Iwo Jima legend born amid the chaos of battle

ONE of the most famous photographs of World War II was taken 70 years ago today

FEBRUARY 23, 1945 : US Marines, of the 28th Regiment of the Fifth Division, raise the American flag atop Mt Suribachi, on the Pacific island of Iwo Jima, 23/02/45. Historical USA / Armed Forces / Army / WWII / Marine

It is one of the most famous photographs of World War II: five US marines and a US Navy corpsman raise a flag on a mountain. Taken 70 years ago today by photographer Joe Rosenthal (inset) during the fierce battle for Iwo Jima, the stunning image not only captured the struggle to take that island but came to symbolise the Allied struggle against the Japanese in the war.

It was published around the world, was widely reproduced and even parodied, won Rosenthal a Pulitzer Prize and became the basis of a monument honouring the US Marines in Washington.

What many don’t realise is the photograph did not mark the end of the battle, nor was it the first flag to be raised that day.

The background of the event was the quest to inch closer to mainland Japan. At the beginning of 1945, the Allies were pushing the Japanese back across the Pacific. Iwo Jima, known as Io To to the Japanese, was roughly halfway ­between Tokyo and the Mariana Islands, which the US had captured from the Japanese in ­August 1944.

Saipan, the northernmost large Mariana island, was the closest to Japan and the base for B-29s waging a bombing campaign against it. But Saipan was still 2300km from Tokyo and represented a precarious journey for bombers without fighter escorts. Iwo Jima was seen as a possible base for the bombers and ­escorting fighters.

The Japanese name for Iwo Jima translates as Sulfur Island. Covering an area of 20sq km of scruffy vegetation, bubbling mud pits, sulfurous emissions and black ash sands, it is dominated by Mt Suribachi, a volcanic cinder cone. Administered by Tokyo, it was attractive not only as a base from which to bomb Japan, but for its symbolic value as the first piece of Japanese soil captured, just 1200km from Japan.

Expecting an invasion, the Japanese garrisoned the island with a substantial force. US intelligence estimated about 14,000 men, but the actual number was more than 21,000. Japanese commander Lieutenant General Tadamichi Kuribayashi knew he would be ­unable to repel an invasion, but hoped to kill as many Allied soldiers as possible. He and his men expected to die in the process.

He constructed a system of pillboxes, trenches, dugouts, caves and tunnels that enabled his men to move about undercover and pick off the ­invaders largely undetected.

The Allied assault was preceded by months of bombardment from the air and the sea, in the hope the defenders would be obliterated ­before a single US soldier set foot on land. Before the land assault began, intelligence estimated it would take three to five days to capture the island. In fact, the Japanese had survived the bombing, living through hell but mostly safely bunkered in their caves.

Amphibious craft began landing the first wave of 30,000 US marines on February 19 and they immediately encountered stiff resistance.

Under heavy fire, the raiders’ vehicles became bogged in the volcanic sands, stranding forces on the beach. Casualties on the first day numbered 2500. Over the next few days the marines began slogging their way toward Mt Suribachi. On February 21 the USS Bismarck was sunk by a Kamikaze pilot crashing his plane into the escort carrier.

On February 23, 1945, a party of marines made it to the summit and planted a small flag. Too small to be seen by other US troops on the ­island, it was later taken down and a larger flag was raised in its place. It was this second flag-raising that was filmed for posterity and captured by Rosenthal in his iconic photograph reproduced here.

Three of the men photographed — Harlon Block, Franklin Sousley, and Michael Strank — died in ­action within a few days. The three who survived — marines Rene Gagnon and Ira Hayes and sailor John Bradley — became national ­heroes, touring the US to sell war bonds. All three resisted the tag “hero”. Bradley once said “I just think that I happened to be at a ­certain place at a certain time and anybody on that island could have been in there — and we certainly weren’t heroes”.

Although that flag-raising helped with morale both on Iwo Jima and at home, it didn’t signify an end to the fighting on the island.

The Japanese fought to their last 200 odd men before the island was finally captured on March 26.

Originally published as Iwo Jima legend born amid the chaos of battle