Week 287 - Iwo Jima! - WW2 - February 24, 1945
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- čas přidán 23. 02. 2024
- This week the Battle of Iwo Jima begins and American forces raise the Stars and Stripes on Mount Suribachi. Elsewhere, the Allies fight the stiff Japanese defences in Manila. The Red Army continues fighting through East Prussia and Pomerania as Stalin plans the next stage of the advance on the Reich. There are Allied advances in Western Europe and Italy too.
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Hosted by: Indy Neidell
Director: Astrid Deinhard
Producers: Astrid Deinhard and Spartacus Olsson
Executive Producers: Astrid Deinhard, Indy Neidell, Spartacus Olsson
Creative Producer: Marek Kamiński
Community Management: Ian Sowden
Written by: Indy Neidell
Research by: Indy Neidell
Map animations by: Daniel Weiss
Map research by: Sietse Kenter
Edited by: Miki Cackowski
Artwork and color grading by: Mikołaj Uchman
Sound design by: Marek Kamiński
Colorizations by:
Mikołaj Uchman
Daniel Weiss
Norman Stewart - oldtimesincolor.blogspot.com/
Klimbim klimbim2020.wordpress.com/
Jaris Almazani (Artistic Man), artistic.man?ig...
Source literature list: bit.ly/SourcesWW2
Archive footage: Screenocean/Reuters - www.screenocean.com
Image sources:
IWM SE 3163, IND 3595, SE 3251
mil.ru
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Soundtracks from Epidemic Sound:
Joe Wandrini - Dragon King
Dream Cave - Blood in Water
Philip Ayers - The Unexplored
Dream Cave - The Beast
Edward Karl Hanson - Spellbound
Hakan Eriksson - Epic Adventure Theme 4
Fabiel Tell - Weapon of Choice
Jon Bjork - Shrouded in Conspiracy
Johan Hynynen - Dark Beginning
Joe Wandrini - To War!
Alec Slayne - Conspiracy Inc.
Phoenix Tail - At the Front
0:01 Intro
0:54 Recap
1:16 Iwo Jima Begins
6:32 The war in the Philippines
7:56 The Battle of Manila
11:12 Fighting in Burma
12:14 Operation Grenade
13:46 Operation Encore
14:38 Soviet plans for new offensives
21:28 Moscow Commission Meets
A TimeGhost chronological documentary produced by OnLion Entertainment GmbH.
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First flag raising:
www.collectinghistory.net/iwojima/First_Flag_Raising_WM.jpg
Hey I would just like to point out that the out of the foxholes playlist is missing a lot of episodes and makes it hard to just watch everything together. Otherwise I love this channel and have nothing bad to say
Since Yalta, they (Japan) had repeatedly approached or tried to approach the Soviets to extend the Neutrality Pact and to enlist the Soviets in negotiating peace with the Allies. The Soviets did nothing to discourage the Japanese hopes and drew the process out as long as possible but continued to prepare their invasion forces.[30] One of the roles of the Cabinet of Admiral Baron Suzuki, which took office in April 1945, was to try to secure any peace terms short of unconditional surrender.[31] In late June, they approached the Soviets (the Neutrality Pact was still in place), inviting them to negotiate peace with the Allies in support of Japan, providing them with specific proposals and in return, they offered the Soviets very attractive territorial concessions. Stalin expressed interest, and the Japanese awaited the Soviet response. The Soviets continued to avoid providing a response. The Potsdam Conference was held from 16 July to 2 August 1945. On 24 July, the Soviet Union recalled all embassy staff and families from Japan. On 26 July, the conference produced the Potsdam Declaration whereby Churchill, Harry S. Truman and Chiang Kai-shek (the Soviet Union was not officially at war with Japan) demanded the unconditional surrender of Japan. The Japanese continued to wait for the Soviet response and avoided responding to the declaration.[30]
A sidenote on February 23 1945 is that 23 German Luftwaffe Ju-88 bombers will attack an Allied convoy moving from Murmansk in northern Russia to Scotland in the United Kingdom. American liberty ship Henry Bacon shot down three of the bombers and damaged two, setting a liberty ship record. However, she was eventually hit by a torpedo and sank, killing 23 men, including the skipper, Alfred Carini. What is noteworthy is that she would become the last Allied vessel to be sunk by German aircraft.
It's honestly amazing what has happened in less than 2 years during the Battle of the Atlantic. Just a complete rout.
Its worth to know this
May 7th,45,was the last day of allied ships lost.U235 was the culprit.
@ul-ym5wg You may be right, I'm not sure how did I miss this. I realised that it should rather be that it was the last ship to be sunk by German aircraft. Although the German U-boat in question would be U-2336, who torpedoed the freighters Avondale Park and Sneland I (in order) off the Isle of May inside the Firth of Forth on 7 May 1945. Will edit my comment accordingly. Thank you!
Hell yeah
As much as its probably going to be overstated....On February 19th 1945 a Marines Marine named Gunnery Sergeant John Basilone was killed while leading an attack near the outskirts of the first airfield on the first day of the Iwo Jima landings...he had already cleared one pillbox and lead a tank through a small mine field. For his actions that day he was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross. He had already won the US's highest honor the Medal of Honor on Guadacanal.
He fully embodied the motto of his first unit the 1st Marine Division "No Better Friend No Worse Enemy."
His story is told in the HBO serie The Pacific
He was the epitome of Semper Fi.
and he has his own badass statue in his home town
It would be great to see a special episode of World War Two covering Basilone's career, which is unparalleled.
