Battle of Iuka

“ Japan had sacrificed between 50,000 and 100,000 of her best soldiers in bringing the six months' siege to a triumphant issue, and in doing so had, by dividing her armies, moreover, forfeited the opportunity of dealing a crushing blow at her adversary. The magnificent infantry that broke themselves in so many vain assaults upon the fortifications of Port Arthur might have enabled Oyama to turn the Russian retreat at Liao-yang into a rout, or to drive the Russians, after the battle of the Sha-ho, back beyond Mukden. ”

“ After the battle had been raging along the entire line for more than an hour and but little progress had been made by the enemy, Marmaduke massed his forces in compact lines and advanced upon our right and center. To meet this formidable movement Captain Landis of the Eighteenth Iowa, with his piece of artillery, was ordered to the front supported by three companies of the regiment under Captains Blue, Van Meter and Stonacre. The enemy at once charged upon the gun and a desperate struggle ensued. Surrounded by overwhelming numbers our men made a heroic fight to save the gun. ”

“ The occurrence was indeed lamentable but it was the fortune of war and to keep up a grudge so long against an innocent man is unreasonable. The battle was between the Tokugawas and the Toyotomis, it was no private conflict between the Tokugawas and the Ikedas. Peace has long been restored—in these days it does not become a warrior to harbour revengeful feelings against would-be friends—there are enough real foes to fight. As a personal favour to me, if for no other reason, I ask you to be reconciled to Iyeyasu and to forget the past. ”

“ As vigorous as was the assault made on the Russian front, there can be no doubt that this was nothing more than a feint. The readiness with which the Japanese Commander-in-Chief sacrificed thousands of lives in assaults of a secondary nature is one of the significant things of the story of the battle. Such methods are reminiscent of Grant's massed attacks in the closing days of the Civil War, when life was counted as nothing when in the scale beside the value of victory. No pang for the sacrifice reached the heart of Oyama or the Generals under him who were directing the assaults. ”

“ The Russian general had been able to extricate his army and by a masterful retreat, to realign his forces in a new position with no alternative but to follow and prepare to renew the struggle left to the Japanese commanders. The Battle of Mukden must be estimated in the light of an effort to prevent a recurrence of this feat by the Russians. The chief world interest centers about the strategy of Marshal Oyama to encircle his foe, to cut off his retreat completely and to force the alternative of annihilation or surrender. ”

“ The battle would thus feature the unique combination of a near-passive ground defense with a violent air offensive that would employ suicide tactics on an unprecedented scale.
By the spring of 1945 the Americans knew well the Japanese propensity for individual suicide attacks, having experienced kamikazes in the Philippines, antishipping swimmers21 in the waters near Iwo Jima, and “human bullet” antitank demolitionists at Peleliu. But IGHQ escalated these tactics to an awesome level at Okinawa by introducing the kikusui (Floating Chrysanthemums) massed suicide air strikes against the fleet. ”

“ At Tarawa, Saipan, and Tinian, I saw Marines killed and wounded in a shocking manner, but I saw nothing like the ghastliness that hung over the Iwo beachhead. Nothing any of us had ever known could compare with the utter anguish, frustration, and constant inner battle to maintain some semblance of sanity.
Personnel accounting was a nightmare under those conditions, but the assault divisions eventually reported the combined loss of 2,420 men to General Schmidt (501 killed, 1,755 wounded, 47 dead of wounds, 18 missing, and 99 combat fatigue) . ”

“ Reinforcements for Both Sides By this time Kuropatkin's forces—thanks to the completion of the Circum-Baikal railway—had reached 250,000, with more than 800 guns. The Japanese strength, after reinforcements both from Japan and from the army investing Port Arthur, cannot have been much less; though at the close of the battle which was about to be fought Marshal Oyama asserted that at all points his victorious troops had been outnumbered. However that may be, the Japanese had the advantage of a prepared position, the key of which was in rugged mountainous country. ”

