Iwo Jima Essay

Iwo Jima, along with many other objectives in the Pacific, have come under scrutiny from many historians. Burrell, specifically, criticized the most senior officers of the U.S. armed forces at the time over their incompetence and rivalry. He proved that their indifference resulted in a senseless and bloody loss of Marine life. Nearly a third of all Marines who died in World War II, lost their lives on Iwo Jima. These losses though, were twisted into a public relations masquerade which resulted in saving the Marine Corps from termination. Iwo Jima produced the loss of roughly 28,696 American casualties, including Army, Marine, and Naval personnel. Around 6,821 were killed, 19,217 wounded, and 2,648 suffered combat fatigue. The three Marine Divisions that were sent to Iwo Jima, sustained 25,851 of those casualties. Historians claim that, in retrospect, the heavy toll taken was justified by saving thousands of airmen from certain death by using Iwo Jima for an emergency landing area. Burrell challenges this accepted belief as a misconception in his work. In the process of rewriting the truth, he puts forth significant evidence to show that the horrific losses taken offered no real strategic …show more content…
Instead of a single, cohesive command, the Pacific theatre was divided into the Southwest Pacific Area under the command of Army General Douglas MacArthur and the North and Central Areas under the control of Navy Admiral Chester Nimitz. Given uncoordinated and incompatible strategies proposed by the Army and Navy in the war against Japan, overall planning for future operations and about who would command those operations reached an impasse. Not only did they bicker about future operations but they also jostled for position in the race for more funding in the post-war