Interstate 5 has a section named after John Basilone outside Camp Pendleton in San Diego, California.
fun fact, i used to live in Krauthausen, near to Juelich, which was captured this week. One day when digging up my flowerbed I unearthed a bullet casing which i identified as a US 30 cal casing, presumably from this very week.
i can add to the anecdote. I asked the old lady next door about it, as she had lived there her whole life and she remembered the day "the American Army came along the lane" and also that the original roof of our house was destroyed when "a bomb hit it". I doubt the house would have survived a bomb so i expect it was some field artillery or a mortar bomb. But in any case it seems there was a firefight in what later became our garden
So many wars have been fought over the same territory. I'm sure if you kept digging you'd find musket balls, arrowheads, spears and eventually stone axe heads.
As your town lies directly on the road between Julian and Duren, the fight was almost certainly on 24 February 1945 as the US 29th Infantry Division pushed southeast to keep contact with the 83rd and 8th Infantry Divisions who would take what was left of Duren that day. @@grumbleduke205
very true :-)@@Raskolnikov70
Would have been cooler had you found a rifle etc still cool
On February 23rd 1945, While the 5th Marine Division was hoisting the American flag on Mount Suribachi, Then Corporal Hershel Williams, A demolition specialist from the 1st Battalion, 21st Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division was ordered to destroy a series of pillboxes holding up the advance, For Four Hours Williams went back and forth between His lines and the frontlines retrieved more fuel for his flamethrower or even new flamethrowers all together as well as demolition charges, braving Japanese Machine Gun fire, Rifle fire, And at one point a banzai charge while annihilating a total of 7 pillboxes, He received the Medal of Honor on October 5th, 1945 from President Harry Truman; Of the 473 Medals of Honor awarded for actions during the Second World War, Chief Warrant Officer 4 Hershel Williams was the last surviving serviceman to receive America’s Highest Military Medal for Valor, He died at the age of 98 on June 29th, 2022.
Rest in peace for such a courageous person
That man fought! 🪖
Pay tribute to several US Marines killed in action in Iwo Jima during World War 2
His middle name was Woodrow -- his buddies called him, ''Woody.''
@@HootOwl513I know I was lucky enough to talk to him twice actually, He told me that one of his nicknames while in the military was Willy because it was either his middle name or his last name started with W
Another interesting fact this week: Soviet and former imperial Russian General Dmitry Karbyshev died at Mauthausen on the 18th. He had been captured by the Germans in August 1941 near the Dnieper River and was unconscious when captured. He was transferred between a series of camps including Auschwitz, Flossenburg, Majdanek and Mauthausen (among others). He refused to cooperate with the SS and was frozen to death by being sprayed with ice cold water and yet he still refused to help the Nazis. He was later posthumously named hero of the Soviet Union in 1946.
The events were connected to a mass breakout attempt by Soviet POWs from Mauthausen. Most of those who broke out were killed, some hunted down and killed by groups of Hitler Youth or Volkssturm and their bodies were piled up at crossroads - the killings were referred to as the 'Mühlvierteler Hasenjagd' or 'Mühlviertel Hare Hunt'. It makes an interesting comparison with the famous mass escape of mostly Western Allied POWs from Sagan a year before. While 50 of the latter were killed, their bodies were not piled up as though they were slaughtered vermin. It underscored the difference between how Soviet POWs and Western ones were treated.
@@stevekaczynski3793 Yep. By and large, western allied POWS were treated in accordance with the geneva convention. But in the Vernichtungskrieg, there was no geneva convention...
@@alexamerling79 Western Allied troops were barely fed anything and the Germans plundered their care boxes from home routinely. No one really knows how Soviet POWs survived since their food supplies were much less than even the Western Allied POWs.
@@ToddSauve My point being at least western allied pows weren't gassed with Zkylon B like Soviet Prisoners were.
@@alexamerling79 Yes, the Soviets had it worse than the other POWs.
My uncle served on Iwo Jima and was wounded on D-14 and lost an arm due to gangrene. He passed away in 2021 age 97
Is this the first time that a documentary series acknowledged the Battle of Iwo Jima and the Philippines at the same time? Most just ignore the fighting in Manila/Luzon and skip straight to Iwo
That's the great thing about seeing history presented this way. I studied this stuff for years in college and couldn't have told you that both things happened at the same time since they're taught as two entirely separate and distinct campaigns.
The fight in Manila /Luzon is called the forgotten war
That's most Army campaigns in the Pacific sadly. MacArthur should have brought a Marine division with him. Then the battle of Manila would have a mountain of books, a dozen documentaries, and a couple movies covering it by now.
Marines are good at hogging attention. And also that picture of the US flag being raised resonates to this day, thus getting lots of documentaries made. Whereas bulldozing Manila flat just isn't glamorous on the History Channel. But that's the advantage of youtube. There's always historical youtubers looking into rare obscure battles.
@@chaptermasterpedrokantor1623 You can't fault the Marines for this one, it was the PR people back in the states that made it an iconic image. It was printed in every newspaper, magazine, calendar, poster, they even made it the central image of their latest war bond drive. A lot of the pop history lore from the time was the result of wartime propaganda that still resonates decades later.
When I was in the Air Force I was stationed in Japan and had the opportunity to go to Iwo Jima. Seeing it firsthand really puts into perspective how tiny it is and how absolutely dominating Mt Suribachi is. Looking down from the top leaves makes you realize no part of the island can’t be covered by mortars and guns. What I wasn’t expecting was how low the terrain features are. I’m guessing here a bit but I don’t think any part of the island, Mt Suribachi excepted, is more than about 20 feet above sea level.
I also got to crawl into some of the tunnels. They’re extremely low and narrow. And very hot. Probably over 100F. The sand is also black. Talking to the Coastguard personnel stationed there I was told that all the current vegetation was imported after the war because the battle had denuded the whole island.
