This film about the Iwo Jima campaign is one of a series of newsreels produced by Leslie Winik and Official Films during WWII, and sold for home viewing through catalogs, department stores and camera shops. The film uses official U.S. War Department footage, as well as newsreel footage, to show the bombardment of the Japanese stronghold by the invasion fleet and aircraft. It then shows D-day at Iwo (3:25) as 40,000 members of the Marine Corps invade the island. Fierce fighting is shown on the beachhead. At 5:59, Japanese prisoners are taken aboard ship. At 8:00, a concrete-lined Japanese dugout is investigated. The film ends with the iconic image of the American flag being raised over Mt.Suribachi (9:00).
The invasion of Iwo Jima (19 February – 26 March 1945) was designated Operation Detachment. The U.S. intended to capture the island and wrest control of its three airfields from the Japanese, thus providing a staging area for the strategic bombing of the Japanese home islands.
The Japanese Army positions on the island were heavily fortified, with a dense network of bunkers, hidden artillery positions, and underground tunnels. The Americans on the ground were supported by extensive naval artillery and maintained complete air supremacy.
Iwo Jima was also the only battle by the U.S. Marine Corps in which the American casualties exceeded the Japanese, although Japanese combat deaths numbered three times the number of American deaths. Of the 22,000 Japanese soldiers on Iwo Jima at the beginning of the battle, only 216 were taken prisoner, some of whom were captured because they had been knocked unconscious or otherwise disabled. The majority of the remainder were killed in action, although it has been estimated that as many as 3,000 continued to resist within the various cave systems for many days afterwards, eventually succumbing to their injuries or surrendering weeks later.
After the battle, the strategic value of the island became the subject of some controversy, as it had been an extremely costly campaign. In the end, the island primarily served as an emergency landing base for B-29s based out of Saipan.
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This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD and 2k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com
