00:00THE END
00:30This is the Pacific as you know it. Wide stretches of water. But this is the Pacific as the Joint
00:38Chiefs of Staff view it. A battlefield, a vast fortress-studded plain, on which key strongholds anchor a Japanese defense
00:47line guarding the heart of the homeland.
00:50The American front lines had advanced to Guam and Saipan. Ahead now stood Iwo Jima, the most heavily fortified island
00:58in the world.
01:00Very deep underground laid 20 years of Jap preparation for murder. 20,000 of their toughest fighting men waited for
01:08us to make the first move.
01:15And they don't have to wait long. The Navy begins to soften up the island so we can land.
01:46Planes from our carrier force take off the strafe and bomb.
02:17Planes from our Passual
02:30Gunboats, move in close to work over enemy beach installations.
02:46Enemy fire gets closer.
02:52Enemy fire gets closer.
02:53Enemy fire gets closer.
02:57Enemy fire gets closer.
03:04Enemy fire gets closer.
03:08Enemy fire gets closer.
03:08Enemy fire gets closer.
03:08Enemy fire gets closer.
03:08Enemy fire gets closer.
03:10Enemy fire gets closer.
03:23The End
03:48D-Day, beginning of the toughest 26 days in Marine Corps history.
03:54We watch the central control vessel.
03:58When this flag drops, our landing craft will head for the beach.
04:30We watch the central control vessel.
04:48Five hundred landing craft and ten waves advance on 3,000 yards of beach.
05:20The enemy fire keeps us pinned down.
05:23We want to pull the beach over our heads like a blanket.
05:40Maybe medical corpsmen get our wounded out fast.
05:53Our tanks come ashore and grind inland.
06:11We're able to advance from Yellow Beach, but it's slow going.
06:18THE END
06:32Let's go.
06:47We run into trouble on Green Beach.
06:50From their fortified positions on Mount Suribachi, the Japs look right down our throats.
07:28We need help.
07:30We call the command ship standing off shore.
07:32Our message is received.
07:35The situation map is checked.
07:37The sport air director contacts carrier planes circling the target.
07:42The flight leader receives his instructions.
07:56The fire director calls the Japs.
07:58The Japs.
07:59The Japs.
08:01The Japs.
08:05The Japs.
08:16As we hit Suribachi from the air, supporting ships deliver point-blank fire.
08:21The Japs.
08:23The Japs.
08:24The Japs.
08:27The Japs.
08:28The Japs.
08:32The Japs.
08:33The Japs.
08:40The Japs.
08:42The Japs.
08:43The Japs.
08:44The Japs.
08:45The Japs.
08:47The Japs.
08:50The Japs.
08:51In two hours of continuous pounding, our patrols move forward.
09:05Mortar barrage searches out hidden machine gun nest.
09:18Keep a sharp lookout for snipers.
09:32Let's go.
09:38Admiral Turner gives the order to cease fire.
09:41Our guns are quiet as they make the climb.
09:47We wait for a sign.
09:48Suribachi is ours.
10:06Suribachi is ours.
10:07A tow hold on the southern tip of the island.
10:11But ahead, the main strength of the Jap garrison was entrenched in steel and concrete.
10:19The show was just beginning.
10:23Navy and Coast Guardsmen rush supplies ashore for the big push north.
10:27The latest smoke for the北.
10:28The
10:28The
10:28The
10:28The
10:29The
10:29The
10:55You never saw it, Jack.
10:57But fire was coming out of every hole and every rock.
11:19It was tough going.
11:21Many didn't make it.
11:43It was tough going.
11:54The crossfire ahead is murderous.
12:07Rockin' trucks go into action.
12:30The Japs spot our position.
12:35We don't even have time to remove our dead.
12:45There are heavy defenses on the ridges overlooking this plane.
12:54They draw a beat on us again.
13:10They chased us off there five times.
13:14We came back six.
13:30We brought in our wounded and we took a breather.
13:42The injured are carried to the rear.
13:47Plasmas given on the way.
13:52Hospital dugouts are ready for anything.
14:00And we are ready to advance again.
14:04We called for artillery.
14:05We are ready for artillery.
14:18We are ready for artillery.
14:38Our artillery duel develops at night.
14:52One of our ammunition dumps goes up.
15:02In two weeks, we've cleaned out plenty of Japs between here and Suribachi.
15:07But there's still a lot of island to be taken with thousands of Japs fighting from blockhouses,
15:12pillboxes and caves.
15:19We have to go in and dig them out, one by one.
15:43We can't dig them out, we burn them out.
15:46Let's go.
15:47Now we are ready.
15:50Let's go.
16:53While we fought, we prayed.
17:10Wreckage along the beach
17:11was only a small part of the cost of 26 days of fighting.
17:40Beautiful Queenie.
17:48And there were other names, too.
17:50Names of our friends.
17:58We stacked the helmets of our dead in neat vials.
18:02Helmets of 4,000 men who died to take a tiny island somewhere in the Pacific.
18:13You're right, Marine.
18:15You've taken a tiny island.
18:17But it's not just eight square miles of rock.
18:22Today, it's an American fortress, only four hours from Tokyo.
18:26Today, from your little island, giant striking forces are launched against the heart of Japan.
18:33Today, our planes and ships are blasting the enemy into ashes at the foot of Fujiyama.
18:41With confidence in our armed forces, with the unbounding determination of our people,
18:50we will gain the inevitable triumph.
18:55So help us God.
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