Honored to have been able to interview and befriend a veteran of Iwo Jima who lived in my home town almost 10 years ago. His name was Dewey and he was sent there shortly after enlisting at the young age of 18 and was apart of 1st Battalion, 27th Marines, 5th Marine Division who landed in front of Mount Suribachi and took enormous casualties in the opening stages of the battle. He was shot through the upper thigh and had to survive a night (possibly multiple my memory is fuzzy) in a shell crater before emergency evacuations for wounded could safely land. He and his wife were some of the nicest, most caring people I have ever met and I truly hope he is resting easy. God bless.
Thank you very much for sharing, it must have been quite the experience hearing his stories.
@@WorldWarTwo I was extremely fortunate to be able to spend time with him, something that remains with me was the hearing loss he suffered from due to the shelling and his eyes, he'd seen a lot in his life..
But on a lighter note, thank you so very much for all the hard work and dedication to history you've put in over the years, both Indy and the team as a whole. From the Great War til now I am so stoked for the future! Korea will be an awesome series and a great chance to open up a broader audience to a largely forgotten, but important conflict.
That Manchuria forshadowing tho...
This week may be a good week to watch the 2006 war films *Flags of our Fathers* and *Letters from Iwo Jima* , with the Battle of Iwo Jima depicted from both the American and Japanese viewpoints. The American viewpoint focuses more on the five Marines and one Navy Corpsman who were part of the raising of the American flag on Iwo Jima, while the Japanese viewpoint focuses more on the experiences of the Japanese soldiers who fought on Iwo Jima, such as General Tadamichi Kuribayashi for example.
Part Eight of the 2010 HBO miniseries *The Pacific* , "Iwo Jima", also briefly shows US Marine Medal of Honor recipient John Basilone landing on Iwo Jima during the first day of the landings and is killed in action.
"Letters from Iwo Jima" is my favorite movie of all time.
I usually don't like when a country makes a movie about the history of another country. One of the reasons is the difference in language, which hurts the immersion IMO. But this movie is defenetly the exception. I am really grateful, that it was filmed in Japanese.
I thought those two movies were filmed together and intended to be companions to each other. Regardless, it's definitely worth watching both of them together to get the full perspective of the battle.
I always watch those two movies whenever I watch the Pacific and get to the Iwo Jima episode.
_Letters_ is probably my favourite war film, it's incredibly good.
@@thanos_6.0 Eastwood actually filmed an apology piece and portrayed the japanese and the Japanese Empire's forces way too nicely, way more than some japanese and especially chinese, taiwanese, korean, vietnamese, etc would do.
RIP John Basilone.
we're going to get an overload of people quoting his lines from the pacific aren't we
Yep
@@pnutz_2yep. Semper Fi
Love what you guys are doing with the maps! Having the mini map with larger scaling allows me to understand where battles are taking place in the world and the zooming and unzooming provides better context.
Thanks for the kind words, the map team does a great job! You can find their names in the description.
This week February 22, 1945 my grandfather's brother went missing (was probably killed) in the Philippines. He joined the U.S. army before the war in September 1941 and served throughout the pacific in places like Guadalcanal. He was a part of the 182nd infantry Regiment, Americal division. PFC, Juan A. Mora.
Time to rewatch my favorite movie: "Letters from Iwo Jima"
That is a great movie. :D
Chuikov certainly gets more than his fair share pf urban warfare and hand to hand combat or as Chuikov called it in Stalingrad-‘Hug your enemy’! What a jam-packed episode! Thanks again and I loved the bonus companion episodes from Sparty and Astrid this past week! 😘😘
Dear WW2 team. You have duplicate 90th divisions for the Americans on the Western Front. I believe the southern one is 94th division, my grandfathers. I would greatly appreciate it if you corrected this. I have been looking forward to this part of the war for literally years! Over those years you have done a fantastic job and I can’t wait to see what new heights your soar to!
Not sure how that happened, a file must have gotten duplicated. Thanks for spotting it we are looking at promptly updating the map. May take a day or two. Thanks for your support!
@@danielweiss7396you also have 2 GD panzer divisions, in east Prussia and Silesia
@@danielweiss7396 Thank you for your reply! I see that it has been corrected in the new video. You have an amazing team and are doing important work for our collective history. Wishing you all the best :)
My now deceased father-in-law landed there, lost his best friend there, and saw the flag raised on Suribachi. The Marine Corps sent a unit to his funeral and the blowing of Taps that day by far the saddest moment of my life.
Week in review...
Allied Pacific War: Brutal but making steady progress.
Italian Front: Smoking Snakes, baby!
Western Front: Over the flooding river and through the Argonne Forest, Berlin for Easter, maybe...
Eastern Front: Berlin or bust, baby!
Axis: Oh crap.
My grandfather’s youngest brother was with the 5th Marine artillery on Iwo Jima. I never had the opportunity to really know him, but I know this experience weighed much more heavily on him than the war experience of my other family members who served.
Thanks for watching and thank you for sharing.
From what I have read. The first damaged B-29 landed on Iwo Jima, before it was completely secured. We needed those airfields.
I thought at the beginning that Indy was talking about John Basilone until I hear the youngest general then I realized he was talking about Ivan Chernyakhovsky
he wasn't the only general in his 30s, a real side-effect of the great purge was people getting backfilled a long way+
I thought it was Buckner, but that was Okinawa not Iwo Jima.
Basilone was offered a comission as an officer but refused
Given the Iwo Jima context, suspect the reference was to Gen. Simon Bolivar Buckner. His opposite number Gen Kurubiashi didn't survive either, making Iwo Jima the only WW2 battle where both commanders were KIA.
Generals die in combat more often than you might think. I wasn't able to find figures for WW2, but in WW1, 17.6% of British officers of the rank of Brigadier General and higher were killed - not far off the general casualty rate of 18%.
Lead from the front mentality.
