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please visit nordvpn.com forward slash Ops room or use coupon code Ops room to get an exclusive deal with four bonus months and a 30-day guarantee that's coupon code Ops room or nordvpn.com forward slash Ops room for four bonus months and a 30-day guarantee at 7 30 am on D plus 2 of The Assault on Iwo Jima an earth-shaking artillery barrage begins Naval guns Marine artillery and tanks bombard Japanese positions on Mount suribachi the 28th Marine Regiment of the 5th Marine division is to assault the volcano at 8am the 28th Commander Colonel Harry liversidge is unsatisfied despite the heavy volume of fire and shouts at his operations officer ask for all of it 40 corsairs from task force 51's carriers dive in on the mountain firing rockets and dropping Napalm on suspected enemy positions while the Marines anxiously wait in their foxholes today will be the big push to capture the Japanese stronghold which has been marked as a priority objective however at 8am there is no order to advance Marine officers look up from their watches with nervous faces as the artillery fire slackens livesig has been promised Sherman tanks to support his advance but they have been delayed by harassing mortar fire and traffic jams on the beach he has no choice but to wait on the mountain the 2000 Japanese Defenders emerge from carefully concealed caves and tunnels to re-man their defensive positions every second the Marines do not attack gives the enemy more time to prepare for the onslaught ahead it's the third day of the battle on Iwo Jima the first two have been brutal with submarine units suffering 83 casualties during the initial Advance inland in the center the southern Airfield has been captured and Engineers are brought in to repair the landing strip in the East the rock quarry which has decimated the 24th and 25th Marine regiments is finally on the verge of falling however all eyes will be on the Southwest where the climactic battle for Mount suribachi is about to begin Colonel liversage continues to hold out hope that his promised armor will show up but by 8 30 am he can wait no longer the order goes out to begin the assault the U.S Marines charge out of their foxholes and begin to climb up Mount suribachi under heavy fire the fighting is brutal and Close Quarters most of the way up the mountain as they climb higher many American units are given a nasty shock when they suddenly find themselves under attack from behind the Japanese positions are interconnected by Subterranean tunnels meaning they can be reoccupied by the Defenders after the Marines think they have neutralized the threat the Marines counter this with flamethrower units whose Grim task is to clear out the Japanese block houses one by one Chuck lindsberg of easy company in the second Battalion carries 72 pounds of jellied gasoline in a pressurized tank on his back as part of a two-man flamethrower crew Lindsborg and his comrade are called upon to clear an enemy pillbox as part of a marine technique known as Corkscrew and blowtorch Lindbergh moves up to the firing line while fellow Marines intensify their fire towards the pillbox when ready Marines use bar light machine guns to provide suppressive fire while the two men run towards the enemy position lindsberg approaches the pillbox and squeezes the trigger on his M2 flamethrower shooting molten fire into the gun port the heat is so intense that ammunition inside the bunker starts cooking off and the oxygen is sucked from the tunnel Within his comrade then runs around and tosses a satchel charge through the gun Port blowing whatever is left inside to smithereens Lindbergh signals the position is clear and the rest of his platoon moves up Lindbergh repeats this dangerous work as the Marines steadily Advance up Mount suribachi he will be awarded the Silver Star for bravery Under Fire on d-plus 2. by late afternoon Victory on the mountain is within the Americans grasp the Japanese Garrison has been worn down and is running critically low on ammunition yet they have no intention of giving up on surabata yet a Navy spotter aircraft cites Japanese troops opposite Lindbergh's easy company's position forming up for a Banzai charge a dreaded final charge intended to inflict maximum casualties on the Marines at the cost of the Japanese attackers lives second platoon leader Sergeant Mike strank orders his men to hunker down while corsairs dive in to strafe and Rocket the Japanese attackers once the aircraft Bank away strength jumps to his feet and shouts let's show them what a real Banzai is like Easy Company charge easy leaps from behind cover and charges the 100 yards up the exposed volcanic slope surprising the Japanese who had been forming up to attack to the right of second platoon third platoon also charges with bayonets fixed but is pinned down