Iwo Jima was the United States Marine Corps' toughest ever battle and a turning point in the Pacific War. In February 1945, three Marine Divisions stormed the island's shores in what was supposed to be a ten-day battle, but they had reckoned without General Tadamichi Kuribayashi, the enemy commander. 'Do not plan for my return, ' wrote Kuribayashi in one of his many letters to his wife, Yoshii. He knew that he and his garrison could not defeat the Marines, but he was determined to exact a fearful toll in American casualties. In the 36-day battle for Iwo Jima, which eclipsed all that had gone before, the Marines lost nearly 6, 000 men and the Japanese garrison was virtually wiped out.
O autorze
DERRICK WRIGHT's interest in the Second World War was stimulated by the many Luftwaffe bombing raids on his native Teesside. He is the author of Tarawa: A Hell of a Way to Die, Pacific Victory and Peleliu: To the Far Side of Hell. Married with four daughters, he lives on the edge of the North Yorkshire Moors.