@@joelellis7035 It was rare for 20th century generals to deliberately place themselves in combat, but it was quite common for them to be *near* combat, either touring the lines for the sake of morale, or to get a better idea of what the situation on the ground was actually like: in other words, doing things that require moving about, which was liable to make them a target (and, of course, the enemy will be gunning for them more than they might be for an ordinary soldier). Yamamoto's death, when his plane was intercepted during an inspection tour in the South Pacific, is, of course, well-documented, but Chuikov and Rommel had a lot of close calls, too.
@@stephenwood6663 Hardly surprising in Chuikov's case, he ended up sat in the last sliver of Stalingrad on the West bank of the Volga that the Soviets held having been ordered to hold until relieved, which he did. Operation Uranus cut off the German 6th Army in Stalingrad in November 1942, but the fighting continued until early 1943 at which point what was left of Chuikov's 62ndArmy were pulled out for vodka and medals. Hopefully also a bit of a rest. Rommel had it easy in comparison.
@gwtpictgwtpict4214 Chuikov had his Stalingrad HQ bombed by the Luftwaffe at least six times, narrowly avoiding death each time. The Americans were so impressed with his resolve that he was awarded the USA Distinguished Service Cross in 1944.
@@stephenwood6663 A US brigadier general was killed in summer 1944 just after taking command of the US 28th Division. He went on an inspection tour at the front line to become familiar with his new command and a German sniper shot him.
I discovered the Great War in high school, entered this war in grade 12, and I'll be starting a master's degree when it comes to an end in a few months. Hats off to Indy, Spartacus, Astrid, and the whole Timeghost team for teling the story of WWII in such depth and with so much dedication - no one has made the scale of modern war as evident as you guys have. I look forward to seeing what you have planned for the end of WWII, and for the Korean War!
Meanwhile, the Romanian army is fighting in Czechoslovakia in the area of the Hron river against strong German defenses.
Iwo Jima is an active volcano undergoing considerable uplift recently revealing lots of previously submerged landing craft lost in the battle.
There's a whole ocean ridge being uplifted there, causing Japan to double in size probably in a million years. Or two.
Land of the rising... islands?
Iwo Jima? No such island exists. Its pre-1945 (restored postwar) name is Iwoto.
@@petergray2712but every American knows Iwoto as Iwo Jima though?
Tadamichi Kuribayashi deserves a Bio episode in my opinion. Unlike many other japanese commanders he learns from the previously mistakes of the army and doesn't waste his men in f.ex banzai charges, which pretty much nullifies the huge military advantage the japanese have in fighting to the last man.
Which results in that Iwo Jima will be the only battle in the Pacific where the americans lose more men than the japanese.
Just to quibble here (and I'm just going off of Wikipedia): didn't the Japanese have something like 18,000 KIA, and the Marines lost 'only' 7,000 KIA?
@@FalseNomenThey fought to the death, very few were captured. Some banzai charges will happen later on
The Americans sufered more casualities than the Japanese Imperial Army in Iwo Jima, because casualties counts killed, wounded and POW's.
Though more Japanese soldiers died than GI's in this hellish battle
Edit: in my humble opinion one of the most unnecessary meat grinders of the Pacific campaign
@@mateuscumansantos2504 It was a decisive meat grinder for the bombing of the mainland, also could have been avoided if the US had used Grand Slam bombs on low altitude flights to destroy the tunnel networks that allowed ease of movement to the Japanese on the island.
@@FalseNomen Casualties aren't just KIA but also WIA etc. In terms of that, the americans lost more.
8:00 the High Commissioner's Residence is still standing, now functioning as the US Embassy. The Army-Navy Club was demolished and rebuilt as a hotel.
8:20 was restored and is still standing as the Manila Police Department Headquarters.
8:58 is the Manila City Hall
9:00 is Quezon Bridge, connecting Quiapo and Ermita.
9:10 is the Colegio de San Juan de Letran. That structure survived and was restored.
Neat, thanks for the info!
It’s so surreal to see the Manila City Hall tower in footage like this when I drive over it regularly
Paco Railroad Station still exist too, albeit in a sorry condition. I saw it last week while I'm en route to Pasig.
I literally got goosebumps knowing two American GIs got their Medal of Honors fighting for that building.
@@johnclarencemercado4218 as far as I know they will restore the old station building, as part of the North South Commuter Railway project.
8:20 setting fire to the first floor of a building while standing on the second floor is illustrated on page 98 of my ACME mail order catalog: "ACME flamethrower diagrams and applications"
Does the diagram include a coyote and a roadrunner?
Why yes, what a coincidence. Stranger still, I borrowed the catalog from a Mister W. Coyote. This copy looks well-thumbed and it has scorch marks on it. @@Raskolnikov70
On February 22nd, Operation Goldflake commences. This is the operation to move 1st Canadian Corps from the Italian theater to rejoin the Canadian Army in Northwest Europe. About 4000 Canadian troops and 800 vehicles including tanks and armoured carriers are moved to the south of France each day. Troops then make the five day journey to the Belgian frontier. When completed this operation will move about 60,000 Canadian troops and their equipment. Operation Penknife is put into effect to persuade the Germans that Foulkes’s Canadian I Corps had been pulled out of the line in northern Italy to be regrouped into army group reserve, instead of being sent to the Western front. Penknife will be a resounding success.
One Canadian _not_ part of this was my great uncle Clarence, a radioman who lost a leg to a landmine in (as far as I can tell) December, and was shipped home. He was this close to serving through the entire Italian campaign.
My father (1st Field Co, Royal Cdn Engineers), like many sappers had pet dogs during the Italian campaign. They were ordered to shoot their dogs before departing Italy. Many did, some tied up their dogs in an orchard. My father, who loved animals, took an extra duffle bag & hid his dog (a German Shepard). The dog made it all the way to Holland & became the Company's mascot. Unfortunately, late in April, Trixie was hit & killed by a Bren gun carrier. This one of the few stories my father told about the war.
