# Did any Japanese soldiers escape from Iwo Jima? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 2, 2012, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-any-japanese-soldiers-escape-from-iwo-jima/617618 "2012-04-02T19:21:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Blakeyrat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecd19e/32.png) [@Blakeyrat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blakeyrat)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2012, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-any-japanese-soldiers-escape-from-iwo-jima/617618/1 "2012-04-02T19:21:26Z")
I just finished reading the book Suribachi, describing the invasion of Iwo Jima, and from the author’s account it sounds as if US forces had dominating control of the air and sea surrounding the island. Wikipedia only mentions the number killed and captured. So two simple questions: 1. Did any Japanese soldiers escape Iwo Jima after the invasion? If so, how did they get out? 2. Are there any accounts of the battle written from the Japanese perspective, available in English? ---
**Author:** ![Dissonance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85f322/32.png) [@Dissonance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dissonance)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2012, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-any-japanese-soldiers-escape-from-iwo-jima/617618/2 "2012-04-02T21:45:54Z")
1. Not as far as I’m aware. I’d feel comfortable betting money that none did. 2. I was looking for this: [Taken Captive A Japanese POWs Story](http://www.amazon.com/Taken-Captive-Japanese-POWs-Story/dp/0471142859), which while it doesn’t deal with Iwo Jima is an excellent firsthand account of his capture in the Phillipines and subsequent events by Ooka Shohei who went on to become a prominant literary figure in Japan; he also wrote [Fires on the Plain](http://www.amazon.com/Fires-Plain-Tuttle-Classics-Shohei/dp/0804813795/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1333402778&sr=1-1) which is a work of fiction but semi-autobiographical in that it draws on his own actual experiances. Anyway while looking I also came across [So Sad to Fall in Battle: An Account of War Based on General Tadamichi Kuribayashi’s Letters from Iwo Jima](http://www.amazon.com/Sad-Fall-Battle-Tadamichi-Kuribayashis/dp/0891419179/ref=pd_sim_b_13). I haven’t read it but it might fit the bill. ---
**Author:** ![Blakeyrat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecd19e/32.png) [@Blakeyrat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blakeyrat)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2012, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-any-japanese-soldiers-escape-from-iwo-jima/617618/3 "2012-04-02T22:31:14Z")
Thanks for the book recommendation, I’m downloading it to my Kindle now. Reading the American side of the story is interesting, but I felt myself more compelled with the Japanese side. 20,000+ men sent to an island nobody had heard of a year ago to defend 2 and a half airfields, completely cut-off from reinforcements and supplies, their only air support being kamikaze attacks, and facing a hopeless invasion. ---
**Author:** ![Peanuthead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peanuthead/32/360_2.png) [@Peanuthead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peanuthead)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2012, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-any-japanese-soldiers-escape-from-iwo-jima/617618/4 "2012-04-02T22:35:12Z")
[quote=“Dissonance, post:2, topic:617618”] 1. Not as far as I’m aware. I’d feel comfortable betting money that none did. QUOTE] I agree. It would have been and unbearable disgrace for a Japanese soldier to “run away from battle” so to speak. ---
**Author:** ![Dufus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c77e96/32.png) [@Dufus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dufus)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2012, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-any-japanese-soldiers-escape-from-iwo-jima/617618/5 "2012-04-03T00:09:55Z")
There were cases where troops were knocked unconscious by bombs and were taken prisoner. There was also forced Korean labor on Iwo Jima who didn’t really want to die for the emperor. This picture shows a [prisoner being led](http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t205/dennismenace56/battle_iwojima193.jpg) from a fortification. In case you haven’t seen it there is also a movie written from the perspective of the Japanese, called “Letters from Iwo Jima” ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2012, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-any-japanese-soldiers-escape-from-iwo-jima/617618/6 "2012-04-03T01:17:45Z")
> [@Peanuthead](#): > > I agree. It would have been and unbearable disgrace for a Japanese soldier to “run away from battle” so to speak. Japanese soldiers certainly did retreat from battles. They weren’t stupid. Many were captured, too. It is safe to assume, however, that none escaped from Iwo Jima because there was no way to escape. The U.S. Navy controlled the sea around it. Where could they have gone? ---
**Author:** ![chacoguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/50afbb/32.png) [@chacoguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chacoguy)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2012, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-any-japanese-soldiers-escape-from-iwo-jima/617618/7 "2012-04-03T05:38:54Z")
[Two guys lasted _four years_ after the end of the war.](http://www.wanpela.com/holdouts/registry.html#iwo) ---
**Author:** ![benbo1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19adc/32.png) [@benbo1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/benbo1)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2012, 8:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-any-japanese-soldiers-escape-from-iwo-jima/617618/8 "2012-04-03T08:04:20Z")
On the other hand, Okinawa was different, partly because many ‘Japanese’ soldiers were forced Okinawans, and maybe because they realized the end was near. 3rd paragraph: [http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/facility/okinawa-battle.htm](http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/facility/okinawa-battle.htm)