Terrible Price of Victory - Battle of Iwo Jima (WW2 Documentary)

Support Real Time History on Patreon: patreon.com/realtimehistory We hope you liked this surprised episode. Special thanks to Project '44 and the Canadian Research and Mapping Association for their help with this episode. Their iwojimamap.com/ was the inspiration for this Iwo Jima documentary. We wanted to try out if we could hook their map data to our motion graphics. Iwo Jima was the perfect test case since it was geographically a limited campaign. As you saw, our idea was a success and we will build on what we learned here for our upcoming Napoleon project.

My father was there, the fourth division, a Sargent. He made it through unwounded which is astonishing. He would be 100 years old next month, I miss him dearly.

One of my high school teachers was a Marine on Iwo. Japanese troops would "reappear" in bunkers that had been cleared, due to their tunnels. The Marines brought cement mixers ashore. They ran 24/7 making cement that was used to close off troublesome bunkers. He has always wondered how many Japanese were 'buried alive". He was never able to forget the sound of the mixers.

My friend, Cpl. Eugene Iaconetti, of the 4th Marines Engineers, survived 33 days on Iwo Jima. He is still alive and smiling at the age of 98 years old.

国籍･宗教･人種を問わず、この戦いに参加されて亡くなられた方々のご冥福をお祈りをすると共に、平和な日本で生活できる事に感謝します。

"Letters from Iwo Jima" is a really great movie about the battle. It is one of my favorite movies of all time.

As Churchill said ."Everyone talks about fighting to the last man, but only the Japanese do it.". Got to admire their tenacity and bravery.

My grandfather who's is currently 97 was in the first wave and earned his purple heart there. He was in the 5th Marines as well as a Carlson Raider. He told me many stories including the raising of the two flags

20,000 Japanese with no reinforcements or resupplies held its own for 30 days against 100,000 Marines and 700 ships. That’s insane.

My father in law, Jack Creviston, was among those members of the Third Marine Division who were on Iwo. He had also been in the assault on Guam, and Guadalcanal. On Iwo he was a rifleman, and a stretcher-bearer, but his primary job in the third division was the band. Nonetheless, he saw combat and was wounded on Guam and on Iwo Jima. He returned home after the war and worked at the Los Alamos Laboratory as a security guard. After hostilities ended on Iwo Jima, The Third Marine Division band played at the dedication of the American cemetery on Iwo Jima, an event which was filmed and is now on youtube. Jack died in 1964, long before I married his daughter. I did get to see him in the film however, playing his trombone in the band. Thanks for what you did, Jack.

I am a Marine (no longer active) who was honored enough to get to land on Iwo Jima with the 1st battalion 1st Marines on a West pack in 90. We did an amphibious landing according to our history. I'm telling you... having the tracks stop, the landing doors open and we walked up the sand bar.. The feeling was beyond humbling.. To stand there.. were our brothers had.. looking up a Suribachi... We performed our re-enlistment and awards ceremony on the island.. I will never forget that..

Poor souls on both sides. The young kids who were sent to war and saw so much violence in a thousand lifetimes. The young truly fight, the old men’s war. RIP young brave souls.

日本語でもなかなか知ることが出来ない情報の発信に感謝致します。 硫黄島の戦いにおける日本軍は、間違いなく多くの本土日本人が生き延びる日数を伸ばして頂きました。 人命軽視を避け戦いを指揮した栗林中将他、多くの軍人対し、後世の我々日本人は余りにも不甲斐ないと感じざるを得ません。 硫黄島で倒れた日本兵士、米国兵士共にご冥福をお祈りし、哀悼の意を表します。合掌。

TRUE FACT: It is astonishing to note that even with Iwo Jima being as small as it is, just several miles long, that the last Japanese surrendered there on January 6, 1949, well over THREE YEARS after the battle.

My father was Chief Pharmacists Mate 1st Class Jack Yinger. He was fighting to save American (and a few Japanese) lives ashore during this entire battle. He saw both flags raised and was present at the capture of the airfields. I was born on Feb. 28, 1951, exactly 6 years later.My father was a great man whose contributions to America continued until he died. I am proud to be his son.

My Grandpa was there, I wish I knew more about his experience but it was very hard for him to talk about. He drove the soldiers to shore in the amphibious vehicles just to watch them get mowed down seconds after the gates let down. Thankfully the amphibious boat was just out of reach so they couldn’t hit my Grandpa, but he witnessed many of his friends die. All he could do was cover fire for them using his Browning machine gun. Thats all my Grandpa would ever tell us, man I miss him.

My grandfather was a Marine and was awarded a Silver Star for his actions on Iwo.

In memory of my friend Cpl. Raulo R. Malm USMC wounded twice there. Was an honor to know him.

By this point in the war, the Japanese had realized that an all out defense at the waters edge wasn't going to work. Earlier, on the Island of Biak, a small island on the north coast of New Guinea, they realized that digging in, avoiding banzai charges, and most importantly, a strong defense in depth, would kill more of their enemies than the way they had been doing things. Iwo was defense in depth, coupled with tunnels, interlocking fields of fire, the whole works. It is your enemy that teaches you how to fight, and the Americans had taught them well.

I lost my oldest cousin at Iwo. I was born 5 years after his death. His sister is still alive and remembers him well. He was brought back to the US 8 years after his death and was laid to rest with his father who died 2 years earlier. His mother lived 42 years after his death and was laid to rest with her husband and son. RIP