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6 IntotheMeatGrinder For some men . . . the fear of death might be palliated by the belief that nothing more dreadful could possibly happen to them than had already happened. —Marcellus to his slave, Demetrius, in The Robe The pivotal point of Kuribayashi’s island defense centered around Hill 382 and the bowl-shaped ridge called the amphitheater. Hill 382 (so named for its height) was located about 250 yards east of Aireld No. 2 and directly north of the amphitheater. Atop Hill 382 stood a two-story reinforced concrete blockhouse with artillery and antitank weapons. This stronghold was surrounded by camouaged machine gun nests and spider traps. A spider trap was the name given by the Marines to a singular Japanese defensive position. It was a one-man foxhole with a camouaged steel cover. The soldier hiding in a spider trap would wait until a Marine passed him, spring out, shoot, and then duck back inside. Each position covered other positions with interlocking elds of crossre. The caves and network of tunnels beneath the hill allowed the Japanese to reinforce threatened positions or escape when overrun without exposing themselves to re. Light and medium tanks were dug in turretdeep in the maze of ravines and ridges around the hill with their cannons covering every approach to the hill. Beneath Hill 382 was a communications center with concrete walls four feet thick and a reinforced roof that could withstand heavy naval bombardment. Located 600 yards south of Hill 382 was an outcropping of volcanic rock that the Marines named Turkey Knob. It was defended by machine gun nests and mortar pits connected by a network of tunnels. Into the Meat Grinder | 67 Minami, located just east of Turkey Knob, was one of ve villages on Iwo Jima. Sulfur mine workers who lived in Minami had been evacuated long before the battle. Minami was reduced to rubble by the initial naval and aerial bombardment, but hidden within six concrete buildings was a concentration of machine guns, mortar pits, and sniper-infested spider traps. The surrounding landscape was a jumble of torn scrub trees and sharp rock formations, ideally suited for defense but difcult to attack. The Marines referred to Hill 382, Turkey Knob, the amphitheater, and the village of Minami as the “Meat Grinder.”  Each morning a preparatory mortar and artillery barrage preceded the day’s advance. Hundreds of shells were red into the hillsides and ridges at suspected Japanese positions. As soon as the barrage was lifted, Jim ordered his men out of their foxholes and they began to move forward. Jim looked over the ugly features of the high ground as his platoon approached, trying to get an idea of where the Japanese might be hiding. The features of the amphitheater were apparent, but he could not see any Japanese gun emplacements; they were too well hidden. At times, the Japanese waited until the Marines had advanced beyond their positions so that they could re on them from behind or into their anks. All the Japanese positions had a height advantage over the advancing Marines, so they could toss grenades and shoot down at them. It was next to impossible to take out such a position by a frontal assault without sustaining an unacceptable number of casualties. When confronted by this type of obstacle, the Marines had to fall back to a deladed position and wait for another platoon to either come around to it from the side or work around to the rear of the Japanese position. If he thought he did not have enough repower on hand, Jim could call for additional heavy weapons to be brought forward to assist him. In many cases an enemy position was identied only after a Marine was shot. The advance was then stopped and the wounded or dead Marine was evacuated. Once an enemy position was identied, Jim got on the radio and requested additional repower. Sometimes he asked for a amethrower squad if he thought it could get close enough to the cave or bunker entrance without unnecessarily exposing the squad to enemy re. Other times he asked for “Smokey Bear” to send up a .30-cal machine gun squad. These squads were on-call for his use when needed. One of “Smokey Bear’s” machine gun squads consisted of one man to operate the gun and two men to load it. The second loader was not [3.17.154.171] Project MUSE...

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