ABSTRACT
First-hand Japanese accounts of ground combat against United States forces during Second World War are comparatively rare, especially accounts that have been translated into English. His vivid first-hand description of life on Iwo Jima before and during the battle provides a graphic rendition of the operation from the Japanese perspective. Like most of his comrades, the author of the diary did not survive the fighting on Iwo Jima. The following contemporary account, a diary from Iwo Jima, is particularly timely as we mark the fiftieth anniversary of the American-Japanese battle for the island of Iwo Jima. On Iwo Jima the antitank battalions mustered anywhere from 250 to 450 officers and men. Indeed, one striking aspect of the diary is Lieutenant Sugihara's personal reaction to the daily air attacks, primarily focused against the two operational Japanese airfields on Iwo Jima. The effect of this constant aerial threat is well documented in Lieutenant Sugihara's diary.
