Hell in the Pacific

Book excerpt: A definitive account of the famous battle of Iwo Jima, and the men who fought there. The battle of Iwo Jima saw one hundred thousand men fighting over a tiny volcanic island of just 8 square miles. The island was of major strategic importance to the US Air Force. However, it was also of supreme importance to the 20,000 Japanese troops who were deeply entrenched in the island when the Marines invaded, and to whom surrender was not an option. The titanic struggle dragged on for 36 days, eclipsing all that had gone before. The loss of Iwo Jima was proof to the Japanese that the Americans could seize one of the world's most heavily defended islands, and filled them with foreboding about the inevitable invasion of their homeland. This book covers the campaign in detail, and also the experiences of the men who fought for their lives on the black sands of Iwo Jima in one of the most savage battles of the Pacific War. This book contains material previously published in Campaigns 81: Iwo Jima 1945, Warrior 95: Japanese Infantryman 1937–45 and WAR 112: US Marine Rifleman 1939–45: Pacific Theater