foreign [Music] this video is sponsored by the operations room's new sister channel the Intel report on this new platform we'll be analyzing the battles we cover on the operations room we'll be looking at the campaign's strategy tactics technology people intelligence planning mistakes and other Concepts that explain why things went the way they did Our intention is to release an analysis video on the Intel report at the same time as the corresponding battle animation video on the operations room which it is analyzing for example in support of the battle of the Bold series we'll be looking at how the German forces kept the surprise assault a genuine secret why the German tanks were so ill-suited for the campaign why did the 101st Airborne remain adamant that they didn't need rescuing by pattern and other topics to support the Iwo Jima series we'll be exploring why the naval barrage didn't work The Invasion from the Japanese soldiers perspective the kamikazes the Japanese holdouts that didn't surrender until four years later we'll also be looking back at the Desert Storm campaign and other previous releases we'll be bringing you the most explosive and exciting real combat footage as well as animations photos interviews maps and data as well as some guest writers to help us in our analysis please go subscribe to the Intel report now Dawn the 25th of February 1945. the fourth Marine division is about to launch a general offensive against the Japanese defenses on Northern Iwo Jima with the fall of Mount suribachi and the good progress of the previous day's attack there is hope that the island is about to fall to the Americans the plan is for the 23rd 24th and 25th Marine regiments to advance across the last stretch of Iwo jima's second Airfield sweep the enemy off the remaining High ground and push them into the sea at 6 30 am Marine Waters begin shelling suspected Japanese positions while Sherman tanks form up to support the advance half an hour later the Third Battalion of the 24th Marines jumps off and Sprints into the assaults across the Airfield the Marines have been expecting an easier fight than they have faced in the first days of the battle but are shocked to find themselves coming under the heaviest enemy fire yet Japanese mortar shells explode around the Infantry as they move across the Airfield the American armor quickly moves in to cover the Marines only for five Shermans to be knocked out in quick succession by anti-tank gunfire the Japanese have pre-sighted this area and have placed 47 millimeter guns with armor-piercing rounds on The Ridges ahead ahead of them is the most difficult fighting that the Marine Corps will face so far in World War II after clearing the Airfield the fourth Marine Division must cross the Moto Yama Plateau a flat area devoid of cover surrounded by ridges perfect for Japanese Defenders on one side is Hill 382 a small Mountain which has been hollowed out to conceal anti-tank guns and artillery the other half is dominated by a massive Rock the Marines will call the turkey knob that also serves as the Japanese Communications Headquarters these concrete reinforced strong points form a grid of interlocking fire where no Marine can approach without being spotted this area will soon have a nickname that both the Americans and Japanese will later agree on the meat grinder the Marines make some progress up to the north western side of the Airfield and can only cling to a small stretch of land Beyond at the mosayama plateau over the following days a grinding attritional battle will see the two sides scrap over every inch of land American intelligence believes they have destroyed about half of the estimated 13 000 Defenders of Iwo Jima in fact their appraisal of enemy casualties is accurate the Marines have killed about 6 000 Japanese soldiers but what they don't realize is that another 16 000 enemy troops remain on the island and they have been ordered to fight to the death by Lieutenant General tadamichi kuribayashi rather than performing an expected cleanup operation on the rest of the Iwo Jima the Marines will instead find themselves fighting their way through General Curry bayashi's main defensive line however karibayati is having difficulties of his own despite his strong defensive setup the loss of Mount suribachi has deprived his artillery of the ability to harass the main Landing beaches and his forces are running low on food water and material on D plus 9 the men of easy company of the 28th Marine regiment are redeployed to the front after resting and refitting behind the lines after their daring charge up Mount zorobachi the iconic photograph of six Easy Company Men raising the flag over Iwo Jima has galvanized the United States home front and President Roosevelt will soon ask for those Marines to be transferred home for a war bond tour but first on D plus 9 the 28th regiment is ordered to the