Haunting colorized pics of US Marines fighting one of WWII’s bloodiest battles capture Pacific theatre’s true horror – The Sun

COLOURISED pictures of US Marines fighting in the Pacific War’s bloodiest battles during World War II show the horror the veterans faced.

The stunning pictures, taken 80 years ago include a battered US trooper proudly holding the Stars and Stripes aloft as his comrades scan the horizon for enemies; soldiers bracing themselves for fierce retaliation after setting off explosives at the entrance of a cave bunker and forcing an enemy fighter to surrender after he emerged from a war-ravaged building.

Another striking shot captures American soldiers clambering over a seawall defence on the island of Okinawa, where over 12,000 US troopers would be slaughtered.

The dramatic shots have been brought to life by electrician and military enthusiast Royston Leonard, 55, from Cardiff, Wales, who spends up to five hours working on each photo.

“The Japanese code was to not surrender and to fight to the death which was their way to die in battle with honour, almost no prisoners were taken unless they were badly injured and could no longer fight,” he said.

“I’ve seen a lot of photos of the European war in colour but almost nothing from the Pacific War.

“The Japanese held every inch of every island they were on and the American soldiers had to fight for every inch that was taken as nothing was given for free.

“Colourisation is a hobby for me and by taking on photos like these I feel I get a fresh insight into what’s happening in the shots.”

Amongst the worst battles was The Battle of Iwo Jima, an epic military campaign between US Marines and the Imperial Army of Japan in early 1945

In some of the bloodiest fighting of World War II, it’s believed that all but 200 or so of the 21,000 Japanese forces on the island were killed, as were almost 7,000 Marines.

Another 20,000 US soldiers were casualties of the gruesome skirmish with a total of around 100,000 US troops involved.

The deadliest battle of the Pacific War was still to come and fought from April 1, to June 22, for the island of Okinawa. The Americans wanted the island at the southern tip of Japan to create a base for air raids on Japan as well as to ‘rehearse’ for the planned invasion of Japan’s main islands.

However, they met a fierce resistance. By June 22, the US troops suffered nearly 50,000 casualties of which approximately one quarter were deaths. The Japanese, on the other hand, lost about 100,000 of 110,000 men.

According to many historians, the Battle of Okinawa had a major influence on the US decision to drop atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki as it clearly revealed that the invasion of Japan would claim huge casualties on both sides.

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