability." Kuribayashi by this point in the War was not under any illusion that he could defeat an American landing, even with a large, well-armed garrison. His assignment was to kill as many Americans as possible before he and his command was wiped out. The Japanese strategy after the naval battles of the Philippines Sea and Leyte Gulf and the fall of the Marianas was no longer to win the War. They had clearly lost the War. And American strength was only growing. Japan's objective was now to avoid total defeat and occupation. Thus there strategy was to cause as many American casualties as possible. It did not matter to the Japanese military planners that their own men would suffer much larger casualties than they could inflict on the Americans. The Japanese leaders who began the Pacific War by bombing Pearl Harbor to force America to negotiate still clung to the illusion that the Americans would finally decide to negotiate an end to the war without occupying the Home Islands if only victory was made too costly. And to achieve this given the fire power of the Americans was to go underground. Kuribayashi drove his men relentlessly for 8 months to build underground emplacements -- the most elaborate island defenses in the Pacific. The Marine would face 18 km of underground tunnels and 5,000 cabe firing positions. Positions on which naval gunfire and arrial bombing eould have mimimal impact. Kuribayashi was a highly effective commander. There were over 26,000 American casualties. Unfortunately for Japan the primcipal impact of the blood-letting on Iwo and Okinawa was to convince President Truman to turn to the atmonic bombs to end the War.

Created: 2:25 AM 5/26/2026br> Last updated: 2:25 AM 5/26/2026