Sanborn (APA 193) - Naval Cruise Book

Page 25 text:

AA Gfzms Over' Imzctsion Craft forgetting the nature of an otherwise peaceful voyage. Only subtly worried expressions of men as they sat around cleaning their fire-arms presaged par- ticipation in one of the bloodiest battles of history. Upon arrival at Saipan no time was lost in completing logistics and rehearsing the landing to be made at lwo Jima. lwo Jima was slated to be the next island wrested from the Japa- nese. The island's geographical position marked her as a very important stepping- stone from the I3-29 bases at Saipan, Tinian and Guam to Tokyo. From lwo we would be able to send up fighter pro- tection for these raiders, and to offer them a refuge as an emergency landing field. At the same time we would have control of the airways and seaways, com- pleting the upward swing to Japan. The night -of the eighteenth of Febru- ary the Sanborn steamed in silently with hundreds of other attacking vessels to- ward lwo Jima. Not long after midnight flashes of gunfire lighted the sky in the direction of the island. A little later the rumble of shooting from the big guns could be heard as the battleships inter- mittently opened up on the defenses there. Mt. Suribachi came into view at 0629, rising ominously through a haze of smoke and early morning mist. About 0700 the transports commenced de- barkation of the assault troops. As soon as the boats were loaded with men and equipment they began circling off the sides of the ship organizing into waves for the run to the line of departure. Except for the whirl and roll of a crippled plane as it plunged toward the rocky cliffs one saw little to indicate the lethal character of the assault. The debarkation proceeded very much in the same man- ner as in the practice landings off Maui a few weeks before. Battleships and cruisers and aircraft carriers which for four days had been shelling and bombing this fortress island were still pounding away. A few minutes before H hour this bombardment in- creased in intensity as they launched the rolling barrage, starting at the wateafs edge and sweeping across the island on a schedule to coincide with the arrival of

Page 27 text:

the first assault vvaver The first sever- waves consisted of amphibious tractors debarked from LSTs. Most of the waves assigned to Blue Beach were guided in by officers and boat crews in LCVPs from the Sanborn. Soon after these waves were ashore it became evident the battle would be long and fierce, Much of thc tered in an irregular pattern up an-cl across the slope of the island, Our linen moved inland slowly from the beach while a mad scramble vvent on there among the debris of wrecked equipment and piles of hurriedly unloaded supplies. Japanese mortar shells plopped into the water making huge fountains of white M27 of . . ,.,,,., , , s -, f t flf 2 7 X J J ij T 1' n in ii I ii zu' ri s io ii equipment loaded into boats did not reach the beach at all that day due to the intensity of the battle and treacher- ous conditions on the beach. In fact, one vvave consisting of several boat loads of priority cargo did not reach the beach until five days later. As the battle in- tensified the first tractors ashore fale spray among the LST and landing boats. Fortunately only a few found their mark. Almost all vehicles made the beach, but many of them became casualties soon after reaching the embankment of loose volcanic sand. Ten Sanborn boats even- tually succumbed to the incline of the beach and the surf, These boats were