It's still bizarre though that while Canada had an Army command half of its army was in Italy for this long.
@@chaptermasterpedrokantor1623 Yeah, always found it funny how the '1st Canadian Army' for most of it's life was less than 50% Canadian. Kinda like how British Eighth Army and US Fifth Army in Italy were actually this hodgepodge mix of guys from various places.
My grandfather was with Chernyakovsky when he was killed. For some reason I’ve read conflicting stories about how it happened from various sources. According to my grandpa it was from a wound from a German sniper.
I was a cannoneer (artillery gun/howitzer crew) in the 3rd Marine Division during the late 1990s, and we still had the M10A1 105mm howitzers for use in a ceremonal role. We'd use them when firing gun salutes for major change of command ceremonies for generals or admirals, or on Memorial or Veteran's Day observances at the Punchbowl National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific. All their breach blocks were stamped with dates like 1941 or 1942, and would have been used by 3rd MarDiv troops on Iwo Jima or earlier battles like Guam and Bougainville. I always pondered their history when doing weekly maintenance on them & wished they could talk.
Do you know if those cannons were the same ones used in combat? Weird question I know, but it was typical for the military back then to leave a lot of the equipment to rot instead of bringing it back to the states after the war. The maritime climate was hard on anything metal even without being in combat conditions and there was so much sitting in warehouses back in the US they didn't feel like it was worth it to haul the stuff back, even as scrap.
@@Raskolnikov70 They were actually, or at least two of the six we had saw service in the Second World War.
As the madness of WW2 nears it´s end and battles getting bloodier and bloodier, I wonder why reliving history hits me (as a german born a whole generation after the war) so hard. Good job, Indy & team!
To say a large part of it is heart-breaking is an understatement, thank you very much for watching.
In Jan 1989 I chaperoned a few teenagers from Guam USA as they joined a ship loaded with Japanese schoolchildren sailing from snowy northern Honshu, Japan, to tropical Guam. At journey midpoint, the ship stopped off Iwo Jima, and a ceremony was held on the ship's main outside deck in remembrance of those who died in the battle; as a former Marine, this had special resonance for me (and I still have a photo of me with Mt. Suribachi in the background). By chance, during the voyage Emperor Showa (Hirohito) passed away after a long illness. Everyone was called into a large room where the news was announced, and then all faced Japan and bowed silently in unison. I'll finish by mentioning that there were a few elderly Japanese WW2 (Great Pacific War) veterans aboard as well; they kept to themselves, though I did try unsuccessfully to strike up a conversation with one on the beach once we reached Guam.
In chapter 28 of his autobiography "Samurai", Japanese ace Saburo Sakai described how defenseless Iwo Jima was in July 1944, when he was stationed there. Little had been done to prepare fortifications, and the US Navy attacked Iwo for weeks, culminating in an utterly devastating naval bombardment that left not a single structure standing on the island. The few surviving Japanese soldiers, sailors, and airmen there had almost no food or ammunition, and believed that in its current condition, Iwo could be taken with minimal American casualties in an assault that they were convinced could not be more than a few days off. But no landings came. American attention had been wrenched away from the Central Pacific advance on Japan and refocused on retaking the Philippines, and Iwo, which would be judged worthy of such a stupendous American effort in February 1945, could not be spared even a small force to take it when it could have been had relatively cheaply. With Iwo in US hands in mid-1944, strategic bombing of the Home Islands could have begun at least six months earlier than it did, with effects on the course of the Pacific War that can only be guessed at.
I’ve read that Kuribayashi originally believed his mission was to pin the Americans until the Combined Fleet appeared and destroyed them. Then newly arrived Major Yoshitaka Horie told him the “Fleet” had been reduced to a few scattered units with no striking force. Kuribayashi, like most Japanese soldiers, had no idea how the war was really going and at first accused Horie of being a drunk spreading baseless rumors.
(The Rising Sun, John Toland, p 797)
It had to have been maddening to have so little communication with the outside world, basically working in a vacuum.
Operation Veritable and Grenade ( 16 - 24 February 1945) on Lower Rhineland goes on , with First Canadian Army in a brutal close combat with First German Parachute Army (part 1)
The 30 Corps as a whole had taken heavy casualties so far but despite floods, rain, snow, mud, and the cancellation of Operation Grenade, the corps had achieved its objectives, admittedly behind schedule.
General Horrocks , 30 Corps commander himself had been very busy. With the troops following the prearranged plans, he had few decision to make. Despite his raging flu, he did the best thing a commander could do under the circumstances: made his way to brigade headquarters to give subordinates an opportunity to make requests, allow them to blow off steam, and encourage them in their efforts.
On the 14th, General Crerar commander of 1st Canadian Army made a key decision. He separated the two Canadian divisions from 30th Corps and turned them back over to Lt. Gen. Guy Simonds’s 2nd Canadian Corps. Simonds was a cold, competent gunner, and by making the attack a two corps affair it would take some strain off the ailing Horrocks. The 30 Corps would attack Goch, while the 2nd Canadian Corps would attack Calcar.
On the 15th, the two Canadian divisions, along with the 46th Highland Brigade, reverted to Canadian control. Simonds sent the 3rd Canadian Division to pass through 46th Brigade’s positions in Moyland Wood to open the road to Calcar and committed the 2nd Canadian Division to take over from the 3rd Canadian at the right moment.
On Horrocks’s right flank, the 52nd Lowland Division dug in while the 51st Highland Division attacked the southern half of Goch. The 43rd Wessex would drive south-southeast to cut the Goch-Calcar road and then south to the escarpment overlooking Goch. Finally, the 15th Scottish would move through the 43rd Wessex to seize the northern half of Goch.
It looked good on paper, but the Germans had other ideas. When the 46th Brigade attacked, it was met with heavy mortar, infantry, and machine-gun fire. Despite mounting losses, the 46th drove the Germans off the westernmost knoll of Moyland Wood by 5 pm and then defeated a German counterattack shortly afterward.
