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original author: takahashi toshiharu

translator: vader

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the enemy ship showed no sign of landing. we are just waiting anxiously. the enemy ship turned around and went back. i am confused as to why it turned out like this. it looked like it was going to land but then went back.

the enemy ships went further and further away, and finally disappeared on the other side of the sea horizon. the enemy did not land. god really blessed us.

everyone breathed a sigh of relief. the life entrusted to the captain was taken back. in short, we can rest assured. although we don’t know when the next time will come. unlike the battlefield in china, the naval guns this time are too terrifying. i am really afraid that i will die.

transfer

our engineering unit had previously borrowed positions from other units, but now we had no choice but to build our own positions, so we moved to the northern tribe. (translator's note: in 2007, due to limited information, i temporarily translated it as "northern position", but now the name of the northern tribe is retained according to the existing fixed place name)

the island is small and not very far to walk. we have to walk from the south coast to the northern tribe. i thought that if there was an air raid, we would be in danger. fortunately, there was no air raid.

build a position

we arrived in the north and there were no ready-made positions. we had to make do with what we had until they were built. we slept on the ground under palm trees, pandanus trees and banana trees with the night dew dripping on them.

it wasn't cold at all so i could sleep anywhere. i slept under a pandanus tree. the leader of my squad was sergeant koike.

every day we dug the horizontal tunnels that were unique to engineers. we wielded hoes and shoveled the soil into dustpans and dumped them out.

we were working in the earthwork wearing nothing but our loincloths, sweating like rain, and our bodies were covered with flying dust, which slapped us. it was painful because this was a volcanic island and the soil was very hot.

we had no freedom of food and drink, no change of clothes, and no way to take a bath. we could only spend the night outdoors under the trees. the water we drank was rainwater collected by a curtain. moreover, if we didn't dig our tunnel quickly, we would be doomed when the air raid came.

if you don't dig 30 meters underground, you can't defend against air raids. there are many cliffs here, and you can use these cliffs to dig pits horizontally. if it's flat ground, you don't need a position.

i went to the west coast to instruct the recently arrived infantry on how to dig tunnels. air raids would come every day, and the infantry needed to dig holes first, blasting them with explosives before digging in. they had to connect tunnels dug from other directions underground, and only engineers knew how to do these operations.

we taught the infantry how to dig on the right, on the left, on the top, etc., and the infantry listened carefully. although i didn't understand it in detail, i tried my best to guide the infantry to dig tunnels and came every day.

heads flying everywhere

one day, i went to the west coast as usual to guide the infantry troops to dig horizontally on the cliff terrain of about 40 meters. after lunch, it was time to rest. everyone walked out of the tunnel to rest and chat beside the rock wall. at this time, the air raid alarm sounded.

i quickly told the infantrymen to run into the tunnel we had just dug, but what i said was only useful when digging, as it was time to rest. they didn't listen to me at all and said there was no need to escape. no one moved. they also said don't worry, bombs won't be dropped here and so on.

i sensed danger and left the infantry and ran into the horizontal tunnel. soon, planes came and dropped bombs. the ground shook, huge black smoke and fire rose, sand and rocks flew everywhere, and i couldn't see anything.

the plane flew away to the sea. i was worried about the infantrymen i had just separated from, so i ran over to see what was happening. the entire ground had changed shape, and only dust remained. i shouted "hey, hey" but there was no response.

as expected, all of them died. i tried to look for (the bodies), but i only saw people scattered everywhere, buried in the soil. there were many people whose hands and feet were blown off and only half of them were left in the soil. i remember that there were many infantrymen, but when i counted the bodies, there was not a single intact one.

we continued searching and found many people were blown far away with their lower bodies buried in the soil. we looked carefully and found that their heads were gone. there was also a big hole in the skin on the top of the head. the head was still there but the skull inside was gone. however, the eyes, nose and ears were still on the head.

i have never seen such a way of death before. i have also crawled out of a pile of corpses since i was on the battlefield in china, but this is really a strange way to die.

i thought that if these people had listened to me and ran away at that time, they would not have died in such a horrible way.

no matter how capable you are, sometimes you still have to listen to others, otherwise you will suffer a great loss.

the infantry medic stuffed cotton wool into the empty skin of the corpse's head to barely fill it into the shape of a head, and then wrapped a bandage on it. the head was still the same head, but the middle was filled with cotton wool. this kind of human head with only skin left but no tissue or bones was unheard of.

there are so many different ways people die. i think the medics' actions are a way of showing their last concern for their comrades.