northern front to rejoin the main battle the 28th regiment must Traverse a maze of gullies and caves where enemy troops could be lurking behind every corner the Marines are cautiously entering a small Canyon when they come under Fire from Japanese snipers Chuck Lindberg the flamethrower Marine who won a silver star on Mount suribachi is hit immediately and must be carried to the rear for evacuation Sergeant Mike strank one of the flag raisers orders his platoon to take cover behind an outcropping of rocks as they are discussing an Escape Route a shell from a friendly Destroyer offshore falls short and explodes next to strength killing him instantly Holly hands strengths watched to another flag raiser harlon block for safekeeping shortly after block himself is hit by a mortar shell and shouts they killed me before slumping over dead the following day Lieutenant Colonel Johnson who has locked the original flag away in the Battalion safe is killed in a Japanese artillery barrage while directing his men at the front three of the men intimately involved in one of the most iconic moments in American military history are dead in a matter of hours on the other side of the island radio man saruji akikuza of the Imperial Japanese Navy is inside the communications bunker within the turkey knob by the night of the 1st of March the bunker is nearly out of food and water but more importantly the radio equipment has been destroyed akikuza volunteers alongside seven other men to run across the Moto Yama plateau and deliver a message to the Naval Air Group command bunker requesting more supplies before he leaves akikuza's best friend Shoji kagayama wants him to be careful the radio man responds don't worry I'll be right back in the dead of night akikuza and the other Messengers slip out of the communications bunker from a cave exit they make their way North moving parallel to American lines as they silently cross the killing ground of the Moto Yama plateau all around them lies the devastation of War as they pass the Twisted remains of Rex tanks and rotting corpses which could not be evacuated during the day U.S naval artillery occasionally fires star shells into the night sky forcing the runners to frequently die for cover before the landscape is illuminated by artificial light [Music] whenever a star shell explodes near them akikuza must often hide amongst the rows of decomposing human remains to avoid being spotted from the American foxholes he works hard to not lose the contents of his stomach before jumping back up when the area goes dark again the runners creep silently towards their objective while trying to avoid detection he and the other Runners are almost to the entrance of the command bunker when the radio man spots bright flashes coming from the south akikuza Dives to the ground as an artillery shell explodes amongst the runners he looks around to see if anyone else has survived before crawling towards the bunker entrance yet another shuttle explodes next to him severely wounding his leg with the last of his strength akikuza manages to roll into the trench in front of the bunker and is taken Inside by Japanese soldiers he recites his message to Captain annoye before passing out from blood loss but has survived the ordeal by the end of the battle akikuza will be the only Survivor from the communications bunker in the turkey knob on the 4th of March a crippled B-29 going by the call sign Diner might requests an emergency landing on Iwo jima's captured Southern Airfield while returning from a bombing Mission over Mainland Japan despite the battle still raging on the island over 2000 Seabees have worked night and day to make the southern Runway usable in less than a week Dynamite makes a hard Landing but the crew is safe marines watch as the Airmen leap from the aircraft and kiss the ground shouting thank God for you Marines it will be the first of 2251 emergency Landings by American aircraft on Iwo Jima during breaks in the battle the Marines watch as b-29s land at the airfields they have secured providing a much-needed morale boost the Americans continue to enter their way across the island methodically destroying Japanese positions when the Infantry is faced with a particularly difficult strong point American flamethrower tanks are brought in to burn the Japanese out these Zippo or Ransom tanks prove to be the best weapon against the seemingly endless number of enemy bunkers and caves the American armor develops their own core screw and blowtorch tactic with two Shermans one gun armed and one flame tank approaching a Japanese strong point the gun armed Sherman will use its 75 millimeter main gun to blow a hole in the enemy bunker before withdrawing the flamethrower Sherman will then move up and shoot flaming Napalm into the opening the armored flamethrower tanks have a range of almost 250 feet doubling the effective range of the infantry's