Iwo Defences Most Thorough Yet Met

Northern Advocate, 6 March 1945, Page 3

Iwo Defences Most Thorough Yet Met

(2 p.m.) WASHINGTON, Mar. 5. The Japanese defence of Iwo Jima was the most thorough and skilful yet encountered, said the Navy Secretary (Mr. J. V. Forrestal) addressing a Press conference. He added that although the joint chiefs-of-staff and Navy had no illusions about the difficulty of taking Iwo, the Japanese there were stronger than expected. In addition, they made very good use of their weapons. Some 2050 Marines had been killed on Iwo Jima to March 3. We counted 12,500 Japanese dead and probably the enemy had removed more bodies from the battlefields. Mr. Forrestal described Iwo as a vital sea and air gate to Japan’s inner defences. Its capture will put Liberator bombers within range of Japan. Mr. Forrestal said the Japanese army totalled upwards of 5,000,000 men. To defeat Japan, America and the Allies must defeat that force. Hand-to-Hand Fighting “Japanese resistance at the northern end of this volcanic aSh-heap surpasses anything we have hitherto met,” states the “New York Times’! correspondent on Iwo Jima. “Tire front has suddenly erupted into a fierce rifle and machine-gun battle. There has been a great deal of hand-to-hand fighting in the past two days. Our ships are now unloading on the western as well as on the eastern beaches.” The United Press correspondent reports that at the end of the fighting yesterday Marines made gains of 50 yards to 100 yards. The Japanese held an area too narrow to permit of aerial bombardment. Our warships are no longer laying down full-scale bombardments, but ai'e concentrating on indicated points. Marines behind the front are mopping up by-passed strongpoints, and are blowing up cave entrances and entombing Japanese refusing to surrender. Small local advances which left the American lines substantially uhehanged were made by Marines on Iwo Jima, says a Pacific Ocean Areas communique from Guam. Enemy resistance stiffened on all sectors. Small arms fire mounted in intensity as our troops attacked. An enemy counter-attack in the sth Division sector was repulsed. Several hundred men of the 4th Division, fighting over extremely difficult terrain, eliminated a strong centre of resistance. Hand-to-hand fighting is progressing in the sth Division zone, where the ground is rough and naturally suited to defensive operations.