The Highland Light Infantry advanced into dark and swirling mist that forced the tanks to be sent back. The accompanying guns bogged down in the mud. The leading two companies gathered up 80 POWs and reached their objectives before the Germans flung in a counterattack, which cut down the right-hand company.
On the 16th, the Highland Light Infantry tried to clear the eastern extension of the Moyland Woods, but German machine-gun fire was so intense the assault was stopped almost at its start line. The Cameronians attacked the easternmost knoll of the Moyland Wood and gained the heights just in time to take the inevitable German counterattack. The Cameronians maintained their offensive with the help of Wasp flamethrowers.
The same day saw the 7th Canadian Brigade attack east from the Bedburg area, with Scots Guards tanks, the Regina Rifle Regiment, and the Royal Winnipeg Rifles assigned the task of clearing high ground in the Louisendorf area. The German 346th Fusilier Battalion and 60th Panzergrenadier Regiment neatly fell back from the Regina Rifles, stopping them from crossing the road objective with their machine guns.
The Winnipeg Rifles, riding Kangaroos, advanced under a hail of shellfire from German reinforcements. The Kangaroos were slowed down by the shellfire, but the accompanying Scots Guards Churchill tanks reached Louisendorf alone. The Canadian infantry was reluctant to dismount until a Scots Guards captain, showing his disdain for danger, left his tank and walked from one carrier to another at the height of the shelling, encouraging the Canadians through example to get out and take their positions.
By dark, the Winnipeg Rifles were established in the town, digging slit trenches and sending back 240 POWs. Despite heavy German shelling, not one Canadian soldier was hit.
On the 17th, the Regina Rifles and Scots Guards tanks resumed their efforts to clear Moyland Wood, but German artillery fire was just too much for them. German 88mm fire detonated in the tops of trees, raining white-hot pieces of metal on troops below. At 4 pm, under cover of smoke, the infantry and tanks withdrew.
The 7th Brigade’s third battalion, the 1st Canadian Scottish, captured 150 German paratroopers but suffered heavy casualties. One Scots’ Guard tank broke down and had to be towed back. The driver was suspected of not having done his maintenance until the workshops crews opened the machine to find an unexploded 88mm shell lying amid torn-up transmission gears.
The Germans fought with skill and courage as usual, but one weapon made them break-the deadly flamethrower. However, the British and Canadians did not have enough of them. Moyland Wood refused to be cleared. By day’s end, the Regina Rifles had suffered 100 casualties, and the way to Calcar was still blocked.
The 30 Corps was also facing tough resistance. The fresh 52nd Lowland Division attacked on the extreme right, aiming to capture Afferden and cross an antitank ditch that ran east from the river and included the moated, medieval Biljenbeek Castle. The 5th Highland Light Infantry and 5th King’s Own Scottish Borderers attacked and were met with heavy mortar and machine-gun fire.
On the 17th, two battalions of the Highland Light Infantry attacked the Biljenbeek Castle with little success. The British brought up Churchill tanks, but the Germans knocked many of them out. A single company tried to rush a breach in the walls and was cut down.
Only when the weather cleared could the British break the castle. The RAF dropped nine 1,000-pound bombs on the castle and ripped it open. British troops stormed in to find its defenders numbered 15 paratroopers who had been kept supplied by rafts pushed across during the night. Their fanatical resistance, in spite of numerous surrendering Germans, showed that the Nazis were not giving up no matter how hopeless the situation.
The Guards Armored Division’s infantry resumed its advance on the 16th, but rain and mud cut the 19 supporting tanks down to two. For a week, the Guardsmen endured heavy shelling and incessant rain, which turned their section of the battlefield into something resembling Passchendaele.
After dark on February 16th, the 51st Highland Division resumed its drive eastward, relying on flamethrowers and rocket launchers to pave the way. At the same time, the last unengaged portion of the 43rd Wessex Division was finally able to pass through the mud and traffic jams. The 214th Brigade was hit by massive German gunfire as it was deploying. But the British hit back with nearly every gun in the 43rd Wessex Division’s inventory, laying a carpet for the 214th Brigade’s advance. The 214th began its attack at 4 pm and by dusk had advanced nearly 3,000 yards.
The British continued to attack with heavy artillery support as the night wore on. The 7th Somerset Light Infantry took 68 POWs and the commander of one German position. By 5:30 am on the 17th, the Somersets were consolidated on a 1,000-yard front along the escarpment overlooking Goch, having taken 180 more POWs. Six hours later the Somersets continued their advance.
At 11:30 am on the 17th, the 1st Worcestershires attacked, facing the heaviest and most accurate shelling of the war. By 6 pm, one observer remembered, “They were looking down on the chimneys of Goch along a front of 4,000 yards.” Horrocks would later call 43rd Wessex Division’s 8,000-yard continual advance the turning point of the Reichswald battle. With the 43rd Wessex Division in position, Goch would inevitably fall.
The Germans recognized this and sought permission to withdraw, but Adolf Hitler refused. The Allies had to be stopped and hurled back. Two additional battalions of the 6th Parachute Division were sent to take position between Moyland and Calcar.
On the 18th, the 1st Canadian Army prepared to attack the hinges of the German blocking line at Calcar and Goch. On the 19th, the 2nd Canadian Division rejoined the battle, sending in the 4th Canadian Infantry Brigade on Kangaroos supported by tanks. At noon, 14 field artillery regiments, seven medium regiments, and two heavy batteries opened fire. The tanks bogged down right away, and the infantry ran into 88mm antitank guns, which forced the Royal Hamilton Light Infantry to dismount from the armored personnel carriers short of its objectives. The Essex Scottish did better, taking its objective.
