Low-level photograph of Iwo Jima showing the results of a pre-landing bombardment, February 1945
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531.Photograph Lockheed P-38 Lightening 'File No: 48160 February 20, 1945 Scratch one Zero One Jap [Japanese] Zero which will offer no resistance to Yanks assaulting Iwo Jima lies mortorless on a plain behind the beaches. This daring low-level photograph, made before the invasion, shows nature of terrain which greeted the Marines after they scaled the slopes in the background. Nothing but shell holes from pre-landing bombardment is available for over from the devastating enemy mortar and cannon fire. A U. S. Army P-38 skims the tree tops at right. On February 19, 1945, Marines stormed the island. 20 February 1945