--- title: Behind the Picture: Marines Blow Up a Blockhouse, Iwo Jima, 1945 description: LIFE.com presents photos made by the great W. Eugene Smith in the Pacific during World War II. canonical: https://time.com/3638523/behind-the-picture-marines-blow-up-a-blockhouse-iwo-jima-1945/ author: Ben Cosgrove article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2013-02-10T19:34:22.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T05:06:36.758Z og:title: Behind the Picture: Marines Blow Up a Blockhouse, Iwo Jima, 1945 og:description: LIFE.com presents a series of photos — many of which never ran in LIFE magazine — made in the Pacific by the great W. Eugene Smith near the tail end of World War II. og:url: https://time.com/3638523/behind-the-picture-marines-blow-up-a-blockhouse-iwo-jima-1945/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3093b9cb13aa9bb3/69876f843c16395b10450b6b/iwo-jima-w-eugene-smith-01.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Behind the Picture: Marines Blow Up a Blockhouse, Iwo Jima, 1945 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Behind the Picture: Marines Blow Up a Blockhouse, Iwo Jima, 1945 twitter:description: LIFE.com presents a series of photos — many of which never ran in LIFE magazine — made in the Pacific by the great W. Eugene Smith near the tail end of World War II. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3093b9cb13aa9bb3/69876f843c16395b10450b6b/iwo-jima-w-eugene-smith-01.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Behind the Picture: Marines Blow Up a Blockhouse, Iwo Jima, 1945 by [Ben Cosgrove](https://time.com/author/ben-cosgrove/) ## Ben Cosgrove Feb 10, 2013 7:34 PM UTC  United States Marines (foreground) blow up a cave connected to a Japanese blockhouse on Iwo Jima, 1945. United States Marines (foreground) blow up a cave connected to a Japanese blockhouse on Iwo Jima, 1945.W. Eugene Smith—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images by [Ben Cosgrove](https://time.com/author/ben-cosgrove/) ## Ben Cosgrove Feb 10, 2013 7:34 PM UTC In April 1945, LIFE magazine published one of the most memorable cover images of its four-decade run as a major photographic weekly. The picture, made in March 1945 on the island of Iwo Jima by W. Eugene Smith, captures the deliberate violence inherent in all war as graphically as any photo ever published in LIFE. At first glance just another explosion in a war filled with millions of explosions, the picture grows more extraordinary the longer one gazes at it. For its part, LIFE described Smith’s picture this way: --- > “” --- Here, LIFE.com presents not only the full, uncropped photograph, but an entire series of other photos — many of which never ran in LIFE — that Smith made on that sterile volcanic outcropping in the South Pacific, where thousands of men were fighting to the death as the long world war was winding to its grisly close. The cover of that April 19, 1945, issue of LIFE is remarkable on a number of levels. For instance, aside from the LIFE logo and the most rudimentary information—the issue date, the price—there is no language, no text, no cover lines. Ninety-nine percent of the more than 2,000 LIFE covers ever published have at least some words letting the reader know what he or she is _looking at_, even if it’s something as straightforward as “Basketball,” or “Florida” or “Summer Fashion.” But the Iwo Jima cover has absolutely nothing but Smith’s picture. No words. No descriptors. Nothing. It’s almost as if, in April 1945, there was no need to let people know that the photograph was made on Iwo Jima. After all, was there anything else on most Americas’ minds that spring besides the war in the Pacific? And then, of course, as with all of Smith’s photographs, there’s the sheer technical brilliance of the picture: the grim clarity of the scene, despite the chaotic nature of the explosion that serves as the thematic and visual center of the shot; the four Marines, barely visible at first, crouching behind a rock in the lower right of the frame; the terrible, blasted landscape that might have been the inspiration for stage directions in any number of Beckett’s plays—all of these elements cohere into a masterful, one might even say (through clenched teeth) a beautiful portrait of destruction. LIFE, meanwhile, described the Battle of Iwo Jima, and the island itself, in words that, at times, sound weirdly reminiscent of Tolkein’s unforgettable depictions of the desolate land of Mordor the _Lord of the Rings_: --- > “” ---  LIFE's W. Eugene Smith, in Marine Corps garb, studies action in distance during Battle of Iwo Jima, 1945. W. Eugene Smith—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  United States Marines (foreground) blow up a cave connected