IWOJIMA (7)

BESCHIESSUNG DER INSEL:
"Battleships Nevada, Texas, Arkansas and New York...answered in unison to the command signal: 'Commence firing!' Over two hundred 2, 000-mph, 16-inch shells slammed into Iwo's concrete defences. The other ships blasted the wounded island with 6, 472 8-inch and 15, 221 3-inch shells. At the end of a hot sweaty day, exhausted gun crew shifts were stunned that only 17 out of their 1700 targets had been crossed off."
---
AFTER THE BATTLE, 82
---
"On the morning of Febraury 17, mine-sweepers, under protection of the heavy cruiser Pensacola, swept the area. They found no mines..."
---
Die PENSACOLA wird getroffen:
"Suddenly, a burst of fire exploded from a well-hidden 150 mm. The Pensacola sustained six hits in three minutes."
Daraufhin mußte sich die PENSACOLA zurückziehen.
---
DIE LANDEBOOTE:
"At 10. 30 a.m. 12 LCI (Landing Craft Infantry) slowly approached IWO's black, volcanic shore..."
---
"LCI 473 burst into flame after taking 189 holes in her hull. LCI 450 suffered hits in her hull and gun mounts. One shot severed the anchor chain, sent the heavy missile plunging to the bottom and gave birth to the grim joke that LCI 450 was the first fighting ship to drop anchor in Japan's home waters...Fourteen 6-inch shells slammed into LCI 474 setting off three magazine explosions and four fires, killing 43 seamen and wounding 153. She went to the bottom with six of her crew. Japanese marksmanship killed seven and wounded 11 aboard the destroyer Leutze."
---
Die Japaner warten, bis ca. 2000 Amerikaner gelandet waren.-Sie eröffnen das Feuer aus den unterirdischen Anlagen-schwere Angriffe auf Ufer und Schiffe-Landung der ersten Bulldozer und Panzer unter Dauerbeschuß-Bulldozer versuchen, das Gelände zu ebnen-japanische Stellungen können von den Schiffen aus nicht beschossen werden, da Gefahr, eigene Leute zu treffen-Marinesoldaten mußten daher ganz nah an die Schießscharten ran-Vormarsch äußerst langsam, bisweilen Stillstand-jede Stellung mußte einzeln genommen werden-Nachmittag: schwere Landungsschiffe für Panzer werden außer Reichweite gehalten-Motorschaluppen fahren zwischen Landungsschiffen und weniger gefährdeten Abschnitten hin und her.
---
DER 2. WELTKRIEG, DAS BESTE, Bd. 3.