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re: Why wasn't Peleliu and other islands bypassed?
Posted on 7/17/21 at 11:23 am to lepdagod
Posted on 7/17/21 at 11:23 am to lepdagod
quote:
Never bypass a fortified enemy position…
Don’t know who downvoting this… we screwed ourself plenty of times in WW2 not following this rule… you HAVE to take the fight to the enemy eventually
A bunch of Japs sitting on an island that cannot be supplied are not a threat to anyone.
In fact, they are a liability to the Japs if they try to supply them as it puts more of their assets at risk.
0
Posted on 7/17/21 at 11:26 am to Saintsisit
quote:
Generations of historians have accepted this explanation. But as marine captain Robert S. Burrell convincingly argues in The Ghosts of Iwo Jima (2006), this justification cannot withstand scrutiny. For one thing, the 2,251 figure was achieved by counting every B-29 landing on Iwo Jima as an emergency landing, despite the fact that of the nearly two thousand landings made during the months of May, June, and July 1945, more than 80 percent were for routine refueling. Several hundred landings were made simply for training purposes, while most of the remainder were for relatively minor engine maintenance. During the month with the largest number of landings—June—not a single one of more than eight hundred B-29s that landed on the island did so due to combat damage.
Refueling is kind of important.
And "minor engine maintenance" is laughable. The engines on the B29's were notoriously unreliable until near the end of the war. They didn't land on Iwo, which was not a major maintenance base, for a tune up.
Revisionist history.
Posted on 7/17/21 at 11:29 am to lepdagod
quote:
Never bypass a fortified enemy position…
Huh?
Those seem like the exact positions you should bypass if possible.
Posted on 7/17/21 at 11:30 am to lepdagod
quote:The Maginot Line says hello
Never bypass a fortified enemy position…
Posted on 7/17/21 at 11:34 am to lepdagod
(no message)
This post was edited on 7/17/21 at 11:35 am
Posted on 7/17/21 at 11:35 am to udtiger
quote:This.
Needed the airfield in IJ.
Every major island assaulted in the latter part of the Pacific campaign was invariably tied to ports, air and sea. It was the lifeblood of the process to strangle the Japanese islands.
And, to be honest, in some instances (the Philippines being a good example) it was purely symbolic.
This post was edited on 7/17/21 at 11:36 am
Posted on 7/17/21 at 11:36 am to BuckyCheese
quote:
Refueling is kind of important
It is important. So if we hadn't taken Iwo Jima they would have just fallen out of the sky? Of course not, other refueling positions would have been in place.
Posted on 7/17/21 at 11:38 am to lepdagod
quote:
you HAVE to take the fight to the enemy eventually
or you could use an atomic bomb
Posted on 7/17/21 at 11:39 am to jimbeam
Thank you. These Japanese's were left on these islands, hell they didn't even have water in Iwo. On the front with Chinese they laterally sent a whole army on a major attack with no food resulting in more than half dying of starvation on the retreat.
They used the last of their fuel to allow the Navy to to commit a honorable death in the battle of Leyte Gulf.
Now granted like I said, did the US know how stretched and out of resources they were? Who knows but hugely isolated islands with no way of getting off of them is the perfect obstacle to bypass.
They used the last of their fuel to allow the Navy to to commit a honorable death in the battle of Leyte Gulf.
Now granted like I said, did the US know how stretched and out of resources they were? Who knows but hugely isolated islands with no way of getting off of them is the perfect obstacle to bypass.
Posted on 7/17/21 at 11:41 am to Saintsisit
quote:
It is important. So if we hadn't taken Iwo Jima they would have just fallen out of the sky? Of course not, other refueling positions would have been in place.
Name them.
You do know they flew the bombing missions out of the Marianna's, right?
Posted on 7/17/21 at 11:43 am to GREENHEAD22
Marines love a fight. On an island only one team gets to walk away. They were up for the challenge.
Posted on 7/17/21 at 11:45 am to GREENHEAD22
Iwo Jima was needed because it would provide B-29 pilots an airfield for emergency landings. It also was useful as a staging area for the impending invasion of the Japanese home islands.
Posted on 7/17/21 at 11:46 am to Saintsisit
quote:
Robert S. Burrell
I served with Robert. I think he took a lot of shite for the book but his analysis was spot on. It's hard to write such things about such an iconic battle in our history. God bless those that fought there. I've been honored to know a few.
Posted on 7/17/21 at 11:47 am to Saintsisit
quote:
So if we hadn't taken Iwo Jima they would have just fallen out of the sky? Of course not, other refueling positions would have been in place.
Like what? The B-29 bases were headquartered on Saipan and Tinian - some 1,500 miles from mainland Japan. Between them was nothing but ocean. If they had to ditch, their only chance of survival was to be picked up by an American submarine. Hence why Iwo Jima was important for our crews. For instance...the Bockscar, after dropping Fat Man on Nagasaki, was forced to make an emergency landing on Iwo Jima. Had we not taken that island, they would have ditched into the ocean and might not have survived.
This post was edited on 7/17/21 at 11:49 am
Posted on 7/17/21 at 11:59 am to NPComb
quote:
Marines love a fight. On an island only one team gets to walk away. They were up for the challenge.
Kill.
Posted on 7/17/21 at 12:02 pm to BuckyCheese
quote:
You do know they flew the bombing missions out of the Marianna's, right?
quote:
In American hands, Iwo Jima did provide an intermediate airfield for staging bombing missions against Japan. B-29s could extend their range and slightly increase their payloads by refueling there. However, the vast majority of Marianas-based B-29s never used Iwo Jima for this purpose. Quite simply, the B-29s could hit nearly every desired target within the range already provided by bases in the Mariana Islands.
Face it, it wasn't the best decision to take Iwo Jima.
Posted on 7/17/21 at 12:04 pm to GREENHEAD22
Iwo Jima was essential to the bombing campaign of Japan. Over 2,200 B29s made emergency landings there by the time the war was over. That’s 2,200 B29s that were not lost. And more importantly that’s over 24,000 American Airmen who were not lost.
Iwo Jima was bought for a heavy price. But it proved to be worth it.
Iwo Jima was bought for a heavy price. But it proved to be worth it.
Posted on 7/17/21 at 12:06 pm to Darth_Vader
quote:
Iwo Jima was essential to the bombing campaign of Japan. Over 2,200 B29s made emergency landings there by the time the war was over. That’s 2,200 B29s that were not lost. And more importantly that’s over 24,000 American Airmen who were not lost.
Some guy above is claiming they only stopped there for fuel and a tune up.
Posted on 7/17/21 at 12:07 pm to RollTide1987
RollTide1987…
Posted on 7/17/21 at 12:09 pm to Saintsisit
quote:
In American hands, Iwo Jima did provide an intermediate airfield for staging bombing missions against Japan. B-29s could extend their range and slightly increase their payloads by refueling there. However, the vast majority of Marianas-based B-29s never used Iwo Jima for this purpose. Quite simply, the B-29s could hit nearly every desired target within the range already provided by bases in the Mariana Islands.
As stated previous, Iwo was not a primary base. It was for emergency use. They didn't use it to stage bombing missions as it wasn't big enough.
Your guy is trying to justify his argument and failing badly.
Still laughing about "minor engine maintenance".
"Hey Joe. Number 2 needs a tune up. Whaddaya say we shoot into Iwo and get that taken care of?"
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