The Spearhead: The 5th Marine Division in World War II: [Part Two]

By Howard M. Conner

The story of the 5th Marine Division centers around their participation and victory in the bloody battle for the island of Iwo Jima. Extremely detailed and richly illustrated this history is a fascinating and gripping account of one of the bloodiest battles of modern times.

The 5th Marine Division was a United States Marine Corps ground combat division which was activated on 11 November 1943 (officially activated on 21 January 1944) at Camp Pendleton, California during World War II. The 5th Division saw its first combat action during the Battle of Iwo Jima in 1945 where it sustained the highest number of casualties of the three Marine divisions of the V Amphibious Corps (invasion force). The 5th Division was to be part of the planned invasion of the Japan homeland before Japan surrendered. Assault troops of the 5th Division were included in the Presidential Unit Citation awarded to the V Amphibious Corps for extraordinary heroism on Iwo Jima from 19 to 28 February 1945.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Barakaldo Books
• Release date: May 8, 2020
• ISBN: 9781839744693

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© Barakaldo Books 2020, all rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted by any means, electrical, mechanical or otherwise without the written permission of the copyright holder.

Publisher’s Note

Although in most cases we have retained the Author’s original spelling and grammar to authentically reproduce the work of the Author and the original intent of such material, some additional notes and clarifications have been added for the modern reader’s benefit.

We have also made every effort to include all maps and illustrations of the original edition the limitations of formatting do not allow of including larger maps, we will upload as many of these maps as possible.

Table of Contents

Contents

Table of Contents 3

Appendixes 4

APPENDIX A — Effect of Casualties 6

APPENDIX B — BATTLE CASUALTIES 13

Killed In Action 13

Died of Wounds 21

Wounded in Action 24

Missing in Action 51

APPENDIX C — Decorations and Awards 52

APPENDIX D — Unit Rosters 58

Headquarters Battalion 58

26th Marines 64

27th Marines 78

28th Marines 91

13th Marines 104

5th Engineer Battalion 115

5th Pioneer Battalion 120

5th Tank Battalion 124

5th Service Battalion 128

5th Motor Transport Battalion 133

5th Medical Battalion 136

5th Amphibian Tractor Battalion 139

5th Joint