Battle Brief: World War II

Tuesday, April 28, 2015
Battle Brief: Battle of Iwo Jima

Contributors: Austin Thompson, Rhegan Fritzler, and Alexandra Stich

Battle Background

           After successes in the Marianas and the Philippines during 1944, allied leaders made plans to invade Okinawa in April of 1945. Because of the planned date for this operation, the allies faced a period of no offensive movements. In order to fill the lull, they made plans to invade Iwo Jima. Due to it’s location, Iwo Jima served as a warning station for allied bombing raids and provided a base for Japanese fighters to intercept approaching bombers. Intelligence indicated that this would be a good spot for an offensive because it was very lightly defended. Planners thought it would take only a week to capture. The misconception of Iwo Jima’s defenses was strategically planned by General Lieutenant Tadamichi Kuribayashi. He knew that the Imperial Japanese Navy would not be able to offer assistance, so he encouraged his men to inflict as many casualties as possible before dying themselves.

Military Leadership

United States: Major General Harry Schmidt and Vice Admiral Marc Mitscher.
 

Vice Admiral Marc Mitscher

Major General Harry Schmidt

Lieutenant General Tadamichi Kuribayashi

Japan: Lieutenant General Tadamichi Kuribayashi and Colonel Baron Takeichi Nishi.

Plans and Objectives

US: The Marines planned for the Japanese to defended the beach line, not the inner island. The US planned to aerial bomb Iwo Jima for 70 days, then invade. General Harry Schmidt planned for a three day naval bombardment, before the Marines had landed on the island.

Japan: The Japanese Army had planned to inflict devastating casualties on the US Army. Their goal in inflicting these casualties was to persuade the US and British Army to reconsider attacking the Japanese home islands. Instead of providing defenses to the beaches of Iwo Jima, he set up defenses farther in to the mainland, something the US was not expecting.

Execution

           Before the action, B-24 Liberators from the Marianas pounded Iwo Jima for 74 days. These attacks had little to no effect. Arriving off the island in mid-February, the invasion force took up their positions. At 2:00 AM on February 19, the pre-invasion bombardment commenced. The first wave of Marines landed at 8:59 AM, meeting little resistance. But, they soon encountered Kuribayashi’s bunker system. They then quickly came under heavy fire from the bunkers and gun emplacements on Mt. Suribachi. They began to take very heavy losses. The Marines began to find that clearing a bunker did not put it out of action, as the Japanese would only use the tunnel network to make it operational again. This led to several casualties because of the Marine’s misconception of whether a place was “safe” or not. The Marines were slowly able to fight their way off of the beach using naval gunfire, close air support, and armored units. Around 10:35, a force of Marines reached the western coast of the island. On February 23, the Marines were able to make it to the top of Mt. Suribachi and raise their flag. As the battle for the mountain raged, Kuribayashi used the tunnel network to inflict severe losses on the Marines. The Japanese were constantly popping out, surprising the Marines. As the Marines continued to push north, they encountered fierce resistance during which the fighting bogged down. The Marines then began to change tactics to combat the nature of the Japanese defenses due to mounting casualties. The island was declared secure on March 16, but even with this proclamation, the 5th Marine Division still took Kuribayashi’s final stronghold. On the night of March 25, 300 Japanese launched a final assault. Appearing behind American lines, this force was ultimately contained and defeated by a mixed group of Army pilots, Seabees, engineers, and Marines.

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Results

           Japanese losses in this battle are anywhere from 17,845 - 21,570. Only 216 Japanese soldiers were captured. The island was declared secure on March 26. At this time, about 3,000 Japanese remained alive in the tunnel system. They did anything from carrying out limited resistance, committing ritual suicide, or scavenging for food. The fighting at Iwo Jima was the one battle in which American forces sustained a greater number of total casualties than the Japanese. Due to the cost to take the island, the campaign was immediately subjected to intense scrutiny in the military and press.

Sources

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Iwo_Jima
• en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planning_for_the_Battle_of_Iwo_Jima
• http://militaryhistory.about.com/od/worldwarii/p/battle-of-iwo-jima.ht
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Iwo_Jima#Japanese_preparations

Profile: World War I

Julius Klein

         Julius Klein was a major general during World War I and II. After World War I, Klein became a criminal reporter for the State Herald, a Chicago newspaper. He also, tried to run for Congressman in 1932 and Senator in 1954. He was unsuccessful in both, but he was successful in the

Julius Klein WWII

formation of the JWV (Jewish War Veterans) New York's Fifth Avenue Parade on April 4, 1948, for the establishment of the State of Israel and several photographic exhibitions taken by U. S. Army Signal Corps.
             During World War I, Julius Klein served as an American spy in Germany. He was original from Germany were his family was interned. He had managed to escape to France, were he signed up as an American soldier in 1918.

PROFILE: Civil War

Civil War Spies

Thomas Jordan

        Spies like: Rose O'Neal Greenhow, Betty Duvall, and Elizabeth Van Lew, played key roles in the information battle during the Civil War. They were able to get information and send it to their side. Rose O'Neal Greenhow and Timothy Webster were just two of many captured and imprisoned spies during the Civil War.

Rose O'Neal Greenhow

        Rose O'Neal Greenhow was just one of Thomas Jordan's spies, that used the "Secret Line" to pass information to the Confederates. She pasted information, about the First Battle of Bull Run, to the Confederates lines, using another spy named Betty
Duvall, who dressed as a farm girl to pass the Union sentinels. However, after a baffling win at First Bull Run, Allen Pinkerton put Rose under surveillance and later arrested her. She was held at Old Capitol

Elizabeth Van Lew

Prison, until June 1862 when she was released and sent to
Richmond.