(translator's note: in fact, the diarist was able to survive, in addition to incredible luck, experience is also a very important part. on the battlefield, you still have to listen to the veterans. these new recruits have no chance to regret it.)

premonition

i had a premonition. it was a hot summer night, and i lay down under a pandanus tree with my exhausted body and fell asleep. i collapsed because i was infected with dysentery and my stomach hurt so much that i had to go to the toilet again and again.

that night i had a feeling that there might be an air raid. sleeping next to me was private first class fujimura, with whom i had a good relationship, so i woke him up and asked him if he wanted to dig a hole and get in. i felt something was wrong, but private first class fujimura said he would do it but did not get up.

i had no choice but to go alone, i ran to a place about ten meters away and dug a horizontal tunnel and lay down.

(translator's note: other iwo jima survivors' memoirs mentioned that a lot of the fresh water on the island was polluted, and many people suffered from dysentery, and dysentery could even cause bloody stools. this is also shown in "letters from iwo jima". the japanese army was really miserable)

bomb

there was only one plane coming from the japanese direction, dropping a bunch of small bombs with a clang, and then flying south. i was shocked. i quickly got up to see if the squad was okay.

then i heard a soldier yelling, "captain! captain! everyone in the squad is dead!" i saw that his head was covered in blood and he was seriously injured, so i quickly treated his wound.

i rushed over to report to the squad leader, lieutenant miyazaki, but found that everyone in the squad with the squad leader seemed to be dead.

it was dark at night and i couldn't see clearly, but the four teams, team 1, team 3, team 4, and the health team, were all blown to pieces. only team 2 was safe. two people hid in the rock wall and survived, and all 30 people were killed.

lieutenant miyazaki madoka was still there, and he said that it was too dark now and there was nothing they could do, and they should wait until daybreak to search carefully.

now we need to take care of the wounds of the surviving soldiers and settle them down. there is nothing we can do now. even lighting a fire is not an option, because the enemy will see the night lighting and know the location of your position. war is so terrible.

(translator's note: after losing saipan and tinian, the japanese often used small formations or single bombers to launch long-range sneak attacks on b29s on american airfields at night. here it seems that one of them dropped all the bombs when passing by iwo jima. the us military probably did not have this tactic at the time. of course, the author's premonition is also amazing. he is worthy of being the chosen one who survived iwo jima)

funeral

the next morning, lieutenant miyazaki, the four surviving soldiers, and the members of squad 2 searched for the bodies, collected the crushed body parts, and buried them all at the place where the sulfur was spewing.

private fujimura was missing, and we couldn't find his body no matter how hard we looked. we searched everywhere together, and someone shouted, "found it, found it." about 20 meters to the west, in the ditch under the banana tree, he was hit by gravel and sand, and his lower body was buried. he seemed to be dead sitting down.

we were helpless and could only dig a hole and bury him on the spot. lieutenant miyazaki, the squad leader, was a local priest before joining the army, so we performed a takamagahara style funeral. we also put our hands together.

captain miyazaki said that it would be great if he could be buried here with fujimura, and he started crying as he spoke.

most of the squad died, but i survived that day without any incident. my premonition saved my life. the squad leader, sergeant koike, also died that day. the responsibilities on my shoulders became heavier and heavier.

(translator's note: there is a large shinto shrine in takamahara called takamahara-no-hara, whose "kamizo-matsuri" funeral service still exists today)

dud

another day, sergeant yano and i went to scout the enemy situation. it was dark and a huge shell suddenly fell in front of us. sergeant yano and i quickly buried ourselves in the sand. we could neither hear nor see, but we seemed to be still alive.

we smiled at each other. it turned out that the shell had been buried deep in the soil and had become a dud. if it had exploded, we would have been blown to pieces and died completely. at this time, i was saved again.

iwo jima overview

the north of iwo jima is north iwo jima, the south is south iwo jima, and the one in the middle is where we are. both the north and south are uninhabited islands. the iwo jima where we are is about 6 kilometers long and 3 kilometers wide, with more than 20,000 soldiers and navy on it.

