| Original caption: “Burrowed in his shallow foxhole at the edge of Motoyama airfield on Iwo Jima, a Marine communicator calls for artillery support to silence the enemy mortars that are pinning down the leatherneck advance.” Photo by United States Marine Corporal Joseph Schwartz (1913 – March 13, 2013). Schwartz followed 2 Marine wiremen as they raced across an open field, under heavy enemy fire to establish field telephone contact with the front lines. The advance of 1st Battalion 26th Marines, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Daniel C. Pollock (December 27, 1913 – December 23, 2007), and 3rd Battalion, 27th Marines, under Lieutenant Colonel Donn J. Robertson (September 9, 1916 – March 4, 2000), soon was seriously slowed down by numerous enemy pillboxes and land mines; even more deadly was the well-aimed enemy mortar and artillery fire and particularly a heavy concentration of air bursts from Japanese antiaircraft guns fired from their minimum angle of elevation. West of the airfield, Colonel Thomas A. Wornham’s (December 12, 1903 – December 17, 1984) 27th Marines had to move through relatively open terrain that offered neither cover nor concealment from an enemy who enjoyed both excellent observation and fields of fire. Supported by Companies A and B of the 5th Tank Battalion, the 5th Division Marines moved forward steadily, taking heavy losses as they advanced. At 1800 Hours, when Colonel Wornham ordered the 2 battalions to halt and consolidate, the advance had gained 800 yards (730 meters). However, 1st Battalion, 26th Marines on the left had to pull back about 200 yards (180 meters) to more favorable ground for night defense. As D Plus 1 came to a close, the 2 5th Division battalions dug in along an east-west line extending from the northwestern edge of Airfield Number 1 to the west coast. For the night, 2nd Battalion, 27th Marines backed up 1st Battalion, 26th Marines while 1st Battalion, 27th Marines dug in behind 3rd Battalion, 27th Marines to provide a defense in depth. For the attack on D Plus 1, the 4th Marine Division committed 2 regiments abreast. On the left of the division zone of attack, the 23rd Marines, with 2nd Battalion, 24th Marines attached, jumped off at 0830 Hours and almost immediately encountered intense enemy machine gun, mortar, and artillery fire. In attempting to pinpoint the source of this fire and silence it, 23rd Marines temporarily lost contact with Colonel John R. Lanigan’s (April 16, 1902 – May 24, 1974) 25th Marines. Even though the terrain in this area was unfavorable for the employment of armor, a reinforced platoon from Company C, 4th Tank Battalion was able to support the advance of the 23rd Marines. By noon, an aggressive attack had carried past the northern fringes of Airfield Number 1. This thrust breached an important portion of the Japanese defensive system and at the same time reduced a number of well-concealed pillboxes and infantry strongpoints. The attacking Marines also had suffered severe casualties. Movement, both on the airfield flats and on the slopes from the beaches, was almost entirely under enemy observation, and the Japanese made the most of their favorable situation. During the afternoon, the 23rd Marines continued the advance. However, a minefield and increasingly rough terrain all but precluded effective armored support. The enemy directed deadly rocket, artillery, and mortar fire against the advancing Marines, and after the morning’s gains little more ground was taken for the remainder of the day. Altogether, in crossing the airfield, the 23rd Marines had advanced roughly 500 yards. At 1630 Hours, the reserve of the 23rd Marines, consisting of 1st and 2nd Battalions, moved forward to positions along the seaward edge of the airfield to form a strong, secondary line of defense. The 23rd Marines linked up with the 27th Marines on the left and the 25th Marines on the right before nightfall. A few months before he died at age 99 years, Schwartz recalled, “They [the Marines] were caught up on this hill. And they were caught up. And they were just starting to roll out the — all this telephone wire. The reason the [Japanese] were shooting at them [the linesmen] was they felt that they were important, the fact that I was taking this [photo] with them. They shot at me because I was holding the camera.” Michael A. Dudash (July 7, 1921 – November 3, 2015), a Marine charged with running phone lines for communication on the island, arrived around midnight after the 1st day of battle on February 19, 1945. You could not see the island,” Dudash said. “All you saw was a huge floating cloud, filled with explosions, flashes and smoke.” In 2009, Dudash recalled, “All of a sudden the bulldozer came up from the top of the hill and the Sergeant says, ‘Throw your line to the guy behind you.’ We had to run a line over. They’re up by the airport somewhere. And the 1st airfield was still secondary lines. So he says, ‘Let’s go.’ So we jumped in the jeep, zigzagged around wreckage bodies and whatever. We got up on the other side of the island, and finally we pulled over, and the Sergeant says, ‘You stay with the jeep.’ He says, ‘I think they’re right over here just over the edge of the, in back, the beach.’ So he disappeared, and I got out of the jeep and I squatted between right down by my left front tire because I didn’t want to be sitting up in that jeep as a target. And as I’m sitting there looking across the airfield I see a puff of smoke at the other end. And all of a sudden there’s another puff of smoke half the distance between me and the 1st 1. Needless to say, they spotted me. So I got up and just as I put my foot in the jeep, the 3rd 1 went off and practically buried me in sand. Luckily I was not hit…they were shooting mortars at me. And over to my left was a great big pile of airplanes, smashed airplanes that were all blown to bits and everything. So I immediately boom, got behind there and hid behind the airplanes and waited. A few minutes later the sergeant came back. We jumped in the jeep and head back for our command post. We get back to the command post. He says, “Do you know where the heck you were?” I says, “Yeah, I was up on the airfield there.” A contemporary of Margaret Bourke-White, Dorothea Lange, Ruth Orkin, and Walter Rosenblum, Joe Schwartz joined the Photo League of New York in the 1930s. He was strongly influenced by the League’s high standards and humanitarian values. Schwartz was a staff member of Leatherback Magazine, the official United States Marine publication. He continued to take photos after the war. | |
| Image Filename | wwii1772.jpg |
| Image Size | 1.01 MB |
| Image Dimensions | 3004 x 2391 |
| Photographer | Joseph Schwartz |
| Photographer Title | United States Marine Corps |
| Caption Author | Written or Adapted by Jason McDonald |
| Date Photographed | February 20, 1945 |
| Location | |
| City | |
| State or Province | Iwo Jima |
| Country | Bonins |
| Archive | Marine Corps History Division |
| 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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