That night the Germans counterattacked with the Panzer Lehr Division, a crack outfit badly weakened from the Bulge. The Canadians were quickly overrun, and the 4th Brigade sent in its reserve battalion, the Royal Regiment of Canada. These troops quickly reported that the Essex Scottish headquarters was “held by enemy tanks and infantry.”
After being overrun, the Canadians regrouped and counterattacked at dawn, backed by tanks of the Fort Garry Horse. The Germans lost 11 tanks and six Jagdpanthers, forcing them to withdraw Panzer Lehr from the battle.
Canadians punched above their weight in both world wars
that was a hell of a read, thank you.
0:40 To take the island... and some iconic pictures as well.
Best documentary on CZcams
Thank you for watching!
One of the very few channels I let the adds run full length
"Among the Americans who served on Iwo Island, uncommon valor was a common virtue."
-Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz,1945
I watch every week and have communicated my love for you all previously, but it deserves to be said again.
I LOVE THIS CHANNEL!!!!! (Especially the map animations)
Much appreciated!
I think the best way to sum up Iwo Jima is the famous saying that on Iwo Jima “uncommon valor was a common virtue”
13:06
I was just in Jülich last weekend-I’m reading the final volume of Joseph Balkoski’s history of the 29th Division in the war. I also visited the Reichswald & Operation Veritable battlefields about a year ago & I can visualize the terrain perfectly.
Brasil mentioned 🇧🇷
The highlight of my Saturday is another episode. Well done, TGA!
(Posted last week too.)
My father, Staff Sergeant Robert E. DeHart landed on Iwo with the first USAAF groups/squadrons soon after the US Marines took control of the airfields on the plateau of Iwo Jima. Dad was a Flightline Engineer and Mechanic on the Republic P-47 Thunderbolt. He was in the 20th Army Air Force, 7th Army Air Corp, 414th Fighter/Bomber Group, 413th F/ B Squadron.
The Squadrons assisted the Marine by giving them close air support on Mount Suribachi and cover sorties for the B29's flight to and from the main Islands of Japan (as far as their fuel tanks allowed them to go).
I've got all the photos dad took on the island and sent back to mom in Mount Airy, NC.
When dad returned home in November 1945, he went to work with the Appalachian Power Company in Bluefield, West Virginia as a Class A Transmission Lineman. They raised 7 of us kids (I'm the youngest @ 60).
My eldest brother final got dad to open up a bit about what they all saw and did in a combat zone to help close out WWII. He taped dad's and his tent mate on Iwo (Bob Baldwin of Columbia, SC). Luckily the connected back up after both retired in the 80's.
We lost dad on 2006 to cancer just before his 89th birthday (born May 1917 at the Weyanoke Coal and Coke Camp in Mercer County, West Virginia).
Wisest man I've ever known!! Miss ya, old man!!
I think the battle of ramree island concluded this week too, where a bunch of Japanese soldiers were allegedly eaten by crocodiles, though I know the extent to which the crocodile attacks were responsible for Japanese losses is a matter of dispute. In any case, possibly the war expanded to include Saltwater Crocs joining the allies!
Can't wait to see the Croc flag join the Allies in the background!
Thank you for the lesson.
John Basilone, Medal of Honor recipient, died on the 19th during the first day of the assault on Iwo Jima. His actions were instrumental in getting the Marines off the beaches on the first day, taking out a couple of block houses and guiding a tank through a minefield. It's debated as to whether he was killed by mortar fire or small arms fire.
Another excellent video, keep up the great work WW2 team! And best of luck doing Korea at the same time!
Thanks a lot for watching and commenting! We will make sure we do! -TimeGhost Ambassador
been waiting for this week episode for days. finally iwo jima invasion is begin
So many ancient forts are being brought back into action, once again, to serve their purpose. I wonder if they will be needing again and again until the end of time itself
looking at gray Turkey on Indy's wall map. isnt this the week it flips white? anticipation!
The marines at Iwo Jima surely could have used the help of the Soviet 5th Shark Army 😉😂
Enjoyed watching an episode that started with coverage of the Pacific War
Outstanding research as ever from the team. Although the most gaudy of subjects, TGA brings it all to life with ‘where in the world’ maps, cinematic footage and outstanding commentary (yes, you Indy) making this unmissable for me. Super stuff, guys, really. I think it would be cheap of me joining the TGA now as the war comes to an end, so I’ll post a $ thanks in the comments.
My grandfather was part of the third marine division during the invasion of Iwo Jima, a machine gunner. I sadly was never able to meet him, but I've heard stories. He was a machine gunner, and apparently by the time the fighting was over he went from clean shaven to fully bearded.
i know its a small story but, i hope it's interesting though.
(oops spoilers, lol)
It is surprising that historical citadels like in Manila and Poznan still are relevant as points of resistance in WW2
My grandfather Bill Pospula served at Iwo Jima, thankfully it being his last battle. He was from the 4th Marine Division, and he'd always joke about how he was serving as the ship's cook that day when they gave the order for reinforcements and he was selected. I remember him saying how he owes his life to the USS New Jersey and other battleships for destroying the Japanese artillery that was striking his position. I was too young to speak to him in detail about the battle, he passed away in 2014. I miss him so much.
Hello Indy and team, great episode as always. I just wanted to ask when the map behind Indy will be updated in line with the front as it stands.
Oh well what is it now 8 or 9 episodes left and the funny mustache guy gets it.
Another great episode! Thanks!
Now the channel has gotten into possibly my favorite phase of the war: the US marines tightening the noose around Japan in the battles of Iwo Jima and Okinawa (the army of course was also a huge part of the battle of Okinawa, I didn't forget them haha.)
Great episode, fantastic detail and quality as always
Thank you very much, and thanks for watching.
Not gonna lie, this is by far the most well documented World War 2 channel on youtube. They put a lot of effort into this just for the audience and I had to give them that one.
