The lions of Iwo Jima : (the story of Combat Team 28 and the bloodiest battle in Marine Corps history)

**"In 1945 my father, John Bradley, and other members of Combat Team 28 raised a flag on Iwo Jima. Now with __The Lions of Iwo Jima__, [Haynes] helps America understand how it was done."—James Bradley, author of __Flags of Our Fathers__ and __Flyboys__** Combat Team 28, one of the greatest units fielded in the history of the U.S. Marines, landed on the black sands of Iwo Jima on February 19, 1945. The unit, 4,500 men strong, plunged immediately into ferocious combat, and by the time the battled ended, 70 percent of the men in the team's three assault battalions were killed or seriously wounded. The stories told here, many for the first time, will seem too cruel, too heartbreaking to be believed. As one veteran remarked, "Each day we learned a new way to die." Major General Fred Haynes, then a young captain, is the last surviving office in CT 28 who was intimately involved in planning and coordinating all phases of the team's fight on Iwo Jima. In this astonishing narrative, Haynes and James A. Warren recapture in riveting detail what the Marines experienced, drawing on a wealth of previously untapped documents, personal narratives, letters, and interviews with survivors to offer fresh interpretations of the fight for Suribachi, the iconic flag-raising photograph, and the nature of the campaign as a whole.

"In 1945 my father, John Bradley, and other members of Combat Team 28 raised a flag on Iwo Jima. Now with The Lions of Iwo Jima, [Haynes] helps America understand how it was done."—James Bradley, author of Flags of Our Fathers and Flyboys

Combat Team 28, one of the greatest units fielded in the history of the U.S. Marines, landed on the black sands of Iwo Jima on February 19, 1945. The unit, 4,500 men strong, plunged immediately into ferocious combat, and by the time the battled ended, 70 percent of the men in the team's three assault battalions were killed or seriously wounded. The stories told here, many for the first time, will seem too cruel, too heartbreaking to be believed. As one veteran remarked, "Each day we learned a new way to die."

Major General Fred Haynes, then a young captain, is the last surviving office in CT 28 who was intimately involved in planning and coordinating all phases of the team's fight on Iwo Jima. In this astonishing narrative, Haynes and James A. Warren recapture in riveting detail what the Marines experienced, drawing on a wealth of previously untapped documents, personal narratives, letters, and interviews with survivors to offer fresh interpretations of the fight for Suribachi, the iconic flag-raising photograph, and the nature of the campaign as a whole.

"The Lions of Iwo Jima" tells the full story of one of the greatest units fielded in the history of the U.S. Marines. Combat Team 28, 4500 men strong, trained for a full year, landed on the black sands of Iwo Jima on February 19, 1945, and raised the flag atop Mount Suribachi after four days of ferocious combat. Major General Fred Haynes USMC (Ret'd), then a young captain, is the last surviving officer in CT28 intimately involved in planning and coordinating all phases of the Team's fight on Iwo Jima. Drawing on a wealth of previously untapped documents, personal narratives, and letters, in addition to more than 100 interviews with survivors, Haynes and Warren recapture in riveting detail what the Marines of Combat Team 28 experienced, placing particular emphasis on the Team's ferocious struggle to break through the main belt of the Japanese defenses to the north, and reduce the final pocket of resistance on the island in Bloody Gorge. "The Lions of Iwo Jima "offers fresh interpretations of the fight for Suribachi, the iconic flag raising photo, and the nature of the campaign as a whole, and helps to answer the essential questions: Who were these men? What accounts for their extraordinary performance in battle? A Narrative Account Of The Battle Of Iwo Jima By A Combat Team 28 Captain Offers Insight Into The Conflict's Brutality And High Death Toll, Discussing The Team's Battlefield Performance And Their Grueling Daily Experiences Throughout The Confrontation. Preface -- Introduction -- 1. Forming Up At Camp Pendleton -- 2. The Adversaries Prepare For Battle -- 3. The Assault -- 4. The Assault, Part Ii -- 5. The Fight For Hot Rocks -- 6. The Enemy -- 7. Breaking Through The Main Belt: The Battle For Hill 362a And Nishi Ridge -- 8. Driving North Toward Kitano Point -- 9. Bloody Gorge -- Epilogue -- Appendix 1. Combat Team 28: Organization -- Appendix 2. Combat Team 28 Survivors: What They Did After The War. Fred Haynes And James A. Warren. A John Macrae Book. Includes Bibliographical References And Index.