Lions of Iwo Jima

Dave Berkson
  

 Great War books are hard to produce and something about the battle of Iwo Jima made me want to learn more about this epic fight. James Warren and Fred Haynes write this heroic story of combat team 28 and their weeks in the pits of hell battling trenches in Japanese soldiers committed to fight to the end. Later historians debate the purpose and merits of this battle for a very diminutive island that basically had only three air stripes that were worth fighting. This book talks about the crucial role of artillery from the seas as being crucial for the initial amphibious assault on the beach end. This was the only major battle involving marines where their casualties exceeded those of the Japanese and the insanity of taking this island for little gain later on in the war makes us question the battle now. The number of Japanese bunkers,pillow boxes,trenches,sniper nests made this an extremely difficult attack and the marines trained for months for this battle. I often wondered  if leaders in the marines just used this battle as an experiment for warfare. This was one war games exercise that should of been prevented and the use of flamethrowers proved very crucial in getting to every fortified bunker and then sealing it up "The Lions Of Iwo Jima" is a Great War book accounting to the brutal fight for every yard the marines gained of this volcanic island with no civilians in the middle of absolute no where. This book has many compelling stories of heroes on the U S marines that died fighting to kill about everyone of the.  22 000 Japanese soldiers stationed on the island from February 19 to March 26 1944. The story of the famous picture of the raising of the American flag is told as most of us have seen the photo but no little of how and when the hill was captured. Fred Haynes was the general for the marines and his account of this battle should be preserved in this great read for generations to come.