to a Japanese blockhouse on Iwo Jima, 1945. W. Eugene Smith—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Aircraft wreckage on beach following Marines' fierce battle against Japanese for Iwo Jima, 1945. W. Eugene Smith—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. "From this blockhouse in face of the ridge overlooking the Marines' beachhead, 4.7-inch gun and dead Jap (left) shelled everything that moved. This, like others, had to be taken by Marines in person with grenades, flame throwers, satchel charges, sometimes at cost of a whole company." W. Eugene Smith—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. American Marines on the march, Iwo Jima, 1945. W. Eugene Smith—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Iwo Jima, 1945. W. Eugene Smith—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Marine taking cover from a huge explosion designed to drive Japanese defenders from their caves during the fight to take Iwo Jima, 1945. W. Eugene Smith—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Dead Japanese soldier, Iwo Jima, 1945. W. Eugene Smith—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. American troops near dead Japanese soldier, Iwo Jima, 1945. W. Eugene Smith—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Iwo Jima, 1945. W. Eugene Smith—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Photographer W. Eugene Smith was wounded taking the photo of this explosion on Iwo Jima, 1945\. He was more seriously wounded a few months later, at Okinawa, and shipped back to the States. W. Eugene Smith—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Marines advance towards entrenched Japanese positions during the fight for control of Iwo Jima, 1945. W. Eugene Smith—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Debris on sand following Marines' fierce battle against Japanese for Iwo Jima, 1945. W. Eugene Smith—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Smoke-shrouded battlefield and abandoned gun emplacement offer evidence of the savage fight for control of Iwo Jima, 1945. W. Eugene Smith—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Marines carry a wounded comrade, Iwo Jima, 1945. W. Eugene Smith—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Debris strewn on beach, Iwo Jima, 1945. W. Eugene Smith—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Equipment partially submerged at Iwo Jima, 1945. W. Eugene Smith—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Aircraft wreckage on beach following Marines' fierce battle against Japanese for Iwo Jima, 1945. W. Eugene Smith—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Americans take a meal break near wreckage of aircraft during a lull in the fighting on Iwo Jima, 1945. W. Eugene Smith—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. A man sleeps amid aircraft wreckage on beach following Marines' fierce battle against Japanese for Iwo Jima, 1945. W. Eugene Smith—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. American troops, Iwo Jima, 1945. W. Eugene Smith—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Jeep, partially submerged in sand, Iwo Jima, 1945. W. Eugene Smith—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. American aircraft during battle against the Japanese for Iwo Jima, 1945. W. Eugene Smith—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  LIFE magazine, April 9, 1945\. Note: Best viewed in "full screen" mode. See button at right. W. Eugene Smith—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  LIFE magazine, April 9, 1945\. Note: Best viewed in "full screen" mode. See button at right. W. Eugene Smith—LIFE Magazine  LIFE magazine, April 9, 1945\. Note: Best viewed in "full screen" mode. See button at right. W. Eugene Smith—LIFE Magazine  LIFE magazine, April 9, 1945\. Note: Best viewed in "full screen" mode. See button at right. W. Eugene Smith—LIFE Magazine  LIFE magazine, April 9, 1945\. Note: Best viewed in "full screen" mode. See button at right. W. Eugene Smith—LIFE Magazine  LIFE magazine, April 9, 1945\. Note: Best viewed in "full screen" mode. See button at right. W. Eugene Smith—LIFE Magazine ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3638523/behind-the-picture-marines-blow-up-a-blockhouse-iwo-jima-1945/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3638523/behind-the-picture-marines-blow-up-a-blockhouse-iwo-jima-1945/"},"headline":"Behind the Picture: Marines Blow Up a Blockhouse, Iwo Jima, 1945","datePublished":"2013-02-10T19:34:22.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:06:36.758Z","description":"LIFE.com presents a series of photos — many of which never ran in LIFE magazine — made in the Pacific by the great W. 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