February 3rd, 2005
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Originally Posted by Charge_7 Heavy firepower doesn't mean much when the enemy is burrowed into the native rock to effect a labyrinth of tunnels and redoubts such that not even 16" naval guns can dislodge them. Heavy firepower didn't win Iwo Jima. The M1 rifle and Marine Corps blood and sweat did. | Interesting to note what happened at Saipan. Obviously different conditions to Iwo Jima. Seven American battleships and 11 destroyers shelled Saipan and Tinian for 2 days before the landings, firing 15,000 16-inch and 5-inch shells at the islands along with 165,000 other shells of other caliber. To even begin to comprehend the magnitude of this onslaught, one needs to realize that a single 16-inch round weighs slightly more than a Volkswagen Beetle, besides being packed with high explosives. On the second day of the bombardment, this force was joined by 8 more battleships, 6 heavy cruisers and 5 light cruisers. The islands were ringed by American warships with their guns blazing. Shells rained down on the island, its villages, inhabitants, and defenders, gouging huge craters in the sand and coral. The earth trembled under the tremendous explosions of naval bombardment and simultaneous air attacks. http://www.navysite.de/ships/lha2about.htm |
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