by the few remaining Japanese bunkers realizing they can't break through without tank support Sergeant Ernst boots Thomas Sprint 75 yards to the nearest Sherman to direct fire against the pill boxes while running he has his carbine shot out of his hands undeterred he then runs back to his men and leads them forward until they come under Fire from another bunker Thomas repeats the process sprinting back and forth between his men and the tanks while the Marines Advance up the mountain when they reach the Japanese who were forming up for a Banzai charge the ensuing hand-to-hand fighting is brutal without a rifle Thomas slashes at the enemy with his combat knife ultimately the weakened Japanese Defenders are no match from the Marines to overcome the enemy position after the death of every single Defender sergeant strank and Thomas's men find themselves alone near sirobachi's Summit as Thomas waves his knife Aloft in Victory boots Thomas will be awarded the Navy cross and is killed on Iwo Jima 12 Days Later on the 21st of February alone Marines of easy company will receive a medal of honor for Navy crosses two silver stars and many purple hearts their achievements are not without sacrifice however as easy company suffers 30 casualties on the day light falls on the island with the American troops nearly at the summit of Mount suribachi the Marines settle into their foxholes and are awed by an unexpected show from the sea the ships of the invasion Fleet have picked up 32 Japanese aircraft on radar and anti-aircraft tracers fill the skies off Iwo Jima the Japanese aircrafts have taken off from the nearby island of hakijujima and head for the American carriers to the east of the island at 6 45 PM they locate the carrier task force centered on the USS Saratoga whose aircraft have been providing close air support for the Marines on Iwo Jima the Japanese aircraft are arriving at the worst possible time for the U.S carriers their combat Air Patrol numbers only six Fighters due to the lack of daylight Cecil Gentry is a radio operator on the Destroyer Escort USS Lawrence Taylor and is monitoring radio traffic from Iwo Jima when the carrier task force receives an air raid warning as Naval anti-aircraft guns light up the night sky Gentry can see the Japanese formation diving on the ships these are kamikazes pilots who intend to crash themselves into the American vessels hoping to sink them in the process Gentry watches in stunned Fascination as six Jill torpedo bombers screamed toward the escort carriers lunger point and Bismarck sea the anti-aircraft fire brings down four of the attackers but one Kamikaze gets through and hits longer Point luckily the shallow anger of the Collision only grazes the flight deck starting a minor fuel fire however the Bismarck C is less fortunate Gentry spots an incoming Kamikaze Which flies directly over the bridge of Lawrence Taylor so close that Gentry will later recall that they could see the face of the Japanese pilot I could see the fear of death on his face the Jill strikes Bismarck C and detonates inside the main hangar which is crowded with aircraft and Munitions two minutes later a second Kamikaze strikes the ship and causes a massive explosion which rips the carrier in half Bismarck C sinks in a matter of minutes becoming the last us carrier to be sunk by enemy fire in the Second World War escorts move in to pick up survivors the USS Saratoga is also heavily damaged from two direct hits from kamikazes altogether almost 500 American Naval Personnel are killed on this night on D plus 3 Paul weather hampers American Air Support limiting infantry attacks on the ground in the north rocket trucks are brought in to blast the remaining Japanese positions in the rock quarry Lieutenant Colonel Justice Chambers is once again leading from the front rallying his men of the Third Battalion 25th Marine regiment when he is shot through the chest by a Japanese sniper as Chambers is about to succumb to shock his friend Captain James heedley kicks him in the feet shouting get up you were hurt worse onto logging Chambers is evacuated on the last transport off the island before nightfall and is later awarded the Medal of Honor to the left of the 3rd Battalion 25th Marine regiment the American units also begin a slow Advance on the Northern Airfield or Mount suribachi the 28th regiment shrinks the Japanese perimeter to just 400 yards by Nightfall forcing Colonel kanahiko atsuki into a rash decision atsuki orders his men to abandon their positions and break out to the north to rejoin the new defensive line however poor Communications lead to only 150 men attempting the Breakout they are caught in the open by American machine guns and are cut to pieces only 25 make it to the friendly lines where they informed General Curry bayashi that mount suribachi Has Fallen at the base of the