Betty Duvall

        Another female spy during the Civil War was Elizabeth Van Lew. She was an Union spy, who ran espionage operations out of her farm house. She became a spy in December of 1863, after two soldiers, she had helped, told General Benjamin Butler about her aid. From there she became head of Butler's spy network and his chief source of information. Her first dispatch was on January 30, 1864, to inform General Butler that the Confederates were planning to move prisoners to Andersonville Prison from Richmond's overcrowded prisons. However, the Confederates were warned by a Union soldier on their payroll. Throughout the war, she send other warnings to the

Timothy Webster

Union generals, including: Ulysses S. Grant and George B. McClellan.
        Timothy Webster, an English born immigrant, was the first US double spy. In February of 1861, Timothy got his first test of being a spy. While, he and Abraham Lincoln were in Baltimore, Maryland, Timothy learned of an assassination plot of the soon to be President Lincoln by the secessionist group, "Sons of Liberty". Later that year, McClellan hired Timothy as a Union Spy. He was sent to the Confederate states of Mississippi, Tennessee, Arkansas, and Kentucky to report gathered information. While in these states, he made valuable relationships with several prominent individual. He also reported about the Confederate's preparations. Soon after he had to make an exit, saying he needed to go to Richmond. Before he went to Richmond, he went back to Baltimore to get even more information from his "friends" in the "Son of Liberty". From Baltimore Timothy when to Richmond to ingratiate into the the Richmond society. His seamless ingratiation allowed Timothy to attract the attention of Confederate Secretary of War, Judah P. Benjamin. Soon after, Benjamin recruited Timothy as a courier for the Confederate's "Secret Line". This allowed Timothy to forward information to Pinkerton and the Union generals as he rode, about Confederate spies in/around Washington and Confederate movements/plans. Then in February 1862, Timothy fell ill with inflammatory rheumatism. This lead to the mistakes that would eventually cost Timothy Webster, his life. He would latter be tried and convicted of being a Union spy. His sentence was death by hanging. Timothy Webster died on April 29, 1862, after the first rope broke.

Profile: Revolution

Marquis de Lafayette

             The Marquis de Lafayette was a young French volunteer, who aided in many battles during the American Revolution. On July 31, 1777 he was appointed as Major General in the Continental Army. He was only 20 years old. Late in the summer of 1777, Lafayette met General Washington and was part of his staff during the Battle of the Brandywine. In which, he was wounded. Lafayette, as he is best known, reentered the war in autumn of 1777. In December, he help Washington train his army at Valley Forge.
             Valley Forge and later in the American Revolution is when Lafayette truly became famous. This is when he began train members of the Continental Army and started controlling forces. In May of 1778, he outwitted the British at Bunker Hill, later renamed to Lafayette Hill in his honor. He also, helped trap the British at York and win the American Revolution.

Battle Brief: Trenton & Princeton

Monday, January 12, 2015

BATTLE BRIEF: Trenton & Princeton

Contributors: Trevor Pollack, Alexandra Stich, and Travis Eck

Battle Background

British forces under General William Howe had driven the Continental Army south out New York. Then, on Nov. 16,1776 the British overran Fort Washington in Manhattan, taking 2,000 Americans prisoners. This led to the Battles of Trenton & Princeton.

Military Leadership

Generals of the Americans during the battle of Trenton were Washington, John Cadwalader, and James Ewings. Under Washington’s command was Nathaniel Greene, John Sullivan, and Henry Knox. The Colonel of the British was Johann Rall. Rall was killed during Trenton. General of the Americans during the Battle of Princeton was Washington, with Hugh Mercer under his command. The British had General Charles Cornwallis and General James Grant.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Plans and Objectives

The plan was for American forces to cross the river simultaneously and conduct raids on the outposts at Trenton and Bordentown, each held by a reinforced brigade of Hessian soldiers. A Continental force of around 2,400 men under Washington’s personal command was to cross the Delaware at McConkey’s Ferry above Trenton and then proceed in two columns by

different routes, converging on the opposite ends of the main street of Trenton in the early morning of December 26. A second force, mainly militia under Col. John Cadwalader, was to cross below near Bordentown to attack the Hessian garrison there. A third force,

also militia, under Brig. Gen. James Ewing, was to cross directly opposite Trenton to block the Hessian route of escape across Assunpink Creek. As a result of the win at Trenton, the British will try to trap the American.

  
Execution

Christmas night was cold, windy, and snowy; and the Delaware River was filled with blocks of ice. These adverse conditions prevented Cadwalader and Ewing from fulfilling their parts of the plan. Driven on by Washington’s indomitable will, the main force did cross as planned; the two columns, commanded respectively by Greene and Sullivan, converged on Trenton at eight o’clock in the morning of December 26, taking the Hessians completely by surprise. The Hessians surrendered after a fight lasting only an hour and a half. Convinced that he had the Americans in a trap, Cornwallis put off battle until the next day because of the exhausted state of his troops, near Princeton. Washington slipped away, leaving campfires burning brightly to deceive the British. The next morning he struck another surprise blow at Princeton, inflicting heavy losses on three British regiments just leaving the town to join Cornwallis.

 Results

The Continental force won these battles and took 918 captive, with only two men were lost and two men were injured. Only 400 British escaped to Bordentown, only because Ewing was not in place to block their escape. After Princeton, Washington then went into winter quarters in
the hills around Morristown, New Jersey. Cornwallis did not pursue.

 Bibiliography

• American Military History Vol. 1

• http://www.history.com/topics/american-revolution/battles-of-trenton-and-princeton