M2 flamethrower Captain Frank Caldwell a company commander in the 26th Marine regiment will later state it was the flame tank more than any other supporting arm that won this battle however there are only eight of these tanks on iojima meaning most attacks are launched unsupported by the Marine's best weapon by the 5th of March the Americans have finally briefed the Japanese main defensive line only to come up against a strongly fortified secondary line the third Marine Division under the command of Major General Graves Erskine has cleared out most of the matayama plateau only to be held up by Hill 362c a dominating feature overlooking a volcanic sulfur field life in the foxholes is near impossible for the Marines who must contend with hot sulfur burning their skin as fumes Bubble Up from cracks in the ground the initial assaults against Hill 362c have so far failed with numerous casualties despite overwhelming artillery baratas General Erskine orders another attack Before Dawn on the seventh but this time we'll employ new tactics at 5am the 9th and 21st Marine regiments leave their foxholes and move quietly across the battlefield American tactics in the Pacific Theater have dictated that artillery and air power should always bombard the enemy before the Infantry attacks in force General Erskine has noticed that the Japanese on Iwo Jima Retreat deep into the vast tunnel complex during the preemptive bombardment and returned to man their positions when the Marines advance he decides to ditch this strategy and orders his division to attack without a preparatory barrage the men have been ordered to observe strict radio silence as they Advance gingerly towards the first enemy line when they reach it they find the Japanese Defenders fast asleep at their posts the Marines bayonet the enemy and continue forward undetected they start to climb what they believe is Hill 362c until the Japanese machine gun finally spots them and opens fire a flamethrower unit swiftly deals with the gun position while the rest of the Marines make a break towards the summit a short but vicious firefight breaks out as the Defenders realize what is happening and try to man their positions however the element of surprise is so complete that the Japanese can only offer scattered resistance the Marines clear the hill by 6 20 am Lieutenant Colonel Harold Baum commander of the 3rd Battalion in the ninth Marines is Overjoyed when he learns of the stunning Victory only for his heart to drop when day breaks over Iwo Jima he is horrified to discover that his men have stormed the wrong Hill they had gotten lost in the dark and advanced 250 yards in a different direction Hill 362c is still occupied by the enemy and the now alert Japanese have pinned down the first and second battalions which have been caught in the open boom orders his men to attack at once to relieve the pressure on the other Marine battalions and press home his early advantage while Third Battalion charges towards Hill 362c the other two battalions of the ninth regiment are being cut to pieces Lieutenant William O'Bannon of fox company in the first Battalion screens into the radio for tank support but the Shermans are too far behind the front to quickly move to Fox company's position and a broken down tank blocks the only usable path to the front Japanese spigot mortar and machine gun fire from Hill 362c decimates o'bannon's ranks they will be stuck in the open under enemy fire for the entire day by the time the tanks arrive to relieve them the following morning thoughts company only has five combat effective men left after starting the previous day with 200. yet their sacrifice has not been in vain Third Battalion manages to gain a foothold on hill 362c and the Marines start clearing enemy positions With Grenades and flamethrowers furthermore the earlier capture of the smaller Hill has unhinged the Japanese defensive front allowing reinforcements to be brought forward without harassment fire from the enemy by Nightfall The Hill which had held up the entire third Marine division is finally secured despite the earlier mistakes the surprise attack has cracked the Japanese secondary defensive line the loss of Hill 362c is the last straw for curry bayashi's offices without his knowledge or blessing subordinates captain inoye and general sender send out word to launch a general attack code for a Banzai charge on the night of the 8th of March they have decided that the fate of Iwo Jima now rests on their shoulders and only they can turn the tide before the entire Garrison is wiped out as night falls Japanese soldiers begin preparations for the largest Banzai charge of the Battle of Iwo Jima this week on our new sister channel the Intel report we're looking at the Battle for Iwo Jima from the Japanese infantryman's perspective we'll see you here next week for the final part of the operations rooms Iwo Jima series