mountain Colonel liversidge visits 2nd battalion Commander Lieutenant Colonel Chandler Johnson and gives him a simple command tomorrow we climb daylight breaks on D plus 4. the 23rd of February to reveal more wind and rain but the weather clears by mid-morning Lieutenant Colonel Johnson orders a patrol from Fox company to probe the summit of Mount suribachi the four-man Patrol carefully climbs the last few yards to the top of the extinct volcano cautiously checking every pillbox and bunker for enemy activity however they encounter no Japanese resistance and make it to the top without any trouble they report their findings to Colonel Johnson who decides to send a stronger Patrol he radios Captain Dave Severance commander of easy company and orders him to send a 40-man group to The Summit severance's executive officer Lieutenant George schreier will lead the men before he leaves Johnson hands Lieutenant shrier a U.S flag to take with him he tells him if you get to the top put it up sharia's larger Patrol sets out for the summit at 9 30 am snaking of the extinct volcano in a single-file line the men aboard the warships of Iwo Jima watch with excitement as the patrol slowly makes its way up the Marines take time to throw satchel charges and grenades into any enemy pillbox they find but they are not fired on finally at 10 am the patrol reaches the summit to find no Japanese Defenders 20 minutes later lieutenant shriya and his men affixed Colonel Johnson's flag to a pole and raise it above mount suribachi across Iwo Jima Marines cheer and whistle while the naval ship's offshore sound their horns the celebration is short-lived private Harold Keller spots a Japanese sniper in a cave entrance on the summit and taking aim at the flag-raising party Keller quickly fires three shots from his hip and kills the sniper immediately a small group of Japanese soldiers emerged from the same cave and start lobbing grenades at the Marines a firefight breaks out as Marines stash for cover and fire back at the Japanese men it only lasts a few minutes as the Marines overcome the Defenders With Grenades and accurate rifle fire the last Japanese soldier is killed and Karma returns to the summit with the American suffering no casualties in the engagement Secretary of the Navy James Forrestal has accompanied The Invasion Fleet and is coming ashore with General Holland Smith when he spots the American flag on Mount suribachi he turns to the general and remarks Holland the rating of that flag on suribachi means a Marine Corps for the next 500 years Forrestal orders General Smith to bring the flag to him so he can take it back to Washington as a souvenir General Smith phones Lieutenant Colonel Johnson whose men have just stormed the beaches of Iwo Jima and taken mansurobachi and informs him that the politician would like to keep the flag as a souvenir Johnson listens before hanging up with disgust the hell with that that flag belongs to the men of this battalion Johnson sends his adjutant to the beach to fetch a replacement to give to Forrestal instead calling after him and make it a bigger one a larger replacement flag is swiftly retrieved from the beach and is run up the mountain to The Summit the company Runner Renee Gagnon hands the flag to Sergeant strank and tells him Colonel Johnson wants this big flag run up high so every son of a on this whole island can see it the original flag is taken down for lieutenant colonel Johnson to put into safe keeping at 1pm six men from Easy Company 2nd battalion 28th Marine regiment affixed the replacement flag to a heavy pipe and raise it over the island Associated Press photographer Joe Rosenthal who survived the first days on Iwo Jima is there to capture the moment rosenthal's picture of the second flag raising on Iwo Jima will become one of the most famous images of the second World War politicians Secretary of the Navy James Forrestal never gets his hands on the real flag with Mount suribachi conquered and the southern end of iwajima secured the battle now shifts to the north on the following day d-plus 5 A Massive Attack is launched on a wide front by the third and fifth Marine divisions with the help of overwhelming Naval gunfire from the Cruiser USS Pensacola and the battleship USS Idaho the Marines finally overrun the rock quarry furthermore they make significant progress against Iwo jima's Northern Airfield it is the most territory the U.S has gained in one day since the battle began Naval High command believes that Victory is imminent but the days encouraging advances are instead providing false hope the real battle for Iwo Jima is about to begin as the combat shifts to the Broken Ground and difficult ridges comprising the northern half of the island within a month Lieutenant Colonel Johnson and half of the Marines who raised the flag atop Mount suribachi will be dead