BOOK REVIEW

A memorable battle

Letters from Iwo Jima, by Kumiko Kakehashi, 2007 Weidenfeld & Nicolson paperback, 213 pp, Available at Asia Books and leading book stores, 495 baht

BERNARD TRINK

Lieutenant General Kuribayashi Tadamichi of the Imperial Japanese Army "knew" from the moment he heard of the bombing of Pearl Harbor that going to war with America was a fatal miscalculation. Knew? As an adjutant who had spent two years in the US a decade earlier, he was awed by its industrial complex and impressed by the elan of the military. He spoke English fluently, wasn't stuck up and approved of the Yankee's sense of freedom.

Married, with a son and two daughters, he was devoted to his family and loved his country even though he felt it was too regimented: Those at the top gave orders, those at the bottom obeyed them without question. He was competent, hence his promotions. Yet Imperial General Headquarters sensed his independent spirit, attributing it to a defect in his character. Sending him to command the defence of Iwo Jima in June 1944, Premier Tojo hinted that in the event the Americans took it, suicide was in order.

According to Kumiko Kakehashi's non-fictional Letters from Iwo Jima, it's a 22-square-kilometre desert isle 1,000 miles from Tokyo. No white sand beach, no jungle, no animals, a dormant volcano, no fruit, virtually no rainfall. What it did have were two airfields, only a few planes though. The US Airforce wanted it so their bombers could unload on Japan day and night. Kuribayashi was determined to make them bleed for it.

His superiors expected him to put up the standard resistance of firing at the invaders as they were ferried from the troop ships, then make a "Banzai!" charge against those who made it ashore. Alas it was never successful, as General MacArthur and Admiral Nimitz knew from their island-hopping. Kuribayashi knew it, too. To the consternation of Imperial HQ, he had his 20,000 men dig tunnels away from the coast. They were deep enough to withstand naval and air bombardment.

When the 60,000 enemy came looking for them, they opened up with all their weaponry. Despite hunger, thirst, the overwhelming firepower against them, the Japanese fought ferociously for 36 days. In the event the Yanks had 26,000 casualties (6,000 dead), the Japanese all but a few captured. The Stars and Stripes were raised on Mt Suribachi, a Japanese memorial nearby, after the war.

The author visited the families of the Iwo Jima veterans in Japan 60 years after the hard-fought battle and was shown scrapbooks and preserved letters of the fallen, not least the general's. All are filled with love and concern. Her book quotes extensively from them. They are so touching that Clint Eastwood adapted the book to the screen with Japanese actors. On the whole there's little good to say, among the Allies, about the Japanese military during WW 11. Kakehashi makes the reader realise that they had good points, too.

Alternating between the battle front and the home front, the book reads well. This reviewer looks forward to seeing the movie.

Bangkok Post

Last Updated : Sunday April 08, 2007