Moving Pictures - Iwo Jima: Portrait of a Battle

For so many Americans, it is the image that defined a war, a nation’s sacrifice, and the freedom so many hold so close. Six brave men raising the American flag atop Mt. Suribachi on the Pacific island of Iwo Jima. All at once, the struggle of battle, the pain of lives lost, and the honor only a soldier can know were brought into the homes—and hearts—of the American public with a simple snap of a photographer’s camera. But for all this image stands for, it tells only one small piece of the story of the U.S. Marines on Iwo Jima.

The complete story of the U.S. invasion of Iwo Jima takes place over thirty-four of the bloodiest days of the Pacific War; a campaign that remains as arguably the hardest won and most memorable battle of the United States Marines in World War II.

Available for the first time ever in paperback, Iwo Jima: Portrait of a Battle contains over 500 remarkable photographs, many never before published, from the Marine Corps archives. Woven together with text by acclaimed military historian Eric Hammel, this gloriously illustrated volume vividly recreates this iconic battle, including: the pummeling of inland targets, the strafing, and the rocket fire that accompanied the landing; the eerie silence that greeted the Marines as they set foot on the island; and then, as the newly-landed Marines regrouped on the shoreline, the horrors of all hell breaking loose.

The most complete photographic history of this iconic battle ever published, Iwo Jima is a uniquely fitting tribute to the valiant struggle that helped shift the balance of power in the Pacific and gave us our most enduring image of victory in World War II.