“ It is not too much to say that no General of the Union army won a victory against such superior numbers and no one fought a more difficult battle, requiring rare exercise of skill and resources to meet the sudden and unexpected emergencies of the battle-field. Colonels Vandever and Dodge, of Iowa, were in command of brigades. Colonel Dodge and Lieutenant-Colonel Galligan, who led the Fourth Iowa, were wounded; Lieutenant-Colonel Herron, who commanded the Ninth, was wounded, and Lieutenant-Colonel Trimble, who led a portion of the Third Iowa Cavalry in a desperate charge, was wounded. ”

“ Hereupon the ships were drawn up in order of battle in the bay of Aita. A Yemishi of Aita named Omuka came forward and made an oath, saying:—"It is not by reason of the arrival of the Imperial forces that we slaves carry bows and arrows, but because it is our nature to live upon animal food. If we have provided bows and arrows against the Imperial forces, may the Gods of the bay of Aita take note of it! We will serve the Government with pure hearts."
Omuka was accordingly granted the rank of Upper Shō-otsu, and local governors were established in the two districts of Nushiro and Tsugaru. ”

“ Two gunboats now opened on the enemy, which was finally repulsed with heavy loss, leaving more than one hundred dead on the field. The Twenty-third Iowa took a conspicuous part in this battle under the leadership of Colonel Glasgow, fighting with unsurpassed courage throughout the long and desperate encounter, losing fifty men out of two hundred. Among the slain was Captain J. C. Brown, of Company I. This battle was notable as the first in which negro troops took a prominent part. The employment of colored men in the army had met with strong opposition from the time it was first proposed. ”

“ Nothing could move the gallant command of General Rice from its position, and about noon the enemy withdrew defeated. At two o’clock the last regiment had crossed and the bridge been destroyed, while the army resumed its march toward Little Rock. The army was saved by a fearful sacrifice of noble men; eight hundred had fallen in the battle including the gallant General Rice, who was mortally wounded. Captain George S. Bacon of Company C and fifty-nine men of the Twenty-ninth Iowa were left wounded on the field and fell into the hands of the enemy. ”

“ The warrior planted himself erect but on thrusting, his spear was warded off with the end of the loin-cloth. Kawelo was at the same moment thrusting, his javelin—the name of Kawelo’s javelin was Koihelaumeki—and the warrior was laid low. With that one thrust the weapon made a clean cut from his head and lodged in his detested spot. Kawelo’s ulus were vigorously conducting the war, the informant being the one to escape. Said Aikanaka, “How fared your23 battle?” “Lo, you question! We have all met with disastrous defeat, and I am the only24 one spared. ”

“ The artists couldn't very well draw what they couldn't see. Some of us, not being military experts, and therefore dependent on mental pictures and incident for material, were equally [pg 169] helpless. Thus far the spoils of war had been battle-fields, empty trenches, a few wounded Japanese soldiers, and one Russian prisoner in a red shirt. So, hearing that General Oku feared for our safety, we sent him a round-robin relieving him of any responsibility on our account, and praying that we should be allowed to go closer to the fighting, or our occupation would be gone. ”

“ The three-month-long battle of Okinawa covered a 700-mile arc from Formosa to Kyushu and involved a million combatants—Americans, Japanese, British, and native Okinawans. With a magnitude that rivaled the Normandy invasion the previous June, the battle of Okinawa was the biggest and costliest single operation of the Pacific War. For each of its 82 days of combat, the battle would claim an average of 3,000 lives from the antagonists and the unfortunate non-combatants. ”

“ We had cars enough to transport all of General Ord′s command, which was to go by rail to Burnsville, a point on the road about seven miles west of Iuka. From there his troops were to march by the north side of the railroad and attack Price from the north-west, while Rosecrans was to move eastward from his position south of Corinth by way of the Jacinto road. A small force was to hold the Jacinto road where it turns to the north-east, while the main force moved on the Fulton road which comes into Iuka further east. ”

