14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Each Day We Learned A New Way To Die, November 5, 2008
There are a handful of notable battles that are seared forever into America's consciousness -- Bunker Hill, Alamo, Gettysburg, Little Big Horn, Omaha Beach and Iwo Jima. The slaughter suffered in each was terrible, but the savagery carried out on Iwo Jima shocked the nation.
Of course, the saga of the Battle of Iwo Jima is well known to World War II readers. The photograph of Marines raising the flag is instantly recognizable by Americans as the moment of victory on Iwo Jima. It's common knowledge that on February 19, 1945, three reinforced Marine Divisions assaulted Iwo Jima, and emerged victorious, but it's still shocking to read how the Marines suffered more casualties here than the Japanese -- one third of all Marines killed in World War II died on Iwo Jima.
Co-authors, Major General Fred Haynes and James A. Warren, have correctly shown that Combat Team 28's story on Iwo Jima warrants a book. After all, it was men from CT 28 that raised Old Glory over Mount Suribachi, the key strategic position on Iwo Jima. In the author's own words, "Our goal in writing the book has been to reconstruct the world of CT 28 as it prepared for and fought its only battle and to give the reader a vivid sense of the range of experiences and emotions these men endured."
They have written a concise, action packed history. The authors recount the story of CT 28's part in the Iwo Jima fight against the backdrop of the island hopping in the Pacific War. This is a vivid and fresh telling of the complete history of CT 28. Haynes and Warren know the battlefield; they know the adversaries. As a participant in the invasion, Fred Haynes brings formidable credentials to his task. His personal experiences are gripping, although unfortunately not atypical of other Marine officers there. The samurai's merciless 'meat grinder' quickly chewed up captains, lieutenants, sergeants, and squad leaders in body and mind.
Fred Haynes' CT 28 was one of eight combat units specifically created to invade Iwo Jima. Learning from past amphibious warfare mistakes, the Marines carefully assembled CT 28 and placed it into rigorous training for over a year. Conquering the island fortress would require the best men, equipment, training, planning, and support possible.
Lieutenant General Tadamichi Kuribayashi, the commander of Japanese forces on Iwo Jima carefully prepared his elaborate defenses. "More than nine hundred major gun emplacements and several thousand individual fighting positions were supplied by a network of underground barracks and storehouses, connected by eleven miles of tunnels. The Japanese fighting positions ranged from one-man spider holes to pillboxes, dug-in tanks, blockhouses, trenches, and interconnected cave openings. They were scattered throughout the island, but camouflage rendered the vast majority undetectable." Kuribayashi expected each Japanese soldier to kill ten Marines in exchange for his own life.
Troubled by the staggering losses suffered in the battle, post war historians have voiced concerns over the necessity of capturing Iwo Jima. Haynes and Warren offer up several justifications.
The Army Air Force would benefit most from the capture of Iwo Jima. Once taken, Iwo Jima could be used as a fighter base for North American P-51s escorting Boeing B-29 Heavy Bombers over Japan. "That bombing campaign was clearly decisive in Japan's defeat, for it threatened to destroy Japanese civilization, and thus paved the way for the decision by Japan's leaders to surrender unconditionally to the United States." Once taken, no more Japanese bombers would be based on Iwo Jima to attack B-29 bases in the Marianas.
As students of military history, the authors knew with Iwo Jima in Allied hands, the B-29s would benefit by not having to detour around the enemy held island on their way to Japan. No Japanese spotters would be left on Iwo Jima to send Japan two hour advance warnings of attacking B-29s. Japanese shipping among the home islands could be easily attacked from Iwo Jima and the new base could serve as a marshaling area for the eventual invasion of the home islands.
"The Lions of Iwo Jima" avoids the voyeurism that books about fighting the samurai easily fall into. Haynes and Warren have given us an historic mosaic composed of individual anecdotes, quotations, and vignettes. Some of the most interesting pages of "The Lions of Iwo Jima" explore the psyche of the Japanese soldier.
Haynes and Warren take the readers through the campaign, cave by cave, first describing battles to take Mount Suribachi, then Hill 362A, Nishi Ridge, and Kitano Point's Bloody Gorge. "The Lions of Iwo Jima" is peppered with dramatic tales of combat action. "By campaign's end, more than 70 percent of the Marines who had landed in the unit's three assault battalions were dead or wounded." Only a few hundred survivors of the original CT 28 team were left to tell about these horrific battles.
Beyond the more familiar tales of blasting caves and snipers, Fred Haynes deftly underscores the mindless obedience, fearlessness, even bizarre fatalism of Iwo Jima's determined defenders. The authors give intelligent and thoughtful voice to the essentials that make up the doomed Japanese fighters. "The Lions of Iwo Jima" is a quick, enjoyable read.
"Lions of Iwo Jima" contains three maps and a gallery of 48 photographs.
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14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Contains some of the finest descriptions yet written of Marine action in World War II, August 15, 2008
Major General Fred Hayes and James A. Warren have achieved the historian's dream of telling tale so well that although the end of it is already known to us, we read on to find out what happens next. The momentum of the action during the six-week battle for Iwo Jima in 1945 creates an unforgettable impression. The angry roar of battle will remain with the reader for a long time.
Dramatic in the extreme, the secret here is the strong blending of memoir and personal narrative provided by authors General Hayes, then a Captain and the last surviving member of the planning team and veteran of the battle, and by James Warren, author of an acclaimed history of the Marines from Iwo Jima to Iraq.
"The Lions of Iwo Jima" tells the full story of the three assault battalions of Combat Team 28 from their training to the landing on February 19, 1945, the seminal battle for Mt. Suribachi and the flag raising thereon, and the remaining four weeks of hand to hand combat ending at Bloody Gorge on the north side of the island, ending March 26, 1945. By the time the battle was over, 70 percent of the 4,500 men of Combat Team 28 were killed or seriously wounded.
This book contains some of the finest descriptions yet written of Marine action in World War II.
Richard N. Larsen
Reviewer
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