On February 19, 1945, U.S. Marines landed on a tiny Pacific Island called Iwo Jima. Facing rugged terrain and a deeply entrenched enemy, they embarked on a fierce five-week battld to take the island and its airfields from the Imperial Japanese Army. Through vivid storytelling, experience one of the most important battles of World War II.

In February 1945, some 80,000 U.S. Marines attacked the heavily defended fortress that the Japanese had constructed on the tiny Pacific island of Iwo Jima. Leaders of the Army Air Forces said they needed the airfields there to provide fighter escort for their B-29 bombers. At the cost of 28,000 American casualties, the 3rd, 4th, and 5th Marine Divisions dutifully conquered this desolate piece of hell with a determination and sacrifice that have become legendary in the annals of war, immortalized in the photograph of six Marines raising the American flag on Mount Suribachi. But the Army Air Forces’ fighter operations on Iwo Jima subsequently proved both unproductive and unnecessary. After the fact, a number of other justifications were generated to rationalize this tragically expensive battle. Ultimately, misleading statistics were presented to contend that the number of lives saved by B-29 emergency landings on Iwo Jima outweighed the cost of its capture. In The Ghosts of Iwo Jima, Captain Robert S. Burrell masterfully reconsiders the costs of taking Iwo Jima and its role in the war effort. His thought-provoking analysis also highlights the greater contribution of Iwo Jima’s valiant dead: They inspired a reverence for the Marine Corps that proved critical to its institutional survival and its embodiment of American national spirit. From the 7th War Loan Campaign of 1945 through the flag-raising at Ground Zero in 2001, the immortal image of Iwo Jima has become a symbol of American patriotism itself. Burrell’s searching account of this fabled island conflict will advance our understanding of World War II and its continuing legacy for the twenty-first century. At last, the battle’s ghosts may unveil its ultimate, and most crucial, lessons.

A key strategic victory that paved the way for the Allied invasion of Japan, Iwo Jima was described by Lieutenant-General Holland Smith, Commander Fleet Marine Forces Pacific, as "the most savage and costly battle in the history of the Marine Corps." For 36 days in February and March 1945, Marines pounded an island fortified by miles of interlocking caves, concrete blockhouses and pillboxes - one of the most impenetrable defenses of the Pacific War. Unwilling to surrender, the Japanese fought until the bitter end: nearly all of their 20,000 troops were killed in the fighting, compared with 7,000 US dead. At Iwo Jima, the Marines secured an island base that would prove crucial in the final battles of the Pacific campaign. This book illustrates the Marines' decisive victory at Iwo Jima in graphic novel format and includes eight pages of background information detailing the key players, the experience of the forces, and the aftermath of the battle.

Iwo Jima was the United States Marine Corps' toughest ever battle and a turning point in the Pacific War. In February 1945, three Marine Divisions stormed the island's shores in what was supposed to be a ten-day battle, but they had reckoned without General Tadamichi Kuribayashi, the enemy commander.

Originally published: New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1965.

An hour by hour account of the largest and most brutal assault ever conducted by the Marine Corps.