Joe Rosenthal and Unknown. Battle of Iwo Jima WWII. Four vintage toned gelatin silver press prints, 1945. This was a ferocious battle with heavy losses on both sides. It is forever immortalized by Rosenthal's iconic photograph of the flag raising. These are official photographs distributed by International News Service. They were sent by radio on the day of that event and the days right before and after. They were the sources for the first images of these events in magazines and newspapers in the US and other countries. They include the original snipes with texts that could be used in those publications. Sizes vary from 5 x 7 inches to 6 5/8 x 8 5/8 inches.
Storming of the beach. A wrecked Japanese gunboat is in the background. I think this is from the initial invasion, before the assault on Mount Suribachi.
Struggling up the beach made of slippery volcanic dust under heavy fire, towards Mount Suribachi. This is posted on February 25 1945, the same day as the famous flag photograph was made. The photograph might have been made a day earlier.
Soldiers surrounding the flag on top of Mt. Suribachi. This was posted on February 27th, two days after the successful capture of the mountain peak. The light vertical lines at the left indicate this is a composite photograph. The tight portion of the image is shown with its full left portion that is here replaced by images from other photographs of the scene. This confirms how Rosenthal selected and isolated just the six subjects in his iconic photograph.
The heavy fighting continues to the Southwest of the mountain. This shows the storming of the beach, taken from the landing craft.

The photographs are weak, with some damage at edges [D2]