“ The frenzied action in what became known as the Battle of the Eastern Solomons was matched ashore. Japanese destroyers had delivered the vanguard of the Ichiki force at Taivu Point, 25 miles east of the Marine perimeter. A long-range patrol of Marines from Company A, 1st Battalion, 1st Marines ambushed a sizable Japanese force near Taivu on 19 August. The Japanese dead were readily identified as Army troops and the debris of their defeat included fresh uniforms and a large amount of communication gear. Clearly, a new phase of the fighting had begun. ”

“ These were the men who, with a strident battle cry of scorn for the ease of the task, swept through thirty miles in a single day, trampling Russian regiments under foot, storming over fortified towns as though no men or guns were there, right up to the gates of Mukden, right where their guns could search the huddled ranks of Russians, fleeing from the destructible force that was welding a ring around them. Nature finally checked them. ”

“ Disregarding the great opportunities for surprise and maneuver available in the amphibious task force, the Tenth Army conducted much of the campaign for Okinawa in an unimaginative, attrition mode which played into the strength of the Japanese defenders. An unrealistic reliance on firepower and siege tactics prolonged the fighting and increased the costs. The landings on Ie Shima and Oroku Peninsula, despite their successful executions, comprised the only division-level amphibious assaults undertaken after L-Day. ”

“ Ieyasu's estimate; opposes Ieyasu; refuses to surrender; suicide
Toyotomi Hideyoshi ( 1536-98) ; battle of Okehazama; in Ise and Kyoto; Sakai; war with Asakura and Asai; against Takeda Katsuyori; invades Chugoku; plans war on China; peace with Mori; Nobunaga; defeats Mitsuhide; councillor; crushes Takigawa Kazumasa and Shibuta Katsuiye; Yodogimi; Osaka castle; in Komaki war; peace with Ieyasu; regent; crushes remaining enemies; treatment of Ieyasu; Buddhism; palace; tea-festivals, wealth; invasion of Korea; death; family; kills Hidetsugu; character; legislation; Christianity ”

“ These humble heroisms in every day life of the patient women all over the land, were inspired by as fervent patriotism as ever impelled the men of the family to face their country’s foes on the field of battle. Like the deeds and sufferings of the private soldiers they must ever remain unrecorded but like the nameless graves that the red demon of war left scattered all over the South, in which serenely slept the unknown dead, the memory of what they did in the great struggle “will never perish from the earth.” ”

“ Later in Operation Iceberg he was killed by machine gun fire on Ie Shima, a nearby island fortress.
In typical fighting along this front, the Japanese would contain and isolate an American penetration (Army or Marine) by grazing fire from supporting positions, then smother the exposed troops on top of the initial objective with a rain of preregistered heavy mortar shells until fresh Japanese troops could swarm out of their reverse-slope tunnels in a counterattack. ”

“ Vicksburg annihilated all power of that army for further warfare. No State in the Union made greater contributions of gallant soldiers to win this unparalleled victory than Iowa. No soldiers in that victorious army won more undying fame than the fourteen who carried muskets in an Iowa regiment and alone were able to scale the enemy’s works on the day of the desperate assault. After the surrender, the Twenty-second Iowa joined the army operating against Jackson, and participated in the arduous labors of that campaign. ”

“ On 16 March it was officially announced that all organized enemy resistance had come to an end, although mopping up continued for many days in the Kitano Point area. The exact number of casualties to the enemy is not known as many were lost in their caves and tunnels, but by 21 March over 21,000 dead had been counted, while only 212 prisoners were taken. Out of approximately 20,000 casualties the Marines lost over 4,000 killed, while Navy casualties amounted to over 1,000. Iwo Jima was probably the most strongly fortified island selected as an objective during the war. ”

“ The Thirty-second Army had resisted the enormous American invasion successfully for more than a month. The army still intact, could continue to inflict high casualties on the enemy for months to come, fulfilling its mission of bleeding the ground forces while the “Divine Wind” wreaked havoc on the fleet. But maintaining a sustained defense was anathema to a warrior like Cho, and he argued stridently for a massive counterattack. Against Yahara’s protests, Ushijima sided with his chief of staff.
The great Japanese counterattack of 4–5 May proved ill-advised and exorbitant. ”