it is about 1,050 kilometers from tokyo. as a volcanic island, smoke is emitted from the center, and the mountain rises about 10 centimeters a year. there is a mountain called suribachi on the west side, which is about 150 meters high. we call it water pipe mountain because there is a crater in the middle that looks like a water pipe. that's how we call it.

there is no water here, neither rivers nor swamps. rainwater is the only drinking water. rainfall occurs regularly every day, and it becomes a heavy rain for about 5 minutes, and then it becomes sunny.

soldiers used curtains to collect water. steam rose from the ground and the sea, and the sea water became hot. no fish would come near here. no matter where you sat on the ground, your butt would be burned. you could bury your lunch box in the steamy place and cook the rice.

trees

there are pandanus trees here. one trunk can grow many branches, which will hang down into the ground, regenerate roots and grow. dozens of trunks will grow together, just like the tentacles of an octopus (translator's note: pandanus is called 蛸の木 in japanese, which means octopus tree; photo from google).

cut the trunk and eat the white part in the middle, which is delicious. others include bananas, papayas, coconuts, albizzia, mahogany, etc. the latter can be used as military rations.

i tried to put parasites and other plants in the lunch box and cook them, but they were crunchy and hard to swallow. the soldiers ate the grass and trees on the island.

crop

there are no vegetables here. pineapples are planted in the fields, as well as kohlrabi, which are used to make m-drugs, and hairy fish vines, which are not suitable for human consumption. it is summer all year round, and grass and trees can grow all year round.

(translator's note: but that's a bit sensitive so i won't write it here. the original name of the hairtail vine is 野菜のゲラン. after checking, it might be this. it is also a plant unique to the ogasawara islands and is poisonous. the first one is pineapple, pineapple, i don't understand why it can't be eaten)

biology

snakes, lizards and centipedes were all gone; the ground was too hot for cold-blooded animals to survive.

as for birds, there were many white-eyes, but no crows or sparrows. white-eyes did not know how to run away when they saw people, so many soldiers could easily catch them and roast them for food.

(translator's note: white-eye, scientific name zosterops japonicus, is a small passerine bird. such a cute bird is unlucky to encounter more than 20,000 starving japanese devils. photo from wikipedia)

airstrike

air raids come every day, they are bound to come. we call them scheduled flights. these are large planes called b24s, shining silver and rumbling in large formations.

bombs were dropped simultaneously over the island, blowing up supplies on the ground and killing soldiers, causing considerable damage.

the japanese anti-aircraft guns could not hit these planes at all, and could only explode them from below. so it was very easy for the enemy to bomb them. they were at an altitude of more than 10,000 meters, which was beyond the reach of the japanese anti-aircraft guns, and it was impossible to shoot them down.

a one-ton bomb dropped on the ground could create a crater with a diameter of ten meters, and the soil and sand were blown up and fell from the air with a loud noise. the fires and materials that were blown up caused great losses.

naval guns

in the autumn of showa 19, the enemy's aircraft carrier fleet would come here frequently, sometimes every day, bombing the island to pieces before leaving.

soldiers died, things were blown up, the damage was greater than that caused by air raids. even if we hid in underground fortifications, we would be shaken up and down. the number of soldiers was decreasing, and the rice and water were almost gone. it was terrible.

soldiers would steal rice to fill their stomachs, and they became more and more adept at it. if they were caught, they would be shot immediately, without going through a military court. stealing rice would result in lynching on the spot, which was very horrific.

meiji festival

november 3, 1949 is meiji day. if you are a troop stationed in the interior, you can go out today. the duty of the army is to fight wars, and you will definitely not be allowed to go out during wartime.

the us military also knew which days japan's holidays were, so they would drop more bombs on holidays, followed by naval artillery bombardments, which caused great damage on the ground. the damage caused by artillery bombardments was much greater than that caused by air raids. there were great losses of soldiers and supplies.

