Now, let's consider the events of 1945 and why this is a period of history that is is important and why the images around it have embedded themselves in, as I said, in American cultural history. What I have on screen here is one image of Mt Suribachi one of the few high points on Iwo Jima. And what we have here is the raising of the first US flag, old glory on the 23rd of February, 1945. Now, as part of the Second World War, and specifically the, the Pacific War Iwo Jima holds some significance. The U.S assault on Iwo Jima, which literally means, Sulphur Island I believe that it has been renamed in the, in the recent past. Actually began on the 19th of February of 1945. Now it is in itself not a hugely significant island in terms of resources or its proximity to other sites of battle. In fact, the the U.S assault force had planned, and were hoping, to take the island in four days. The battle itself lasted 35 days. And I'll come to some of the statistics around this as we move on through the course. Up to this point in time, most of the battles that have been fought between the Americans and the Japanese in the Pacific War. Had been fought on islands which had been taken by the Japanese in their in, initial expansion point in the early years of the war. Over the years, 42, 43, 44, 45, the Americans regained that territory, moving westward across the Pacific. Iwo Jima has significance, because it is the first time, there was a US military assault directly on Japanese imperial territory. Now the point I would make about Iwo Jima and I'm going to come back to this in a, in a little while is that. The significance of the island on it's own is not huge. Strategically yes, it has importance, but the Americans were not going to go there to capture resources per se. What we do find, however is a, an enormously belligerent, defensive force. Now, James Bradley, in some of the, the videos, the promotional material that was put together around the release of Flags of our Fathers did say that the Japanese fought honorably, and fought honorably to their code [BLANK_AUDIO] Putting this in perspective, of every ten Japanese soldiers, military servicemen, nine of them died, as a result of this encounter. So not quite to the last man. But 90% casualty or death rate is remarkable figure, and it shows the commitment of the Japanese to defend this island. Now let's give you just some visual cues about what we're talking about in this regard. The little alpha dot right at the bottom of the screen here, which is barely perceptible is Iwo Jima and you get an idea of how far away it is, that's about 500 kilometers, so we're looking at bang, bang, bang. Somewhere in the region of 1,200 kilometers by the by the two finger rule of thumb, from mainland Japan, or least from the main four islands. So, it is far, far off the position where the Americans were actually going to be retaking the central Japanese territories. But even that far off. The Japanese were prepared to fight as strongly as they could to maintain the integrity of the Island. Now I just want to come through a couple of more maps, and we'll be referencing these in in the course, supporting material for the course. This is a photograph two days before the invasion I've taken this from a U.S. navy website. And it gives you an idea of the perspective of the island, it is about five miles, about eight kilometers long. So not again, the most significant territory to gain. And considering the number of deaths associated with it, I can not but think back to a scene in Black Adder Goes Forth. Now, for those of you not familiar with this, this is might be described as even a situation comedy, but within a historical context and for this particular series the first world war. As someone who talks about the effects of the first World War on Britain, I actually see that particular series as being quite prophetic, and it is worth watching. Because the mechanical slaughter of human beings but took place in the first World War I think set a precedent that, that led to escalation during the course of 20th century. There was a scene where Black Adder comes in to the GQ, and walks up to something about the size of the table in front of me. And says, well that's a remarkable relief model. And the actor said, yes, this is the territory we've gained today. [SOUND] But it's not a model. It's actually the territory that we've regained today. Now, I mentioned this. It has an element of black humor to it, but you then take that back. And with respect to all of those who fell we are looking at approaching 30,000 service men, who died to take this island for the Americans for the first time in 1945. So for someone that was an important five miles of territory. If I just go through here, and going to I'll reference this. This is a contemporary map identifying the enemy installations. I'm not making any claims to be a military historian. But if you want to go and cross-reference this and some of the very fine work about the, the nature of the battle itself it's a good starting point. And again, this is a strategic relief map taken by the Americans. One of the key things about Iwo Jima, there is Mount Suribachi in the bottom right of this photograph. But it is the runways, and if anything is strategically important about this particular island, it was the runways at the time. I'm going to come back to that a bit later. If you want to go through and read more about this, and again I'll reference it, I've taken these from the Naval History heritage site. And again, it just give you some context of material which is readily available, and you can follow up on some of the detail as you go through. And finally this is a, a map from 1945. That actually gives you the order of battle, and the attempt to retake Iwo Jima. And again, it reenforces that here, just in the dot to the side is Iwo Jima. And the distance it is from the Japanese main islands. So, that gives you the broad context. In itself, it wouldn't seem to be a war turning battle. But I've used the term intensity, perhaps a little bit too much in this course. But it is the nature of the conflict that's associated with that island which I think gives a great importance and to a certain degree. Gives the credibility to the image as part of America's history from the second World War. [BLANK_AUDIO]
