| United States Marine M4A3 Sherman tanks found the fine black sand difficult to navigate. It clogged radiators and guns. Here we see an M32 Sherman Tank Recovery Vehicle assisting other Shermans in maneuvering to support the assault on Motoyama Airfield Number 1, behind them. The invasion fleet can be seen in the background. Iwo Jima’s fine black volcanic ash caused tanks to throw tracks, and even if they didn’t, to bog down and clog up. A tank retriever (center) has towed half a dozen disabled 4th Tank Battalion Shermans from the surf or soft sand to firm ground overlooking the beach, and now crews and mechanics are readying them for a return to companies and platoons in combat to the north. Closest to the camera is “D Company tank “Doris” with the Mark 1 Navy flamethrower in place of the 75 millimeter gun. C Company, 5th Tank Battalion landed on Iwo Jima’s Red Beach 2 at 1148 Hours on February 19, 1945. 14 M4A3 Sherman tanks, 1 M4 Sherman tank bulldozer, 2 M4A3R5 Sherman “Zippo” flamethrower tanks, and an M32 Sherman Tank Recovery Vehicle in 3 Landing Ship Mediums (LSMs). Unfortunately, the ad hoc modification team had only sufficient time and components to modify 8 M4A3 tanks with a Mark 1 Navy flamethrower system; 4 each went to the 4th and 5th Tank Battalions. The 3rd Tank Battalion, then staging in Guam, received neither the M4A3 Shermans nor the field modifications in time for Iwo Jima, although a number of their “A2” tanks retained the E4-5 system mounted in the bow in place of the machine gun. The 8 modified Sherman flame tanks proved ideal against Iwo Jima’s rugged caves and concrete fortifications. The Japanese feared this weapon greatly; time and again suicide squads of “human bullets” would assail the flame tanks directly, only to be shot down by covering forces or scorched by the main weapon. Enemy fire and the rough terrain took their toll on the 8 flame tanks, but maintenance crews worked around the clock to keep them functional. In the words of Captain Frank C. Caldwell, a company commander in the 26th Marines: “In my view it was the flame tank more than any other supporting arm that won this battle.” Tactical demands for the flame tanks never diminished. Late in the battle, as the 5th Marine Division cornered the last Japanese defenders in “The Gorge,” the 5th Tank Battalion expended napalm-thickened fuel at the rate of 10,000 gallons per day. The division’s final action report stated that the flame tank was “the one weapon that caused the Japs to leave their caves and rock crevices and run.” | |
| Image Filename | wwii1843.jpg |
| Image Size | 852 KB |
| Image Dimensions | 3000 x 2364 |
| Photographer | Joe Rosenthal |
| Photographer Title | |
| Caption Author | Written or Adapted by Jason McDonald |
| Date Photographed | February 28, 1945 |
| Location | |
| City | |
| State or Province | Iwo Jima |
| Country | Bonins |
| Archive | |
| Record Number | |
| Status | Caption ©2026 MFA Productions LLC Please Do Not Duplicate or Distribute Without Permission; Image in the Public Domain |
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