(translator's note: meiji day was established to commemorate the registration day of emperor meiji. in 1948 (showa 23), after world war ii, with the purpose of "loving freedom and peace and promoting the development of cultural undertakings", the day was changed to cultural day. it is now a legal holiday in japan. i have to say that the us military is pretty mean, hahaha)

cluster bomb

one day, i was walking in the northern tribe with five soldiers, and suddenly a plane flew over from the direction of japan. i subconsciously thought it was the enemy, so i hid in the rock wall with the soldiers. the enemy did not see the target, so he dropped the cluster bomb and ran away.

this bomb is very scary. one bomb will become ten, and then ten bombs will become thousands of bombs flying everywhere, killing all living things within a 100-meter square. the shrapnel will make a terrifying whistling sound.

it was the first time i encountered this kind of cluster bomb. if i had discovered it a little later, the consequences would have been disastrous. fortunately, we hid in the rocks and were saved.

the hard work every day made us skinny, but no one complained. we just built our positions. the weak would die, and the strong would live. the dead would be buried on the spot, and the survivors would continue to work hard.

the death of sergeant kudo

there was a sergeant named kudo. he was ruthless in ordering the soldiers around, saying that the orders from their superiors were the orders from the emperor, and the soldiers had no choice but to obey even if they disagreed.

this guy was sick and could only lie on the rock wall. on this island in the south pacific where there was no military doctor, he had no choice but to die alone without anyone to take care of him and was buried on the spot.

in my opinion, evil will be punished, really. the emperor's order was useless, but he still died. it is said that people speak good words before they die. will he repent for abusing the soldiers before he dies? how pitiful.

new year

the 19th year of the showa era came to an end, and spring arrived on iwo jima. it was the new year, the first month of the 20th year of the showa era.

in this place 1,000 kilometers away from the japanese mainland, there are no snacks, no alcohol, no money, and even no stores to buy things. enemy planes come every day and even at night.

this is a mental attack that keeps us awake. no one is saying anything about a happy new year. there is nothing to be happy about.

the enemy is coming

on february 17, 1930, i was giving instructions to about ten people on the construction of an anti-aircraft gun fortification, and i saw a comrade i had known and who had been taken care of by me on chichijima.

he invited me to lunch and we had a very pleasant chat. at this time, the unit received a phone call informing them that the enemy aircraft carrier formation was heading north, with a size of about 800 ships.

this is bad. what was supposed to happen has finally happened. the war is about to start, and the enemy is not heading inland but to iwo jima. as soldiers, we cannot show our inner thoughts of wanting to live in disgrace, so we can only pretend to be happy and cheerful. in fact, this is not the case at all.

then another call came in, informing us that the enemy was moving northward near minami-iwo jima. they would soon reach iwo jima. the soldiers of this unit and our engineers did not panic, but continued their work.

in the evening, i returned to my position. after returning, no one was panicked, and everyone had a very calm expression. that night, i fell asleep in the tunnel and greeted the morning.

surrounded

on february 18, 1949, i woke up and was shocked to see the sea outside the tunnel. i usually don't panic like this, but this time i was really scared. the sea was full of enemy warships and we were completely surrounded.

fear came over me uncontrollably. i had never seen so many warships since i was born, and i had never heard of them. most of the warships were anchored. i heard from the headquarters that the us warships were almost gone, and the war report also said that the us had run out of bombs and could only throw cement bombs, but now it seemed impossible that all the warships were gone.

isn't there a huge fleet in front of us now? six of the 40cm cannons on the battleships turned towards the island, and all the cannons in the large fleet were facing iwo jima. but no one opened fire. it was a magical sight. i informed everyone of the situation.

(translator's note: the headquarters' publications were really harmful. it is said that even tojo was fooled, and it also led japan's own strategic deployment into a pit several times. it can be said to be the most powerful strategic research bureau in history)

prepare for the battle

our engineers had already moved all the weapons, ammunition, food and water to the underground tunnels. the enemy still did not open fire, and the planes did not take off. it was like the calm before the storm, and there was a strange feeling.

we also did not fire a single shot, and everything fell completely silent. we quickly moved all the remaining items on the ground into the underground tunnel.

lieutenant general tadamichi kuribayashi, the supreme commander on iwo jima, gave our entire team an order: "the enemy that officers and soldiers have been waiting for for a long time is here. you must become the breakwater of the pacific ocean and fight to the last soldier. even if it means guerrilla warfare, you must fight the enemy to the end!"

hearing him say that he would fight to the last soldier, and that the last soldier must keep his life to fight guerrilla warfare, it seemed that lieutenant general kuribayashi had already made up his mind to die in battle before issuing such an order. i understood in my heart. he was probably going to die together with more than 20,000 men.

(end of the first half of the diary)