Archives Branch: Campaign Collections
Iwo Jima
Official Documents from Iwo Jima
Documents include operation plans, operation orders, field orders, intelligence reports, action reports, administrative orders, captured Japanese documents, official correspondence, field messages, studies, and memoranda concerning operations on Iwo Jima from February 1945 - March 1945.
The bulk of the documents in this collection were produced by the V Amphibious Corps; the 3d, 4th, and 5th Marine Divisions; and Task Force 56 during the campaign to capture the island of Iwo Jima, known as Operation Detachment.
If you have any questions about these collections, please contact the Archives at (703) 784-4685 or history.division@usmcu.edu.
- Iwo Jima finding aidThis box list comprises official record copies of operation plans, after action reports, and other documents concerning the Iwo Jima campaign.
Index to Iwo Jima Personal Papers Collections
This index highlights collections found in the Archives Branch concerning Marine Corps involvement in the Guadalcanal campaign, August 1942–February 1943, including Operation Pestilence, Operation Watchtower, Operation Cartwheel, and Operation Ringbolt.
The criteria for selecting collections for inclusion in this index is limited to those personal papers that contain materials pertinent to the study of the Guadalcanal campaign. Collections in this index are comprised of official Marine Corps records, documents, and publications; letters and correspondence; manuscripts; photographs; maps; memoirs and reminiscences; clippings and articles; oral histories and interviews; and realia and ephemera.
- Index to Iwo Jima Personal PapersThis index highlights collections held in the Archives Branch that concern Marine Corps involvement in the battle of Iwo Jima, February - March 1945.
Iwo Jima Photographs
- Iwo Jima Photographs on the Archives Branch FlickrSelections of Iwo Jima photographs from the collections of the Archives Branch.
- Lou Lowery's Photographs of Iwo JimaStaff Sergeant Louis R. "Lou" Lowery, a combat photographer, accompanied a 40-man combat patrol from 2d Battalion, 28th Marines to document the raising of the American flag over the hotly-contested island of Iwo Jima on 23 February 1945. The photographs in this collection document not only the event that would later be known as the first flag raising, but also Lowery’s impressions of Iwo Jima, from his arrival on Green Beach to the landing of the first B-29 Bomber on the secured island.
Iwo Jima Maps
The Archives Branch maintains a collection of original maps from the Iwo Jima campaign, to include the overlays, appendices, and enclosures from the Divisional operation plans and after action reports.
Some of these maps are available in digital format. Please contact the Archives for more information.
Monographs and publications from the Marine Corps History Division
Available as full-text, searchable PDFs from the Government Publishing Office.
- "Closing In: Marines in the Seizure of Iwo Jima"by Colonel Joseph H. Alexander, USMC
Sunday, 4 March 1945, marked the end of the second week of the U.S. invasion of Iwo Jima. By this point the assault elements of the 3d, 4th, and 5th Marine Divisions were exhausted, their combat efficiency reduced to dangerously low levels. The thrilling sight of the American flag being raised by the 28th Marines on Mount Suribachi had occurred 10 days earlier, a lifetime on "Sulphur Island." - "Iwo Jima: Amphibious Epic"by Lieutenant Colonel Whitman S. Bartley, USMC
At Iwo Jima the amphibious doctrines, techniques, weapons, and equipment which had proven so effective during the three previous years of World War II received the supreme test. On that island more than 20,000 well-disposed and deeply entrenched Japanese troops conducted an intelligent and dogged defense. There, more than anywhere else in the Central Pacific, terrain and enemy defense preparations combined to limit the effectiveness of American supporting arms, placing a premium on the skill and aggressive fighting spirit of the individual Marine.