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10thzodiac
08-27-06, 08:39 PM
The man Prime Minister Hideki Tojo chose to lead the defense of Iwo Jima was Lieutenant General Tadamichi Kuribayashi, a samurai and a thirty-year veteran. Kuribayashi had been assigned to both the U.S. and Canada in the late 1920s. He correctly assessed the U.S.'s industrial strength and its people. He wrote home that "The United States is the last country in the world we should fight." But now that Japan was fighting the U.S., this warrior determined that he would make the Americans pay in as much blood as possible. He ordered that counterattacks at Iwo would be limited because they cost too many Japanese lives. One of his goals was to have each Japanese kill ten Americans. He interlaced the island with tunnels leading to protected firing positions. During the battle, the fearsome 675-pound spigot mortars were zeroed in on trenches they had dug, and on someshell craters. When these were filled up with Marines, then they opened fire, killing and wounding many.

The following are letters from the Japanese Commanding General Tadamichi Kuribayashi of Iwo Jima to his wife Taro during the invasion by U.S. Forces. pdf

http://www.marineswwii.com/pdfs/Letters%20from%20Japanese%20General.pdf


:iwo:

"Somewhere on Iwo Jima General Tadamichi Kuribayashi Sleeps."



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