Pillbox

A fortified concrete gun position with small slits for firing.

 

Amtrack

A floating, tracked, armored personnel carrier.

Kamikaze

    A special group of Japanese planes were expertly camouflaged, loaded with bombs and ready to fight. Their targets were American ships. The pilots were hoping to crash into the ships and give their lives for Japan.  Many pilots who saw these pilots thought there were ghosts flying the planes. These suicide pilots were known as kamikazes.  They always had their picture taken before they went into battle.  To die in battle was an honor.

    The word kamikaze means "divine wind".  It comes from typhoons that destroyed two Mongolian fleets about to invade Japan in the 13th century. The Japanese believed the wind was the breath of God. The Japanese were hoping the kamikaze would again save them.  Kamikazes at Iwo Jima killed 341 people on two different ships. 

Banzai

    Banzai attacks were when Japanese soldiers holding grenades charged into a group of their enemy and blew themselves up.  These generally didn't work well.  This attack was used by the few remaining soldiers after the Americans took Iwo Jima.

(1) Amtrack photo courtesy of www.answers.com

(2) Kamikaze photo courtesy of warisboring.com

(3) Pillbox photo courtesy of www.warfoto.com/bh101013.jpg