Well done as always Indy and Time Ghost Crew! Lots of Asia/Pacific action this week! As a Coloradan, many thanks for mentioning our beloved 10th Division who after fighting bravely in Italy started many of our most famous ski resorts including Vail.
I have a picture of my dads history teacher who was a veteran of the battle of Iwo Jima. Co. 1 3rd Bn. 9th Marines, February 1945 Guam his company is pictured with probably two hundred men. Maybe 150 im not sure can't count them all with the quality of the picture. Then there is a photo on the bottom of the picture. 14 men remain and Kermit Davis (my dad's history teacher) is one of those standing. He was a very good and wise man. He was not afraid to talk about his experiences to help teach the younger generations of what he went through. His wisdom made a big impact on my life that's for sure.
FYI the first flag raised was photographed by the Marines. The motion picture film of the second flag raising was shot by Bill Janoust who was killed a few days later according to to Joe Rosenthal in a conversation with me in 1989.
I was almost certain I've seen a picture of that first flag raising somewhere. Thought it was weird Indy said it wasn't filmed/photographed, or maybe I'm mis-remembering what he said in this video?
The first flag raising was photographed with a still camera. Google is your friend to find it. The second flag raising was a PR event.
General Gavin of the 82 Airborne Division was only 37 during operation Market Garden. He jumped out of planes along with his men in battle.
"Fighting to the bitter end... this is Modern War" (I imagined Indy saying it at the end of this bloody episode)
Just for the record, General Ivan Chernyakhovsky was killed by German artillery fire.
Good episode
My BIL was a Navy AA gunner on a troop ship and one night, just as he was getting ready to climb out of his gun-tub, a flash of gunfire illuminated a Japanese Kamikaze airplane as it flew past to crash into the water between his ship and the next. He said it was so close he could have touched the wingtip as it went by. One of those prisoners freed in Manila was our small town gas station owner. He survived the Bataan Death March and was never really 'right'. Twenty years later, during the Cuban Missile Crisis, he built a bomb shelter and made a public threat to shoot anyone who tried to take shelter in it besides his immediate family. He didn't need to say that out loud but everyone forgave him because of his PTSD.
Well told. Thanks.
An idea for a special episode. Combat engineers, Seabees, and Sappers in WW2.
Another great episode, wonder what the next week will bring! Oh, and many have mentioned it in the comments already, but if you haven't, considering checking out Clint Eastwood's film, Letters from Iwo Jima. It follows the preparations and the battle of Iwo Jima purely from the Japanese perspective. It is also a generally good movie, good acting, picture, soundtrack, etc.
I find it crazy that medieval forts still make a formidable defenseive obstacles depist the development of overwhelming firepower
When cannons were developed they changed out of necessity, from the tall towering curtain walls previously needed to defeat ladder-carrying infantry, to low thick earth and masonry structures designed to stand up to repeated hits from artillery. Those walls are just as effective against modern exploding HE shells as round shot, not much can get through meters and meters of dirt.
Some of the buildings in the Brest fortress were several hundred years old, but it was still a formidable obstacle in 1941.
4:23 To say Saratoga is damaged is an understatement. Already known for being a torpedo magnet early in the war, she was hit by five bombs and three kamikazes, essentially knocking her out of the war, though (spoiler?) she will be one of only three pre-war American carriers that survive the war. Due to damage and obcelence, she will serve out the war as a training carrier and after the war be nuked as part of the Bikini Atoll Tests.
There is also some irony that USS Bismarck Sea, named for the successful air interdiction of a Japanese convoy, is itself sunk by air attack.
23:07 - great point, imho.
And I agree.
☮
Excellent.
It's hard trying to see this battle only in the light of tactics and numbers, I saw its reenactment in Band of Brothers and it was BRUTAL, the soldiers fighting there really had to keep their hearts on their hand
Thanks indy and crew
Thanks for watching!
thank u.
16:25 That picture of the los Baños raid, we are looking at S/Sgt Charles Egbert, The Bowie Family, and T/5 Henry Kusmierczyk, I had the privilege of speaking to Henry about the raid, as well as little Lea Bowie shown in the photo, she was actually 6 months old at the time, just malnourished at the time.
Lea Bowie is still alive in New York
Henry Kusmierczyk passed away in 2021 so very close to 100, he kept this picture on his person every day for his entire life, it was his proudest moment
And then the winged hussars arrived ! Thank you Indie et al for another scholarly and entertaining piece of work
I remember hearing at Iwo Jima that even the DUKW's even had trouble with the volcanic ground. And they're normally very adaptable to terrain. It wasn't until they reduced the pressure in the DUKW's tired to 5 Pounds that it was able to move on the volcanic ground at all.
You said the Soviets “conquered”, not “liberated” Poland… I hope that isn’t a bad sign for the Poles for the next, oh, say, 45 years or so…
I'm sure it'll go as well as it did when they conquered part of Poland back in 1939. Oh, wait a sec...
Love the Live Shows!
I've a feeling that this si definitely *not* going to end well for those mean axis guys
The fight at the Paco Railroad Station at Manila was so heavy that two Americans is awarded the Medal of Honor just to capture the building, with one being awarded posthumously.
That building still exists today and I actually pass by it last week and got goosebumps just thinking what transpired there in 1945.
Thank you.
Thank you et merci beaucoup pour votre soutien continu.
-TimeGhost Ambassador
14:18 Bless you
I can't recall the last time you started with the Pacific! Leyte maybe?
Brilliant!!!!
These videos make me feel I was there witnessing events.
Guys, it’s worth joining Time Ghost just to see this one “informal discussion”. It amazingly insightful and a great watch. Just sayin
Thanks
Thank you very much for the superchat!
Ooohhh! Your pronounciation of "Manila" is improving! It's so refreshing to hear.