80 years ago today. Operation Detachment. Iwo Jima, 20 February 1945 0900, D-Day plus 1.
Official wartime caption. “Going Inland, Determination written on their countenances, Marines start the drive to the interior of Iwo Jima. Running at a crouch, they dart across the tableland in the shadow of Mount Suribachi, taking advantage of the scant protection offered by small rises in the volcanic sand.”
Note the M1 Carbine with rifle grenade attachment and said grenade on the side of the Marine’s pack. For close-in work, the Marine is the distance has a 12 gauge shotgun.
For reference, Canfield notes that the U.S. military purchased more than 500,000 12 gauge combat shotguns for use in WWII (not counting guns used for training or guard duty) including models from Ithaca (Model 37), Savage (Model 720), Stevens (Models 520-30 and 620A,) Remington (Models 11 and 31), and Winchester. The Marines, specifically, preferred Winchester Model M97 and M12 pump guns and had a TOE for 306 such scatterguns per division.
The Iwo Jima Campaign would include 35 days of active ground combat which still reverberates through history.
