U.S. marines captured fortified Mt. Suribachi to win gun emplacements commanding all of Iwo island today. Army forces seized another island in the Philippines and gained control of strategic San Bernardino strait.
The stars and stripes was hoisted over Mt. Suribachi, an extinct volcano and highest peak on Iwo, by the 28th regiment. It was the biggest American success of the five-day-old campaign.
Losses Heavy
Other marines continued to , it out with bayonets and grenades with desperate Japanese on the approaches ot Iwo's second airfield, nearly three miles north of Mt. Suribachi.
The furious hand-to-hand en-counters were taking a heavy toll on both sides. In the first 58 hours of the invasion, 644 marines were killed, 4,168 wounded, and 860 missing. The count of Japanese dead was 1,222.
The Domel news agency reported that Japanese forces had sunk 17 American warships and damaged 11 others off Iwo. A Tokyo broadcast said that 100 American warships and 80 transports were standing by off the embattled Volcano Island.
In the Philippines, American troops seized, Capul island off southeastern Luzon and gained control of San Bernardino strait, the direct shipping passageway from the United States to Manila bay.
Manila Fight Rages
Fierce fighting continued in southern Manila. The battles raged from building to building around the besieged Intramuros section. American troops occupied the first floor of the Manila hotel, but the Japanese still were holding out in the upper floors.
Southeast of Manila, airborne units advanced seven miles along the west coast of Laguna bay and surprised 500 Japanese at Mabata Point. The Japanese attempted to flee in barges, but a number of the craft was sunk in the crossfire of American artillery.
American bombers continued widespread attacks throughout the Pacific. Heavy bombers and fighters again hit Formosa, destroying 13 grounded enemy planes and wrecking or damaging coastal vessels.
Warships and Liberator bombers hit Paramushiro in the northern Kurile Islands for two days.
Other American planes also attacked enemy positions in the Bonins, north of Iwo; Marcus; the Palaus, Carolines, and Marianas.
